The 25 Best Android Games

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Bubble Wars



Bejewelled

Bejeweled 2$2.99Bejeweled 2 is a high-quality recreation of the classic match-three computer game, Bejeweled. The premise is very simple: match gems on a grid to get rid of them before they overwhelm your screen and you lose. It's highly addictive. The Android app incorporates crisp audio and visuals.




Bubble WarsFreeBubble Wars is a fresh twist on bubble-shooting games, which rely on the premise that you shoot same-colored bubbles at other bubbles to get rid of them. In Bubble Wars, the obstacle is a hexagon in the center of your screen, and it spins based on the weight of the bubbles you shoot at it. It's ridiculously addictive and add a welcome new dimension to your typical bubble shooting game. I also really liked the two game modes, Defense and Attack, which reverse the goal of the game.
















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Toshiba Excite 7.7

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Toshiba's Excite line of tablets sport some of the thinnest and lightest aluminum-clad designs available today. The Excite 7.7 ($499.99/16GB, $579.99/32GB direct) is the smallest in a family with 10- and 13-.3 inch models, and its design and features rival the high-end Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 ($699.99, 3.5 stars). The Excite 7.7's incredible AMOLED screen, fast quad-core Tegra 3 processor, and slim aluminum frame make it a tablet to talk about, but it's a tough sell in a 7-inch market where most tablets cost between $200 and $350.
Design, Features, and ScreenCompared with Toshiba's older Thrive 7 ($379.99, 3 stars), the Excite 7.7 is a work of art. The slate measures 8.1 by 5.3 by 0.31 inches (HWD) and weighs 12.3 ounces, putting it on par with the svelte Galaxy Tab 7.7, which measures 7.74 by 5.24 by 0.31 inches and weighs 12 ounces. The frame uses a combination of plastic for the outer rim and textured aluminum for the back plate. The result is a clean, modern look, with a sturdy feel for such a slim tablet. Along the top edge are the Power and Volume buttons, as well as an orientation lock switch. A 3.5mm headphone jack, microUSB port, and microSD card slot line the right side, while two speaker grilles flank the oversized proprietary dock connector along the bottom. Curiously, the oversized dock connector, which terminates in a USB plug, does not work for syncing to a computer—it only powers the tablet, while the microUSB port allows for data transfer between computers and external storage devices, but does not power the device.
Unlike the Galaxy Tab 7.7, the Excite connects to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi only, accessing 802.11b/g/n networks on the 2.4GHz band. There is a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera and rear-facing 5-megapixel camera, but like mant tablet cameras, both are unsuitable for anything but casual snapshots. Pictures, even in good light, appeared washed out, with soft details in my tests. Video was even worse, especially indoors, with frame rates dropping as low as 9 frames per second and heavy image noise.
The real draw here is the incredibly vibrant AMOLED display—the same one used on the Galaxy Tab 7.7, but without Samsung's trademarked "Super" designation. The 7.7-inch, 1280-by-800-pixel display appears more saturated than on the New Apple iPad ($499, 4.5 stars), though Apple's tablet gets a bit brighter. The viewing angle is superb, but given the somewhat low maximum brightness and highly reflective screen, the Excite 7.7 is not a good outdoor performer. The 196 pixels per inch isn't quite "Retina" level, but it is still very sharp and the color richness can't be beat. The only problem I experienced was an overly sensitive auto-brightness setting, which became distracting as the screen brightness fluctuated too noticeably. If you manually set your brightness, this is not an issue.
Performance and SoftwareThe Excite 7.7 is powered by a speedy quad-core 1.3GHz Tegra 3 chip with 1GB RAM and either 16 or 32GB of internal storage (and a microSD slot accepts cards up to 64GB). With Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on board, the Excite 7.7 zips along through pretty much any task you can throw at it. Games look superb, apps run flawlessly, and switching between multiple running apps caused no hang-ups or lag. The Excite 7.7 also breezed through our benchmarks, posting one of the top overall system scores we've seen and besting the Asus Transformer Pad TF300 ($379, 4 stars). As far as smaller screen tablets go, the Excite 7.7 is the fastest we've tested, easily outperforming the 1.4GHz Samsung Exynos-powered Galaxy Tab 7.7. As fast as the Excite 7.7 is, the Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) ($249.99, 4 stars) delivers a comparably smooth Android 4.0 experience at half the price—though the Excite is better suited for graphically intensive games like Riptide GP.
Toshiba adds some apps to Android 4.0 but doesn't heavily re-skin the OS. You'll find the standard assortment of preloaded apps, including a suite of Toshiba-branded programs: Book Place, Media Player, and File Manager. Third-party apps include Amazon Kindle, Amazon MP3, Crackle, Netflix, and a collection of classic games like Solitaire and Hearts.
Media playback was solid in my tests. The tablet was able to handle H.264, MPEG4, WMV, DivX, and Xvid videos at up to 1080p resolution. For music, WMA, OGG, WAV, MP3, AAC, and FLAC files worked fine as well. There is also an audio-enhancement option that lets you employ various SRS effects, including wide surround, volume boost, voice clarity enhancement, and others. With the feature enabled, songs sounded a bit fuller and less tinny, but you still won't want to rely on your tablet for music playback.
Battery life isn't a bright spot: In our rundown test, which loops a video with screen brightness set to max and Wi-Fi on, the Excite 7.7 lasted just 4 hours and 46 minutes. The Galaxy Tab 7.7, with the same AMOLED screen, lasted 10 hours and 40 minutes in the same test. Granted, the Excite 7.7 has a more-power hungry Tegra 3 processor on board, but that battery performance isn't good for a small-screen tablet.
ConclusionsThe Toshiba Excite 7.7 manages to pack in most of the features of the even-more-expensive Galaxy Tab 7.7 for $200 less, although you lose the Tab's LTE radio and substantial battery life. That said, any 7-inch tablet priced at more than $350 is looking expensive nowadays. Both the Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) and Amazon Kindle Fire ($199, 4 stars) will give you solid performance, polished interfaces, and access to largely the same selection of apps, although the Kindle Fire lacks access to the Google Play app market.
There is nothing wrong with the Excite 7.7; its thin and light aluminum construction, superb AMOLED screen, latest quad-core processor, and Android 4.0 make for a compelling package. But at $500, it runs up against the price of the entry-level Apple iPad, and the Excite 7.7 still can't match the iPad's vast selection of tablet-centric apps and Retina display.



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The Best Headphones

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You might not want to hear it, but those ubiquitous white earbuds that come bundled with your iPod just don't sound very good. The single best accessory upgrade you can buy for a new media player, smartphone, or tablet is a solid pair of headphones. With so many choices, ranging from $30 cans you can pick up at the local Best Buy to $1,000+ custom-audiologist-fit in-ear monitors, finding the right pair of headphones can be tough. But if you spend the time to pick the right pair, and you take good care of them, your headphones can easily outlive the device that's delivering your music. Whether you prefer padded over-the-ear headphones or snug in-canal earphones, we've got you covered with a quick look at some of the best we've tested in a variety of prices and types, including noise-cancelling, wireless, and gym-friendly pairs.
For in-depth headphone shopping advice, check out our comprehensive buying guide, and our headphone product guide for the latest reviews. For now, here are some of our favorite earphones and headphones.



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How to Buy the Right Headphones

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These days, some people happily spend more than half a grand on a new tablet or portable media device with an estimated lifespan of around three years, yet the question we're asked often is still, "What's the cheapest pair of headphones I can buy that don't completely suck?" Headphones, earbuds, and earphones (we'll describe the difference between them in a bit) are generally viewed as the least essential link in the musical chain—the part you can easily skimp on. In reality, your headphones are the most important link in that chain: A quality pair has a larger impact than the player itself on how your tunes will sound. Also, if well cared for, they will long outlive your planned-to-be-obsolete tablet, phone, or MP3 player. And you don't have to break the bank, either. For as little as $40, you can get a high-quality pair of headphones and really begin to enjoy all the sweet-sounding audio you've been missing.
Thanks to the wild popularity of iPods and iPhones, those trademark white Apple earbuds have become ubiquitous. Even so, earbuds are not an ideal listening option, since they don't enter your ear canal and as a result don't create a true seal. Thus, they're more likely to be placed at an odd angle, often destroying the balance of the audio mix—and you can forget about getting solid bass response. Earphones, on the other hand, sit further in your ear canal, creating an actual seal—and they're often more comfortable to wear, since they tend to stay in place better than earbuds. Headphones, by contrast, are over-the-head (or behind-the-head) speakers that don't enter your ear canals at all. Circumaural models create a seal with cups that surround your entire ear, whereas open, or supra-aural headphones sit directly on your ears without forming a seal.
Now let's take a look at how to find better alternatives to those lousy stock-issue earbuds. Since earphones have won the popularity war over other styles, we'll start with them, but we'll also explore headphones, including noise-canceling and wireless options.
EarphonesAs explained above, earbuds aren't the best way to get the most from your music. If you're looking for booming bass on a budget, reasonable quality starts to emerge in the $40-50 range. They don't deliver the most accurate sonic experience, but some feature deep, resonant low end—perfect for hip-hop and electronic music—which is a recent development in affordable earphones. Generally speaking, you won't find true audio quality in earphones until you pass the $50 mark. In the $50 to $150 price range, you can expect earphones that fit well, deliver powerful bass and crisp treble, and come with a variety of ear tips in different sizes to ensure a good seal. Ultimate Ears, Sennheiser, and Shure are consistently strong players in this category, but we've also seen promising affordable earphones from other competitors, like the $120 iBeats by Dr. Dre from Monster (Best Deal: $99.00 at JR.com)and the $100 Bose IE2 (Best Deal: $89.95 at Sweetwater).
If you're more about accuracy than booming bass, you'll want "flat-response" pairs that offer a more pure, less sculpted audio signal. The Etymotic ER-4S ($300) is our flat-response earphone benchmark, and you'll find it in many of our HEAD Acoustics graphs as a comparison pair. In this same price range, you should expect well-matched left and right earphones, as well as better definition on the lowest and highest frequencies. Etymotic makes the flattest pair in this range, but there are plenty of options that offer more low-end without boosting too much.
Earphones can be far more expensive than a couple hundred dollars, however—the JH Audio JH16 Pro will cost you $1,150. They're a custom-molded pair with subwoofers added in each ear for more accurate deep bass response. They sound unbelievable, and do a great job of passively eliminating ambient noise around you (but at that price, they'd better!).
HeadphonesWhen it comes to consumer headphones, two companies in particular, Grado and Sennheiser, truly stand out from the crowd. Grado makes mostly supra-aural headphones that range from $70-$1,000. The Grado GS1000 pair, with its mix of supra-aural and circumaural design, delivers audio that sounds about as good as it possibly can. Even so, at $995 the GS1000 (Best Deal: $995.00 at Crutchfield)isn't for everyone: They're not very portable, and you can't ignore the wooden earpieces. Grado also has more affordable options, like the sub-$100 SR60 (Best Deal: $58.54 at Amazon Marketplace). We also liked the Klipsch Image ONE ($149.95, 4 stars) (Best Deal: $149.00 at Buydig.com). Generally, headphones should be able to reproduce richer low end since they have larger drivers than earphones and they don't rely on an in-ear seal to deliver sound. The $200 Denon AH-D1100 (Best Deal: $199.00 at Amazon Marketplace)is a more recent update to a similarly named, critically adored headphone pair. If you seek flat response with a bit of added bass, but not too much, it's a great pair to consider; they'll feed your hunger for deep bass and work nicely on the quieter songs as well.
Noise-Canceling HeadphonesYou might try to dismiss the din of the outside world by cranking up the volume, but the best solution for saving your sanity and your ears is to invest in a pair of noise-canceling headphones, so you can enjoy your audio at much lower volumes. The Bose QuietComfort 15 (Best Deal: $299.95 at Bose), our Editors' Choice, offer fantastic noise cancellation, and they sound pretty good—but they will set you back about $300. Meanwhile, Phiaton offers an excellent in-ear noise canceling pair, the Phiaton PS 20 NC (Best Deal: $129.00 at Amazon); at half the price as the Quiet Comfort 15, they're a steal. It's also important to note: noise-canceling headphones are generally not for audiophiles—they typically put noise cancellation before sound quality and tend to sound less compelling than similarly priced headphones without the noise-cancellation circuitry. Plus, several in-ear earphones offer substantial passive noise reduction by basically functioning as earplugs.
Wireless HeadphonesWireless headphones can be convenient in any situation where you don't want to deal with dangling cables—like the gym, for example. After years of poor-to-mediocre sound, Bluetooth wireless stereo audio has made great strides in sound quality over the past year. While the data signal containing Bluetooth audio is compressed, headphone and earphone manufacturers have found ways to enhance the signal to compensate for its deficiencies in a way that makes them less audible than before.
If you can't stand cords, check out wireless pairs like the Novero Tour ($79, 4 stars) Novero Tour and the convertible Samsung Modus HM6450 ($99, 4 stars) (Best Deal: $59.99 at TigerDirect.com), both of which double as headsets to let you answer cell phone calls. For higher-quality wireless sound, Sennheiser announced the RS 220 at CES 2012; it uses DSSS, which is an improvement on Kleer's excellent RF-based wireless technology.
Before you settle on your perfect pair, check out our roundup of the Best Headphones, as well as all the latest reviews in the Headphones Product Guide.






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Smartr Contacts for Android

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When I first started my career, I was keenly interested in networking and keeping up professional relationships. I sent holiday cards to all my former bosses and swapped emails with my favorite college professors, just to stay in touch. Collecting business cards and entering their information into my email address book was more hobby than chore. Since then, new tools and platforms have revolutionized contact management. Business email, personal email, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter let us connect in new ways and for different purposes. Mobile devices have changed when and where we communicate, as well as what we say.
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Xobni Corporation has been one of the more interesting players in the contact management space, indentifying where there needs to be more intersection between all the gadgets and apps we use. Smartr Contacts for Android (free), formerly called Xobni for Android, creates a comprehensive picture of your contacts. Xobni is the company that makes the app, and it has been a relatively big name in contact management. The free app, which requires a Xobni account (also free) gathers your contacts from Gmail or Outlook, and finds additional information about them, including headshots, from LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, and meetings or text messages. Smartr Contacts also orders your connections by how often you communicate, rather than alphabetically, so the people you email most are always at the top and within easy reach. The app handily merges multiple emails for a single person into one entry, so if you have an outdated email address for someone, but she has uploaded the most recent one to another platform, Smartr can find it. Smartr Contacts won't delete old email addresses, but will add the new information when it's available.
Although I hit a few inconsistencies and had a lot of trouble logging back into the app once I had logged out, while it was up and running, Smartr for Android provides a lot of information about the people you know and how you communicate with them, succinctly and quickly.
System Requirements and Set UpSmartr Contacts for Android requires an Android phone running OS 2.1 or later. It also requires access to at least one of your accounts where you store contact information, preferably Gmail. To get the most out of the app, you'll also have to grant the app access to your LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook accounts.
Setting up the free app takes very little time; it walks you through the process in a minute or two. You'll be asked to create a Xobni account, and to authenticate other accounts you have (i.e., social networks) to let them and Smartr interact. As mentioned, I had some trouble logging back into Xobni after I had logged out, which I did by force—Smartr for Android always left me logged in by default. The reason I had logged out was to try and connect a second Facebook account, which I couldn't do upon set up, nor afterward from a settings page within the app. While you can't have more than one Facebook account, you can have multiple Gmail accounts.
FeaturesWhen you log into Xobni and launch the Smartr Contacts app, a home screen greets you with picture of people you know and a search bar front and center. Type anything in to the search bar—the first few letters of a first or last name, a company name—and Smartr will quickly grab some results. On the results page, the text you searched appears highlighted in the results.
Smartr Contacts shows its wits best once you select a contact. Each person has a page that shows:
details (phone numbers, email addresses, etc.),
social presence (the last update, or general information, from Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter),
history (a bar chart showing frequency of communication with the person over time, and a list of recent exchanges), and
common (other people who are often included on an email thread).
The history feature is a boon for professional networking. If you come across a contact you haven't spoken to in a while, it shows you exactly where you left off by listing the most recent communication directly below. It shows a clear synopsis of your relationship with the person.
If Smartr doesn't have an entry for a person in a particular social network, it leaves it blank, which is where I found some inconsistencies in the app. One person who is clearly connected with me on LinkedIn (as evidenced by the LinkedIn icon on his main headshot in the app) had no profile listing for LinkedIn. You always have the option to edit a contact, change the name, add email addresses and more phone numbers, if what's showing isn't complete, although you can't easily add them to a social network. For the person whose LinkedIn information was missing, I wanted Smartr to try and connect me to him in LinkedIn, hoping that once the app arrived at that network, it would see that we already were connected and perhaps fix the problem. But the app doesn't offer this function.
Click on a person's Facebook information, and when that app opens (still within the framework of Smartr), it shows the common connections you have with that person.
Smartr ResultsSmartr Contacts for Android works fast, finds people using intuitive search words, and becomes more useful the more you use it. But I ultimately see it as an all-of-nothing adoption. It's not the kind of app for dabblers. If you use your Android phone heavily for sending and receiving email, booking appointments, and generally doing business, whether it's professional business or personal, Smartr can offer a lot of information that you'll be happy to leverage.






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The 25 Best Android Games

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When we first posted our list of the best Android gaming apps last year, we were grasping for straws. At the time, Android games simply weren't that great since developers were putting more thought into Apple iOS devices than in Android. Our original list of the best Android games looked more like a list of cheap knockoffs of popular iPhone games, like BitLetters Free (a Words With Friends knockoff) and Jewels (a Bejeweled wannabe).
But now that Android is the biggest smartphone OS in the world, and now that Android devices are rocking gorgeous displays and high-performance chips, we have a very different story to tell.
I *tried* not to let my affinity for free puzzle games shine through in this list, and sought the best of the best in arcade, casual, and tower defense categories. I'm not going to lie—there aren't many hardcore gaming apps that are polished enough to pull you away from your Xperia Play or PSP—but a few come close. Maybe next year.
To compile this list, I polled numerous friends, Facebook contacts, coworkers, readers, family, and spent a good chunk of money testing premium apps. You'll find a mix of paid and free games here; I generally stuck to freemium models for brainless games, and recommended paid versions for more sophisticated apps.


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If you're looking for our favorite Android apps in other categories, like utility, communication, social media, and lifestyle, check out the 100 Best Android Apps. Of course, there are tons of other games out there, and I plan to expand this list. What games did I miss? If your favorite isn't on here, be sure to let me know in the comments so I can consider it for the next version of our Top Android Games list.
Note that you can either navigate this story by clicking through the slideshow or by reading it as a multipage story, via the next links or the table of contents, above. As always, feel free to make suggestions in the comments section. We read them all, promise.






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10 Must-Have iPhone Apps

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New to the iPhone? Or maybe you're a veteran user trying to clean up your apps. Whatever the case, we all need a little guidance when it comes to figuring out which apps to install. The ten iPhone apps on this list are ones we recommend every iPhone owner download, install, and actually use.
Picking the ten most essential iPhone apps that everyone should have wasn't easy, especially considering there are dozens of excellent apps, and hundreds of very good ones. And beyond the most highly acclaimed apps are ones that fit different personality types or special interest groups. I for one am a huge fan of to-do list apps and language-learning apps, although I recognize that's not everyone's cup of tea. Also not included here are apps that come preinstalled on an iPhone—and many of those are indispensible—such as Maps, YouTube, Calendar, iTunes, and Reminders.
Each of the apps that made this list represents some slice of mobile computing or mobile entertainment that we feel should be utilized: productivity, organization, social networking and communication, reference, photography, reading, and so on.
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Eight out of ten apps that made this list are totally, 100 percent free. One costs less than $5. And one is free to download but requires a small subscription fee. Throughout the article, you'll find links to our full reviews of the apps when available, where you can often find tips on how to use the apps best, as well as any tiny snags we found in testing them.
You can find even more recommendations for iPhone apps through the links below. If you're an iPhone 4S owner, you might also be interested in the "10 Apps that Show Off the iPhone 4S" in terms of special features and capabilities. If you have suggestions for other essential apps, please do share them in the comments.





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The 100 Best iPhone Apps

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Need new iPhone apps? Maybe you're new to the iPhone, or perhaps you're a long-time iPhone owner who has too many apps and needs to find replacements that are more multi-purpose than the single-purpose apps currently cluttering your phone. In this article, we round up the best 100 iPhone apps we know of.
Before you start downloading more apps willy-nilly, make sure you've updated your operating system to the latest version (iOS 5.1 at the time of this writing). There are features in Apple's own mobile operating system that are as good and useful as any app on this list—especially true since iOS 5's release. For example, iMessage now bypasses SMS texting charges by using Wi-Fi when it's available for iOS-to-iOS messages. That helps you save money. Other Apple apps, like Find My iPhone, require iOS 5 to work.
Plenty of amazing apps can be found in the App Store. Word-of-mouth advice from friends is useful in helping you decide which ones you might like, but we at PCMag spend thousands of hours each year scouring iTunes, speaking with developers, reviewing the best apps we find, and hunting for hidden gems. If there's an app that makes owning the iPhone more worthwhile, we find out about it.
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The 100 apps that made the cut for this list are the ones that have shown outstanding performance, have been almost universally liked by users young and old, or have had a solid history of being among the first apps we'd recommend new users download. Many of the apps listed here are free, a few cost a couple of dollars, and the priciest one on this list will only set you back about $10.
Missing from this list are apps that come pre-installed on the iPhone, although they are certainly not to be overlooked. The YouTube, Maps, and Clocks apps in particular should not be ignored, while the iTunes, iPod, and App Store apps typically see a fair share of well-deserved usage, too. iPhone 4S users may love (or loath) Siri, which is not on this list—but alternatives to Siri sure are.
The Apple App Store is expansive, and certainly, we don't know about every hidden gem of an app that's out there. If there's a great app you love, please tell us and other readers about it in the comments at the end of the article.


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The 100 Best iPad Apps

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Apple announced on March 5, 2012 that Where's My Water? Free represented the 25 billionth app downloaded from the App Store—that's a lot of downloads. Of the over 550,000 apps that live in Apple's marketplace, over 170,000 are native iPad apps that run the gamut from news to business to entertainment. That's an extraordinary amount of software battling for a home within your iPad, iPad 2, or new third-generation iPad. There's no doubt that some are great and some are…not. So the vital question is: how do you find the gems among the garbage? The most basic answer is to read App Store user ratings and reviews, but that's a potential time-suck of massive proportions. Besides, the wisdom of crowds isn't always all that wise. The better answer would be to check out PCMag's picks for the 100 best iPad apps. We've dug through the sludge so that you don't have to do so.
It's Not Just About the HardwareConsidering its impact on the portable computing space, it's amazing to think that the iPad platform has been around only two years. Still, in its relatively brief existence, the iPad has revolutionized the tablet market—not only for its sleek form factor and ease of use, but for the wide variety of apps that are available for it.
What This List isOur list of the 100 best iPad apps focuses on native iPad apps (not iPhone apps running in 2X mode) that deliver unique and compelling tablet-based experiences all their own. And to make finding iPad apps even easier, we've broken our selections into seven categories: Social Networking, Business, Communication, Entertainment, Creativity, News, Reference, and Information, and Reading. Unless stated, all of the apps are compatible with the iPad, iPad 2, and third-generation iPad.
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It should be noted that iPad, iPad 2, and new iPad apps are sometimes pricier than iPhone apps. Still, many of the apps listed here are free, or cost less than $10. That may be pricey by iPhone standards, where .99 cents rules the roost, but, compared to desktop software it's a bargain—and there isn't a dud in the bunch. Install them all, and you'll be well on the way to an excellent tablet computer experience. We've included links to in-depth reviews when available.
More Coverage of the New Apple iPad
What This List Isn'tYou won't find pre-installed apps or games in this iPad app collection. The former wasn't included because default apps are easy to find—they live on your homescreen. The latter wasn't included because we've given the best iPad games their own dedicated, curated section that highlights the best iOS games.
You can either navigate our list via the 100 Best iPad Apps slideshow above or via the pages that follow. If a particular application catches your eye, click through to the full review to learn more.
Leave a comment below if you feel that our selections are dead-on or we've overlooked a potentially worthy candidate. And don't forget to check out our roundup of the best iPad business apps, and the best iPad games.—Next: Social Networking Apps >





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How to Buy the Best Tablet

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It's difficult to remember a time before tablets, but it's been just two short years since the original Apple iPad hit the scene, and the current tablet market was born. Since then, we've seen scores of manufacturers trying to snag a slice of the tablet pie, which so far, has been dominated by Apple, now on its third iPad iteration, which sold 3 million units in three days when it was launched last month.
According to IDC, of the 28.2 million tablets shipped in the last quarter of 2011, more than half of them were iPads. Google, the other major player in the tablet space, has also made some nice market share gains with its Android operating system, thanks in part to Amazon, with its budget-friendly, sub-$200 Android-based Kindle Fire (Best Deal: $199.00 at Amazon), which captured 16.8 percent of tablet sales in the same time period. What's most interesting about all of these stats, however, is that overall tablet shipments were up 155 percent from the same time period in 2010. It seems as though the tablet is here to stay.
But which tablet is right for you? Whether you're eyeing an iPad, one of the many Android tablets available, or even a BlackBerry PlayBook, here are the key factors you need to consider when shopping for a tablet:
First Off: Do You Even Need a Tablet?Simply put, tablets aren't really filling a true need—they're neither replacements for full-fledged computers nor smartphones. A tablet is a touch-screen media device that is actually most similar to a portable media player, but with a larger screen. Many tablets have mobile service features, but they don't make phone calls via a traditional mobile provider. And while you can tackle productivity tasks on an iPad or an Android tablet, you won't get a desktop-grade operating system, like you'll find on a PC. Plus, since we're talking about slates here, there's no hardware keyboard. The main focus of the tablets we'll discuss is media consumption.
Tablets have an advantage over both laptops and phones, offering a portable way to check email, browse the Web, video chat, watch movies, listen to music, and play games, but with a bigger screen with more real estate than your smartphone can provide. Even so, you probably don't need one, but if you want a tablet, read on.
Pick an Operating SystemJust like with a full-fledged computer, if you're getting a tablet, you need to pick a side. Right now, the main contenders are Apple with its iPad, and Android with its many hardware choices from the likes of Amazon, Asus, HTC, Samsung, Toshiba, and others. (Check back next year, and Microsoft, with Windows 8, its tablet-friendly Metro interface, could be a serious contender.)
Apple's iOS is the mobile platform used by the iPad, as well as the iPhone and iPod touch. On the iPad, iOS works very similarly to the way it does on the iPhone, with certain tweaks to take advantage of the tablet's larger 9.7-inch screen. The built-in iPod app on the iPad, for instance, has an extra side menu for additional navigation options that wouldn't fit on the iPhone's screen. Generally speaking, the great strength of Apple's iOS is twofold: it's very intuitive, and the wide selection of iPad apps that you can buy right on the tablet—more than 200,000 iPad-specific titles at the time of this writing—work uniformly well with very few exceptions.
Google's mobile OS, Android, is a more complicated story. Besides having your choice of hardware from several manufacturers, there are a few iterations of Android floating around on tablets right now. The latest version, Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), which merges Gingerbread (the phone OS) with Honeycomb (the tablet OS) into a single operating system for all Android devices, was released back in November, but we've only seen it on a couple of tablets so far.
Most manufacturers have made the move to Honeycomb, but some are still making tablets with previous versions of Android that are meant for phones with smaller screens. Amazon with the Kindle Fire, and Barnes and Noble, with its Nook Tablet, each use its own highly customized version of Gingerbread, which, for the most part, in the cases of these smaller 7-inch tablets, is successful.
But for larger screen tablets, ideally, you want Android 4.0. The good news is that most Honeycomb tablets will be upgradeable to Ice Cream Sandwich. Just when is the question. Android is infamous for painfully slow OS updates.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2382821,00.asp



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Adjective clause

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Tugas Bahasa Inggris 2


Relative Clause adalah bagian dari kalimat (anak kalimat) yang memberi keterangan pada orang atau benda yang mendahuluinya. Istilah Relative Clause sama dengan Adjective Clause. Disebut Adjective Clause karena dia menerangkan benda atau orang yang mendahuluinya. Disebut Relative Clause karena dia menghubungkan (me-relate) benda atau orang tersebut dengan frasa di belakangnya. Relative Clause diawali dengan kata penghubung who, whom, whose, which, that, dengan fungsi sebagai berikut

Who: menerangkan orang sebagai subject
Whom: menerangkan kan orang sebagai object (menggantikan me, you, us, him, her,
them, it)
Whose:menerangkan orang sebagai pemilik (menggantikan my, your, our, his, her, their,
its)
Which: menerangkan benda sebagai subject maupun object
That menerangkan orang atau benda baik sebagai subject maupun object

I bought a new car. It is very fast.
→ I bought a new car that is very fast.

She lives in New York. She likes living in New York.
→ She lives in New York, which she likes.

Defining and Non-defining

A defining relative clause tells which noun we are talking about:

  • I like the woman who lives next door.
    (If I don’t say ‘who lives next door’, then we don’t know which woman I mean)

A non-defining relative clause gives us extra information about something. We don’t need this information to understand the sentence.

  • I live in London, which has some fantastic parks.
    (Everybody knows where London is, ‘which has some fantastic parks’ is extra information)

Defining relative clauses:

1: The relative pronoun is the subject:

First, let’s consider when the relative pronoun is the subject of a defining relative clause.

We can use ‘who’, ‘which’ or ‘that’. We use ‘who’ for people and ‘which’ for things. We can use ‘that’ for people or things.

The relative clause can come after the subject or the object of the sentence. We can’t drop the relative pronoun.

For example (clause after the object of the sentence):

  • I’m looking for a secretary who / that can use a computer well.
  • She has a son who / that is a doctor.
  • We bought a house which / that is 200 years old.
  • I sent a letter which / that arrived three weeks later.

More examples (clause after the subject of the sentence):

  • The people who / that live on the island are very friendly.
  • The man who / that phoned is my brother.
  • The camera which / that costs £100 is over there.
  • The house which / that belongs to Julie is in London.

Try an exercise where the relative pronoun is the subject here

2: The relative pronoun is the object:

Next, let’s talk about when the relative pronoun is the object of the clause. In this case we can drop the relative pronoun if we want to. Again, the clause can come after the subject or the object of the sentence. Here are some examples:

(clause after the object)
  • She loves the chocolate (which / that) I bought.
  • We went to the village (which / that) Lucy recommended.
  • John met a woman (who / that) I had been to school with.
  • The police arrested a man (who / that) Jill worked with.
(clause after the subject)
  • The bike (which / that) I loved was stolen.
  • The university (which / that) she likes is famous.
  • The woman (who / that) my brother loves is from Mexico.
  • The doctor (who / that) my grandmother liked lives in New York.

Non-defining relative clauses:

We don’t use ‘that’ in non-defining relative clauses, so we need to use ‘which’ if the pronoun refers to a thing, and ‘who’ if it refers to a person. We can’t drop the relative pronoun in this kind of clause, even if the relative pronoun is the subject of the clause.

(clause comes after the subject)

  • My boss, who is very nice, lives in Manchester.
  • My sister, who I live with, knows a lot about cars.
  • My bicycle, which I've had for more than ten years, is falling apart.
  • My mother's house, which I grew up in, is very small.

(clause comes after the object)

  • Yesterday I called our friend Julie, who lives in New York.
  • The photographer called to the Queen, who looked annoyed.
  • Last week I bought a new computer, which I don't like now
  • I really love the new Chinese restaurant, which we went to last night.

Prepositions and relative clauses

If the verb in the relative clause needs a preposition, we put it at the end of the clause:

For example:

  • listen to

The music is good. Julie listens to the music.
→ The music (which / that) Julie listens to is good.

  • work with

My brother met a woman. I used to work with the woman.
→ My brother met a woman (who / that) I used to work with.

  • go to

The country is very hot. He went to the country.
→ The country (which / that) he went to is very hot.

  • come from

I visited the city. John comes from the city.
→ I visited the city (that / which) John comes from.

  • apply for

The job is well paid. She applied for the job.
→ The job (which / that) she applied for is well paid.

Whose

‘Whose’ is always the subject of the relative clause and can’t be left out. It replaces a possessive. It can be used for people and things.

The dog is over there. The dog’s / its owner lives next door.
→ The dog whose owner lives next door is over there.

The little girl is sad. The little girl’s / her doll was lost.
→ The little girl whose doll was lost is sad.

The woman is coming tonight. Her car is a BMW.
→ The woman whose car is a BMW is coming tonight.

The house belongs to me. Its roof is very old.
→ The house whose roof is old belongs to me.

Where / when / why

We can sometimes use these question words instead of relative pronouns and prepositions.

I live in a city. I study in the city.

→ I live in the city where I study.
→ I live in the city that / which I study in.
→ I live in the city in which I study.

The bar in Barcelona is still there. I met my wife in that bar.

→ The bar in Barcelona where I met my wife is still there.
→ The bar in Barcelona that / which I met my wife in is still there.
→ The bar in Barcelona in which I met my wife is still there.

The summer was long and hot. I graduated from university in the summer.

→ The summer when I graduated from university was long and hot.
→ The summer that / which I graduated from university in was long and hot.
→ The summer in which I graduated was long and hot.


Article Of Adjective Clause
Last week I moved back to Philadelphia, the city where I was born. When I was six, my father, who had always appreciated the beauty of the farmlands there, moved us to Lancaster County, which is famous for its peacefulness and leisurely pace. Philadelphia, which is dirtier and noisier, is also more violent. Its streets are more dangerous than the country lanes to which I am accustomed. Still, a city thatoffers many types of restaurants and entertainment is more exciting than the quiet country town from which we had thought about moving for years. Moving back was an idea whose time had finally come.


Excercise
1. I talk to the woman she was sitting next to me
I talk to the woman who was sitting next to me

2. I have a class it begins at 08.00 Am
I have a class which begins at 08.00 Am

3. The man called the police his car was stolen
The man whose car was stolen called the police

4. The building is very old he lives there
The building where he lives is very old

5. The woman was Ms.Silvy I saw her
The woman whom I saw was Ms.Silvy


ref :
http://www.bumbleboy.co.cc/2012/05/adjective-clause.html
http://novenrique.blogspot.com/2010/02/relative-clause-adalah-bagian-dari.html
http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/relative-clauses.html

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Active & Passive Sentences

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Active Voice

Active sentence (active voice) is the sentence where the subject does the activity. Active voice is more often used in everyday life than the passive voice. Not all active sentences have corresponding forms in the passive. Only active and transitive sentences(SPOC* and SPOA*) can be transformed into passive sentences.

Passive Voice

Passive sentence (passive voice) is the sentence where the subject get the action from the object. We often find the passive voice in newspapers, articles in magazines and scholarly writings. Passive voice is used as the object of the active voice is more important information than its subject.

1. Simple past tense :

Active => verb 2 (ed)

Passive => was/were + verb 3

Example

Active : I wrote a novel yesterday

Passive : A novel is written by me yesterday

2. Simple present tense :

Active => verb 1 (+ s/es)

Passive => Is/am/are + verb 3

Example

Active : She cooks fried rice in the kitchen

Passive : Fried rice is cooked by her in the kitchen

3. Present perfect tense :

Active => has/have + verb 3

Passive => has/have + been + verb 3

Example

Active : She has watered this plant for 5 minutes.

Passive : This plant has been watered by her for 5 minutes.

4. Present continous tense :

Active => is/am/are + verb ing

Passive => is/am/are + being + verb 3

Example

Active : He is playing a game

Passive : A game is being playing by him

5. Present future tense :

Active => will + verb 1

Passive => will + be + verb 3

Example

Active : She will water this plant this afternoon

Passive : This plant will be watered by her this afternoon

6. Past perfect tense :

Active => had + verb 3

Passive => had + been + verb 3

Example

Active : They had studied Math

Passive : Math had been studied by them

7. Present perfect continous tense :

Active => has/have + been + verb ing

Passive => has/have + been + being + verb 3

Example

Active : She has studied English

Passive : English have been studied by her

The Random Re-Boot Problem

You may have experienced your computer intermittently re-booting for no apparent reason. This can be annoying, and can mean you have lost valuable work that you we in the process of creating.

If this has happened once, then your chances of explaining the cause are remote in the extreme. If you find it happening regularly, then it is clearly in your interest to find and fix the problem.

There may be a simple explanation. With most modern computers, the system comes with built in circuitry to monitor the state of the computer. One of the checks built into your system include testing the power supply levels. The power supply is not a component most people expect to fail. Most are concerned that their disk drives will be the major cause of failures, but in fact power supply problems are relatively common.

The power supply will communicate to the mother board with a power good signal if the power output is within specification. If this power good signal is not present, the computer will simply not start up. This seems simple enough, however things do not always fit into the good or not good categories. Where you have a power supply that is failing, its outputs can fluctuate. The computer may then boot up correctly, but a little later when the power supply falls out of range the computer will detect this and activate the reset logic. The reset logic shuts the machine down, thus relieving the load on the power supply, which can then support a re-boot. It is the same as if you pushed the reset button yourself, but it appears to you as a random re-boot.

To test the power outputs, you really need access to a multimeter, and know how to use it. This might be something you may prefer to leave to an experienced technician. Alternatively, you can try replacing the power supply with a spare that you know to be working. If this corrects the intermittent re-boot, then you have solved the problem

When replacing a power supply, select a known brand, and I suggest you choose one that is rated to at least 400 watts. This, of course, depends on what load your computer is supporting. Upgrading to a faster processor, installing additional or faster disk drives, or adding other devices can all add to your computer’s power requirements.

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