One week using a chromium browser on android

So like many of you, I use google chrome on basically every device I own. I use Chrome on my desktop and the “Dev” version on my laptop and phone. I’ve always seen a browse called Tugabrowser on many people’s phones on Reddit, I just never knew what it was. So I Did some research and after realising it wasn’t on the Play Store, I downloaded it and uninstalled it on my phone (I rely on many of chrome’s features to remove it from my computers) and used tuga and only tuga for a week. Here are my thoughts.

Day 1:

So far quite good, it’s fast… You can probably tell I have absolutely no idea what to write. Look, real talk. It’s an internet browser that can browse the internet? But seriously, I have only run into one issue with it so far which was fixed by just closing the app. So far, so good.

Day 2:

Well, you actually can enable “Chrome Home” on this (search bar at the bottom of the app). Which was surprising, then I realised that can now be done in other versions, rather than just the “dev” channel. Anyway, I should actually talk about how well it works rather than giving some half arsed history lesson on Google. If you do decide to enable “Chrome Home” it’s not the most stable and can cause some really weird issues with the search bar UI. BUT, that’s an experimental feature that I probably shouldn’t use, so I have zero problem with is having issues. Why did I write any of that, well apart from filler for the “day 2” section, I have no idea. OH, before I go, night mode is great as it mostly doesn’t affect images.

 

Day 3:

Well, the browser is actually quite well. Better than I expected. I don’t really have much else to say other then, the night is the best thing ever made ever

Ok, I broke the structure of the post half way through, sue me. I really just ran out of things to write about each day. So rather than drag out the article with pointless empty sections. I thought it would be better to just write some ‘question answer’ style things.

Q: Did I ever use Chrome/other browser during the week?

A: Unfortunately, yes. Why? I was trying to get a developer thing for Samsung (maybe a post on that in the future?). Long story short, it wasn’t displaying key elements of the webpage.

Q: Would I switch from Chrome/Chrome Dev?

A: Right now, no. BUT Tuga is still being developed by the guys over at xda, don’t lose hope.

Q: Why did you do this?

A: 1. I was bored. 2. I wanted to see how good a chromium based browser really is.

So, how good is the browser. Look, I can honestly see a future where I do use this as my daily browser. That being said, the future is the future. Now please don’t be confused, by no means is this a truly bad/unstable browser that deserves to be put on some unknown repo in cydia. With future development, this has a really promising future and if it ever hits the play store. You can bet I will be the first to download it.

 

Any ideas for future articles? I think there’s some sort of commenting system. I hope there is otherwise, I’m stupid and don’t even know my own website.

What’s on my android phone

Well, it’s been a while and in the time I’ve been away all sorts of things have happened, some were good, some were terrible and in the middle of everything I changed phones. Yes, I no longer use a Nokia Lumia 1520 as my daily driver, my sim card now lives in a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. So what better way to show it off. This is, what’s on my android phone.

 

This is definitely a more basic setup, but I’ve settled on it. I’m using Nova Launcher Prime with a grid size of 6×5, rocking aivy for those beautiful icons and that wallpaper is live and is called “knots”. How could I forget, that widget is from zooper pack known as “pixup”, I just took the weather bit out and replaced it with my calendar events.

 

Dock apps:

• Phone: Good for calling?
• Tugabrowser: This was Chrome Dev *future article I’m working on 😉
• Gmail: Good for what I need
• Textra SMS: Samsung’s stock sms app sucks in like every way, Textra not only looks good but it feels better to use. It’s hard to explain, definitely worth downloading
• Poweramp: I download all of my music in really high quality, seriously a great app for anyone who downloads their music and wants full control over the sound

Folder 1 (Need):

Like the name suggests, these are apps I need to have on basically any phone.

• Netflix: This has taken over my YouTube and I’m kind of hooked on a few shows, I mainly use on pc but having the app is convenient in bed and while I’m out
• YouTube: We all know what that is
• Plex: My amazing friend shares his server with all of the guys in our friend group *Legend
• Google photos: Very convenient to have all of my photos on any device
• Keep: I have so many notes in this it’s not even funny
• Pocketcasts: Best podcast app out there
• Hue/ Hue Pro: One point because they do the same thing and I use them both equally, whilst Hue Pro is much better at controlling literally everything, the 1st party app is much quicker at connecting and is generally faster
• Game Launcher: Simple, I like this because all of my games stay in the one app

Folder 2 (Social):

This folder is the only folder on my phone that is ordered alphabetically, why? I’m not sure, I was bored?

• Discord: I have a sever, mainly use on desktop though so
• Flamingo: My favourite twitter app hands down
• Google+: I get bored sometimes and I follow one of my icon pack devs *free icon packs sometimes
• Instagram: I have a problem, remove this app
• LINE: Used for talking to family
• Outlook: Runs my old email account that I don’t normally check
• Sync Pro: Hands down, my favourite reddit app ever made. I’ve tried basically all of the reddit apps but I always come back to this. Highly recommend
• Telegram: Again, family
• Viber: That one friend that only uses Viber

That’s it, my basic setup.

My thoughts on Windows 10 Mobile

Overview

Windows 10 Mobile is Microsoft’s successor to the well-made ‘Windows Phone 8.1’. It’s been quite a bumpy ride for Windows 10 Mobile, the platform never really felt ‘ready’. I used to think this was just because it was in development. Well now, at the time of this post, it has been released and the next major update is now publicly available. I thought I would reinstall it on my main phone (Nokia Lumia 1520).

The Installation

The installation was pretty standard and has not changed since its initial release. At least in my case form Windows Phone 8.1 to Windows 10 Mobile it’s long, painful and you will have to reset your phone by the end of it. But it is not forced on the user like other platforms, as you can always revert back to Windows Phone 8.1 via the ‘Windows Device Recovery Tool’.

User Experience

This is probably the most important part. My overall experience with Windows 10 Mobile has been mostly positive, unlike the first public release. What I’m talking about is, Windows 10, Windows 10 Mobile and every device running Windows 10 has just gone through the second update (first for Mobile). This is called the “anniversary update” as it came out just a little over a year after Windows 10 came out. So the many improvements on Windows 10 Mobile are brilliant. I’ve already written a post about my experience with the pre-release build of this update, you can read it here. My thoughts have definitely changed though. The platform has definitely matured. Hell, even the updated version of the ‘Skype Preview’ is so much better and usable now.

Is it ready?

If you asked me this 2 months ago, I would’ve given you the strait up answer of no, but now the platform has matured and really improved, I would say yes. Now this is device specific that is very important to note. My experience will be different from yours, different devices not only have different specs, but different firmware, some are still waiting for the appropriate firmware. So, the answer is really still the same, upgrade at your own risk.

Living with Windows 10 Mobile Insider Builds

Introduction:

First off, the device I’ve been testing on is a Nokia Lumia 1520, I’ve used this device on and off running the “Insider Preview Builds” for the upcoming, Redstone 1/ Anniversary Update. In recent times I’ve been forced to use this device over my primary Lumia 1520 (running 10586.420).

The bad:

I thought I would start off with the negative, to ‘get it out of the way’. When I needed this phone, I wanted to pair my Microsoft Band 2 with it, well to bad for all of you Band 2 owners, Bluetooth in general would not find any of my devices, this is a big issue as even after several reboots, the issue would not go away.

The other issue I found, certain apps ‘Live Tiles’ would not update, they would just hang and stay static, even after reinstalling them, here are some screenshots:

Live tiles not updating

The good:

Enough of being negative, there are plenty of good and useful things in these new builds. Probably the most noticeable things was, the battery life. Holy crap is this OS good on battery, I was able to get almost 2 full days, which might not sound like much, but I use a lot. One full day for me is; Checking social, reading (occasional), games (occasional), downloading stuff and of course the most important, music. Speaking of music, the new lock screen music controls not only look good, but are pretty useful (especially with no Microsoft Band).

Music Controls

The new Action Centre is absolutely brilliant, the ability the change priority of notifications and only show 3 emails by default, fantastic. It even gets better, you can now turn on and off ‘quick actions’ and drag to rearrange them. ­­

The new emoji’s are pretty cool too. Messaging everywhere, well is getting removed, and I couldn’t use it as I don’t have the previews on any PC’s.

The ‘in the middle’:

Skype Preview; I have pretty mixed opinions about this app. For starters, I don’t like, not one bit, now don’t kill me I know it’s in preview, but when everything else is so nice, this application looks bad, is unstable and just slow and not nice to use, a more detailed look and review will come soon. The Store is another just weird thing, one build it was just the old store from the current public builds, I don’t really know how to express my thoughts without writing thousands and thousands of words.

Conclusion:

Now I know the question everyone is thinking, should I update? Well if you can’t wait another month for the official upgrade, sure… I guess. But really, if you’re an average consumer, the insider program is not you ‘can of worms’.

 

 

Microsoft working with Snapchat to bring an app to Windows?

Like it or not, Snapchat and Windows Phone don’t seem to go together, it’s been years since us users have had a decent client to use. The reason? Snapchat removed pretty  much all clients.

But this could easily change in the (hopefully) not to distant future. Lumia Spain tweeted:

This translates to “Soon you reach your Windows Phone! We are already working with our friends at SnapChat to bring it as soon as possible. ^_^”

Now this is great news if it’s true, could this be an that Rudy Huyn is in on? No body really knows at this point. Just don’t be surprised if in the next few weeks Snapchat will finally available.

Spotify updates to new look on Windows Phone!

After so long, Spotify finally updates their Windows Phone app to match up with the iOS and Android apps. This is very welcome, as finally Windows Phone users get the same beautiful and faster app. Just enjoy screenshots bellow.

You can download version 5.2.3.0 right here

App Spotlight: 2Day

What does it do?

2Day is simply fantastic app for organising and keeping up to date with life. This is a fully UWP app, for those who don’t know what that is, it basically means that it’s available on every windows device. Not only that, but you can up a basic sync function between all devices.

How does it function?

2Day has a number of simple yet brilliant features such as; creating multiple sections, pining those sections, different colours and icons for each section and the ability to set priority on certain reminders in four different levels. More on the priority levels, this basically means you can chose how high up on the list something is. For example; I could put a school project as a ‘star’ priority and have a reminder for taking out the bins as a ‘medium’ priority. This means that the school project will show up on top.

How does it help?

2Day is great for pretty much anyone, it’s helped me with keeping up to date with school assessments and daily reminders. It’s definitely helped me a lot.

Is it worth it?

2Day $4.89 Aus with a 30 day free trial. I think 2Day is defiantly worth a look.

Download it here

Tips? Let me know bellow!

 

Here’s how to get Messenger (Beta) on your Windows Phone

Today Facebook released Messenger (Beta)  to the public, however not everyone has been able to get the brand new app. Not to worry though! I’m here to show you how to get the app!

1. Start by going going into Settings > Time & language > Region
2. Once you are here, change from your region to France
   
3. Once you’ve restarted your phone, head on over to this link here  and download it from there.

Now you should be all good to go, let me know is something goes wrong and I will try and help! Tweet me @_evilmatrix_ for any questions!

So, I ditched my fitbit for a Microsoft band 2

I have only had the Band for about a week now, so I can’t really do a full review, and I’m also on holiday, so I can’t use the Band to its full potential.

As I said I went from a Fitbit to a Band 2. My Fitbit was only a Fitbit Flex, so this was quite an upgrade. So, what do I think so far? Well the Microsoft Band 2 is a brilliant Windows Phone companion. I love the interrogation of third party apps, music controls and even the UV sensor!

Not to worry though, a full review is coming when I get back home and can really use the band properly.

Here’s what’s fixed in Windows 10 Mobile Build 10586.318

Earlier today Microsoft released Windows 10 Mobile Build 10586.318 to the public. So here is the changleog

• Reliability, performance and stability improvements.
• Fix for a problem that could result in unexpected battery drain while the phone screen is off.
• Improvements to the update system to prevent phones getting into a state where attempting to take an update may lead to errors 0x800f081f or 0x80070570.
• Fix for a problem that caused some phones to finish the initial setup wizard with an incomplete set of app tiles on the Start screen.
• Improvements to the reliability of USB-C connections.
• Improvements to Cortana, including a fix for a problem where music playback would not resume after dismissing an incoming text, and a problem with Quiet Hours not setting automatic rules for every day.
• Fix for a problem that could result in the phone to hang or restart when visiting certain web pages in Microsoft Edge.
• Fix for a problem that caused recorded video to be lost when answering an incoming call on some phones.
• Improvements for reliability of internet connection sharing (ICS) and tethering.
• Fix for a problem that caused the navigation bar to overlay and hide part of the screen for some apps on certain phones.

If this update hasnt already downloaded, head over to Settings> Update & secruity> Phone update and then Check for updates.