UC Browser 8.0 Saves Cache To Cloud, Allows Faster Browsing [Android]

UC Browser 8.0 Saves Cache To Cloud, Allows Faster Browsing [Android]:

UC Browser is a cross-platform web browser for mobile devices with support for all the renowned operating systems/platforms that currently exist. Be it Android, Symbian, BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Mobile or any other, UC Browser has almost all the bases covered. Just recently, the company has launched UC Browser 8.0 for Android and a handful of other platforms. The browser (currently in beta) vows to enhance web browsing experience on your device through faster, smoother rendering of pages in multiple browsing modes. Users can opt to view pages with full-content support in PC mode or revert to the mobile/no-image view to save bandwidth. In addition, the browser boasts several other features such as full-screen browsing, URL-auto completion, real-time search suggestions from Google, customizable zoom level, image quality and browser orientation, in-page search, built-in download/file manager, better privacy controls, detailed Traffic stats, day/night mode support, extensive bookmarking, editable quick-dial buttons on homescreen and much more.

With the likes of Dolphin HD, Miren, Boat Browser, Firefox, Opera, Angel Browser, Skyfire and Android’s own stock browser offering diverse browsing and customization features to Android users, it demands a truly special effort by a new entrant to attract the attention of one and all. Well, with all the aforementioned features, the new UC Browser is bound to attract a few users.

Although UC Browser supports opening URLs in different tabs, it does not provide the conventional Chrome-like tabbed browsing experience. Instead, the app requires you to press the tab icon (represented by a couple of overlapping small squares) on the toolbar at the bottom to add and/or switch between various tabs, just like in Safari for iOS. In fact, the browser’s interface looks a lot like that of mobile Safari too, with the exception of the customizable Speed Dial on the its home page.

From the bookmarks screen (tap Menu > Bookmarks) to view your browsing history and mange all your bookmarks, add new ones, create bookmark directories, import bookmarks from the stock browser or export them to a backup file.

All content downloaded via UC Browser can be found in the /sdcard/UCDownloads folder.

On the customization front, you may tweak your browser settings to open links in new windows or the same one, enable/disable option to restore the last closed tab when the browser is launched, specify number of simultaneous download tasks and wipe user data/browsing history etc.

To let you experience faster web surfing on your device and to save substantial bandwidth, UC Browser uses its own cloud storage to store all your cached content. By tapping Menu > Tools > Traffic, you can keep a close tab on all the bandwidth/traffic that UC Browser has saved.

While all the various browsing features that are currently being offered by UC Browser worked satisfactorily during our brief test-run, we missed the tabbed browsing that comes with the browsers like Dolphin and Miren. The presence of said feature is nowadays perceived as an almost certainty with any web browser, whether on PC or on a smartphone/tablet. However, the app is still in beta and might bring along a few improvements with the final build.

UC Browser 8.0 Beta is now available in the Android Market. Grab the app via the Market link or the QR code provided below.

Download UC Brower 8.0 Beta

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Now You Can Buy iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS on Malaysia Apple Store

Now You Can Buy iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS on Malaysia Apple Store:

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MALAYSIA (Oct 28, 2011) – Apple Malaysia quietly updated the online store and start selling unlocked (no contract) iPhones for the first time. In the past, Malaysians can only buy iPhone from local telcos.

Malaysia iPhone without contract

The available models are iPhone 4 8GB (RM 1799, Black & White) and iPhone 3GS 8GB (RM 1199). Free delivery. Shipping time is about 1 week.

There’s no iPhone 4S on Malaysia Apple Store at this moment. We wish Apple Malaysia will sell iPhone 4S without contract later.

Unlocked iPhone price compared

For comparison, iPhone 4-no-S 8GB without contract is USD 549 (RM 1681) and SGD 788 (RM 1945). iPhone 3GS 8GB unlocked is USD 375 (RM 1148) in USA and SGD 548 (RM 1352) in Singapore.

As you noticed, Singapore iPhone without contract is expensive!

No AppleCare for Malaysia iPhone

Note that AppleCare Protection Plan for iPhone, which extend warranty from 1 year to 2 years, is not available on Malaysia Apple Store.

LiewCF’s Buying advice

Tempting to buy cheap iPhone 4? I would advice you to wait for couple weeks for iPhone 4S in Malaysia. You would only pay a few hundred ringgits more to get the latest iPhone with double storage space.

If all you want is only a budget iPhone and you don’t care about phone speed, camera resolution, future updates.. iPhone 3GS would be a good fit. It is a great smartphone that I have been using for 2 years. Keep in mind that 3GS might not get future iOS update.

We are expecting iPhone 4S released in Malaysia by November 2011.

Now You Can Buy iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS on Malaysia Apple Store is an article from: LiewCF Tech Blog. For more updates, please follow @liewcf on Twitter, join Facebook page and subscribe free newsletter.

Apple Store Malaysia offers iPhone 4 8GB @ RM1799

Apple Store Malaysia offers iPhone 4 8GB @ RM1799:

Apple Malaysia via its online Store has started offering the recently announced iPhone 4 8GB. It is priced at RM1799.

The 8GB iPhone 4 comes with the new iOS 5 and available in Black & White colour. Apple Malaysia said that the price includes free shipping.

Apple announced the 8GB iPhone 4 last month together with its new iPhone 4S that comes with Siri. While Singaporean have got their hands on the new iPhone 4S, MalaysianWireless reported that the mobile telcos in Malaysia are preparing for the iPhone 4S launch sometime this month.

[8GB iPhone 4]- Apple Store Malaysia

[Source]- via Amanz

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Phones: HTC Explorer now available outright for RM759

Phones: HTC Explorer now available outright for RM759:

The HTC Explorer is finally available for sale in Malaysia with a RRP of RM759 which we found it at SuperBuy website (subsidiary and new online retail arm of Lelong.my). If you order online, they are offering it with discount at RM729 which also can be paid with 6 or 12 month installments by credit card.

In term of specification, the HTC Explorer runs on a 600MHz processor, 512MB of RAM with Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread OS installed. It has a 3.2? HVGA display with 480×320 resolution and comes with 512MB of storage which is expandable via microSD, and 3MP camera at the back.

The HTC Explorer is HTC’s cheapest Android phone to date and it fits right between the Samsung Galaxy W and Galaxy Y in terms of pricing. Which is a better phone depends on usability experience and built quality. If you’re looking for an Android phone with QWERTY keyboard, the HTC ChaCha is now selling at RM799.

Check out full details in our earlier HTC Explorer post.

Samsung: Galaxy Y revealed Pre-order now at RM499

Samsung: Galaxy Y revealed Pre-order now at RM499:

Yet another Samsung device appears and it is the Samsung Galaxy Y, an entry level Android smart phone. The pricing is written as RM499 outright with Superbuy offering it for a discounted price of RM475. At the moment, it is only available for pre-order which we believe full availability would be happening in the next couple of weeks. IMCC, a popular online retailer has yet to put up any details of the Galaxy Y.

The Samsung Galaxy Y is a replacement for the existing Samsung Galaxy 5/Mini which has been selling rather well for under RM700. Now at a much lowered RM499 price, it comes with a decent 832MHz processor, 3? QVGA TFT screen, 2MP Camera and a 1200mAh battery. On board there’s 160MB of storage which is expandable via microSD. The Galaxy Y runs on Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread.

Priced below RM500 mark, the Galaxy Y is probably the cheapest Android smartphone running on Android 2.3 in the market. Earlier on, we’ve seen the Samsung Galaxy W going for RM999 which is quite a bargain for a 1.4GHz Android with a decent 3.7? WVGA screen. It is obvious now that Samsung is aggressively hitting the smart phone segment at all price range.

Samsung: Galaxy W sell at RM999

Samsung: Galaxy W sell at RM999:

Samsung Galaxy W for an affordable RM999 in Malaysia. The Galaxy W is a mid-tier device in their new naming convention and is actually a replacement for their current Samsung Galaxy Ace.

Despite being a mid-tier device, the Galaxy W is no slouch as it runs on a single core 1.4GHz processor and it has Android 2.3 Gingerbread installed. It has a larger 3.7inchi S-LCD display with 800×480 resolution. Internally comes with 2GB storage and 512MB of RAM. For imaging, it has a 5MP camera with assisted flash that’s capable of shooting 720p HD videos. There’s also a VGA camera at the front for video calls. They have also thrown in a rather generous 1500mAh battery as well.

For RM999, the Galaxy W packs quite a lot for less which puts other expensive rivals to shame. Seems like Samsung is able to give HTC a run for their money.

[Source]

Iris: A Potential Siri Alternative For Android?

Iris: A Potential Siri Alternative For Android?:

Ever since Apple unveiled its latest voice recognition wonder ‘Siri’ along with the iPhone 4S, Android developers all over the world started devising alternate solutions of their own. It’s not that Android has been completely alien to voice command-powered apps until now. If you’re an avid follower of Android apps, you might well be aware of Vlingo – a long-ago released app that allows users to control or access various aspects of their devices via voice commands. As for possible Siri replacements, among all other attempts that have been made to replicate the marvels of said application, Iris can be easily cited as the most impressive effort. Inspired from the same voice-based questioning/answering mechanism as that of Siri, Iris tries to help you out with your online queries, calls and texts, and not just that, the app responds to any general questions or statements that you might throw at it. As it is right now, Iris is obviously not at par with Siri, but it won’t be wrong to say that it definitely has the potential to get there some day. More to follow after the break.

Before proceeding any further, make sure that you have Google’s Voice Search TTS library installed on your device.

According to Dexetra – the developers of the app – it took them barely eight hours to produce the first build of Iris. The initial build didn’t really give you much to work with but the developers have been releasing regular updates for the app, adding new features and improvements with each one.

The app greats you with an introductory screen with basic instructions about its usage. Just tap on the big blue icon at the bottom of the screen to start communicating with Iris.

Be clear and specific (and sensible!) with your voice commands or be prepared for equally inaccurate answers/actions from your assistant. Thankfully, the app is not restricted to receiving/responding to just specific commands for all your call/text-based queries. Instead, you can try out anything ranging from “call [contact name]” to “I want to send a message to [contact name]”. There’s also an option within the app to Enable Question/Answer Voice Playback; helpful for users who don’t wish to have everything read aloud to them.

We managed to test Iris on one of our devices by throwing all sorts of questions at her. Not only did she manage to answer most of the the (logically sound) questions correctly but also supported those answers with relevant images. Tapping on such an answer leads you to the source of the information (which was Wikipedia for all our queries ). Ask Iris about the weather at a specific location and she will give a detailed forecast of the entire week.

Iris usually responds pretty well to light chat as well, at times responding with questions of her own. Insults have an unpredictable effect and she never seems reluctant to go on a date or get married. If you wish to ask Iris personal questions, it is always better to say her name at the end or she tends, at times, to confuse it with a query related to, say, a movie or a song.

Provided the app is still under development, one has to appreciate the quality of this preliminary effort. Iris is free on the Android Market. Grab the app via the Market link or QR code provided below.

Download Iris

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ArcGIS Brings Its Comprehensive Maps Database To Android

ArcGIS Brings Its Comprehensive Maps Database To Android:

Love exploring maps? How about taking the ArcGIS route? ArcGIS is Esri’s free cross-platform GIS-powered client for Android and iOS that fetches worldwide maps using Microsoft’s Bing service and lets you find and view information about locations all over the globe. ArcGIS features maps hosted by worldwide users and lets you access your own maps from the ArcGIS Server. With comprehensive map details, layers, a huge online gallery, extended map sharing, editing and measurement options, ArcGIS ensures that you do not have to rely on multiple navigation-based apps and atlases to quench your exploration needs. More to follow after the break.

The app was initially released just for the iOS-powered devices while its Android variant has just recently landed on the Android Market. Even if you’re not connected to the app’s service, you may still explore all the various features/maps that ArcGIS has to offer. Tapping anywhere on map displays the latitude/longitude information of the place, long-pressing brings up a magnifying glass that displays a zoomed in view of the selected portion of the map within itself.

To access your ArcGIS data and other app features, tap on the button in the top-left corner of the screen. The screen that follows, carrys your ArcGIS Groups and Maps gallery. The gallery contains Featured, Popular, Highest Rated, most commented on, Recent and sample maps.

All maps pertaining to various locations, events, meteorological information, natural disasters, future plans, ongoing projects or any other user-defined category can be found under this menu. Tapping the Collection Samples button lets you edit various built-in maps. For instance, you may add personal notes, complete with images, URLs, email ID, phone number and date/time to a preferred spot on map or help organizations with useful information pertaining to various surveys/inspection that are in-progress in various parts of the world. All the modifications made to these maps are stored on server and can be accessed/edited by anyone, ArcGIS subscriber or not.

While certain editing features could prove helpful in crowd-sourcing important data and statistical analyses for a specific location.

On the app’s homescreen, tap the ruler icon to get accurate distance/area measurements according to various parameters. The search button, obviously, handles all your queries for locations of interest. To modify map display, simply tap Menu > Map Contents and pick the layers of your choice.

Although the app’s map viewing and editing features are considerably good, it isn’t ideal for navigation and requires some practice to get a grip of various features/tools incorporated therein. It would certainly be harsh to compare it with the pioneering Google Maps service that has become an obvious choice for almost any smartphone user when it comes to picking a default navigation app.

ArcGIS is available for free on the Android Market and works on Android OS 2.2 or higher. Download the app by via the Market link or QR code provided below.

Download ArcGIS

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