Android Adv Issue 10

LATEST SMARTPHONE, TABLET AND APP REVIEWS

ANDROID

ISSUE

10

ADVISOR

BEST NEW

PHONES & TABLETS

2015 PLUS

COMPLETE

CES 2015

ROUND-UP + HOW TO BEAT THE LATEST ANDROID BUG

Welcome... 2

015 started off with a bang with CES 2015. We've rounded up some of the best new products from the show from page 12, and get a hands-on with some of those gadgets, including LG's second curved-screen G Flex from page 68. But what really excited us at CES 2015 were smartglasses (see page 45), so it came as a bit of a shock that Google cancelled its Google Glass Explorer Programme the following week. But Google Glass is down but not out, with a second version expected later this year. And there's loads more to get excited about this year, too. In little more than a month we'll be welcoming the latest flagship phones from Samsung, HTC and Sony, and we're already excited. We round up the best new phones and tablets still to come in 2015 overleaf. The WebView bug has been in the news of late, making all devices running Android Jelly Bean and older vulnerable to hackers wanting to take control. Nearly 60 percent of Android users are affected! On page 33 we show you how you can protect your device from new threats. On the subject of security, if the kids got new phones or tablets for Christmas it's important you keep them safe online. Follow our guide on page 16. As always, we hope you’ve enjoyed this issue of Android Advisor. Feel free to send us your feedback via facebook.com/AndroidAdvisorUK or email [email protected].

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Best new phones and tablets for 2015 2014 brought us some absolute belters in the Android world, but things are about to get a whole lot better Samsung Galaxy S6 If you're a Samsung fan but would rather stick to a phone than a phablet then the S6 will be just what you're looking for. Currently there are two designs in the works, with the final yet to be decided. One has an all-metal unibody chassis in line with that of the Galaxy Alpha, while the other is half metal with a removable plastic rear like the Galaxy Note 4. Rumour has it there will also be a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge – like the Galaxy Note Edge, but with two ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 3 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 3

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curved edges that make it better suited to lefties as well as those righthanded folk the tech industry seems to favour. We wouldn't be surprised to also see a quad-HD screen, plus plenty of other radical new features, including a redesigned fingerprint scanner that works a lot more like Apple's Touch ID and, you know, actually works. In the UK, we're likely to see the Snapdragon 810 processor paired with 3GB of RAM. We should see the Samsung Galaxy S6 unveiled at a Samsung Unpacked event prior to MWC 2015, probably on 1 March 2015.

Samsung Galaxy S6 mini A Samsung Galaxy flagship launch is traditionally followed by several variants, most importantly a compact version, but we've also seen variants that offer, for example, improved cameras or more ruggedised designs. The Samsung Galaxy S6 mini is likely to arrive a few months after the standard Samsung Galaxy S6, perhaps in late July/early August, and will be a more compact version of its bigger brother with a slightly slimmed down spec. We expect to see a 4.7in full-HD screen, a slowerclocked Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, perhaps 2GB of RAM and 16- and 5Mp cameras.

Samsung Galaxy A7 Samsung has confirmed its Galaxy A7, a gorgeous phablet with a 6.3mm unibody metal chassis, 4 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 4

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a 5.5in Super AMOLED screen and a 64-bit octacore processor. The Samsung Galaxy A7 is not yet on sale on the UK, but will come in both single- and dual-SIM variants.

HTC One M9 We are massive fans of the HTC One M8, and we just can't wait for a better version of the phone. Full specs have leaked for the HTC One M9, and if these are to be believed it will have a 5in full-HD Super LCD3 display, a Snapdragon 810 processor, Adreno 430 graphics and 3GB of RAM. The HTC One M9 is expected to follow the HTC Desire Eye with a super-selfie 13Mp front camera, plus 20Mp at the rear. Rumour has it the M9 will also be ultra-thin at 7mm. Based on HTC's previous form, the Android Lollipop- and HTC Sense 7.0-based HTC One M9 won't be here in time for MWC 2015, but we can expect to see it around March. ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 5 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 5

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HTC Hima Ace Plus Coming alongside the HTC One M9 is said to be a 5.5in-screen phablet version known as the HTC Hima Ace Plus. Except not exactly alongside – we'll likely be waiting until September for this variant. If rumours are true, the HTC Hima Ace Plus will pack a 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor and 3GB of RAM.

Sony Xperia Z4 Sony updates its flagship handsets every six months, so with the Sony Xperia Z3 released in September 2014 we can expect the Sony Xperia Z4 in March at IFA (running 2- to 5 March 2015). There is speculation that the Sony Xperia Z4 will tie in with the new James Bond movie, with actor Daniel Craig and director Sam Mendes expected to be involved in its design. Rumour has it that it will be a super-fast Android Lollipop smartphone with an octa-core Snapdragon 810 processor, potentially 4GB of RAM and a Quad HD screen.

LG G4 We stand by our statement that the LG G3 was the very best phone you can buy in 2014. Things can only get better with the LG G4. The LG G3 was officially released in the 6 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 6

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UK at the end of June 2014. The LG G4 should be here around the same time this summer.

LG G Flex 2 The G4 isn't LG's only exciting new smartphone for 2015. At CES 2015 it unveiled the G Flex 2, a curved-screen handset. The G Flex 2 is a 5.5in-screen smartphone with a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 octacore chip, and it features self-healing technology.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Everyone always bangs on about Samsung's Galaxy S line-up, but it's the Note series that really impresses. The Note 4 was unveiled at a Samsung Unpacked event prior to September's IFA tradeshow (3 September 2014), and right now sits at the top of our fastest smartphone and best phablet charts. The Note 5 won't be released until September 2015, but it's going to be well worth the wait.

New Nexus 6 2015 In 2012 we had the Nexus 4, then in 2013 the Nexus 5 and, on 15 October 2014, the Nexus 6. We can't ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 7 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 7

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possibly be about to get a new Nexus 7, since that's already a tablet, so we're going for new Nexus 6 2015. It'll likely run Android M, and be unveiled in October 2015 with a November 2015 on sale date. Whereas Google offered flagship specs with mid-range prices for the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5, the Nexus 6 is more costly at £499. We're hoping Google will go back to its excellent-value roots with the new Nexus 6 2015.

Xiaomi Mi Note and Xiaomi Mi Note Pro Xiaomi has officially unveiled its Mi Note and Mi Note Pro, with the latter hailed as the most powerful phone in the world. Both offer staggering value at £244 and £350 respectively, given their amazing specs. These two Chinese phones are fitted with 5.7in curved screens – the Mi Note full-HD and the Note Pro Quad HD. They Mi Note Pro in particular


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should offer unrivalled performance, thanks to a 2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 64-bit octacore chip, a massive 4GB of RAM and Adreno 430 graphics. And still it's thinner than the iPhone 6 Plus. There's loads more to drool over in Xiaomi's juicy spec sheet too.

OnePlus Two The OnePlus One is an amazing phone if you've managed to get hold of one. It's priced from £229 but has the spec to match a £600 smartphone, hence OnePlus marketing it as a 2014 flagship killer. According to OnePlus co-founder Carl pei, the OnePlus Two will surprise us, and is likely to focus on flagship-rivalling design rather than specs. He told our sister site PC World the OnePlus Two would arrive in June 2015, along with a second model – perhaps a OnePlus Mini? We expect to see a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, 4GB of RAM, a 3300mAh battery and a 5.5in 2K screen.

Tesco Hudl smartphone The Hudl tablet has seen phenomenal success, allowing the masses to enter the world of tablet computing. Tesco's taking a slightly different tack with its smartphone, however, which will be a high-end device with an aggressive price. Just the type of device we get excited about. The Tesco Hudl smartphone was supposed to be here in time for Christmas 2014, but Tesco put the project on hold. Despite recent financial problems causing Tesco to sell off its Broadband & Homephone and Blinkbox services, it remains committed to its mobile business. ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 9 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 9

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Nokia N1 This one's a definite: having sold off its Lumia brand of smartphones to Microsoft, Nokia is shifting focus to tablets. The N1 may be another Android tablet to add to the already huge list, but Nokia's innovative Z Launcher certainly adds more value to the package. Another bonus is the expected sub-£200 price, which isn't bad considering the specs: it will be a lot cheaper than the iPad mini with which it shares quite a few on-paper specs. It's expected to become available in February.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 2 Sooner or later, Samsung will launch new tablets in 2015. The Tab S impressed us back in June 2014, 10 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 10

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and the firm is sure to update the two models – potentially keeping the same 8.4 and 10.5-inch screen sizes. Since the original models had 32-bit processors, the most obvious upgrade will be to 64-bit chips. They'll also run Android Lollipop, just like virtually every other Android device which will launch in 2015. Expect the Tab S 2 in July.

Tesco Hudl 3 Tesco has seen huge success with its own-brand tablet, the Hudl, scoring another win with the followup – the Hudl 2 in 2014. Given that the new model is bigger than the original, it's impossible to say what the Hudl 3 will be like. You can be sure it will be cheap, though. Even if the third Hudl gets a 9in screen, it should be one of the best-value around. Expect the Hudl 3 in September.

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Best new products from CES 2015 Find out what caught our eye in Las Vegas at CES 2015 as we round up the best new products LG G Flex 2 It seems LG isn't giving up on the idea of a curved screen with the G Flex 2. It has a smaller screen at 5.5in and a higher resolution at Full HD – two much needed improvements. It can self-heal in 10 seconds and it's also the first phone we've seen with a 64-bit Snapdragon 810 processor. Price TBC

Smarter Wi-Fi Coffee Machine From the makers of the iKettle, the Wi-Fi Coffee Machine is a smart, er, coffee machine. This shiny kitchen gadget will brew you coffee (straight from the bean) while you're still in bed or as you walk in the front door. With the iOS or Android app, you can select how much you want and it can even adjust the strength based on how well you slept. £99 inc VAT

Alcatel OneTouch Watch Wearable tech was big a CES 2015 this year and Alcatel's OneTouch Watch is a smartwatch and activity tracker in one. It 12 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 12

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will track your movements, provide notifications and has an optical heart rate sensor. It will be compatible with iOS and Android. $150

Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 Wireless Sennheiser has decided to ditch the wires on its premium headphones. The Momentum 2.0 Wireless are equipped with Bluetooth and NFC. You'll get a 22-hour battery life and active noisecancellation technology. £289

Razer Forge TV The Razer Forge TV might look like an insignificant black box but is in fact a media streamer and games console in one. The device runs Android TV and comes with Google Cast support. The controller for gaming is optional. $99 ($149 with controller) ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 13 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 13

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Parott RNB6 Car tech is getting bigger with the imminent arrival of Google's Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Parrot's RNB6 is ready for both despite running on Android 5.0 Lollipop and will arrive later this year. It features climate control, voice commands parking assist and loads more. Price TBC

Saygus V2 If you keep running out of storage on your smartphone then check out the Saygus V2. It can support up to 320 GB thanks to dual microSD card slots plus 64 GB of internal space. It also has a fingerprint scanner, IR blaster, wireless charging and a waterproof case. Price TBC 14 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 14

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Sony Smartwatch 3 Stainless Steel Edition Sony has announced a Stainless Steel version of its Smartwatch 3, which will roll out globally in February. It also announced a SmartWatch 3 holder so owners can use any 24mm strap with the device. The wearable still features a 1.6in LCD Transflective screen, IP68 rating, GPS and a microUSB port. £189

Withings Activité Pop Withings wowed us with the Activité watch but it's a pricey piece of kit. The Activité Pop is more affordable with its silicone strap and PVD coasted case in a choice of colours. The analogue dials show the time and the progress to your daily goal but it can also track sleep. £119


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BEST FREE PARENTAL CONTROL SOFTWARE How to make a tablet or smartphone safe for your kids to use


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NEXUS 6 Allows separate user profiles via Android Lollipop

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ntil recently, ensuring your children remained safe online was a reasonably simple affair. Often the only computer they used was the family PC, which could be set up with parental control software that would limit the web browser and instant messaging chats, and hopefully prevent them handing over passwords or financial and personal details. These applications also provided a way to limit the time that kids spent on the computer, and some packages even offered ways to keep an eye on what they were doing. But with the advent of mobile technology, this landscape has changed rapidly. Now it’s not uncommon for a family to have tablets, laptops and phones that can access information online, and keeping control of all these devices can feel like a Sisyphean task. Android Advisor is here to help, with this guide on how you can use system settings, device features and parental control software to chase the digital wolves from your doors.


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Before we move on to the various software and hardware solutions, though, it’s important to point out that none of these things can replace the unique role of a parent or guardian. "Talking to your child is one of the best ways to keep them safe," states the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC). "Preventing your children from using the internet or mobile phones won’t keep them safe online, so it’s important to have conversations that help your child understand how to stay safe and what to do if they ever feel scared or uncomfortable." Creating an awareness of the wonderful possibilities the internet holds is a very positive

None of these safeguards can replace the unique role of a parent or guardian approach, but it should definitely be augmented with conversations about the potential dangers of inappropriate content, cyberbullying and talking to strangers. As your child grows older they will also need different levels of supervision, and conversations should be ongoing, rather than just having ‘the one’. Many schools now include these subjects in lessons, which gives you an excellent opportunity to continue the discussion at home. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t implement software restrictions to safeguard their internet access. So much hard-core material is available online within a few key presses, that it would be foolish to let your

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little ones loose in such a jungle without protection. But preparing your child for eventual exposure to something adult is the wisest course, as even if you successfully lock down your own home and devices, there will always be friends at school with tablets or phones and unfettered internet access. In the end, you are still the parent and the one who remains in charge. If you feel your child is ignoring warnings, or actively seeking out the wrong sites, then you can remove their internet privileges or move them back into the centre of the house where you can monitor their behaviour. While some software does allow you to keep tabs on the internet activity of your children, it is best to tell them in advance that you are doing this. A child’s trust in you could easily be damaged if they thought you were secretly spying on them and eavesdropping on their every conversation. Again, and we really can’t stress this strongly enough, talk to your children rather than rely on a software solution. Unless you do that, then the settings and applications featured here to help you protect your young family will be of limited value.

Ways to make the internet safe While there exist many tweaks and features within browsers and software that can make your internet access more secure, one almost foolproof step you can take is to go to the source itself – the router. That little box with all its flashing lights is your gateway to the web, and it’s possible to use special apps such as Family Shield by OpenDNS to directly filter all the content that pours forth from its glowing heart. 20 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 20

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We have a guide showing you how to install Family Shield, but before you rush over there (it’s at tinyurl.com/nt2dueh) it’s worth noting it is a unilateral setting – there is very little in the way of fine adjustment. You choose from either high, moderate or low filters, but the setting applies to everybody on the network, not just your children. There are ways around this, as explained in the guide, but they can be complicated. It’s not just Family Shield that suffers from this broad-brush approach. Many internet service providers, such as Sky, BT and Virgin, offer family ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 21 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 21

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security filters, but once again these are blanket apps that apply across all content, reducing the internet to a children’s version for everyone. We have seen improvement recently, though, with products such as Sky’s Broadband Shield

On Android you are able to set up user profiles with differing security levels

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allowing you to set time limits, so access is opened up after a watershed time when the kids are in bed. Obviously the advantage of this approach is that all devices connecting to your home Wi-Fi will have the same restrictions, so you don’t need to go around setting up each tablet or PC. Remember, though, that Broadband Shield doesn’t apply to 3G or 4G signals on mobile phones, or any other Wi-Fi connections that are in range and don’t have passwords.

User settings If the nuclear approach of router-based solutions feels too restrictive or cumbersome, then you can work on an individual device level. Depending on the operating system you’re running, the approaches are slightly different. On both Google’s platforms – Chrome and Android – you are able to set up different user profiles so that a number of people can share the same device, but not the same security levels. If your children have their own Google accounts, these profiles are independent of 22 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 22

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one another and therefore harder to control, as the settings are always available to the user. For younger children, the answer here is to create what are called supervised user accounts on the Chrome browser. These are linked to your full Google account, but allow you to set limits for the websites they can visit, as well as keeping a log of their online habits. If you share an Android tablet such as the Nexus 7, then a similar feature is restricted user accounts. They are easy to set up via the Settings option on the User menu, and give the administrator (you) the ability to select which apps the account can access, and block any purchases or even the app store itself. It isn’t a completely satisfactory solution, though, as content settings are still available within YouTube and Chrome, so explicit material could still

KINDLE CHILD Customisable controls


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HUDL 2 Safety built in

sneak through. In many ways it’s more a feature to stop your children running up bills through in-app purchases or installing random apps on your device. With the release of Android 5.0 (Lollipop), Google has also created for the first time the option to create separate profiles on an Android phone. While this can be useful in short bursts, as you can disable phone calls and SMS messaging, for example, it’s not really suitable for children as such, as it doesn’t let you limit the things they can access online.

Child-friendly tablets There has been a real rise in child-focused tablets over the past couple of years, so it’s not always necessary to buy a fully fledged device and then try to restrict it. Some newer Android devices we’ve seen arrive complete with their own suite of parental controls already installed. The Tesco Hudl 2 features child safety settings that allow parents to restrict when their children are allowed to go online, for how long, and the sites they can see. The Amazon Fire 24 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 24

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range of tablets (such as the Fire HD 6) is also childfriendly, with its FreeTime controls offering the same level of customisation as the Hudls, while also letting you share specific books and movies from your Amazon account with your children. FreeTime even has advanced settings that can withhold access to entertainment apps until userdefined targets for educational tasks (reading, for example) have been achieved. We recently conducted a series of reviews to find the best childfriendly tablets on the market and were pleased to see that the range is wide and varied in its approach. It’s something to bear in mind when choosing a tablet as a gift for your child.

YouTube and Facebook

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Two of the most popular websites around are Facebook and YouTube. Facebook is something of a mixed bag when it comes to content. There are no obvious filters that can restrict explicit content, although the friends you follow have a great

Preventing your children using the internet on mobile phones won't keep them safe online effect on the kind of material that appears in your newsfeed. You can block individual users and apps in the settings options, but that’s about the extent of your controls. It’s worth remembering that the minimum age requirement for a Facebook account is 13 years old,

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so it’s not really intended to be entirely child-friendly. Many of the family security software packages available now often include social media features, so if your child is a regular Facebook user, it would be worth investigating some of these. YouTube is another huge draw for younger users, especially because of the huge number of music videos on the site. Google does provide a safe mode option; once applied, it covers any instance of YouTube that logs in with the same account. On your PC all you need to do is navigate to the YouTube site, scroll to the bottom of the page, and click on the ‘Safety:’ box. Here you’ll find an explanation of how it works and the restrictions it applies. To set up the safe mode on a tablet is slightly different. On Android devices, launch the YouTube app, then tap the three dots in the top right-hand corner. This opens the Settings menu, where you’ll need to choose Search and then tap on the SafeSearch option. It’s not foolproof, but it will at least limit the amount of unsuitable material that might otherwise get through. QUSTODIO Cross-platform protection


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YouTube's Safe mode isn't foolproof, but it limits the amount of unsuitable material that might otherwise get through

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Parental control software Many of the software solutions currently on offer cover pretty much every platform available, and also usually come with some form of remote control so you can adjust settings without needing access to the device itself. Norton Family, McAfee Family Protection, AV Family Safety and Net Nanny are among the prime examples of cross-platform protection, each providing an impressive level of security for your family. The initial setup of dedicated software is more time-consuming than simply adjusting settings, as you’ll need to install the software on every device individually. Once this is done, the content your children can access should be far more regulated than the often generic approach of browsers and profiles. One way mobile apps often implement this is by replacing your existing browser with a purposebuilt version from the security company. There’s also a financial element to consider, as many of the advanced features found in these suites usually appear in the premium versions, and might need to be renewed annually at a cost of around £30. In the long run, though, if you’re serious about protecting your children from the dangers lurking behind a web browser, it’s a worthwhile investment.


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A good example of dedicated software is Qustodio, which offers a decent blend of control and flexibility, without users needing a degree in network administration to understand its features. There’s also a free version that allows you to install it on one device and create one user profile, which would be a good way to experiment with the service. If you think it’s useful, then, much like the others mentioned here, you can upgrade to a year-long premium package for just under £30. Qustodio’s clean interface makes it very easy to understand, and you control everything via a web portal that displays the sites your child is visiting and 28 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 28

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how long they are there. It also lets you change the content filters and set usage time limits, all remotely. It’s not perfect, as we were able to avoid a safety filter on sports sites by visiting The Guardian’s site and then navigating to the Football section without detection, but in many cases it’s an effective safeguard. There can be no doubt that the job of a parent has been made a little more challenging by the internet. While we’ve gathered together as much helpful information as possible in this feature, and there are some fine tools available, in truth none of them is a guarantee that your child will be safe online. That’s not to say that they won’t help, but, as we made clear at the start, they can only be fully effective if they are used in conjunction with your own presence and engagement with your children. Combining many of the features, though, will at least limit the potential of unsavoury material appearing before their young eyes. Ensure that the various safe modes are enabled on search engines, add restricted profiles if possible, and invest in one of the safety suites we mention above. This will get you a good way along the road to security. But most of all, remember to take time out to talk with your young ones about how they use the web, what they like and what their friends are into. It could just be the very best way to protect them.

Remember to take time out to talk with your young ones about how they use the web

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How to secure your new phone or tablet for free Malware is yet to be a huge problem for Android, but it's always better to be safe than sorry

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enerally speaking you can get away without installing antivirus on an Android phone or tablet, but there are malicious apps to be found outside the Google Play store, and installing them is as simple as unticking a box in the Settings that lets you download apps from unknown sources. Plus, Android is now the most popular mobile OS in the world and, as we saw with Windows, that means it will become increasingly attractive to wrongdoers. Since AVG antivirus is available for free, you might as well play it safe and install it.


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Launch the Google Play store on your phone or tablet. You probably have an icon for this on your home screen; if not, open the apps menu and look for what looks like a white shopping bag with a triangular icon on top. If this i s the first time you've opened Google Play you will be prompted to accept the terms and conditions. You will also need to have already set up a Google account on your device (if you bypassed this when you first turned on the device, add a Google account in the Settings menu). With Google Play open, tap the magnifying glass search icon in the top right corner and begin typing 'AVG Free'. Tap on the top result - AVG Free antivirus for Android – and on the next screen choose what should be the top option: Antivirus Security – FREE. On the next screen you'll see more details about the app, including its user rating and some screenshots. Tap the green Install button, then press


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Accept to allow AVG to access certain features on your device. Once it has installed the green Install button will change to Open – tap this. Before you can begin using AVG you need to accept its terms and conditions, so hit Continue on the first screen. You'll then be prompted to upgrade to AVG Pro. Don't do this unless you want to: the antivirus part of AVG is free and, although the extras may be nice to have, they aren't necessary. If this is a new phone or tablet, that's all you really need to do. By default AVG will scan your device once a week, although you can change this within the Protection menu. If this is an older phone or tablet that you're only just getting around to installing an antivirus on, hit Scan Now. As you can see in our screenshot, AVG found two 'threats'. You don't need to blindly accept these warnings; just use your common sense. If it keeps flagging up an app or setting you want to keep, just tick the Ignore box to remove it from subsequent scans. To keep AVG running at the best of its ability, make sure you keep it up to date. Launch Google Play and click the three horizontal lines icon in the top left corner, then choose Settings. Under autoupdate apps choose to either Auto-update apps at any time or to update apps over Wi-Fi only (if you have a limited mobile data plan choose the latter). From time to time you may still find an app update requests your permission, and this will be because it wants you to accept its updated access requests. 32 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 32

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Protect Android from the latest threats To keep your device safe from threats such as WebView you also need to keep it up to date. Here's how

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WebView bug that could allow a hacker to take control of a device and affects 60 percent of Android phones and Android tablets will not be patched by Google. You can takes steps to fix the problem yourself, however. WebView is part of the tech used to render web pages in devices running Android 4.3 and lower, and a major bug within it means it could be exploited by a hacker wanting to take control of your device. From Android 4.4 onward the WebKit rendering ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 33

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engine within WebView was replaced with a Chromium-based version known as Blink, so KitKat and Lollipop devices are not affected. However, the huge number of older and low-end Androids still in circulation today means that 60 percent of phones and tablets – more than a billion devices – are affected. As of 5 January, the vast majority of Android users were still running Android 4.3 Jelly Bean or below (60.9 percent), with only 39.1 percent running Android 4.4 KitKat or 5.0 Lollipop. Google is in a difficult position. Although it could develop a patch if it was so inclined (it is not, given the age of Jelly Bean), it can only recommend that its hardware partners develop and roll out a patch to their customers. And given that it is largely old and low-end devices that are stuck on Android Jelly Bean or lower, that's not going to happen. The good news is you can fix the flaw yourself by updating your phone to Android 4.4 KitKat or Android 5.0 Lollipop.

How to protect against the WebView bug If your phone is not rooted it will be able to receive OTA (over the air) updates. It's quite possible that one is available for your device for some time and you've until now ignored it. Updating your device could not only improve any stability issues but bring new features. It's important to note, however, that unless you own a Nexus device (and in which case, you should already be running Android Lollipop) the software updates are the responsibility of the device manufacturer and not Google. If your device is from a well-known brand such as Samsung, Sony, HTC, 34 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 34

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LG or Motorola, then you could well be in luck. If it comes from a company less well known, or is a very old or very cheap device, the manufacturer is under no obligation to provide any software updates. To check whether an update is available for your phone or tablet, open the Settings menu (tap the cog icon in the app menu) and look for an option called About phone or About tablet. What you see next may differ from device to device, but in most cases

you'll see a menu option called Software update or System updates – tap on this. If an update is available, you will now be given the chance to download and install it. Before you do so, check that your phone or tablet is connected to Wi-Fi, that it has at least 50 percent of its battery remaining (plug it into a mains socket if it doesn't), and that anything you want to keep is backed up just in case. If, however, you open the Software Update menu and get a message that 'The file in the SD card does not exist' (or similar), it's likely that your phone is rooted. If this is the case you will have to download and manually install Android updates. ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 35 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 35

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What does Google know about you? How to check what data Google holds on you – and what you can do about it

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n order for Google to put a name to you, you have to have a Google account. Without one Google may well have anonymous data about you as a cookie on a laptop- or smartphone browser, but it is impossible to know what data that is ( just as it is impossible for Google to know who you are). So all of the following processes rely on you being logged into your Google account. I bet you have one, too. Ever logged in to an Android phone or tablet, used Gmail, or used YouTube as a registered user?


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The email and password you use for those things (or Google Calender, Google+, Google Docs etc) is your Google Account. You may – as I do – have several. In which case you will need to repeat all of what follows for each account. Amuse yourself by spotting the differences between each account. First, let's check the basics.

Search history and account basics Google used to be only a search engine. Remember that? Almost certainly you still use Google Search, a lot. And Google collects a lot of data about the searches you make, as it says a lot about you. Sign in and head over to https://www.google.com/history/ and view the search history that Google holds about you. It's actually quite freaky to see what Google knows you searched for. You can also see your YouTube search history at https://www.youtube.com/ feed/history/search_history . More prosaic but also critical basic information can be found in your account details. Sign in and head to https://myaccount.google.com/ to see the basic data you gave to Google. Head to https://www. google.com/settings/dashboard and you can see records of an array of Google tools, and your activity with them. We'll click into a couple of these further along, but this is an important dashboard for finding out what Google knows about you.

What Google thinks it knows about you This is where it gets interesting. And also where you find the ability to opt-in and -out of interestbased advertising. The principle reason Google tracks all this data about you is so that it can more ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 37 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 37

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successfully target you with advertising, in order to pay for the free services you access. Depending on your viewpoint (or demographic) this is either a sinister menace or a cool way of getting free stuff. But it is interesting to find out just what Google thinks it knows about you, and how it uses that to target ads your way. Sign in and head to http://www. google.com/settings/ads/ . You will see what Google considers to be your gender and age, as well as your interests. If you use Google+ – and you tell the truth – you will find the basic data is largely correct. It is the interests that are – well – interesting. When I do this test with my work email account Google thinks I am some sort of tech maniac. Which makes sense. But on my personal Gmail accout my interests are naturally more broad. This matters because within this page you have the option to opt out of interest-based advertising. These are adverts targetted at you because Google thinks you will be interested in their content. Personally I am happy to remain in – in part because I earn my living from advertising, but mainly because it amuses me that all the adverts I see at work are for tech. If you are less happy, as well as opting out of interest-targeted ads, you can also opt out of 38 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 38

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allowing website owners to track you via Google Analytics. Head over to the Google Analytics opt-out page: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Where Google thinks you have been One of the options available from the Google Settings Dashboard outlined above, is the ability to find out where Google thinks you have been. You can head there directly at https://maps.google. com/locationhistory. Interesting to me here is that despite me using an Android phone into which both my Google Accounts are synched, Google has no location data on me. My phone by default doesn't share that data.

What devices, apps and services have access to your Google data In many ways this is the most important test of all. One of the benefits of Android is that it lets you know what permissions are required by each app you install on Android. But you encounter myriad Google apps and services on multiple devices. This page: https://security.google.com/settings/security/ permissions lists the devices and services, and what access they have. Click on a listed device and you can see further details and the opportunity to revoke, on the righthand side. ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 39 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 39

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Automate tasks and save time with IFTTT IFTTT is a simple app that lets you create quick shortcuts to completing common tasks. Here's how to use it

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ur lives get busier with each year that passes, and tech has only exacerbated the problem. IFTTT lets you regain control of the multiple apps vying for your attention, letting you create 'recipes' that automate common tasks. Here's how to use IFTTT for Android.

The purpose of IFTTT IFTTT was designed to simplify and streamline the process of multi-channel integration, enabling its users to engage with technology in a smarter way. 40 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 40

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IFTTT acts as a link between multiple channels, which at present include mobile phone apps, social media platforms and email accounts (to name just three). IFTTT gives users the opportunity to implement action sequences that allow different channels to communicate with each other. There are three main principles on which IFTTT is built – 'task', 'trigger' and 'action'. The task is what you want IFTTT to do. The triggers are what will kick off the action you want the app to perform. Each of these elements is known as an ingredient and together the string is known as a recipe. If, for example, you want to receive a text message every time you get a direct message on Twitter, you can build an IFTTT recipe that will trigger an SMS task every time the Twitter DM action is employed.

Setting up IFTTT on your device When you download IFTTT from Google Play you will be able to view a home screen that displays your recent activity. Since you’re a new user your activity list will be empty, which means you will need to start adding to it. To do this you can either choose from existing recipes or opt to build your own.

How to use a preset IFTTT recipe To use a pre-built recipe, head to the Browse section where hundreds of recipes are ready to be used. Browsing IFTTT recipes is pretty straightforward; you can sort by keyword, what’s trending, and very often you will see special collections of recipes organised by topic (e.g. recipes for business owners). When you find a recipe you like, all you need to do is click ‘Add recipe’ and it will automatically integrate with ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 41 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 41

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your phone. Sometimes you need to download additional channels or authorise certain apps to work with IFTTT, but that’s all pretty simple.

How to create your own IFTTT recipes There are hundreds of pre-made recipes available to add to your home screen, however you may find that you prefer to create your own, individuallytailored recipes. Creating a recipe is simple: open the ‘My Recipe’ section and select add. You will then be prompted to select the trigger and action components of your recipe. Finish by selecting the final task to be performed when the action has been fulfilled, then remember to save your recipe.

Top time-saving IFTTT recipes Now you know how to find and create IFTTT recipes, you should be ready to start putting the app to work. To help you, we’ve compiled a list of five recipes that could save you time in your daily life. 1: Pull articles to Feedly Designed to make sure you stay up-to-date with the world, this recipe works by pulling in news and sports stories from a variety of channels and organising everything in Feedly so you can read it at your leisure. This pre-set recipe is available for both iOS and Android. 2: When I arrive at work, mute my phone and turn off notifications Have you ever experienced 42 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 42

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the embarrassment of having your phone go off in the middle of an important meeting? This can never happen if you use this recipe. It works by combining your phone’s location with its notification settings, to ensure that it automatically switches to mute as soon as you set foot in the office. 3: When I leave work show a to-do list This recipe could be useful for busy parents and anyone else whose day doesn’t end when they leave work. This recipe also combines your location with your phone’s notification system to save you from having to fiddle around with notes and calendars. This works both on iOS and Android. 4. Get a weekly report of all completed tasks Report writing and keeping track of tasks can be timeconsuming, especially if you have multiple lists. Certain productivity apps can integrate with IFTTT to create a weekly report of both work and nonwork related accomplishments, so you have all the information in one place. Apps you can use to do this include Todoist, Wunderlist, Things and numerous others. All you have to do is select the channel for each trigger and action, and the task will be ready to use. 5. Back up social media photos in Dropbox With this recipe, you can back up the photos you share on social media in one safe place. It’s useful ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 43 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 43

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The best way to check out IFTTT is to try it for yourself and see which recipes might simplify your daily digital life if you like sharing photos with friends who don’t use the same platforms as you. Instead of opening each social media app, downloading and emailing the photos, this recipe can save you time by simply sharing the link to your Dropbox folder.

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Bonus recipe: Finding a lost phone Losing your phone at home is so annoying. You know it’s in the house somewhere but hours of searching has proved fruitless. This IFTTT recipe integrates Gmail with the call function of your phone. So, next time you lose your phone, just send yourself an email and your phone will start ringing.

Is IFTTT for you? The best way to check out the potential benefits is by trying IFTTT out for yourself and seeing which recipes might simplify your daily digital life. As mentioned there are many existing recipes to show you the kind of thing that is possible, some of which are practical and useful, others which are fun and entertaining. It’s not difficult to get to grips with this piece of technology either, so you’ll soon be creating your own tailored recipes and seeing for yourself whether IFTTT is an online saviour or just another piece of superfluous software. This article was written by John Summers from inkexpress.co.uk.


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Smartglasses just got exciting... ...And then Google dropped Glass. But this is not the end for smart eyewear, and we're glad

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hen I first saw the Google Glass I didn't really get it. Many people hate wearing glasses as it is, so why would we want to wear huge, clunky glasses that don't actually help our vision just to get information displayed right in front of our eyes? Then I tried it out and I thought, okay, I think I'm starting to get it. It's clever, it actually can be useful for navigation and even for taking a quick photo, but is it really worth all of the unwanted attention from ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 45


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passers by and the whopping price tag of £1,000 just to find a slightly speedier route without using my smartphone? Or beating my jogging time record because of the fear of getting eaten by zombies? Not really. But my first experience of Google Glass did make me think: this could actually be the future. If adoption becomes widespread enough that wearing smartglasses doesn't make you feel silly, they could be far more useful than smartwatches. After all, smartwatches still offer very similar capabilities as smartphones, just in a more convenient place. Smartglasses, on the other hand, could change the way we view the world and the way we interact with it. During CES 2015, I had the opportunity to try three new pairs of smartglasses: Toshiba Glass, Sony SmartEyeglass and Sony SmartEyeglass Attach. I came away from them feeling excited. One of the apps being shown off by Sony was a speech


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translation app, which made me imagine what life would be like if everyone wore smartglasses. Picture this: you go to a country where your knowledge of the language is minimal, to say the least. Ordinarily, speaking to a local would involve strangely accented English (why do we always think this will help!?) and flamboyant gestures that probably make no sense at all. If you were both wearing smartglasses you could speak to them in English, which would be automatically translated into their language (let's say Japanese) for them to read on their smartglass display. They can then speak back to you in Japanese and you'd immediately be able to read it in English. Cool, right? Speech recognition is getting better by the day, so all it would take is for the technology to be built into smartglasses and for smartglasses to be adopted ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 47 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 47

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around the world, which is certainly feasible when you consider the uptake of smartphones and tablets, and recently selfie sticks (which in my opinion make you look far more stupid than smartglasses do). While you're in Japan, you might want to visit some of the coolest, quirkiest places, or the places that serve the best food. Instead of trying to find out where are those places using your phone or a guide book, you could launch an app on your smartglasses that shows you where those places are as you look around, and offers up a crowd-sourced star rating, so you'd immediately be able to spot where the five star places are and head in that direction. Perhaps one of those places is a museum, and that museum has a dedicated smartglasses app available to download for free. That app could act as your tourguide, displaying information directly beside artifacts or paintings, for example, pointing to specific areas of interest. A vase that has a big chunk missing from it and has faded in colour could be brought back to life


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using virtual reality, for instance, or famous figures could appear in front of your eyes wearing the very outfit that's in the display case. I think we're still a long way off from this future I'm imagining, but the more I think about it, the more I think it's plausible. After all, there's going to come a time when smartphones aren't enough for us, and smartglasses could be the next big thing. We'll be looking back at 2015 thinking: remember when we had to get our smartphones out of our pocket? Pfft, what fools – how did we manage?

And then Google killed Glass… Just as we started to get excited over Google Glass and smartglasses in general, Google announced it was closing its Explorer Programme. Fortunately, it's not the end for Google Glass. In a Google+ post it wrote: "Since we first met, interest in wearables has exploded and today it’s one of the most exciting areas in technology. Glass at Work has been growing and we’re seeing incredible developments with Glass in the workplace. As we look to the road ahead, we realize that we’ve outgrown the lab and so we’re officially “graduating” from Google[x] to be our own team here at Google. We’re thrilled to be moving even more from concept to reality. "As part of this transition, we’re closing the Explorer Program so we can focus on what’s coming next. January 19 will be the last day to get the Glass Explorer Edition. In the meantime, we’re continuing to build for the future, and you’ll start to see future versions of Glass when they’re ready. (For now, no peeking.)" ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 49 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 49

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Google Glass vs Sony SmartEyeglass vs Toshiba Glass We look at the differences between Google Glass and some of its newest rivals, which were unveiled at CES

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ou've probably heard of Google Glass, Google's smartglasses that first made it into the wild in 2013. They've hit the headlines recently when Google announced that it is putting an end to its Google Glass Explorer Program and will stop selling the Explorer Edition of the smartglasses. But contrary to popular opinion, the company isn't


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quiting the smartglasses market completely. In fact, it's working on a new, improved version of its smartglasses that could launch as a consumer product from the get-go. What you may not know is that Google isn't the only company investing time and money into smartglasses, with Sony and Toshiba among the other tech giants showing off their head-mounted wearable tech at CES 2015 in January. After trying out all three smartglasses, we've put together this comparison to give you an idea of the similarities and differences between them.

Display One of the biggest differences between Google, Sony and Toshiba's smartglasses is the technology used to create the display, which enables a translucent image to appear in the top right corner of your vision.


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We'll start with Google, which has a prism projector that floats in front of the wearer's right eye. It's quite thick, and means that the plastic casing sticks quite far out from your head, but it's the most clear and effective display out of the smartglasses in this round-up so far. All of the smartglasses in this round-up are prototypes, but Google Glass definitely feels like it's the closest to being a final product. It's the only device out of those compared here that's has been available to buy, but Google explains that the Google Glass Explorer Edition 2.0, that sold for £1,000 aims to let "people from all walks of life play an active role in shaping Glass ahead of a wide consumer launch," which is really just the company's way of saying it's not completely finished yet but they wanted to sell it anyway. Toshiba's offering, similarly named Toshiba Glass, is in early prototype form, unveiled for the first time in October 2014. It uses different display technology that, while not yet as clear and crisp as Google Glass's, could be a better solution in the long term.


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Instead of having a prism of glass protruding in front of your face, the Toshiba Glass manages to look more like an ordinary pair of glasses, with a projector attached to the right arm of the glasses, which is much more discreet (though you'll probably still get a few stares), particularly if you have long hair to hide it. That projector beams the image directly onto the special reflective lens in front of your right eye. The size of the image you'll see is smaller than the one you see while using the Google Glass, but that's not always a bad thing. The Sony SmartEyeglass uses a different technology for the display again, but this time it's in just black and green rather than colour like the ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 53 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 53

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Google and Toshiba offerings. It's clever though, projecting the image along the lens through the black portions at the edges of the frames. It means that the frames themselves are thick, though, making the wearer look pretty stupid, but Sony might manage to slim down the tech to make the glasses more attractive in future iterations. As we've mentioned before, the Sony SmartEyeglasses are still in prototype form.

The final product we want to mention in this comparison is Sony's SmartEyeglass Attach, which we think could be the most successful commercially. Sony SmartEyeglass Attach clips onto the side of your own glasses, and is reasonably discrete. Like the Google Glass, it uses a prism for the display that can be repositioned closer or further away from your eye to help with focusing, though Sony has managed to make the SmartEyeglass Attach prism tiny and therefore much less obvious. Unlike the full SmartEyeglass, the Attach has a colour display.

Design Taking a closer look at the overall design of the smartglasses, which is hugely important for wearable 54 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 54

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tech, particularly when you're going to be wearing it on your face… Google Glass is one of the most attractive so far, but it's far from dainty and many will feel a bit silly wearing it, at least at first. It's available to buy in several different colours, including black, white, blue, brown or a sort of orangey red. The standard frame is a metal band that wraps around your head, sitting just above your eyebrows and tucking behind your ears. Two curved pieces of metal with plastic nibs fit the band onto your nose to keep it in place. There are no actual lenses in the frames. Google offers different frames, including frames for prescription glasses and sunglasses. Toshiba Glass has a huge range of frames, varying from normal-looking glasses in different designs to sports sunglasses and protective goggles. As mentioned above, there's a projector attached to the side of the glasses, and it's brilliantly small. There is a catch, though. Inside the portion attached to the frames is the projector and the projector alone. ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 55 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 55

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The battery and other essential technology is housed in a separate component connected through a wire that is always on show, so it's not an ideal solution. They are foldable, though, which makes them more portable than those from Google and Sony. The same goes for the SmartEyeglass, which is the least attractive option with clunky and honestly rather ugly frames that still require an external component wired up to the glasses themselves. The Sony SmartEyeglass attach, on the other hand, is just a small device that will be able to attach to glasses that the consumer already owns. This means that, not only is it portable, but you also don't need to commit to wearing it all day. It's reasonably small, but the prototype we tried does require a wire leading to an external component.

Features When it comes to functionality, the various smartglasses listed here can help you achieve many of the same things. Sony SmartEyeglass, Sony SmartEyeglass Attach and Google Glass all have cameras built-in for features such as taking photographs and apps including facial recognition. Toshiba has left out the camera for now, but there's no reason the company won't decide to add one at a later date. Of the four devices, Google Glass is the only one that really seems to have got interaction down pat. There's a touchpad built-in to the outer edge 56 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 56

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of the component on the side of the glasses that can detect swipes, taps and double taps. The smartglasses can also be controlled using head movements and by speaking to it. To activate the speech recognition, users simply need to say "OK Glass, and then issue commands such as "take a photo" or "Get directions to". Sony's SmartEyeglass has a touchpad on the puck-shaped attachment that is wired but to the glasses. It also offers voice control. There's less information out there about how the Sony SmartEyeglass Attach would be controlled, as the prototype on display at CES 2015 was hooked up to a repeating demo. There doesn't seem to be a touchpad, so it could be limited to just speech. The same goes for the Toshiba Glass, which was also limited to a looping demo at CES. Each of the four devices requires a smartphone in order to work. Google Glass uses bone conduction technology to provide sound, which worked brilliantly during our testing. The speaker in the Sony SmartEyeglass is


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found in the puck-shaped external component, while the Toshiba Glass seems to lack a speaker and microphone completely at the moment.

Apps Where the real purpose of smartglasses begins to become apparent is in the apps available. Google Glass already has lots of apps available, and the number is growing consistently as Google has opened up the SDK to third-party developers. In addition to the expected notifications and navigation apps, Google Glass can also allow you to play virtual reality games, search the web, track activity data, make notes, follow recipes and more. Tesco has recently launched a Google Glass app called Tesco Grocery Glassware to let users view nutritional information and add items to their shopping basket hands-free. Sony SmartEyeglass, SmartEyeglass Attach and Toshiba Glass offer similar apps, and as developers begin exploring new possibilities the app numbers will grow. Specifically, though, Sony SmartEyeglass apps shown off include an AR Shooting game, a speech translation app, a facial recognition app and a navigation/tourism app that shows you where the nearest attractions and shops are, for example. Sony SmartEyeglass Attach offers apps for golfers to show which hole they're at, what the par is and how far away the hole is from their current position, as well as navigation apps for runners and more. Toshiba Glass will first be targeted at businesses, particularly construction and factories with tailored apps for finding stock in warehouses, but apps that 58 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 58

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make following recipes easy and discovering local cuisine while travelling were demoed too.

Price & availability Google Glass is the only prototype out of the four mentioned here that has been available for you to buy in the UK. It did cost £1,000, but the company put an end to its availability on 19 January ahead of the launch of a new version. Meanwhile, Sony suggests that the SmartEyeglass will be available for developers this year and the SmartEyeglass Attach will enter mass production in 2015, while Toshiba says it'll be launching its Glass for businesses this year ahead of a more public release perhaps at the end of this year or beyond. We wouldn't recommend buying any smartglasses yet, unless you're a developer or are prepared to cough up more cash in the near future when much improved versions become available. ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 59 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 59

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Review: UMI Zero The world's thinnest dual-SIM phone proves budget Chinese models can take on the flagships £134 • geekbuying.com •

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e've all heard of Samsung, Sony, HTC, Motorola and LG. UMI? Nope. But this Chinese smartphone manufacturer sells the octa-core Zero, the world's thinnest dual-SIM phone that has some flagship specs and right now is available for a tiny $203 (around £134). Even when it's not on offer it costs less than £300. Is it a steal? Read our UMI Zero smartphone review to find out.


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Price and UK availability

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UMI's Zero isn't officially available in the UK, but our sample was sent to us by Geekbuying.com, which is happy to ship to the UK. The only caveats to buying the UMI Zero from abroad is slightly longer delivery and that the supplied super-fast charger has a twopin plug (we got an adaptor on Amazon for a quid). The usual selling price is $463, which works out around £295, but right now the UMI Zero is on sale at $203 – a staggeringly low £134. Note that you may incur extra charges from Customs, although we had no such problems. Geekbuying.com says it has plenty of stock available.

The UMI Zero is priced well below the flagships with which its spec competes At £134 – or even at £295 – the UMI Zero is priced well below the flagship phones with which its spec competes.

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Design and build The UMI Zero is the world's thinnest dual-SIM smartphone, and at just 6.4mm it's slimmer than even the 6.9mm iPhone 6. Its front and rear glass panels, minimal screen bezels and tall 146mm body remind us of Sony's Xperia line-up, giving it a premium look that also feels good in the hand. This phone is extremely durable, with its glassware protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 3, and the single-piece chassis crafted from aircraftISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 61 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 61

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grade aluminium-magnesium alloy. Nevertheless, the UMI Zero is supplied with a Z-shaped case that clips on to the rear. It's flimsy but light, and slightly raised at the front to protect the screen when placed face down on a flat surface. As with the majority of Android phones you get three touchscreen buttons below the screen, here for Options, Home and Back (long-pressing the Home button brings up the recent apps menu). Unusually the power button is found on the left side below the volume rocker, but it's ergonomically positioned for righthanded users. Meanwhile, on the right you'll find a SIM tray that will accept either two SIMs or one SIM and a microSD card. The 3.5mm headphone jack and Micro-USB charging port are also reversed, with the former at the bottom and latter at the top. On the rear is a small speaker, while the 13Mp camera and dual-LED flash sit not in the middle but at the top-left corner – possibly a result of the Zero's ultra-slim design.


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The UMI Zero is the world's thinnest dual-SIM phone, slimmer even than the iPhone 6 One issue for some users will be the lack of a notification LED when you receive new texts and emails, although since our review a firmware update has corrected this issue (see Software).

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Screen For the display UMI has taken one of Samsung's Super AMOLED panels. Super AMOLED is just like standard AMOLED, but thinner and more energyefficient. AMOLED doesn't require a backlight and produces very good contrast, but can display oversaturated colours – fortunately, though, we quite like this vibrance. The display is 5in with a full-HD resolution of 1920x1080 pixels, equating to a very high pixel density of 441ppi. Text is sharp, images are clear and video looks great.

Hardware and performance UMI's Zero is an octa-core smartphone, running the 2GHz MediaTek MTK6592 Turbo processor with ARM Mali-450MP4 graphics and 2GB of RAM. In comparison to Samsung's Exynos 5410, which combines four ARM Cortex A-15s and four A7s and can only ever run four of its eight cores at once, this MediaTek chip has eight Cortex A8s that can all run simultaneously. ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 63 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 63

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Its significantly stronger multi-core over singlecore performance in Geekbench 3 came as no surprise then, with the UMI turning in 2489- and 445 points respectively. That's a good performance, up there with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 and nVidia Tegra 4 quad-core chips of this world and phones such as the LG G3. We also ran the UMI Zero through SunSpider and GFXBench 3.0, in which is recorded 1090ms and 13fps (T-Rex) respectively. The JavaScript score isn't bad, but the Mali-450MP4 graphics clearly aren't up there with those of the best Android flagships. UMI notes that the MTK6592 Turbo abandons Imagination PowerVR SGX. Nevertheless, we found the Zero fine for watching movies and playing games, although it could become very warm in use. 64 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 64

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Storage, connectivity and extras At this price point the UMI Zero's storage and connectivity specs are perfectly reasonable. You won't get the latest 802.11ac Wi-Fi (maxing out at the more standard 802.11n), NFC or 4G connectivity, but there is Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS. If you're buying a phone from abroad it's important to note the frequency bands on which it operates, and the UMI Zero runs on 2G and 3G bands GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz and WCDMA 900/2100MHz. Storage-wise there's 16GB built-in, and if you're not interested in the phone's dual-SIM functionality you can instead insert a microSD card up to 64GB in capacity. It's either/or, though, not both. Don't forget that this being an Android phone you can also take advantage of Google's own and third-party cloudstorage services.

Cameras

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The UMI Zero is fitted with a 13Mp Sony IMX214 f/1.8 rear camera with a dual-LED flash and fast 0.3-second autofocus, plus an 8Mp front camera that's great for selfies and video chat.It supports several useful modes, including Multi angle view, Panorama, Face beauty, Burst, Live Photo, Gesture Shot and HDR (Gesture Shot and Face beauty also

If you're not interested in the dual-SIM functionality you can instead a microSD card

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work with the front camera). Missing is the ability to add filters and effects, but these can be applied using third-party apps in any case. Photos taken on the UMI Zero were of a decent quality, certainly not to be argued with at this price.

Software Here's the one drawback for some users: the UMI Zero is sold rooted, and is preinstalled with SuperSu from Chainfire (an app that allows for advanced access management of any apps that require root). This may well appeal to tinkerers, but for other users it prevents OTA updates. The UMI Zero runs Android 4.4.2 KitKat, however, which is a fairly recent version of the OS. Just after we published this review UMI contacted us to inform us a firmware update was available 66 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 66

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to download from its website. This update is said tobrings a few fixes and optimisations to the UMi Zero, including enhanced battery performance, new quick toggles, camera optimisations and the addition of notification lights. It's a stock implementation of Android, and includes full access to Google Play. Unusually, apps such as YouTube and Play Music are not preinstalled – if you want them just download them free from Google Play. There are a couple of extras with Smart screen and Air gesture, as seen on Samsung phones, although we didn't manage to get either to work during our testing.

Battery life The UMI Zero is fitted with a high-capacity 2780mAh lithium-polymer battery, and supplied with a special charger (note the two-pin plug) that can charge the battery up to 51 percent in 14 minutes, or give you enough juice to talk for 2.5 hours in five minutes. We did find that the UMI became rather warm during charging, however. In common with other flagship phones it has an Ultra power saving mode that switches off screen colours, background mobile data usage, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and limits the number of apps you can use at any one time to prolong life. You can also schedule times for the phone to switch on and off each day, which will be useful if you want to use it as an alarm clock but not receive irritating middle-ofthe-night calls or waste battery life. With normal use UMI says you can expect 21 hours life, so you'll need to charge it every night. ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 67 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 67

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Hands-on review: LG G Flex 2 LG's second curved-screen phone marks a huge improvement over the original

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fter launching one of the first curved screen smartphones, LG is back with a second generation in the form of the G Flex 2. We've taken a look at the new banana phone at CES 2015. The original G Flex was an interesting idea. We had seen curved displays used in other products such as TVs but not a smartphone. Its convex design was ergonomic (and made far more sense than Samsung's Galaxy Curve which curved side-to-side). However, there were various elements which let the


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device down such as its size with a huge 6in screen which was only 720p. LG hasn't given up on the idea, though, and seems to have taken the feedback onboard with this new model, which is refined and much more desirable. It will be available exclusively at Vodafone for the first six weeks. It's due to tip up in Korea at the end of January and the UK after that.

Design and build In general, the phone looks the same as the original G Flex but it's smaller and lighter which is exactly what we hoped would be the case – it's 7.1mm at the thinnest point and 152g. It feels lovely in the hand and the curve of the phone does match the contour of your face like a traditional home phone. The G Flex 2 comes in Platinum Silver or Flamenco Red with the latter looking particularly stunning. Furthermore on the design side is an improved version of the self-healing coating which graces the rear cover. This was introduced with the original G Flex but now takes seconds to perform its magic


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rather than minutes. LG's demonstration at CES with wire brushes was certainly impressive.

Hardware and specs As we mentioned the phone is smaller and uses a 5.5in screen which matches that of the LG G3. The firm says this is the sweet spot between and decent amount of real estate and usability. As with the G3, the G Flex 2 doesn't feel like a phone with that screen size. LG has consistently impressed in the way with thin bezels. The bump in resolution to Full HD is much needed and the P-OLED display is now nice and crisp although a little way behind Quad HD. So LG has addressed two of the main problems but has continued to make improvements on the hardware front. It's the first phone we've seen with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor which is 64-bit, 2 GHz and Octa-core and accompanied by an Adreno 430 GPU. Like the G3, it comes with either 2- or 3GB of RAM and 16- or 32GB of internal storage. There's also a microSD card slot which states it can take a whopping 2TB in the spec sheet which is by far the highest we've ever seen. On the power front, there is a decent sized 3000mAh battery which LG says can be charged from 0 to 50 percent in just 40 minutes. It's good news to see the same 13Mp rear camera which is found in the G3 which we know is a class act with OIS+ (optical image stabilisation), dual-tone LED flash and a laser auto focus. At the 70 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 70

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front is a more standard 2.1Mp selfie camera. There's a strong line-up of wireless tech with 11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Smart Ready (Apt-X) 4.1, NFC, SlimPort, GPS and 4G LTE.

Software It's predictable but good to see Android 5.0 Lollipop (the latest version) pre-loaded out of the box. The interface is essentially the same that of the LG G3 with the firm's own UX. A nice new feature is called Glance View and allows you can quickly see key information such as the time and notifications when the screen is off with a downwards swipe. Android 5.0 Lollipop combined with the 64-bit Snapdragon 810 makes for smooth performance but we'll test this, along with battery life and other areas, more thoroughly when we get a review sample.

Verdict It's great to see LG come back with a follow-up to the original G Flex which look and feels better and comes with a ton of improvements. It’s the first exciting smartphone of the year and the best we saw at CES 2015. ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 71 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 71

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Hands-on review: Saygus V2 If you're always running out of storage space check out this Saygus, which packs up to 320GB

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ou've probably never heard of Saygus (nor had we until CES 2015), but the firm has announced an interesting Android smartphone that offers a whopping 320GB of storage. Here's our hands-on review of the Saygus V2 (squared) from CES 2015 in Las Vegas. Before we delve into the review, the device we saw at this year's show was pre-production with Android installed and working but with many pieces of hardware not working. It was also glued together


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rather than being nicely finished. It is essentially a prototype so we're going to be talking about aspects which we haven't tested out. Saygus told us that the phone is planned to arrive early in the second quarter and although a price hasn't been decided, the firm said it will retail at $100 less than similar phones.

Design Like some older Motorola devices, the Saygus V2 uses a Kevlar rear cover which looks great and is also durable. The frame is a magnesium-aluminium alloy we're told and the phone is a little different to a regular design. It's reasonably thin and light (9.7mm and 141g) and fits nicely into the hand plus it's waterproof with an IPX7 rating.

Hardware Moving on to hardware and that headline grabbing 320GB of storage which is more than twice the amount of the largest iPhone 6. Before you go thinking it's got a tiny SSD or something, the Saygus V2 has 64GB of internal storage and can take two


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128GB microSD cards. So it's capable but doesn’t come with that amount out of the box. As well as dual-microSD card slots, the Saygus V2 is packed with tech making it something of a geek's dream phone. While most smartphones come with some features but not others, this one has pretty much anything you can think of. It has dual-band 11ac Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, 4G LTE, an IR blaster, fingerprint scanner, Harman Kardon stereo speakers, Qi wireless charging and noise cancelling technology. That's quite a list to go alongside the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB of RAM and 5in full-HD screen. Photography looks strong with a 21Mp rear camera and 13Mp front camera. Both are made by Sharp and have optical image stabilisation. There's also a physical camera button on the side which we always like to see. 74 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 74

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Software The Saygus V2 will come with stock Android and although the device we looked at was running version 4.4 KitKat, we're told it should have 5.0 Lollipop by launch. As well as stock Android, the Saygus V2 supports multi-booting from microSD and also comes with root access.

Verdict Although we haven't been able to test out the Saygus V2 fully the device has potential and we're looking forward to seeing a final sample. The smartphone looks good and is packed with tech as what we're promised will be a reasonable price ($100 less than similar phones). One to watch out for.


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Hands-on review: ZTE Star II ZTE's Star II has a standout feature: voice control. We tried how it works at CES 2015

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TE's new Star II smartphone was on display at CES 2015 in Las Vegas, giving us a chance to give its voice control features a try. The ZTE Star II is currently available to buy in China, and is set to touch down in the US at some point this year. A ZTE representative told us that the company is working to bring the phone to the UK. Pricing is a bit of a mystery too, but ZTE is known for its affordable devices so we expect it to be in the mid-range smartphone category.


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Design We were very impressed by the design of the ZTE Star II. It's just 6.9mm thick (that's as thin as the iPhone 6), and feels really light. It does bear some resemblance to the Sony Xperia Z3 with its squared sides, but it has rounded top and bottom edges more like the iPhone 6. We like the ZTE Star II's thin bezels, but weren't so keen on the shiny plastic back, which picked up fingerprints immediately so will always look grubby. It will be available in white or black options, so the white might be the better option if fingerprints bother you.

Display The Star II features a brilliant 5in LCD display with a resolution of 1080 x 1920, which equates to an impressive pixel density of 441ppi. During our testing, we found the display to be bright and crisp, and the colours to be bold and vivid.

Hardware and performance Inside the ZTE Star II is a nippy 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, which we'll need to run our benchmark tests on when we spend some more time on the smartphone soon. During our testing, however, we found it to be smooth and responsive. The CPU is paired with 2GB of RAM. You'll get 16GB of built-in storage with the ZTE Star II, and there's a microSD slot for up to 32GB additional space. That's a bit of a disappointment as we're used to 64GB or 128GB expansion compatibility, but a total of 48GB should be plenty for most people. ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 77 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 77

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Connectivity features include 4G LTE and Bluetooth 4.0.

Voice control The main talking point (ha-de-ha) of the Star II is it's very good system-wide voice-control feature. The company has teamed up with Audience and Nuance to make the voice features in this smartphone really work, and during our testing we didn't find ourselves getting frustrated at all, which is rare for a voicecontrol system, particularly on our first try. To activate the voice-assistant (which doesn't seem to have a name), you simply press and hold the home button and speak. It allows you to carry out lots of different tasks, including play music or a particular track, open an app, and in some apps such as the camera app it will be constantly listening for commands such as 'switch camera' or 'no flash', for example. Instead of fumbling around to press the shutter button, simply say 'take photo'. You can program in a phrase that will automatically unlock the smartphone, as it's constantly listening even when the screen is off for that particular command. We're told that it has voice recognition that knows if an imposter is attempting 78 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 78

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to unlock your phone, but we haven't been able to test that feature yet. Raising the phone to your head will trigger the voice assistant in the ZTE Star II to ask you who you want to call.

Cameras The ZTE Star II's camera features also impressed us. With a 13Mp rear-facing f/2.0 camera and 5Mp front-facing camera, you can expect to capture some really nice photographs and some fairly good selfies, particularly as the front-facing camera has a wide angle lens. The rear-facing camera also sports a dual-LED flash.

Software Running Android 4.4 KitKat, the ZTE Star II doesn't yet boast Google's latest operating system, but ZTE has made some changes to the vanilla Android to make it feel fresh and new. It's colourful without being over the top, with fun, bubbly icons and easy to understand navigation. All of your apps are situated on the various home screens, though, as ZTE's Star II doesn't have a dedicated app drawer.

Verdict We were very pleasantly surprised by this goodlooking and well-specced smartphone, with excellent cameras and an even better voice-control feature that we can't wait to spend some more time with. We'll have to wait and see how much the ZTE Star II costs, but if the price is right this could be a solid contender for a spot high up in our mid-range smartphone chart. ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 79 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 79

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Best kids' apps Best kids' apps for babies, toddlers, school kids and teens in 2015

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ntertaining children is not easy in these days in which you are not allowed to let kids get bored. Entertaining children so that you can slack off and watch the telly even harder. And the hardest thing of all is to entertain and educate, whilst grabbing back a bit of time for yourself. I have good news for you reader: your smartphone and tablet are your friend. Kids love playing good apps on smartphone and tablet. There are literally thousands of kids apps for Android. But not all apps are equal. Some will


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entertain your kids for only a short while. Others will push them to make expensive in-app purchases. And there are some 'kids' apps that aren't really appropriate for yong people.

Best apps for babies Sign and Sing Lite if you're doing pre-speech Sing & Sign with your baby, this offers a visual dictionary. Great fun for parent and child and it helps with development, too.

Best apps for toddlers and pre-school children

Peppa Pig Happy Mrs Chicken If your children like Peppa Pig, you have little option but to get them this app, even though it costs a couple of quid. And although we're not entirely enamoured of it, at £1.99 you won't be disappointed. All of the P2 Games apps featuring Peppa Pig- and Fireman Sam are good, and as there is a lot of overpriced rubbish bearing the names of Peppa and Sam it is worth looking out for that publisher. ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 81 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 81

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Fun for Kids – Puzzles In Fun for Kids – Puzzles, your child gets to lay puzzles in four different ways. Every time a puzzle is completed or a piece is placed a fitting and fun sound is played. With loads of puzzles, cute graphics and different difficulty levels, your little one gets to practice problem solving and motor skills – and they should enjoy it too. There is 4 types of puzzles and a total of 40 fun challenges that awaits the child, and it is a super cheap app.

Potato Head Color A virtual colouring book for younger children, Potato Head Color makes up in simple free fun what it lacks in UK SPELLING. Cough. Rant over.

Forestry Playing funny and educational mini-games, in Forestry your child will help forest dwellers to build a house, gather food stuffs, pick up berries, go swimming and, of course, prepare for sleep. A fascinating and useful game Forestry can also serve as great memory and attention trainer for your kid. (And it can help at bed time.) It is free, but with inapp purchases, so keep an eye out.

Toca Boca Hair Salon 2 All the Toca Boca games for kids are great (except Toca Band, which will drive parents round the bend), but Toca Hair Salon is seriously a must-have on any family's phone or tablet. Toca Boca games are 82 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 82

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great – they have the design aesthetic of Swedish wooden toys and 'feel' a lot like real world toys that encourage imagination. They are great fun too.

Peekaboo Barn (and Peekaboo Wild) Simple, charming identify-an-animal games. Younger kids love these, especially as the developers release updates each Christmas that Christmas-ify them.

Frostcraft A fun and colourful to help develop children's motor skills and imagination. A game of imagination and ingenuity for tablet users. Your child plays by helping out a company of funny animals.

LEGO DUPLO Train Your toddler will love to drive a colourful LEGO DUPLO Train from station to station. Choosing and loading wagons, building bridges, stopping at crossings, refueling and laying new tracks around pesky rocks. A toddler's dream. ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 83 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 83

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Best apps for primary school children Monster Math You're have to forgive Monster Math for lacking the 's' we would expect in the UK. It is, simply, one of the best maths apps we have seen – much better than your average flash-card based app. It takes the player through the adventure of a monster called Maxx. As Maxx explores new worlds, battles enemies and so on, your kids have to help him through the power of mathematics. It's fun and engaging, and – after an initial purchase – there are no nasty in-app surprises so you can let your kids play on their own.

Talking Rabbit If you have kids you will be aware of the phenomenon of 'talking' apps, in which children can interact with and talk to an animated animal. Talking Rabbit is one of the best with disco dance and night time scenes, and a total of 18 different fully coloured outfits. It will drive you crazy, but keep the kids entertained. Just be careful of the in-app purchases.

LEGO App4+ A game of imagination and building skill, LEGO App4+ is aimed at children from ages four to seven years. Build your own truck, then use it to bring your cargo to its right destination, and collect coins to earn more LEGO parts. fun, educational and satisfying. And that's just for the parents. 84 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 84

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Little Things Forever Find things in shapes made up of thousands of objects with this beautiful and addictive free app for children.

JetPack Joyride A free game enjoyed by children from a surprisingly young age. You suit up with a selection of jetpacks and take to the skies on an exciting adventure.

Spy Mouse Best played on a tablet you're a mouse evading cats while you try to drag cheese around a house. More tense than you'd expect.

Train Conductor 2 Lite What child doesn't love trains? Train Conductor 2 lets them guide trains to their destination while avoiding disastrous collisions (or not, depending on the child in question). To play kids must simply drag each train to the correct track with the swipe of a finger. The free version of the game will keep kids entertained for hours, too. ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 85 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 85

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Petting Zoo Featuring artwork by illustrator Christoph Niemann, this is silly but fun. And great to look at. You pet cartoon animals, they do funny things.

Wombi Airplane and Wombi Treasures Wombi Treasures is a basic but fun and graphically rich treasure hunt game for kids, available as iPad, iPhone and Android apps. It engages young children in scouring locations to find hidden artifacts, rewarding perseverance, and keeping kids gripped with their challenge. While the graphics are rich the gameplay is relatively basic but keps children excited to keep playing again and again.

Stack the Countries A geography quiz (countries, flags, cities, landmarks) combined with a game to try to stack scale country outlines on top of each other without the pile falling over. Surprisingly good fun. 86 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 86

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Hoopa City Hoopa City developer TribePlay creates games with fun and interactive educational values, letting kids role-play and use their imaginations. Hoopa City is a character game for primary school children. It features Hoopa the Hippo. Kids must combine together elements to help construct cities. Children must build roads, houses, and more. It also features pioneering new mechanics so kids can combine elements to find secret combinations to unlock different building.

Dr. Panda's Toy Cars An interactive game that lets kids role-play and use their imaginations. Children drive around two different cities, exploring the roads and discovering hidden surprises. Kids can explore by driving a fire truck, police car or even a boat. Best apps for teenagers

Tap Tap Revenge With Tap Tap Revenge you tap the targets on your touchscreen to the beat of music from a variety of beat ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 87 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 87

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pop combos (it's young people's music). Tap along well and you score points for accuracy and timing. There are multiple difficulty levels, hundreds of songs and live online battlegrounds. Our teenage correspondent said she likes how you can choose different songs for the game and tap along to the beat.

Virtuoso Piano A useful free tool for music study/practice. Our teenage app fan told us she finds this app useful for finding a specific note, before auditioning for a drama or music performance. And for the post-Glee generation that is high praise indeed.

Best apps for kids of all ages

Let's Create Pottery Lite Providing you can wrestle your phone or tablet from your kids, here's an app that you can enjoy just as much as they do. It won't teach you how to become a real potter but Let's create! Pottery HD is a greatlooking and surprisingly fun game which everyone can enjoy. The full gaem costs £2.99, but if you're not convinced, try the free Lite version first. 88 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 88

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Temple Run You know that bit in every adventure film where the hero or heroine gets their hands on the treasure but has to navigate a maze of booby traps to get out alive? That's this game in a nutshell. It's free, and according to our panel enjoyed by kids aged from four upwards.

Monument Valley One of the most beautiful and captivating games ever released Monument Valley isn't cheap (for an app) at £2.49 but it will keep children and adults engaged for hours working our how to help the silent princess Ida through mysterious and mind-bending, fantastical architecture, uncovering hidden paths, unfolding Escher-like optical illusions of impossible geometry, and outsmarting the barking Crow People. Monument Valley is both surreal and serene exploration though and will surely go down in game history as one of the unique greats. ISSUE 10 • ANDROID ADVISOR 89 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 89

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Dumb Ways To Die Originally conceived as a public safety animation for an Australian metro company Dumbs Ways To Die morphed from a brilliant cartoon and maddeningly catchy tune that kids love to sing into an equally fun game of 15 potentially lethal possibilities. Kids love it and learn how not to get themselves killed at the same time. All together now: “Set fire to your hair, Poke a stick at a grizzly bear. Eat medicine that's out of date, Use your private parts as piranha bait.”

Minion Rush You love Despicable Me, right? Minion Rush is a great action arcade game where the little yellow Minions jump, fly, dodge obstacles, collect bananas, ride the Fluffy Unicorn, and defeat villains in a variety of different missions. You can customise your Minion with costumes, weapons, and power-ups. Earning 90 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10 Android Advisor Issue 10.indd 90

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new locations and different Minions makes this free game a lot of fun for Despicable Me fans and anyone who likes bananas. There are in-app purchases available but not buying any doesn’t affect game play in any way.

Subway Surfers Letting your kids have fun running around on train tracks doesn’t sound like safe advice but Subway Surfers is great fun when restricted to phone or tablet, and not real life. The aim is to help Jake, Tricky & Fresh escape from the grumpy Inspector and his dog. There’s hoverboard surfing (think Back To The Future) and paint-powered jetpacks to speed around on. Addictive.


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Android Adv Issue 10

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