In this video, I will show you how to customize your dock, using a safe app called Dock Designer

*Do note that this is the International Version of the Samsung Galaxy S3 being tested. US carrier variants may choose to vary their specs. Phone was tested for a period of 7 days.*

Hot off the heels of its quad-core competitor, the HTC One X, the Samsung Galaxy S3 places itself in a hugely dilemmatic position – those who wanted a quad-core phone would’ve went with the HTC One X; those who waited would probably wait till the hotly rumored iPhone 5 or “new” iPhone to launch, anytime from the WWDC ’12 till October timeframe. So what makes the Galaxy S3 stand up above the crowd? Or does it at all?

The Design

Samsung made a bold attempt here to distinguish itself from the numerous slabs of black, brick-like and boring smartphones in the market. The Galaxy S3 features a curved display for easy navigation while keeping the front very minimalistic, with only a home button flanked with a Menu and Back button. Samsung marketed this phone as “designed for humans” (which phones were designed for gorillas, anyone?) and that the phone mimics the shape of a pebble. It’s smooth curves, flat surface and screen-dominating front really stands out from the overpopulated smartphone market. While it is possible to suggest that Samsung went with this design to avoid another lawsuit from Apple, many users might actually prefer this design. However, I still prefer HTC’s approach in terms of design with the HTC One X. I was also disappointed that we did not see the ceramic backing featured on the Galaxy S3, something that the rumor mill had been churning out for months. Nonetheless, the smooth curves means that it fits the hands perfectly and I have no problem sliding it into my pocket at all.

The Screen

The Samsung Galaxy S3 features a 4.8-inch Super AMOLED 1280 X 720 display, which is unfortunately Pentile. Samsung argued that using a Pentile display is to increase the device longevity since the blue subpixel in the RGB arrangement is usually the first to degrade, making a screen with more subpixel density will make the deterioration overtime less noticeable. Now with that being said, what’s the problem with Pentile displays? They’re less clear and sharp compared to others in the market, say, the Retina display. But the question is, who is actually likely to keep the phone for more than 2 years (contractual obligations), judging by the speed the mobile industry is at right now? I say, give me a better screen, rather than a screen that is uglier but lasts longer. If I’m going to be staring at my phone’s screen for several hours a day, it better be the best screen there is out there.  The first thing I look in the morning and the last thing I see before I go to bed at night is my phone’s screen and if it is bad, then well, it’s not going to cut it. With that being said, the Galaxy S3’s screen is still respectable, which is typical from a high end Samsung smartphone. I felt like the colors on the HTC One X are more vibrant compared to the Galaxy S3’s screen but then again, the average consumer would probably not notice it in a day to day operation. Videos and photos look great on the Galaxy S3, thanks to the real estate. While the screen size is encroaching into the Galaxy Note’s territory, I feel that the Galaxy S3 is a lot more user friendly in terms of handling. All in all, while the screen wasn’t as impressive as I have expected, it’s still one of the best around.

Buttons

On the front of the phone, we’re presented with a home button in the center, flanked by a Menu and Back button. These buttons only light up during use and are usually invisible when the display is in sleep mode, which blends in nicely with the pebble white color of the Galaxy S3. While the home button is clickable, the menu and back buttons are not but rather, they’re touch sensitive. I don’t really prefer this since it makes it easier to accidentally hit one of those touch sensitive buttons while playing a game or doing something else, which might be a slight annoyance. I really did prefer the international version of the Galaxy Note’s layout: just one Home button. The Home button have two functions here, the first being, well, going back to the homepage and the second can be can activated by holding down the home button for around 2 seconds to open up the multi-tasking window. Form there, you get the neat option of just hitting a button to close all of your recently opened and running apps right away, freeing up memory space. Double clicking the home will activate S Voice, which I still think is a Siri-copycat. A well done one, at that. After having tried it, I can safely say that it performs as well as Siri. Currently exclusive to the Galaxy S3 only, S Voice also allows you to execute several different commands, such as telling the phone to activate the Face Unlock feature, currently only available for Ice Cream Sandwich.

Motion Sensing

Almost entirely new to the consumer smartphone market is the motion sensing features, mainly Direct Call and Smart Stay. Direct Call is a pretty cool function, but I’m not sure how many people will remember this feature once they buy the phone. Direct Call basically enables you to directly call someone, if say; you’re reading a text from them. A better analogy would be if one day, your mom sent you a text saying, “Please call me now”. By simply bringing the phone up to your ears (without having to exit the Messages app), you’ll engage in a phone call with your mom. I’ve only used this feature once during my testing period. The rest of the time, I did the traditional way – exiting the app and calling her from the dialer. Old habits die hard. The second piece of software that caught my attention was Smart Stay. Smart Stay basically an eyeball-tracking feature (this sounds weird, I know) that allows the Galaxy S3 to detect where you’re looking. If it detects that you’re still looking onto the screen, it will put the phone into sleep mode or dim the brightness. I thought this was a gimmicky feature but after using and testing it for several days, I can safely say that it works 90% of the time. Impressive.

Full Review

I’m finally back in the gaming world. After going a 1-2 years without an Xbox, I decided it was finally time to purchase the system again. I couldn’t start to explain how much I missed playing Call of Duty, Halo, Forza and many others.

In the beginning of my hunt, I was looking on Craigslist and eBay for used (older) systems for a cheap budget. After finding a few for around $50-$90, I thought to myself. Why spend the money on an older, used Xbox and risk getting the Red Ring of Death (RRoD) or not working? After all, my previous Xbox ended life with the RRoD and I certainly didn’t want that again.

After doing my research, I discovered that Microsoft “fixed” the RRoD in the newer generation Xbox 360. Well, back on the hunt to find a used one on Craigslist and eBay. I found a few for around $120 but they all were the 4GB. I knew from the start I wanted Forza 4. That game alone uses about 3GB, without all the extra track/car packs. I knew the 4GB counsel was out of the question.

I finally gave up and went to my local GameStop to purchase a new 250GB Xbox 360. When I looked up, I saw a refurbished model for $50 cheaper than purchasing new. GameStop guaranteed the system to play, look and feel new. They told me that it’s basically like a new system, hence only being $50 cheaper. I decided to take their word and go for it. I’m all about saving money.

To my surprise, I came home and made this unboxing video for you all to enjoy. Once I plugged everything in and played for over 7 hours straight, I came to the conclusion that GameStop wasn’t lying. I’m very pleased with my purchase and their customer service. GameStop gets a “+1″ in my book!

I hope you all enjoy the unboxing video. If you did, don’t forget to share it with your friends and family. A subscribe or like always helps :P

[via TechJohnson, YouTube, Twitter]

This is just a really quick iOS tip for iPhone, iPod and iPad users. I have always had to send multiple emails when I was looking to send multiple photos, so when I found out how to send multiple photos I thought it would be a good opportunity to share it with the DiMco crew. Check out my NEW website design!

Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility has officially closed. They have purchased Motorola Mobility, which split from Motorola on January 4, 2011, for $12.5 Billion. It's one of the biggest purchases in tech history.

On August 15, 2011 Google announced they would acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 Billion. On November 17, 2011 shareholders voted in favor of Google. Then on February 22, 2012 the DOJ and EU approved of the deal. Now, all they had to get was approval from China. On May 19, 2012, China official approved of the acquistion, and Motorola Mobility became a susidiary of Google on May 22, 2012.

The fact that Motorola Mobility makes Android phones, and Google owns Android, is a conflict of interest. Google has stated that they won't show favortism towards Motorola Mobility as an Android manufacturer, and that they wanted Motorola for their patents.

Subscribe to my YouTube Channel

I’m proud to announce the launch of my new project, Ask Siri Anything. This is a place for humorous conversations between you and Siri. Whether your conversations are funny, naughty, nasty or just a failure, we want to see and laugh!

I decided to go ahead and build this project after seeing other similar sites. I felt that I had more to offer in design and functionality than the previous sites.

At this point in time, the tops features are:

• Free submission
• Commenting
• Rating when you comment

Expect to see some more great updates in the coming weeks. If you’d like to check out the site, please click here.

[via TechJohnson]

As we have seen throughout the last few years advancements in mobile phone technology has gotten stronger and stronger as time passes. It wasn’t that long ago when we were all playing snake on that old Nokia with the ring tone we all know and love. But when 2007 hit and Apple announced the iPHONE the mobile phone market really began to take off with competitors trying to overcome the iPHONES benchmark for years to come. Now I feel that benchmark has finally been overcome by the recently just announced Samsung Galaxy S3, but before you go to read another article please note this is not about how the Galaxy S3 is better that the iPHONE 4S but what Apple need to do next to retain the title as kings of the mobile phone industry.

1 – A bigger screen. Without a doubt this is the most rumoured improvement to the next iPHONE. Competitors have been showing off screens from up to five inches for a while now where as Apple has stood by the three and a half inch display. Apple may want to stick by there three and a half inch displays but competitors and customer pressures may entice them to make this change which many others including myself would like to see.

2- The interface on devices- The iPHONE interface is great, there is no doubt about it. But we are all so use to it, there’s nothing fresh about it. Take Windows Phone for example with its vibrant colourful interface and the Android interface which although are slightly different from each device to another it is basically the same thing. In order to create more interest and especially get Android fans over to the iPHONE side a new unique interface is required.

3- A new accessory. This is a big one. If Apple could pull off a new unique accessory which you could buy along side your iPHONE ( such as a wireless charging system which we have seen from the Galaxy S3) then Apple would not only be rolling around in cash for the next year but also have a unique quality which can attract new customers. Perhaps a dock which can charge you iPHONE wirelessly as well as play music and do all sorts of tasks?

It’s safe to say there is not a lot wrong with the current iPHONE but in order to achieve Steve Jobs wish of destroying Android then some new features have to be added to the next upgrade.

Thanks so much for reading this article, if you have any questions or opinions on what should be changed for the next iPHONE please tweet me at @AlistairMiller1