Lets quickly talk about Cardstock Icon Theme by artvandelay44, an icon theme for Apex, Nova, Action, ADW and Holo launchers that at the time of writing has a Play Store rating of 4.9.

Yip that’s right a mighty 4.9, it is that good.  The icons are simple, clean, elegant. What’s more is they are something different. There are a lot of icon packs around that at first glace you are not sure who made them. With Cardstock there is no doubt. Artvandelay440 has put in lots of time and effort with these. That is something that shows from each icon, to all of the included wallpapers to the care and attention that he has put into the app.

Just check out the pictures below, it is not a bit of a wonder that these are my icons of choice for my tablet since it was released. To be honest I see reason to move to another anytime soon.

Also did I mention that if your favorite apps are not themed you can request them for a future update from inside the app? It is little things like this that make me really like this all the more. With over 300 of the most popular apps already themed there should not be much that is not taken care of.

Priced at a very,very reasonable £1.18 for those of us here in the UK or $1.79 for our friends Stateside. With regular updates you can be sure that this is money well spent, and a very active presence on Google+  getting a quick 5 mins with the man to request an icon or if you just want to thank him for all his hard work is easy.

Download Cardstock Icon Theme from the Play Store

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As the Nexus 4 reaches its mid life and the rumor mill is churning out its guesses at the next iteration of the device, i thought now would be a good time too reflect on my purchase. Re visit my thoughts of the device pre purchase what i think now and what i`m hoping for in the next device.

Before i started writing i went back and re read my posts regarding the N4 pre release on Google +, i was quite vocal in the threads regarding the hot topics, LTE, removable battery and expandable storage. I even wrote an article (rant?) on here and a had a rebuttle posted by Michael Grasser (that will never be mentioned in our house :-p).

So after 6 months am i eating my words have all the detractors been proved right?

Lets look at the issues individually

LTE;

When defending/arguing the lack of LTE on the N4 i was always looking at the device firstly for my own needs and secondly on an international level, I stand by what i said for me in my country. 4G/LTE is still a novelty unattainable for anyone bar EE customers (and still at exhobarant pricing and limited availability), even when the next Nexus releases im not sure LTE will be widely available in the UK. Three (which is my network) has even announced that there will be no additional charge when 4G/LTE is available on their network, if the next Nexus supports LTE all well and good but i would not sacrifice the battery for it and it would not put me off purchasing the next gen if it lacks it. Maybe it is because ive never used 4G, maybe people are right if i ever did try it i would never be able to go back to 3G. Who knows but as of now im happy with 3G and 4G would be a bonus but not a necessity

Expandable storage. This one is an easy one for me, I am balls deep in Google i embrace every new release and utilize all their online storage facilities  I had a panic attack the other day due to a post on G+ regarding peoples reliance on cloud storage. It brought home to me how much reliance and trust i am placing in Google, what would happen if (god forbid) my Google account was suspended. When the dust settled i realized i had made the choice, i was trusting a company that is good at what it does, more than that i believe in Google as a company and until they change my mind i will stop panicking and enjoy the service and more relevant to this article not worry about expandable storage. I never maxed out my S2, Gnex or the N4, i begrudge having photos physically on my device and periodically empty them, i also have no music physically on my device, this frees up space for stuff like games. For some people the lack of expandable storage on their mobile device is a deal breaker, to them i say stop bitching and choose one of the many competent devices out there that do, for me it works and im happy. (I have unlimited data)

Battery. This one is a little trickier, i cannot say in good conscience that the battery on the N4 is anything to write home about, but in the same vein it isn’t dire either. A smart phone is a power hungry little fellow and unfortunately battery technology does not seem to follow the same upward trend as mobile phone technology. So two choices are left increase the physical size of the battery and therefore increasing the size of the phone (Note 2) or restrict the performance of the phone. Now as i said the N4 is not the best battery but i don’t think the balance is too bad, i personally have a car charger and a home charger and i am yet to be faced with a flat phone. In summary it would be nice to have a longer lasting battery but i think the same could be said for any smart phone.

Another hot topic surrounding the N4 was the balance between cost and build quality/performance. Now i think anyone who has played with the N4 would have to agree no compromise was made on performance, it flew when it was new and it flies now (I am stock rooted with Buzz as my launcher). Now build quality is another issue, i have read endless posts in various communities etc regarding issues with the N4, niggling build quality issues whether it be the proximity sensor, the annoying sim card tray rattle, BT issues, WI-FI , issues, camera issues, sliding issues, glass issues i could go on forever with the complaints ive read.

I think a nexus phone is a standard bearer for the Android community and embraced by the tech savvy, therefore by default is going to be put under the microscope by people who have a greater understanding about their purchase and are passionate. I personally have only experienced the BT issue rarely and the proximity sensor now and again. As Christopher Rizzo said in a debate regarding the N4, no matter what the cost of the device some things should just work, the proximity sensor falls into that category and is super annoying when it happens.

Another hot topic is the sliding issue which ties into the glass issue, many a post i have read about the N4 sliding off a -not quite flat surface -and the back glass breaking. I concur the N4 is very slippery, ive said as much on here, but the delicacy of the N4 has raised a question for me. Ive had a few smart phones and treated them as a tool, taken care of but used and sometimes a little carelessly, my Gnex and S2 had various bumps dents and scrapes (but luckily never a broken screen) six months on and my N4 is as it was when it left its box, i am verging on OCD regarding how careful i am am with the device, i am not prepared to find out if the back is a delicate as everyone (who is unfortunate to have broke one) says. So this is my question to myself, has the fear of dropping it ruined the experience or am i just showing an expensive piece of tech the respect it deserves. I am leaning towards the latter, i have a case on for work and when i get home and take the case off i still after 6 months love it, “it feels so good in the hand” (That ones for you Shaun Nicholson)

So what does the future hold for the next Nexus? Sunder Pichai in a recent interview with wired.com touched on the fact that this years IO will focus more on Devs and software than hardware, so don’t expect any ground breaking news regarding the N4 or should we (princess bride style?) There’s plenty of speculation out there but no one really knows, we can only guess and dream. In a fantasy world my next Nexus would be either the Oppo find 5 or the HTC One, they at the moment are my favorite devices (phone porn). This again raises another question, I love both those devices but if Google put out their next Nexus at similar  build quality and spec would i be prepared to stump up the extra cash? As i have  said before i think Google got the balance of build quality, specs and price spot on with the N 4, its not perfect but for the price its as close as you will get.

Unless Google do something dire i will get the next Gen and until then i am more then happy with the LG offering of the Nexus device and wouldn’t be worried if the next Nexus is an LG.

When I was a kid one of the greatest things about Christmas was finding out what calendar that had been left for us. There was always one we wanted. Even today we rush out every year and pick up a calender, we flick through it and find a picture or two, sometimes more, that we just don’t like.

And the years have passed, I no longer buy calendars, but every Xmas when they hit the shelves I get a little craving to buy one. Again the same story plus there is no real need not when our phone are the way they are.

About a week or so ago I stumbled across 1st Picture Calendar Widget THD by Kashban. Finally we could have a calender from our childhood on our phones.

Features include

• Ability to choose picture for each individual month
• Ability to assign a caption for each month
• Lockscreen widget for Android 4.2
• Picture randomizing
• Light and Dark calendar design
• Optional frame and/or spiral binding around picture

Oh, and did I mention all this is for the low price of free? Well it is. It is ad supported, however there are NO ads on any widget you place. Plus if the ads during setup bother you that much you have the option to unlock the full version in app for the low price of 84p.

And it does not stop there, the next update coming should (hopefully) show the birthdays of your contacts, and even display their profile picture if it is available and you wish to display it.

Now there is one small issue. It does not play well with Sony Xperia devices, and the odd tablet. Why? Well it is better I just share what is written in the Play Store description

Why won’t the Widget run on my Smartphone / Tablet?
A: This may have several causes. Some Homescreen Launcher do not work well with sizable Widgets so that the Picture Calendar Widget is unable to calculate Layout and Text Sizes after a Resize. Others do not use the default Icon Matrix (4×4 on Phones, 6×6 on Tablets), which puts up some difficulties for showing the Widget Content accordingly. Known Launchers not able to work with sizable Widgets are the Atom Launcher and the Sony Xperia Z-Launcher. I therefore excluded all Sony Devices from the compatibility list of my App. If you happen to use the Sony Launcher with Android 4.1+ on a device not from Sony, you might encounter serious issues. The Sony Launcher is NOT ready for Android 4.1+.

So unless you have a Sony device then there is no reason you should not be rushing off to the Play Store and giving this a try.

And for anyone who is interested in the pictures I am using on mine they are all from the the creative hand of George Anderson aka Drawn on Android. Check out his work either on his Google+ page or his website, and I am sure it will not be the last time you see his work gracing the pages here. Lookout for a closer in-depth look at his work in the near future.

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Launchers are numerous and common place on the play store, From the old guard of ADW, Nova and Apex to the newer offerings of SF launcher, Next and QM launcher.

With so many launchers available offering such differing experiences is there room for another one?

Home pack buzz team seem to think so and after having a play around i whole heartedly agree.

Buzz launcher has a unique trick up its sleeve which i will come to later but first lets look at the launcher on its own merits.

Straight away upon finding the app on the play store i`m already pleasantly surprised at the fresh well designed look, Yes i mean the presentation on the play store, Before even downloading the app you can tell the Home pack team has an eye for design and color representation.

So to the launcher, as a new user you are met with useful help and tips at every stage of creating your personalized screens, which for new comers will be very useful.

As I’ve spent an unhealthy amount of time theming my device i was straight in there without needing the helps and tips, But I would confidently recommend this to someone wanting to start theming their device without much prior knowledge, I talked a friend into trying it out, A friend with little experience and guess what the next day he showed me what he had done…… I was impressed it is really easy to pick up and run with.

The launcher has a slew of options for creating your master piece

Extract from play store;

MULTI-WALLPAPER SCREEN: You can select different wallpaper images from your gallery for each screen
￭ MY ICON: an icon editing tool is provided so you can edit and resize icons on your own. Transparent icons are also supported (Theme icon pack is to be supported)
￭ MULTI-GRID: you can designate different grids for each screen (up to 12×12)
￭ MANAGE FOLDERS: you can make folders in app drawers/Homescreen, modify folder image, and resize folders
￭ MANAGE APPS: features for viewing most frequently used apps, recently installed apps, and hiding apps
￭ MANAGE APP DRAWERS: Screen concept is applied to app drawers so you can manage apps by screens
￭ GESTURE SUPPORT: Glide up, Glide down, Double tab and more.
￭ Previewing is supported for various view settings

A feature i missed was being able to use bought icon packs i have quite few so its nice to know that it is a feature that is high on the list for implementation by the Devs.

Remember i said they have an ace up their sleeves, well the Home pack team have a community for home screens, when you download the app you can also sign up to Home pack Buzz service, this basically allows you to upload your home screen for others to rate and down load and also allows you to down load other peoples Home screens.

This is ideal for people new to theming and allows you to have an awesome looking individual home screen with very little effort or know how, Once you have the look you require it is quite simple to tweak to your hearts content. There is a lot of home screens on there and im sure you will find something to suit most tastes.

I should mention how easy it is to download a home screen, you simply go onto the Buzz community which is a one touch button within the app scroll through the categories, find the home screen you like and down load, the app will set your home screen just like you viewed it from the community, it installs the apps and widgets (greyed out at first) you simply touch the app/widget it takes you to the play store and you download the app or widget (or not if you want to install an alternative)

I have also used UCCW widgets within Buzz launcher to good effect.

Besides looking pretty a launcher has to be functional, after using it for a week i haven’t noticed any excess battery drain and my N4 is as quick and slick as ever.

The App and community are still in their infancy but with more contributors it will only get better, i have spoke to the Devs and they are genuinely nice people and happy to help or answer questions.

Home screens are a chance for people to show off their artistic skills and you just have to look around the communities and pages on Google + to see how much time and effort people put into them, The Buzz team have a great idea here this easily opens up Home screen customization to the every day Android user and gives people more proficient in it somewhere to share and show off.

One issue i have is that after selecting English as the language the news page still shows as another language, from my few dealings with the team i`m sure they will look into it forfwith.

I genuinely hope this takes off for the Buzz team and will be flaunting my ever changing Home screens on Google+ I would say definitely give it a go its free and still in beta so be one of the first and if you like it share and promote.

Buzz has a community page on Google + Home pack buzz designers which is an invite only community

Get the app here Buzz Launcher Beta

And you will want to pick up the Buzz custom widget beta also

And you can circle the key contributors on Google +

+Catherine H Chang

+Jinny Sung

+Ko Hyunjoo

+Stella Park

I’m a sucker for a good leather case for my phones. Every phone I have had over the last 3 or 4 years has had one. Now I have had my Nexus 4 for almost 3 months and I had still not managed to find a nice one.

Enter the folks at MobileFun.com, I got chatting with them and they showed me the Rearth Ringke Discover case for the Nexus 4. And what a beauty it is. Hand-made leather with a reinforced inside plus the usual refinements. Not to mention that it is tan. So I started screaming “Shut up and take my money”, placed the order and waited for it to arrive.

My first impressions once it arrived was this is nice, very nice. Even before it is out of the box you are presented with a feeling that this is a quality product. The box is solid, well thought out. You know this is not a cheap case before you manage to open it.

Once opened I was not disappointed. The leather feels great. Not too stiff or harsh but solid and well built. The holder for the Nexus 4 is attached very well also. I will say this about the phone holder. When I first saw it, and saw that it was white, I was not sure how I would feel about it. After a few days of use I have stopped longing for it to be black and see that white is the right colour for it. Around the side edging there are cut outs for the power and volume buttons, Along the top and bottom it is curved to allow access to the headphone port, the usb port and both the mics are open and clear. And, let us not forget the openings for the camera and speaker along the back. The standard of the cutouts is on par with what I was expecting once I saw the case. Everything is of a very high standard and so far there is nothing to complain about.

The flip cover part of the case it again of a high standard, the one problem with it is the same that plagues all cases of this type. Yes it has room for a couple of cards and some notes. The problem is when you load it up with say 3 credit cards and a handful of notes the case no longer closes right. In saying that this is not really a fault of the case. It is more something that affects all cases of this style. As long as you are travelling light then you will have no issues.

As I said above, I am no stranger to this type of case. I have used many before now. This one is the first one once popped on I have yet to take off. It is hard to explain why, perhaps it is the total quality of the case just leads me to keep it on at all times. Another thing, I hate taking my phone out in the rain. I mean if you call me and I am out in the rain I will not answer. I like my phone too much. I know it can handle a little bit of rain but there is a part of me that still gets worried about taking it out. So around 2 days ago I was out walking about, in the rain, and got a call I had to take. There was no way I could not. So for the next hour there is me walking about in the rain and for the first time I was not worried. I felt totally at ease talking with the cover closed knowing my phone was not getting ruined. Oh, the cut out for the earpiece, same high standard as everything else.

At $26.49 the Rearth Ringke Discover case is amazing value.For anyone that is looking a seriously high quality case then you should consider this. While it will not suit everyone, those that it does appeal too need look no further. Click the link below to be taken straight to the page.

And before I leave you links I just want to share a few words about my experiecnce with the folks at MobileFun. They have been great. The service has been great, the range of products they have on offer is wonderful. Go spend some time on their site, I am sure you will find a few things to catch your eye,

Rearth Ringke Discover Leather Diary Case 

Check out MobileFun.com for more stuff or for more Nexus 4 cases or accessories hit up these links Google Nexus 4 cases & Google Nexus 4 case

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As the internet pushes more and more into our everyday lives large and small companies are looking at ways to push that consumption into our living room and onto our big screen, TV manufacturers are making smart TVs, Smaller companies are offering Mini PC T.Vs  I fully embrace the idea but the price of the large smart TVs are beyond me and the mini T.V. P.C. just didn’t fully deliver, Miracast is looming but not quite here, but there is an option if you are already lucky enough to own a Nexus 4. Step up Slim port, I know this is not something new for the Android Elite, its been out a while but with a bit of tinkering and the use of items you may already have lying around you can have the smart T.V. experience at a fraction of the cost, firstly we need to cover what the Slim port is what it does and the cost. I bought mine from Amazon UK for around £23, The slim port basically connects to your HD TV via a HDMI cable (not supplied) and then to your phone via its mini USB port. And that’s it whatever is displayed on your phone will be displayed onto your TV screen in H.D., There is another port on the Slim port to connect a charger which is needed if you’re planning on consuming media for any length of time.

Now this is all well and good but to be honest if you’re like me you don’t want to drag your carcass of the settee to the phone to read a message move onto the next you tube video e.t.c. Luckily the solution to this is simply connecting a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard to your phone, the beauty of the Slim port is that whatever appears on your mobile screen appears on your big screen in full H.D.one of my gripes with the mini PC was some apps were incompatible. Apps auto rotate to landscape and its wired so there is no lag.

So now we have our media content on our big screen what else…. oh yes those high end graphically intense games languishing on your small mobile screen, for this step up Six axis controller and a P.S.3 game pad, as i said before the Slim port mirrors whatever is on your mobile screen including games, but what is the point if you have to keep looking at your phone for the controls, What six axis controller does is uses a third party blue tooth capable device as a native controller it basically re assigns the default Bluetooth id of your phone and pairs it with the controller, this works perfectly for games like Dead trigger and Shadow gun that support native controllers but for the ones that don’t Six axis has another neat trick, you can take physical buttons etc on your control pad and assign them to the touch controls on screen.

Now for this to work you do need to root your phone and should only do this after full research and feel comfortable doing it, once rooted the Six axis part is quite straight forward. I will say some games need the settings changing i.e. some racing games when set to use the gyroscope for steering auto rotate the screen assuming you are rotating your phone to steer, As you can imagine this looks a little funky on your big screen.

The down side to all this is that the Slim port is only compatible with the Nexus 4

Check out some of the videos below to see the items in the article in action

Slim port at CES

Six axis controller

Us Linux users never get it easy. You would think once we popped our new shiny Nexus device out of the box and plugged into our machines we would be able to drap and drop files with ease. After all Android is Linux based, how hard would it be to have this out of the box for us.

Well the truth is that it is not that hard. It is also not as simple as plugging your phone into the pc and your off dragging and dropping. Thankfully Xda member marty331 has written a quick little guide designed to enable it for you. He says:

You are unable to just plug in your Nexus 4 in Linux but it is very easy to mount and unmount to move data to/from your sdcard. This is one option that will allow you to utilize Nautilis (or any other file browser) to copy files to/from your Nexus 4. This is written for Ubuntu, but should work the same for other Linux systems. Also, this should work for Nexus 7 and 10.

All you really have to do is open up your Termail and type in a few commands and your set. Are we ready?

1. Enable Developer options and enable USB debugging.
2. Install necessary modules to your computer:
sudo apt-get install mtp-tools mtpfs
3. Configure 51-android.rules:
sudo gedit /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules
paste the following at the end of the file (if the file does not exist then just paste):
#LG – Nexus 4
SUBSYSTEM==”usb”, ATTR{idVendor}==”1004″, MODE=”0666″
#Samsung – Nexus 7 & 10
SUBSYSTEM==”usb”, SYSFS{idVendor}==”18d1″, MODE=”0666″

Save and exit.
4. Make the file executable:
sudo chmod +x /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules
5. Restart udev
sudo service udev restart
6. Create mount point and permissions (will need to do this for other Nexus’ if using for the 7 or 10)
sudo mkdir /media/nexus4
chmod 755 /media/nexus4

7. Plug in the Nexus 4 and make sure MTP is enabled.

8. Mount with the following command:
sudo mtpfs -o allow_other /media/nexus4

9. When you have completed your work you must unmount:
sudo umount /media/nexus4

Now each time you need to copy from/to your Nexus 4 to your Linux computer you only need to plug in and run 8, then 9 when you have completed your work.

And there you have it. Mounting your Nexus device in Linux is as simple as that.

If this has been of help to you, please stop by Xda and thank marty331 for his guide. You can leave him a comment or click the thanks button and let him know that he has helped you out.

Xda guide: [HOWTO] Mount Nexus 4 in Linux

Browsing through the Play Store the other day I found this in the Trending section and was curious. Sure I have seen a few apps like this claiming the same thing but all have had awful reviews on the Play Store. This was was sitting with an average review of 4.6. Perhaps it was worth a closer look.

The firs thing you notice when you open it up for the first time is that AWFUL UI. There is just no escaping form it. This thing is bad. I’m not talking iOS or Gingerbread bad. It is worse than that. Check out the gallery below and you will see what I mean, it is bad. Yet, that 4.6 score kept me from from quickly exiting and removing it. I mean with between 1-5 million installs there has to be something going for it.

Well it is not the search. I found the search to be crap. Mostly because you cannot search directly for anything. You can search in a more general sense of how we are used to it. Refining it by language and by Genre is all you are going to get. At first I was really confused by this, but in a statement on their website they explain:

We have received many requests for the feature of searching by title, and the value of this feature is considered very seriously. Still, we have to say sorry that we decide not to provide this feature recently. Due to copyright restriction, there are not enough movies yet, maybe will never be, on youtube for us to search them by title. Those we can watch for free are movies that no one ever claimed copyright. If we provide a search bar, the result it can return is mostly, eh…, disappointment.
The core value of MovieTube is a tool for digging out valuable movies buried by tons of boring videos using the power of user community and our editors. We never intended to replace Google Play Movies or Netflix. To make it easier for you to find interesting movies on YouTube, we are adding genre, IMDB, subtitle info now and soon we will be able to support more search conditions. Stay with us to see our progress.

I get why they have taken this path. While it may be a little more frustrating it is not as frustrating as it could be. Once you get passed that finding movies is simple enough. Hit Search, change the Language to English and select a Genre. Scroll down the list until you see something you like and off you go, clicking on a link opens the film up in YouTube or your browser. In the last week I have used this to sit down and watch films like Enemy Of The State, Lord of War and more. I have even seen things like Twilight and Harry Potter on there if that is your sort of film.

While I still cannot forgive any developer for a UI like they have given us this does have a couple of good points. I mean if you are just looking a little quick and simple way to watch a film and you don’t mind what you watch this could be just the thing for you.

So give it a go and try and forgive it for how it looks. At the end of the day it delivers on what it says it offers and it does it well. I just wished it looked prettier doing it.

Download MovieTube from the Play Store

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For most people on Android one of the first things you do on your device is install your favorite keyboard, I know i did and my keyboard of choice was Swype,  A few people go for this thing called…….. “swift key flow keyboard”? ……..I know, it may be a stretch to get people away from that excellent keyboard.

Since 4.2 the stock keyboard has had a bit of an overhaul and is definitely worth a look, one of the main features is the addition of gesture Swype and another less well known features is native Emoji, These are excellent if like me sometimes the written word is not enough to express emotion, like happy, sad…….Umbrella? anyhow there’s a lot to choose from.

Turning the Emoji on doesn’t jump out of the keyboard at you and to activate you will have to delve deep into the settings , fortunately this is where i come in so read on.

1. Go into settings

2. Select language and input

3. Press settings on Android keyboard

4.Scroll to add on dictionaries and install Emoji

5. Back up and Emoji keyboard should now be an option below the default English option and voice typing.

6. Tick iWnn IME, this keyboard works alongside the English keyboard not a replacement, English should be your default, you should be done in the settings now so back all the way out.

7. Pull up your keyboard and long press space bar, you will now be offered Emoji input as an option simply hit that option, you can always at any time when in the Emoji keyboard press cancel to return to the standard keyboard.

8. Let your emotions flow like a river onto the page in pictorial format.

See the slide show below selected screen shots to aid the activation and enjoy Emoji.

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