Screenshots| Best of the Festive Period

These are our favorites from the end of year holiday season. They are, of course, in no particular order. Have a look and click on the link to get more information about the set up. Leave a comment below of which has been your favorite. To see more, head over to simply-android.deviantart.com

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PRODUCT REVIEW| Chromecast Audio

What is going on everybody? Today I will be reviewing Google's Chromecast Audio. I decided to "pull the trigger" on the Chromecast to step up my audio setup. At $35 it seemed a tad too expensive for what it does but I had some couple $$$ extra to spend. If you do your homework, you might be able to find deals on the Chromecast audio.

PRODUCT REVIEW| Elago M2 Stand

What a better way to return than with a product review. Today we are going to take a look at the Elago M2 Stand for phones and tablets. We are not in any way sponsored to review this product, it was purchased with our own money. That being said, lets start this product review. 

This is one elegant stand made of "premium aluminum" and it features what the makers are calling the perfect angle for viewing content and video calls. This is a universal case which means that almost any phone or table is going to fit. You can wire the USB cable (not included) through the back and have it ready without the need of fumbling for it. Personally, I've used it with my Nexus 6p and old Nexus 7 tablet. 

What's good:

The stand is elegant and will fit most people who value having a minimalistic workspace. If you have an Apple iMac, this stand complement your setup. The stand has four rubber foot pads to keep the stand in place. I purchased the silver colored stand but it is also available in black, champagne gold, or that sexy rose gold. As mentioned before, it will hold a large tablet. If you are rocking a case, however, it might not fit perfectly. 

What's not so good:

If you try to use this stand to type a quick SMS reply it will certainly wobble. It can easily fixed by adding some pads on the left and right sides of the back, where the phone lays, to prevent the rocking back and forth. 

Is it worth my money:

I'm 50/50 on this product. If you have a setup and need something to prop up your phone then go ahead and pull the trigger on the Elago m2 Stand. However, (at least for me) $20 is a steep price for something so simple and which might require some modification for some light typing. Fortunately, there are similar stands worth half the price. 

Product link: 

http://www.amazon.com/elago%C2%AE-Stand-Silver-Management-Smartphones/dp/B002OLM56K

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Are you a developer and have an application you'd like us to review, leave a comment below or shoot us an email at simply.android.blog@gmail.com

WHAT'S ON| October 2015

WHAT'S ON is our segment where we briefly review/describe the applications that we are currently using. As always, if you want a full review of any application, send us an email to simply.android.blog@gmail.com

Here is what we are loving, October 2015 edition! 

WHAT'S ON| What's On My Phone (Games Edition?)

Gaming has always been something that I wasn't really drawn to. The only consoles I owned were the NES / SNES (that I bought used and only worked for a month), Playstation 2, and a Gamecube (for some reason). So when the app store reached my original iPod Touch in 2008 (iOS 2.0), I gave mobile gaming a try. Fast forward about 7 years and countless apps later, these are the 'games' that I frequent on my phone, in no particular order. (Click the Google play link for more detail)

REVIEW| Hi Locker

App Name: Hi Locker - Your Lock Screen (AppPlus.Mobi)

Price: Free (1.41 IAP)

Description: Hi locker is a lock screen that was developed based on the mix of classical “lock screen” on the older versions of Android, with the modern of android Lollipop, include notification system on lock screen, and Material design style. Hi Locker will bring you an experience that is both new and familiar, actually useful to you. -Developer

Review: I have am always looking out for apps that will change the android experience without having to get a new phone. With Hi Locker I have 'refreshed' the unlocking experience. This is a great application that allows you to get notifications on the look screen in a beautiful, simplistic kind of way. 

There a some features that the stock locker doesn't provide you with. For example, the ability to control the where you don't have to put your pin/pattern. Say you are connected to your house Wi-fi, Hi Locker disables the security. Once you disconnect from Wi-fi, the security is reenabled. Another feature I absolutely love is the ability to get notifications at a simple glance. Get a message? Swipe to the right and go straight to the SMS app or swipe to the left and dismiss the notification. A bonus feature is the ability to change wallpapers every hour or once a day(more options in between). 

The bad:While there is nothing bad about this application/locker, the are some noteworthy bugs... 

•Music widget displays the wrong song name and sometimes the music widget will remain even though music is not being played. 
•Sometimes the weather is displayed in accurately. You get the wrong location or the weather isn't displayed at all
•There is not ability to reply quickly to SMS messages, you need to got into the SMS app to reply. (Not sure if this works with stock SMS app)

Last thoughts: The app itself is free, but if you want to help out the developer there is a unlock purchase. Also, the developer pushes out frequent updates squashing those ugly bugs. 

Overall rating: 4.7 stars out of 5.0

Google Play link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mobi.appplus.hilocker&hl=en

Screenshots:

***All images courtesy of Google Play and the application's developer. ***

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Are you a developer and have an application you'd like us to review, leave a comment below or shoot us an email at simply.android.blog@gmail.com

TIPS| Deleting app cache to free extra space

Today I want to show you how to free up some space on your android device by clearing your device's cache. Cache, according to Wikipedia, "is a component that stores data so future requests for that data can be served faster; the data stored in a cache might be the results of an earlier computation, or the duplicates of data stored elsewhere". Instagram, for example, is an application  that relies on cache to let you to look back on your timeline without having to pull down those images from the server. This also explains why you can still re-watch videos on Vine when you don't have a connection.