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  • App Review: CamCard Business Card Android App

    Introduction

    When you meet people it is quite often that you share business cards, and keeping them in one place has been a problem which many have. The non-digital way of storing business cards is to get a card book in which you keep all your cards, but then who can carry one hefty book for all of those business cards?
    Now we live in the digital world, and it does not make sense to solve problems non-digitally in a digital world, and even better be able to store a large number of cards without much of a problem. One app that i have started to use is CamCard Business Card Reader for Android and it has allowed me to store my business cards safely.

    UX, Design and Ease of Use

    The app’s design is simple and professional. The home screen shows the list of cards added and the user can sort them by either one of the following ways:
    • Sort by Name
    • Sort by Create Date
    • Sort by Company Name
    The main features are laid out at the bottom of the screen in the form of tabs. The user interface and user experience has been designed well, and is quite easy to use for the beginner. Everything has been laid out perfectly well.

    Usefulness

    As stated above storing business cards is a problem than many face. There are low-tech non digital ways to do so, but then as the number of cards increase the storage book(in most cases) increases in size and causes managing it to become quite difficult.
    CamCard also comes with a cloud where your cards are stored, and synced with the Android app so that your cards are safe.
    You can also download the cards to an excel file from the website. I have explored the website and the app, but i can have not yet found any information about the number of cards that can be stored in the free account.
    The app scans the business cards by using the device’s camera and extracts the information on the card. The quality of the extraction is quite good and perfectly extracts the information correctly, despite the format of the card being scanned.
    After scanning the app displays input fields which the user can fill in himself and change the data if needed.
    The user can also scan his own card, and save the details. There is also a feature which allows you to exchange cards with other users of CamCard.  By using this app, we don’t need to keep any business card in our wallets or card books.
    You can exchange cards via the following three options:
    • Card Reader which auto finds people nearby
    • Scan QR Code allows you to scan your friend’s QR code or your friend scan your QR code to get the business card
    • Private Group in which you can create a group or join a group
    There are also a number of different ways to create a business card. You can create them by either of the following ways:
    • Import Phone Contacts
    • Load Card Image
    • Email Signature
    • Create Card Manually

    Conclusion

    I have found this app quite useful, but the card exchange feature is as good as the other guy is using it. Until people in your community use the app, the app will just be good for storing of business cards, which is good in itself. I recommend this app to everyone, so that we all can stop carrying business cards and use CamCard to exchange and build cards.
    • CamCard Business Card Reader Review
      CamCard Business Card Reader Review

    November 1, 2014 • App Reviews, Technology • Views: 6594

  • App Review: Whistle Phone Finder for Android

    Introduction

    There are times, when you forget where you have left your phone(device), and you wish that you had some sort of an app installed on it so that you could find it easily.

    Don’t worry as there is an which does just that. Developed by Nine Hertz India, Whistle Phone Finder for Android is an app which plays music when you blow a whistle helping you to find your phone.

    UX, Design and Ease of Use

    Arrows have been incorporated into the design of the app which inform the user what each button does. I think this is a good idea.

    The youtube video, help screen, and the pointers on the homepage help make the experience of using the application much easier.

    The user can select which music to play when a whistle is detected. The user can also set the sensitivity level of the whistle to be detected. By default the lowest sensitivity level is set. At this level whistling was not detected, so i had to turn the sensitivity to a higher setting.

    There is also an option to turn on the flash light from within the app, but from my initial testing, i did not find the flash light being used when the app plays the music when whistling is detected.  From the help screen i found that the flash light has been implemented as as an extra feature to help find the user find other things in a dark room. I don’t know why was this feature needed in an app which is supposed to be used to look for the user’s phone.

    Usefulness

    This app is really useful for all of those people who forget where they have left their devices. Keeping the media volume to a high level will help the user find the device from a far distance, however i have not tested the maximum range of which the device can detect the whistle.

    Problems that I found

    There is no option to stop the music once you find your device. The music continues to play even if you find the phone. I could not find any option to turn of the music.
    Another problem that I found is that when the screen is turned on whistling is not detected, so those users who have set their screen time out times to be long (on Huawei Ascend P7 android Kit Kat the max screen time out is 30 minutes). So if the user forgets where his phone is in these 30 minutes then the whistling won’t work, and he will have to wait for 30 minutes to pass, but then those 30 minutes will have been lost. We all know wasting time is a high level offence.

    Furthermore, I also found out that the app for reason whole the device’s screen was turned on , the app detected that a whistle was detected and started playing the music.

    Lastly, I noticed that my battery ran out quicker than it normally does since i had installed the app.

    Conclusion

    As stated above, this app is useful for those users who forget where they have left their phones, but this app has quite a number of bugs which need to be fixed in order to make this app much more usable.

    • Whistle Phone Finder Android App Review by Mustafa Neguib
      Whistle Phone Finder Android App Review by Mustafa Neguib

    October 16, 2014 • App Reviews, Technology • Views: 7096

  • App Review: Clean Master for Android

    There are many resource management apps available on the Google Play store, which allow the user to either clean the RAM, close apps, manage files, but one app stands out from the crowd. Clean Master is one app which does all.

    Clean Master provides management of the following:

    The app’s design is clean and beautiful. The user interface has also been well planned out, and any one can start using this app immediately.

    When you open the app, you are shown the storage information and RAM information on the top half of your screen. The bottom half of the screen contains buttons to the features mentioned above. Pressing on either one of the features, opens up the screen of the respective feature.

    The animation which is shown as the data is compiled, is just beautiful. The design and user interaction team has done well to design this app.

    Clean Master is a highly useful as it allows the user to keep his device in check and to make sure that any unwanted resources are not being used. The main use of this app is to keep the resources being used in check. As a result, the battery life will last longer as only a handful of user apps will be running hence less use of RAM.

    This feature allows the user to clean the junk files, those files which have been discarded by the apps but are taking up space in the memory. The less the RAM will be used the better the device will be performed.

    There is also an advanced functionality which further allows the user to remove all files linked with the apps. This even includes videos or pictures which are on the device memory.  Using this feature may remove all of your app’s data (which you select to clean) and your app’s functioning will be affected. Be careful if you use the advanced functionality.

    This feature allows the user to stop and remove any of the running app from  RAM.

    This app even provides an antivirus software which scans the apps for any problematic apps. The antivirus software has been provided by AVTest.

    This feature allows shows the user list of installed apps, and allows him to either backup or uninstall the app. The user can also sort the list on a number of different parameters such as frequency of use, date used, app size, etc…

    Clean Master is one feature packed app, and I highly recommend this application. You will not regret using this application, as it will help you keep your device remain healthy. Is that not what we want?

     

    • Clean Master Android App Review by Mustafa Neguib
      Clean Master Android App Review by Mustafa Neguib

    October 15, 2014 • App Reviews, Technology • Views: 7147

  • App Review: Recordable Android Screen Recorder App

    Introduction

    There are many ways to make screen recordings of your android app. In Android kit Kat 4.4 there is a built in feature where you can use and to record your device’s screen as you use your app via the adb software bundled with the Android SDK. There are other free apps as well, but many of them require your device to be rooted, which not everyone is comfortable with especially me as it can brick your device if gone wrong.

    Wanting to make a demo for my app Inbox My Articles Offline RSS Reader I was pleased to find Recordable an Android screen recorder app which does not require your device to be rooted. However you need to download a free software onto your computer which then sets up the application for you. I was happy to see that Linux is also supported and in my case Ubuntu. Other supported operating systems are Windows and Mac.

    UX, Design and Ease of Use

    The user interface is very minimal, where there are only three screens in the app, the first two show the list of videos recorded, second other for the settings, and lastly to play the video.
    The app is very easy to use, and for first time users, instructions are given on the home page which are then replaced by the list of videos when you have at-least one video saved.
    The minimal user interface is quite understandable due to the main aim of the app is to record the screen of the device.
    The installation process is very easy and the app and the software on the computer give clear instructions at every step of the way.

    Usefulness

    I liked the free Android screen recorder app so much that I actually purchased the paid version for a very reasonable price.
    In the free version there will be a watermark of readable.mobi on the bottom right of your video. This is acceptable as the app does a really great job so one does not mind.
     
    The paid version does not add this watermark which is good since the user has paid for the app and there are more settings available to the user.
    The app itself was really easy to use. All you have to do is after installing and activating your app is to open the app and then press the record button in the action bar.
     
    There are a number of different settings which range from setting the frame rate to the quality of the video to enabling and disabling drawing your touches on the screen and much more settings at your disposal.
     
    As soon as the recording starts you can go to your app and start using it. However the device does become less responsive as you continue to record, but it is bearable. I myself don’t mind this issue, as the resulting video that i get is good for me. You may have a different opinion regarding this.

    One of the the best feature of this app as mentioned earlier is the fact that your device will not need to be rooted in order to use this app.

    Conclusion

    I highly recommend this app as it makes recording videos for your app demos very easy to do, and this app delivers what it  promises to do so. This app is the value for your money.
     

    September 30, 2014 • App Reviews, Technology • Views: 5992

  • App Review: Evernote Android App

    Introduction

    Evernote is a cloud based note taking app available for  number of different platforms. I will be reviewing the Android app of Evernote.

    UX, Design and Ease of Use

    The Android app has been beautifully designed. The user interface is intuitive and the beginner user does not need any tutorial to start using the app. The first screen after logging into the app is the screenshot which allows you to create your new notes. I use a smart phone with 5 inch screen in portrait mode so I have quite a large typing area which makes It easy for me to type as I like to see what i have written a few lines above the current line. The text styling controls and bullets have been laid at the bottom of the typing area just above the keyboard which makes it further easy to type.

    The submit button and other controls such as the attachment button have been laid at the top of the screen.  This helps the user from incorrectly  performing any function which can have some side effects.
     
    The menu can be opened by swiping the screen from left to right or by pressing the back button at the top left of the screen when the app is launched, which has other useful features.

    Usefulness

    The usefulness of the app lies in its use of the cloud and how seamlessly the app and other platforms sync seamlessly with the cloud. For example I have written this review on Evernote itself and this review will be saved in my phone’s memory until the app is synced with the cloud.
     
    I have the app at my disposal where ever I am and I can jot down all of my ideas right there and then even if I do not have n internet connection. The app syncs with the cloud as soon as I connect my smart phone to the internet. The cloud further helps keep my data safe. I don’t have to worry about my phone crashing and me losing all of my notes.

    Other Features

     There are more controls in the menu such as the “Add New Note”, “Take Picture”, “Record Audio”, and “Add Attachments”, which allows the user to add these items to their notes fairly easily. You can even create and manage notebooks so that you can organize your notes.

    Conclusion

    I congratulate the Evernote team for make truly a remarkable app and even more a truly remarkable system with which the app integrates into. I highly recommend this app to all.

    September 28, 2014 • App Reviews, Technology • Views: 4950