Hasta La Gadget!

Missing phone apps such as Find My iPhone often have a glaring weakness: as they depend on pings at regular intervals, they’re not much use at tracking down a lost device if the battery dies first. Enter a major revamp of Lookout’s Security & Antivirus app for Android. The updated title’s new Signal Flare component takes advantage of a phone’s tendency to go out in a blaze of wireless glory that marks its last location. By remembering where a phone was unintentionally laid to rest, Signal Flare helps track down a phone that might have died in the parking lot — or just underneath the couch. Should your phone remain safely in your pocket, you’ll likely still appreciate the reworked interface that blends in with Android 4.0 and beyond, the protection against click-to-call exploits and an activity feed that shows just what Lookout has been doing behind the scenes. Android users can get that extra reassurance today, and iOS users have been promised a parallel app in the future.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Lookout Security & Antivirus for Android gets a makeover, lets missing phones have one last gasp originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Oct 2012 12:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re unsatisfied with Apple’s current iOS 6 Maps experience and are hoping to jump back into Google’s loving arms then take a breath and sit down — it could be a little while. Separately, The Verge and New York Times have heard from unnamed sources that a standalone Google Maps app on iOS is launching, but may not be ready until the end of the year. The reason for the delay? Unlike some previous rumors that claimed Apple may be stalling on the approval an already submitted app, they indicate Google did not know of Cupertino’s plans to launch its own solution this year until it was publicly announced in June, since their contract extended into 2013. According to one of the NYT sources, another issue could be Google’s desire to include 3D imagery from Google Earth in any standalone effort to compete with Apple’s native features. All of this follows a statement Google Chairman Eric Schmidt made in Japan last night that it had “not done anything yet” regarding Google Maps on iOS. So, if you’ve upgraded to iOS 6, are you sticking with the new app or trying to find some other way to avoid navigation related mishaps until Gmaps is back?

Filed under: Software, Mobile

Rumors about Google Maps app for iOS intensify, claim it’s still months away from launch originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 00:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Now that iOS 6 has arrived on Apple tablets and phones, users at large are getting their hands on the company’s new Maps app for the first time only to find at least a few things out of place. The lack of navigation for public transportation was a known limitation going in, but misplaced landmarks, geographical oddities and suddenly blank areas where Google Maps had an abundance of tags (all being cataloged by The Amazing iOS 6 Maps Tumblr, as seen above) have some users bristling. A spokesperson for Apple tells All Things D that it expects things to improve as more people use Maps (check out the entire statement after the break), but is that enough? Hit the poll selections below to let us know if the new experience is truly a move in the right direction.

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Continue reading Apple says it’s ‘just getting started’ on Maps for iOS 6, are you willing to wait? (poll)

Filed under: Software, Mobile

Apple says it’s ‘just getting started’ on Maps for iOS 6, are you willing to wait? (poll) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 18:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just last week, Nokia’s augmented reality app known as City Lens broke free of its beta shackles, but its developers are hardly sitting on their laurels as they help prepare the company’s Windows Phone 8 handsets for store shelves. New to the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820, Nokia has announced a refined version of City Lens replete with 3D icons and the ability to disable suggestions that aren’t within the line of sight. Also on deck, users will be able to query their surroundings more quickly by pinning categories to the home screen and storing favorite searches. As one final addition, Nokia will be introducing the ability to use City Lens in both portrait and landscape orientation. Unfortunately, the company hasn’t committed to these new features for the Windows Phone 7.5 version of its app. For a quick peek of what’s next, just hop the break for a video teaser from Nokia.

Continue reading Nokia reveals new City Lens augmented reality app for Windows Phone 8 lineup

Filed under: Cellphones, GPS, Software, Mobile

Nokia reveals new City Lens augmented reality app for Windows Phone 8 lineup originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Sep 2012 02:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wondering if that Facebook acquisition would slow down the pace of innovation at Instagram? Perhaps v3.0 will answer that. The famed photo sharing network — now some 80 million users deep — is detailing its latest user interface overhaul today, and geolocation is at the heart of it. Lining up with our own feelings on the benefits of geotagging and the usefulness of tagged photos from an archive / diary perspective, the newest edition of the app introduces a Photo Maps view. As the name implies, it overlays photos with a map underneath, giving people a far more visual look at what they were seeing at a given point on Earth (or Mars, assuming Curiosity hasn’t reached its data limit this month).

Beyond that, the app includes “multi-line caption editing, more streamlined photo uploading, speed improvements and infinite scroll,” according to our pals at TechCrunch. Interestingly, the Twitter “Find Friends” feature has been yanked in the latest build due to Twitter shutting off its API to the company last month. If you’re wondering about a master plan for Photo Maps, it’s pretty simple; just as you’d tune into #nbcfail on Twitter to read the latest musings about the Summer Olympics, hovering over London in Instagram could give you a highly filtered look at what kind of photos are emerging from an event in real time. And really, who wouldn’t want to see 807 sepia-infused 1:1 shots of Usain Bolt? Per usual, you’ll find the demo vid after the break.

Continue reading Instagram 3.0 adds Photo Maps, infinite scrolling and speed improvements (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Software

Instagram 3.0 adds Photo Maps, infinite scrolling and speed improvements (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Aug 2012 12:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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