Wednesday, January 27, 2016

How to speed up your Android phone!

What's up guys, today I'm back with a tip for those of you with an android phone. Here I'll show you how to greatly increase the speed and responsiveness of your Android phone or tablet with one simple tweak to your settings!
So, the first thing you'll want to do is go to your settings app and scroll down to about phone. Go into it and find the heading that says build number. Tap that seven times and it will tell you that you're now an android developer after you've finished. Go into the newly revealed developer options menu and locate the settings called window, transition, and animation scales. Now set each of those to 0.5x instead of 1x and there you go! A simple way to make your device a lot snappier and more responsive!
Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this post, and if you want more stuff like this, then make sure to comment and like to let me know!
And with that, I'll see you guys later!

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Is YouTube Red actually worth the price?

What's up guys, I'm back again! Today I'll be talking about Youtube Red, what you get, and if it's worth the price. So without further ado, let's get started!

Just in case you didn't know, Youtube Red is a subscription-based 'premium' youtube that you can pay $10 a month for. Right off the bat, the first thing I noticed is that the price point seems a bit steep for what you get, which I'll get into later.

Ad-free videos

I feel like this is one of those features that sounds really good and worth picking up on paper, but is ultimately unnecessary. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to have no ads on the videos I watch, but I have found that I've gotten used to the ads on youtube and just accept them as part of the experience. Besides, most of the video ads that are shown are skippable after 5 seconds anyway. And to top it all off, you can get Adblock Plus from the Chrome Web Store for free! Overall, it just feels like they are trying to monetize on us with a feature that is already offered for no cost whatsoever.

Background Play

So, I'm pretty sure you already know what this is. Basically, it lets you play videos and music from youtube in the background or without the screen on with your mobile device. Another feature that can be obtained for free through other means. Hey YouTube, ever hear of SoundCloud? Well, they're offering this FOR FREE with their app. Why would I pay you to have this feature when I can just use a different (and far better) music application/service? See, here's the thing: the service that people will be gravitating to is the one that offers the best possible experience for the least possible cost. Why wouldn't you want to provide that to your users? After all, for people like me it takes far more than just brand recognition to get us to use your service. Plain and simple; if SoundCloud is the music app that provides the best experience, then that's the one that I'll be using from now on. Lastly, background play is a feature that was already in YouTube for mobile a few years ago, and they thought it would be a brilliant idea to strip it from the free version and lock it behind a $10/month paywall. I don't understand this behavior, it just seems greedy to me. Anyway, another feature that is not worth paying for at all. 

Save Offline

Finally, the YouTube Red service allows you to download videos offline and watch them later without a data connection in a resolution of your choosing. And I have to admit, I can actually see this being the main reason to subscribe to Red. Although it's difficult to predict how much use this feature will see, it is handy when you're away from home and don't have any wi-fi. On top of this, since people have created playlists for music albums, you can download any music you want with this feature, which means you won't ever have to pay for music as long as you stay subscribed to YouTube Red. Overall, this is a feature that at the end of the day, I can see the usefulness in. 

On top of what's being offered in YouTube with this service, it also gives you Google Play Music Unlimited, which is basically Pandora One that lets you download and listen to any music you want off of Google Play. You also get ad-free stations and unlimited skips as well. 

My Verdict...

YouTube Red is a paid service that seems to be worth the $10 per month at first, but quickly shows that it's not. Almost everything offered in this package seems trivial for the price, and it doesn't help that most of these features can be obtained for free with other applications. The only thing that saves it in my eyes is the Offline Play, but it certainly isn't worth paying full price for one useful feature. Altogether, stay away from this one. NOT WORTH YOUR MONEY.

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this review, and have a great day!








Sunday, January 17, 2016

Monstercat Best of 2015 out on January 22!

Hey guys, I'm back with another post! This time it'll be a news-related post about the Monstercat Best of 2015 album release date! I was wondering for a long time when this album would finally be out, and it looks like we finally have an answer!

The album is set to drop on January 22nd, and you bet I'll be listening to it! As you may know, Monstercat held a voting session between December 21 and January 1 that had you picking your three favorite songs from each of the five albums, and the results were calculated by Predictbot.

Here are my choices for BEST OF 2015!

021
Razihel- Children of the night
Tristam and braken- Far away
Rogue- Rattlesnake

022
Razihel- Legends
Varien- Aether and light
Grabbitz- Way too deep

023
Pegboard Nerds- Swamp thing
Razihel and Aero chord- Titans
Muzzy and Droptek- Warhead

024
Pegboard Nerds and Jauz- Get on up
Fractal- Amor
Rogue- Ultimatum

025
Aero chord and Klaypex- Be free
Au5 and Fractal- Ison
Snavs- Time

Well, I hope that this post was helpful and answered your question about the release date of +Monstercat Best of 2015! If you want, you can also comment which songs you voted for!

And with that, I'll see you guys later!


Thursday, January 7, 2016

Transmission: Most Underrated Puzzle Game on Android?

What's up guys, I'm back with another android app review! Today we'll be taking a look at Transmission, a puzzle game that most of you have probably never heard of. So without further ado, let's get started!

Reviewed on Nexus 6p

   Transmission- screenshot  First up, the gameplay and puzzle mechanics. Transmission has you creating connections between various transmitters and receivers to try to fill up each one that is present in the level with data. Right off the bat, this game impresses with its original idea for a game that is also executed extremely well. It's very easy to play; all you have to do is drag your finger from where the data cubes/units originate to different transmitters, which need to circulate the data a certain amount of times before sending it to a receiver, which also needs to receive a certain number of data cubes so that you beat the level.

And I have to say, they absolutely nailed the difficulty level for this game. It starts off slow and does a good job of showing you how everything works, and then picks up and becomes extremely challenging. One thing that makes this puzzle game stand head and shoulders above all the others that I've played is that it feels really rewarding to beat a level, and I found myself spending 5-10 minutes trying to reason out just one puzzle. This is without a doubt a very entertaining and satisfying game to play.

Another area where this game excels is in its graphical style and sound design, both of which are minimal but very well done nonetheless. The animations are clean, and the models are bright and crisp, while the soundtrack is excellent as well.

Altogether, Transmission is an amazing puzzle game and one of the best I've ever played. With a great and unique idea that's well developed and a great soundtrack and minimal graphical style to boot, this is one you won't want to miss!

Download Transmission here!

Well, I know it's been a long time since my last post, and I haven't made one in December, but I'm planning to post more frequent app reviews, since those are less time consuming to make than other types of content. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this post, and please drop a like if you enjoyed, it really helps my blog out!

And with that, I'll see you guys later!