The Samsung Galaxy S-Duos is a budget ICS offering from the korean giant Samsung. It’s quite a good looking phone built on the same patent design of the s3′s and the note 2′s. It looks like a younger sibling of the world popular  Galaxy s3. It’s powered by a no so powerful 1GHz processor paired with 768 mega bytes of RAM. It also sports a 5 mp primary shooter with a secondary 0.3 mp shooter. Let’s see what else it has got in iCB style!

DESIGN

The Galaxy S-Duos is quite a good looking piece of hardware. As I said before it looks quite similar to the s3 which is great. As it has a 4 inch display it fits perfect in the hand (even if your hand is a small one!). But the plastic used in the phone is not of the same quality as of the s3 or the note 2. But we can understand it is done to lower the price. It comes in two colour options- Black or White. Well we have got the white one which looks nice and bright. It is not the thinnest phone out there but isn’t the thickest one too! It is 10.5 mm thick which I feel isn’t that bad but should have been reduced some more.

On the top There’s a 3.5 mm audio jack, the right houses a power button with a hot swapable micro sd card slot, the bottom has a microphone and a micro usb port for Charging/syncing and volume rockers on the left side. There is also a silver coloured plastic bezel on the edges, on the front top having speaker grill for voice calling with a proximity sensor and the secondary camera.

DISPLAY

The screen on the S-Duos is 4 inches which is a decent size. The resolution of the screen is 400 by 800 pixels with a 233 ppi density. The display is decent not that great. It is not a Super AMOLED type display like its elder siblings. It just has a tft panel. It even lacks ambient light sensor, so there would be no auto-brightness setting.

SOFTWARE

The Samsung Galaxy S-Duos comes out of the box with Android 4.0.4 a.k.a. Ice Cream Sandwich with the samsung’s touchwiz  nature ui. The overall ui feels good but is sluggish as the hardware isn’t up to the mark. There are a bunch of quick toggle settings on the top of the notification bar, which I felt quite handy. But unfortunately it dose not has addons like smart stay or multi window like the s3. Overall the ui feels quite similar to other phones with samsung branding.

CAMERA

Let’s start with the front facing secondary camera which is a VGA 0.3 mega pixel shooter which is not so great but gets it’s job done. I tried skype and it worked like a charm. Now the main primary camera is a 5 mp shooter which is a decent resolution. I felt the camera lags a bit and the autofocus also delays a bit. Overall an ok-ok camera not so great not so bad. I also felt the low light photography with this camera is next to impossible without flash. On the other side the outdoor photographs came quite decent.

PERFORMACE

The Samsung Galaxy S-Duos comes with an outdated 1GHz single core Cortex-A5 processor paired with 768 mega bytes of RAM and an outdated Adreno-200 GPU. As Far as the running of daily tasks is concerned it is a bit laggy. Swiping over home pages, opening and closing of apps and simple tasks get lags. As far as benchmarks are concerned here are some of the results:

• Nenamark 2- 19.6 FPS
• Quadrant Standard- 2138
• Multitouch test- 5 multitouches

These scores are not so great. And the same we can see it in it’s performance. As far as gaming is concerned it even lags on casual games like subway surfers or temple run 2. So I won’t recommend it to gaming freaks out there.

VERDICT

In the price bracket the phone is placed, it’s a decent phone with some decent outdated specs. I’ll recommend this product to those people who wants a dual sim phone with a good brand name. But if you are a power user I would say a big NO! Instead of Galaxy S-Duos you can take a look at some of the micromax offerings, which are a lot better than S-Duos in the same price bracket.Overall an ok phone, nothing much to see and most of the hardware outdated.

The iCydiaBlog Score- 5.5/10

The post Samsung Galaxy S-Duos #In-Depth Review! appeared first on The iCydiaBlog.

Gameplay

The app has in my opinion, a quite addictive gameplay, you can choose any icon with very few details as to what it is, and your goal is to guess using the keyboard at the bottom, depending on the category you’re on, eg: Famous People.

IconPopQuiz is a very straightforward app, though guaranteed to give you a struggle, but if you find yourself completely lost at anytime, you may use a few different hints. Be easy on the hints though, each hint costs a different amount of coins which you earned through the completion of other icons.

What are the use of coins? To be honest, there are only two main purposes in which your earned coins come to use: Using hints, and with 5000 coins you have access to my favourite feature: downloading a completed icon as a wallpaper which fits the exact dimensions of your device. If felt that you could use a few thousand more coins, you can share the app via Facebook or Twitter which will get you 2000 coins each. You can also write a review on the App Store, getting you 2500 coins.

My Two-Cents Worth

Although I’ve not done a review of IconPopQuiz over the past 2 months I’ve had the app, I do quite enjoy the use of this app as a pastime. I’ve also learnt a lot, and have been quite surprised from my memory, eg: Charles Darwin was the originator of the biological theory of evolution. He was also my guess when this icon was shown:

Apple App Store

IconPopQuiz for iOS is a FREE download, and is compatible with the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. It requires iOS 4.1 or later, and has been optimised for the iPhone 5.

Download IconPopQuiz For iOS

Google Play Store

IconPopQuiz for Android is a FREE download, and requires Android 2.2 and up.

Download IconPopQuiz For Android

Hot Topics

• iconpopquiz

The post IconPopQuiz Is An App, Guaranteed To Test Your Trivia Skills And Memory appeared first on The iCydiaBlog.

The cheapest phone of the Htc one series, the HTC One V looks great with its chin design (Inspired by HTC Legend).Its full aluminium chassis and an angular chin gives it a different look than the other one series handsets.

Design

It’s having a unibody aluminium design body with matte finish, and with the angular chin it feels great in hand. It also feels quite light and weighs just 115g.

On the right it has the volume rockers, and a micro usb port on the left. The bottom has a microphone and on the top rights a power button and a led noticification light and a 3.5mm audio jack on the top left.

The back having a 5 mp shooter  with a led flash under which there’s a HTC logo engraved. On the bottom there is a plastic(feels like rubber) cover which slides out to insert sim card and micro sd card. There’s also a beat’s audio logo on the cover.

Display

The display on the one v is fairly decent for the price it’s offering. All thanks to the Super LCD 2 display that it gives a cool color scheme which feels soothing to the eyes. The display resolution is 480 by 800 pixels with a ppi of 252. It also sports a corning gorilla glass for scratch resistance.

Software

The one v comes out of the box with android ice cream sandwich a.k.a. ICS, with the sense 4 skin. It’s not that smooth as compared to the elder siblings, and also lags a bit. The sense 4 adds a refreshing look to the screen, I found the direct access of apps pinned to the launcher from the lock screen quite helpful and pull the ring to unlock the phone also felt quite cool.

Beat’s Audio

As we know that as the one x and the one s, the one v also comes with beats audio sound enhancer software preinstalled. I found it was not that great as I expected it to be, but still it made the sound more clear and the bass a little deeper.(Tested on sennheiser HD180)

Camera

The one v has a single 5 mega pixel shooter, which can shoot up to 720p HD videos at 30 fps. The camera is quite fast as Htc promises zero shutter lag. It is powered by a dedicated image chip, which makes the picture produced by it look even better. We can also take a still while recording a video, which I found quite handy and there is also a whole bunch of image filters in the camera app to play with.

Performance

The one v sports a 1Ghz single core scorpion processor, with 512 Mega Byte of Ram. It also packs an Adrino 205 GPU for smoother graphic performance. The decent specs makes the phone a little behind the competition.

It is not that bad for daily use but lags while intense gaming or multitasking. I tried Fifa 12 and NFS Most Wanted on the same and both of them ran quite smoothly but sometimes got a frame drop.

Battery Life

The one v lasted about a day with a single charge, with my facebook account, my mails synced, an hour or so NFS, and half an hour browsing through the web. Impressed by the battery life.

In-Box Accessories

The one v came with a charger, a usb to micro usb cable, a warranty card, a user guide and a pair of earphones.

Verdict

The one v is a great entry level smartphone with some decent specifications. I found the design, display, battery life quite up to the mark. But performance wise I felt it was a little behind from its competitors. Overall a great phone for those who don’t want flashy big screen phones and a good looking phone for daily use. But I won’t recommend it to those people who do intense gaming on their phone or a lot of multitasking.

The iCydiaBlog Score: 6.5

Hot Topics

• HTC ONE V

The post HTC One V Review: Everything You Need To Know! appeared first on The iCydiaBlog.

How to use:

Once you’ve downloaded the app and you’re on the home screen, you’ll probably want to get right into the messaging part, and so here are some tips on how you can get started:

Adding contacts, this is the first step to messaging people with Hike. Sure, you can send them an invitation, and if you want, you may do as well, though Hike doesn’t let you edit the invitation message, so this is not all recommended by me. In order to start a WiFi conversation with people on Hike, go to the message composing screen, and type in the recipient’s mobile phone number, along with your message in which could be advising them to join Hike. Once they’ve joined, you can add their contact to your favorites, or continue messaging them over WiFi.

Editing profile, this is very basic and straightforward. You can add a profile image in which will be shown in a Hike chat. You can also add your email, full name, and select gender. This will all be shown on your public profile.

Now you’re all set up. To add more contacts to your Hike, just repeat the process over again, but with a different number.

My Opinion:

To sum things up, I really do think that Hike is worth a download, though I was doubting it at first, when I couldn’t preview my invitation and thought that it wasn’t sent. Now that I gave it a chance, I love the design, and think that it’s a very underrated app.

I believe Hike did great on their part, making the app available for Android, and Windows Phone 8 as well, so you can have a WiFi, or cellular chat conversation with your contacts on almost any modern mobile phone. also, I also found it very neat, that they gave the Windows Phone 8 version, a metro/modern UI to match the phone.

Apple App Store:

Hike for iOS, is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later, and has been optimized for the iPhone 5.

Download Hike For iOS

Google Play Store:

Hike requires Android 2.2 and up.

Download Hike For Android

Windows Phone 8 Store:

Hike requires Windows Phone 8, and Windows Phone 7.5.

Hot Topics

• hike application tutorial in android
• hike free for iphone 3gs
• hike messenger add ipod touch contact

The post App Review: Hike, a free messaging app alternative for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone 8. appeared first on The iCydiaBlog.

In the home screen, there are six menus with different functions: “Search”, using the search feature you can as suggested, search for any video on YouTube in according to relevance. “Browse”, here, you can browse the following feeds: Featured, Trending, Top Rated, Top Favorited, Most Viewed, and Most Discussed. You can also browse popular channels in which belong to certain categories.

Sign in Features

Obviously, when you have a YouTube account of your own, you have access to different features. Here are a few in which have been added in Jasmine: “Favorites”, the ability to add and view favorited videos so you never lose them. “Playlists”, with playlists, you can view videos on YouTube and add them to an already existing, or new playlist, which would best suit the video you’ve watched. “Subscriptions”, here, you may may as you wish, view recently posted videos by the YouTubers that you’re subscribed to.

You can also view and clear your YouTube browsing history under the “Recently Played” tab on the home screen.

Appearance

The appearance menu is located under the settings. I was kind of disappointed to see that the appearance of Jasmine wasn’t as customizable as the app maker’s Alien Blue app. Though, Jasmine is still in development and has only come out in September, so there may be more added in a bit, but since there actually are appearance settings, I’ll be covering that for you.

Jasmine comes with a night theme, similar to that of Alien Blue, and is toggable through tapping the raindrop thing, centered in the navigation bar. Or, you can be hardcore by going all the way to the settings to activate it, either way works. There is also a slider in which allows you to dim the display to a certain brightness, and a text size option which lets you choose from:

• Normal
• Large
• Extra Large

Where in the world can I download this app?

Jasmine, sadly to say, is only available for iOS devices, as well as every app from Morrissey Exchange PTY LTD, the makers of this app. Sorry Android users.

Jasmine is designed for both, iPhone/iPod and iPad, and is FREE, though it does come with a PRO version which doesn’t really add much of significance, aside from a “Parental Controls” feature. Jasmine requires iOS 6.0 or higher, and has been optimized for the iPhone 5. Get it here.

The post App Review: Jasmine, a YouTube client for iOS. appeared first on The iCydiaBlog.

Reddits

The basic main page of Alien Blue, you can choose from a list of the most used subreddits, and your subscribed ones, (if you’re signed in). You can manually enter a subreddit, and find a possibly new one by using the “random subreddit” link, which will, as the name suggests, send you to a random subreddit deep inside the depths of Reddit.
(Awesome tip of awesomeness: Alien Blue has it’s own devoted subreddit, in which is big help when troubleshooting a problem or bug).

Settings

Here you can sign into your reddit account, or multiple if you’re using the PRO version, and when signed in, you can view your saved, liked, submitted, and hidden posts. And in the settings, you have access to my favorite option, themes and “Night Mode.” The themes you have to chose from are:

• Classic Blue
• Lion
• Blossom
• Fire

Night mode is a really great feature which turns the background black, certain information orange, text grey, and white titles. I would like to think of this as another theme.
Under the appearance menu, you can also change the text size:

• Tiny
• Small
• Medium
• Large
• Extra Large

There are also many other toggable settings, although they do not make all that much of a significance. Though I would recommend using the “Show Voting Icons” option.
What will you get for upgrading to PRO version?
There are many new features with upgrading to the PRO version, though only some, you may actually be using. To name the best ones in which you’ll most likely be using are:

• Canvas, a new image browsing and viewing tool.
• The ability to add more than one account in the settings.
• The ability to submit links, pictures, videos, and text.
• Password protect Alien Blue, the ability to add a password to the Alien Blue app so no one, other than you can use the app and possibly mess things up for you.

Apple App Store
Alien Blue is again, a $1.99 download, and is compatible with iPhone, iPod, and iPad. It requires iOS 5.0, and has been optimized for the iPhone 5. Get it here. Also, expect a Mac version to be coming out soon.

Morrissey Exchange PTY LTD, the makers of this awesome app, have also released a YouTube client app called “Jasmine”. I haven’t yet gotten this app, but plan to, and make a review on it soon. Get Jasmine for iOS here.

The post App Review: Alien Blue, a Reddit client app for iOS. appeared first on The iCydiaBlog.

For years, the only way to change the look of any part of the device’s lockscreen or homescreen, the device would first need to be jailbrocken. But since the release of iOS 6, there is no jailbreak available. Therefore, it is difficult to personalize your device.

But not all is lost. Thanks to CarrierEditor, people with iPhones and iPad 3G/LTE’s on iOS 6 and below, can now customize the carrier logo. This tweak works on both jailbroken and more importantly, non-jailbroken iPhone’s and iPads 3G/LTE’s. Due to some restrictions, Wi-Fi only devices are NOT supported.

To install a custom carrier onto your device, install the app/program to your computer and follow the on screen instructions. And before you know it, your device will have a custom carrier logo installed. The MAC version of CarrierEditor comes with a folder called “Zeppelin”. Inside the folder, are pre-made carrier logo’s that you can use. You could also be creative and create your very own carrier logo’s by using programs like PhotoShop etc.

Download :-

Windows *

Thanks goes to @uhelios for producing the original MAC CarrierEditor app and thanks to @DanyL931 for making the Windows version of CarrierEditor.

* – This version does not include the “Zeppelin” folder. Download the MAC version to get the folder.

The post How to change your Carrier Logo without Jailbreaking. appeared first on The iCydiaBlog.

I eventually decided to look into the app in consideration of getting it, and I was not disappointed in what it had to offer.

Readablilty has 5 fonts available for the reader:

• Sentinel
• Vitesse
• Mercury
• Whitney
• Gotham Narrow

It also has the feature to turn any website with text, into a clean, reading environment. With this feature, you can add the website to your reading list, favorites, and share on Facebook or Twitter. You can also view what other members of Readability have added to their reading lists in the “Top Reads” section.

When you’ve added an article to your reading list with your mobile device, you can continue reading it on your computer by simply going to readability.com and signing into your registered profile. When on the website, you can also install an extension for your web browser which allows you the options of “Read Now”, “Read Later”, or “Send to Kindle” when on any webpage. With the use of your Computer on Readability, there is an added 5 themes:

• Newspaper
• Novel
• eBook
• Inverse
• Athelas

My Opinion

I think Readability is great for my reasons. I really like the professional and clean look in which the app has implemented, which also gives a sort of ebook feel. As a conclusion to this review, I would recommend getting this app, not only to convert webpages into a reading environment, but to find new top rated reads from various websites that interest others and might interest you.

Get Readablility for iOS 5.0 or later, here. Readability is also optimized for iPhone 5.

Get Readability for Android 2.1 and up, here.

For more Readability-available platforms, click here.

References

Get Alien Blue, a Reddit client, for iPhone/iPod here, and iPad here.

The post App Review: Readablity, Transforming any webpage into a clean, reading environment. appeared first on The iCydiaBlog.

For years I’ve had to decide what is the best product to protect my device and for the environment in which it will be used in. Many products left the device cumbersome to operate or not looking it’s best. In my opinion there was never a product that combined style, ease of use and the ability to protect the device all at the same time. That was until I came across iCarbons.

I was watching the live feed of the World Wide Jailbreaking Convention (WWJC) 2012 when the speaker mentioned iCarbons and some of their products. I had to take a look at their web site. I was pleasantly surprised by all of their products. Ranging from game consoles, computers, tablets, mobile phones and many more. After reading through their site, I decided there and then to buy a skin for my iPhone 4s, to replace the protective case and screen protector.

When the skin arrived, I dropped everything and I had to fit the new skin to my phone. The installation instructions are easy to follow and to make things even easier for us all, iCarbons have produced video instructions that we can follow. This turned out to be invaluable for the first time user. The videos show you how to apply the skin correctly for best results. After watching the video a couple of times, I went ahead with the install. After a couple of misalignments, I finally got the skin in the correct position. It doesn’t matter if you get it wrong, you can simply peal off the skin and re-apply until your happy.

I was simply amazed when the skin was fully fitted, as to how sleek the phone now looks without the horrible bulky case. When I purchased the skin, the pictures on the web site, do not do the skin any justice. The carbon fiber effect looks and feels truly amazing. Thanks to iCarbons, I now love the way my iPhone looks again.

Since WWJC 2012, there has been a lot of chatter on twitter about iCarbons and their products. And from what I have read, not one person has been disappointed with their new skin. I have been so pleased with my skin, I have fitted an iCarbons skin to my wife’s and daughters iPods. And they both like the new look iPods.

It has now been three months since I fitted the skin to my iPhone 4s. And yet again, iCarbons have surprised me. The skin looks and feels just the same as it did when I first fitted it. It’s not once lifted in any of the corners or been damaged by objects that were in my pockets (coins, car keys etc.).

Overall, if you are looking for a new look for your device and would like to protect it at the same time, then you cant go wrong with an iCarbons skin. Take it from me (and the many happy customers on twitter) you will not be disappointed with an iCarbons purchase.

If you wish to purchase an iCarbons product, then head on over to Carbons Official Site and brows through their catalog. If you live in the UK and you would like a quicker delivery time, then visit PhoneMainiac who is the official UK reseller for iCarbons. Or if you prefer to speak to them either of them via twitter, then tweet your questions to @iCarbonsdotcom or @PhoneMainiac

The post Review: Amazing iCarbons Skins For iPhone appeared first on The iCydiaBlog.

Matchblocks comes with a free and paid version available for the Apple App Store, and Google Play Store. The free version let’s you use the basic gameplay in which blocks fall and you need to destroy them before they overflow your board. The paid version gives you added options:

1. Unlimited time. In the free version you have a time limit, even if the board hasn’t been overflown. When the time expires, or your board overflows, the game will end.
2. 4 new game modes. Now instead of the boring old free version’s gameplay, you’re given Classic, Arcade, Time, and Zen.
3. Game Center. With the integration of Game Center on Matchblocks, you can save your progress and highscores onto your Game Center account, so you can continue where you left off if by any chance something causes deletion of the app’s data.
4. Trophies. Now you earn trophies with the completion of achievement requirements.
5. More bonuses.

In my opinion, this game is really great for many reasons. To name a few: It exercises your brain, has a very minimalistic style which makes everything easy to follow, the gameplay itself is very self explanatory, and it feels rewarding when you finally beat your old highscore! On a somewhat relevant note, as I’m making this review and researching further into the app, I’ve found that the OneMinuteGames’ programmer, Konrad, has released two other apps with the same minimalist and clean style, Commander Pixman, and Boxed Ball.

To bring this review to a close, I recommend this app for those times when you’re extremely bored and need that quick couple minutes of entertainment to pass the time. But, if this app doesn’t look to be quite your cup of tea, by all means, check out different games by OneMinuteGames here.

Apple App Store

Get the free version of Matchblocks here, and the paid version here.

Matchblocks for iOS requires iOS 4.3 or later, and is compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. This app has been recently optimized for the iPhone 5 as well.

Google Play Store

Get the free version of Matchblocks here, and the paid version here.

Matchblocks for Android requires Android 2.2 and up.

The post App Review: Matchblocks by OneMinuteGames, A fast-paced action game available for iOS and Android. appeared first on The iCydiaBlog.