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Author: Shilpa

10 Best Local Apps For Android For Any Local Need
With the advent of the internet, we now have everything at our fingertips. Not only can you keep yourself privy to what’s happening across the globe, but you can also use the internet to stay updated to the latest local news. Sometimes, browsers are the way to go while at others, apps can help you out so much. It is a delicate balance and using this, you will be able to lay hands on everything you want. Check out this list of the Local Apps For Android.
1. Jobonji
Jobonji is a native gigs app where users can use the app to get some odd jobs done. For instance, you can get someone to mow your garden, clean the drains, and more. If you are not that great with assembling furniture, Jobonji can help you find someone who can put it up for you in a jiffy. The app has tons of professionals and helpers. The app itself is free, but you can always chat with the person about the pay before embarking on it. One good thing here is that it works internationally as well.

Jobonji
1. Krazy Coupon Girl
It is quite surprising how many people have not heard about Krazy Coupon Girl app. It is completely free and can help you save a ton of garments, groceries, and different appliances from retailers like Kohl’s, Goal, and Walmart. With the coupons you come across in the app, you will be able to save a lot of dollars. All you need to do is to find the coupons you want, save them, and use them during checkout to save money. It is delightful to see that it works with online retailers as well, including Amazon. Additionally, some other places where this coupon app comes in use include Kroger, Publix, Greenback Tree, CVS, and Walgreen. It will detect the locations you go to regularly and let you know about the offers there. Additionally, you will also receive news about the sale and offers on places you don’t go frequently.
1. Yard Sale Treasure Map
Yard sales and garage sales is famously known to be the place to collect some little treasure. The best part here is there it will not cost you an arm and a leg. The app looks at other websites like Craiglist and so on to come up with listings. You will be able to view the available ones on a map and choose where you want to go and spend a lovely weekend. The Yard Sale Treasure Map is basically an app that gathers all the yard and garage sales going on around and publishes it on the app.

Yard Sale Treasure Map
1. YP – The Yellow Pages
Did you know that the Yellow Pages app is one of the most popular apps to be downloaded with more than 50 million downloads on Google Play alone? Additionally, 80 million people visit the website every month! It is completely free. You can use the Yellow Pages to search for whatever you are looking for and there are high chances that you will find it in a jiffy. Across the app, there are more than 20 million listings. This includes the likes of purchases, meals, and any other industry you are looking at. Moreover, you will find Fandango integration for getting film tickets, GrubHub integration for meals supply, and a provision to explore fuel costs.
1. Kroger – Reward and Retailers
As you may already be aware, most locations have a rewards program in place. There are plenty of such apps that consolidate various retailers, allowing the users to access it all from one single app. For instance, Kroger is a great example of this. The app lets the users keep tracks of coupons, sales, rewards points, and more. With the app, you will also be able to refill pharmacy prescriptions and schedule grocery pick-up among other things.

Kroger
1. Facebook Events
Facebook might have some issues, but it has done a great job with its events platform. The app allows you to check out events happening in your locality and others. To add to it, you can use the app to find concerts, gatherings, tastings, and more. Groups allow users to coordinate events with other people. While Facebook is known for having poor privacy policies, you can always make use of it to find happening stuff around you.

Facebook Events
1. Local News app
Most major areas have their own local news stations. Most of them have reliable apps, offering all the latest updates. While the national carriers usually don’t carry all the local news, it can be a good idea to have your local news app since it will help you keep updated. There are tons of them and you can choose the one you want. In most cases, these are free as well.
1. Google Maps
A list of this kind can never be complete without including Google Maps. This is one of the greatest Local Apps For Android. It is a great way to find businesses around you and it will even navigate you there in no time. Once you set up navigation, it will also alert you if you are going to arrive just or after when the business is closed. Hours of operation, traffic along the way, and alternate routes with the time taken are all some useful features of the app. Naturally, it is completely free.

9. Tinder

Tinder is a highly popular dating app and one of the best Local Apps For Android. Basically, you can filter results by GPS location and find people around you. Since it is so popular, you will find more people to interact with on this platform. The free version offers a great deal and you can always upgrade to the premium version for more features.

Tinder

10. Local Weather App

Most weather apps offer local weather details as well. However, if you choose to go with an app that is designed to only offer you your local weather details, you will find that there are so many more features offered for you. Dark Sky or 1Weather are great examples of this.
April 2, 2020
Lenovo A6000 Plus Review

Xiaomi is one of the most popular brands in India and, as a result, has enjoyed much success. The company’s major selling point is its competitive pricing. It doesn’t hurt that most of their phone has excellent features and are at the top of the market. It has, of course, led the way for other manufacturers to try the same tactics in a bid to gain more market share. Lenovo, one of the main competitors for Xiaomi in China, the company is now trying to hedge into the Indian markets as well. Let’s jump into this Lenovo A6000 Plus Review.

Lenovo A6000 Plus Review

The Lenovo A6000 Plus was recently released by the same in a flash sale. The A6000 and A7000 were released in a similar manner some time back and it looks like their marketing strategy works since both these models were quite successful. The latest Lenovo A6000 Plus is an upgrade over the A6000 model. Most of the specs remain the same, but you may notice some improvements that make it better than the original smartphone.

Design and Display

If you are asked to identify the phones kept side-by-side, it will not be an easy task at all! Look-wise, there is no difference between the Lenovo A6000 Plus from the A6000. Both of them look the same and are identical! The Plus model features a comfortable weight and dimensions while enjoying matte finish at the back. The ergonomics of this phone are pretty satisfactory as well.

You will notice that the volume rocker and power button are located on the right side of the phone. On the top, the Micro-USB port and 3.5mm socket are housed while the two speakers take their place on the bottom of the rear. The front camera and earpiece are situated above the screen. The screen remains the same as A6000 featuring a 294ppi 5-inch panel.

Specifications and Software

The 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 SoC seen in the Lenovo A6000 remains a fixture for the Plus model as well. One of the major distinguishing factors between the regular and the Plus models include the increase in internal storage and RAM. While newer smartphone features 16GB of storage and 2GB RAM whereas the older one had only 8GB and 1GB respectively. Another good news is the fact that the storage is expandable up to 32GB with microSD cards. This feature has been kept in place to offer more value to customers who are looking at the long-term benefits of owning such a device.

Lenovo A6000 Plus Display

Most of the other specifications are the same. You will see that the smartphone comes with Bluetooth 4.0, 4G connectivity, and a 2,300mAh Lithium-polymer battery. The phone also boasts of an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front camera. The Lenovo A6000 Plus runs on Android KitKat 4.4.4 with the Vibe 2.0 user interface layered on top. Unfortunately, it does have a lot of bloatware and way too many pre-installed apps. While some could be said to be useful, most of them just are occupying space.

If attention was paid to this, this could free up some valuable space that could be put to good use. Regardless, you can always disable or uninstall it. Coming to the user interface factor of the phone, many feel that the lack of an app drawer is a major drawback. The UI also feels a bit cheap and cartoony. If you purchase it and are not pleased with the default settings, you can always download a launcher from the Google Play Store.

Camera

The camera app is designed to be minimalist. All the settings are grouped together under a single menu. You can switch between the photo, video, and the panorama mode in a jiffy. You will also be glad to know that there are shortcuts to access the front camera, flash, and HDR mode. Coming to the autofocus feature, it is quick and usually, quite accurate.

The camera specs are also the same as the Lenovo A6000. While the camera is good enough, it is not consistent, and you may sometimes end up taking poor shots. A couple of main issues include overexposure in daylight shots and poor outlining in low-light conditions. Video is limited to 720p as with its predecessor.

Performance

The RAM has been enhanced in this model and now, you can be sure that the performance is boosted by a great deal. This is good news for a budget model like this one. In addition to getting better performance, you will now be able to use more apps simultaneously. This was not something you could have done with the A6000 since it would almost always slow down.

Lenovo A6000 Plus

The Lenovo A6000 Plus boasts of better benchmark numbers as well. The device got 21,392 and 11,860 in AnTuTu and Quadrant. 3DMark and GFX Bench scores were similar to the A6000 at 5262 and 9.6fps respectively. The Lenovo A6000 Plus is a 4G model and would be a great option once 4G networks are rolled out extensively in India. As of now, most users in India only receive 3G service. Coming to battery life, you will not be disappointed. It can last you easily for over a day. Compared to the older version, it gives slightly more battery life.

Verdict

The Lenovo A6000 was a great smartphone. Lenovo has managed to work out the few kinks it had and introduced the Lenovo A6000 Plus model, which is now one of the most popular phones out there. With better performance and excellent value, there is no doubt that users are flocking to buy this. It also doesn’t hurt that it has a better battery and more storage space and RAM.

Coming to its drawbacks, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of it. However, it still does not feature any protective glass on the screen or have stunning cameras. If Lenovo could work out these problems, the A6000 Plus would be a brilliant option indeed. At the moment, it is available in limited quantities and only via Flipkart, a popular eCommerce platform in India.

April 2, 2020
Oppo A57 Review – User Opinions And Reviews

Oppo F1s was a huge success. Following on the same lines, Oppo recently released the A57 in Australia. As is the norm with Oppo, it has promised excellent features at a budget rate. The phone features a 16-megapixel front camera and incredible performance. Let’s take a look at this Oppo A57 review.

Oppo A57 Review

Let’s take a quick review of the phone, followed by a section where we can see what the customers and users say about the device.

Design and Display

The phone is available in three classic colours – black, gold, and rose gold. Featuring a full metal body, the phone has a luxurious look and feel. It looks stylish and similar to a hind-end model. The 5.2-inch IPS screen allows for excellent viewing while being relatively easy to hold. It is also quite compact. The vivid and rich display colours make it a pleasure to use and the viewing angles are great as well. The phone stands out in more than one way. Its fingerprint scanner is located on the home button, which is usually not the case for phones in this price range. There is also the presence of Gorilla Glass 4 to offer additional protection.

Oppo A57

Camera

Cameras are an important part of an Oppo phone. The A57, for this reason, features amazing camera capabilities. It has a 16-megapixel front camera and 13-megapixel back camera great under all lighting conditions. The primary camera comes with an f 2.0 aperture and the ability to record video at Full-HD resolutions. Oppo A57 has other features as well, such as the inclusion of beauty mode, filters, and panorama mode. While the back camera is not as great as the front one, you can still take good enough shots.

Performance

The Oppo A57 has reliable hardware similar to the older F1s model. It boasts of with 3GB Of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage. These specs will allow the users to run multiple apps simultaneously without experience any delays or lagging. The phone also has a Snapdragon 435 chipset instead of the Mediatek chip that we saw on the older model. It also comes with the MicroSD slot, so feel free to expand your storage up to 256GB.

Battery Life

The A57 smartphone by Oppo has a 2900mAh battery powering this 5.2-inch device. The battery life is quite long, and most users seem to be perfectly happy with it. With heavy use, it should easily get you through the day without any trouble. For light users, you can rely on it to last for more than a day.

Oppo A57 Review

User Reviews

User Turgidity reviews the phone as follows:

Pros

-very good camera specs

-good for communication

-ease of use in apps and settings of phone

Cons

-easily heats up which often cause sweaty hands

-playing fast paced games may not the best option for this one

-space is too little if you are planning to have quite a lot of apps in it

Conclusion:

Good for simple tasks and great pictures to take. Playing fast paced games in a good fps will require a lot more effort to maintain its value in phone usage.

If you are used to sweaty hands while using phones, then you wouldnt mind much for this one. Caches and rubbish datas can be cleaned off easily by using its build-in system.

Steven2810 says

The best phone .. i have been using it from jan 2017 and still writing about this device by this phone .. best value for money .. i had only one issue was that off charging port as have sweaty palms rest never had any issue about the device . No lag no software issue nothing about hardware issue ..

23271 is of the following opinion

I have this phone for almost 2 years and it’s pretty incredible but it has some battery issues if you’ll enable Data in 4G and Full brightness and then gaming the batter will only last 2 or 3 Hrs If you have this issue better go to the nearest oppo center and change the battery immediately

Ps: It can play pubg but in low settings :>

Oppo A57 Camera

An anonymous user says

Oppo a57 is good phone if you want to do some casual work on it like email, using high speed 4g internet, watching videos and also playing small games like clash of clans.

I tried pubg and free fire but there so many lags and heating issue.

Phone’s UI is clean and has some nice and useful feqtures but few things can make you angry, like the notification bar when hotspot is on always blink every second.

Talking about cameras the quality is very nice you can also use ultra HD mode but the selfie camera focus only on your face it will never show you details of background It may show you light green background as complete white background. UI of oppo should improve like stock android this phone will never represent notification neetly keyboard is little bit annoying and also company is not providing major software update.

User Arslan reviews as:

I have been using this phone Oppo A57 for 2 months.

If you want to buy a phone for taking quality pictures this is the best phone. Much better than samsung or huawei.

If you want to buy a phone for a good allround experience go for Samsung or Huawei.

My rating is 6/10.

User Shen writes

It’s a good deal for the money with mediocre specs. One great thing about this phone though, is the front cam. which is super clear on bright light. But this phone doesn’t perform well on low light. Feels and almost weighs like an iphone 5s. But if you’re looking for an overall phone for everyday use with enough storage for selfies, then this phone is just about right.

Conclusion: Oppo A57 Review

Looking at the review and user opinions, it looks as if most users are quite happy with the phone. Oppo has once again managed to come up with a smartphone that not only looks stylish and feels good, but has great features, capabilities, and offers incredible performance as well. The cherry on top is that all this is offered at a very budget price.

March 29, 2020
PUBG Frauds: Here’s How A Sly PUBG Cheater Got Banned For 10 Years

PUBG, or Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds, is a highly popular game. Naturally, this also means that the game will have a few cheaters in the midst. This Battle Royale game gained popularity since it can be played on mobiles phones as well. With tons of PUBG frauds in the game, the developers have had to initiate thousands of bans every day. To deal with it better, Tencent Games and PUBG Corp. have come up with Project Ban Pan.

PUBG Frauds

They released a short video on how the studio catches the fraudsters and is based on real situations. Initially, PUBG received a dozen reports on a player, but his play was just fine. However, when they started looking more closely towards the end of the game that they noticed something different. The player was not using any tool, but he had two mobile devices. With one, he started and played most of the match and halfway through, he would log in from the second phone, allowing the system to think that he was experiencing connection issues. The gap that creates now allows the player to kill his enemies easily. Thankfully, his cheat was caught, and he was banned for 10 years.

The PUBG Mobile Safety Station is a safe place for players to report other players indulging in suspicious activity. Project Ban Pan also has a Death Replay function which will allow fans to see how they were killed, from their enemy’s perspective. The idea here is that players will be able to see if there was any fraud being committed.

March 29, 2020
New TWS Earbuds From Xiaomi May Be On The Way

It looks like Xiaomi has released true wireless earbuds that look quite similar to AirPods. However, it looks like a new generation of this product is out for release. The latest TWS Earbuds From Xiaomi looks similar to the existing one. This has got many fans wondering about the reliability of the source claiming their existence. It also casts a shadow on the fact that might not be released. The photo that accompanies the next-gen version seems to be one of the AirDots Pro 2 models, also called the Xiaomi Air 2 Bluetooth Earphones in some places.

TWS Earbuds From Xiaomi

TWS earbuds are usually popular. They make life very convenient. There are, at the moment, three TWS Earbuds From Xiaomi in the market. They are the Xiaomi TWS Air 2, Redmi AirDots and Xiaomi AirDots Youth version. While these are not Xiaomi’s flagship products, we nonetheless can help ourselves looking forward to the upcoming rumoured product.

It could also be possible that the platform had used the picture of the older model as a placeholder while waiting to replace it with the real one when the company markets it. If we move ahead on the assumption that these earbuds exist, then they could be called as the Mi True Wireless Earphones 2S. The suffix could possibly imply that it could be a budget model. Due to this, there might not be a lot of re-design. Regardless, there has been no official word from Xiaomi itself, either about the launch or its price or any other factor.

March 28, 2020
Pex buys Dubset to build YouTube ContentID for TikTok & more

Pex buys Dubset! Social networks will now need to pay more attention to copyright issues. A new European Union law called Article 17 ensures that copyright holders can protect their content online. Social networks will now require to put in their “best effort” to receive licenses from the copyright holders for all content that is made available on their streaming platform. This is excellent news for artists, film producers, and others in the industry who will now be paid for their services and talents.

Pex buys Dubset

The influencers and creators are the ones who might face issues here since their clips and remixes might be blocked. This could also lead to the revenue that should ideally belong to them could end up somewhere else. There is no doubt about one thing – this law is certain to bring some delicate issues for content-sharing sites.

Pex buys Dubset

Enter Pex! The owners set up Pex as a profitable royalty attribution startup in 2014. It scans social networks and other user-generated content websites for rightsholders’ content. Once it finds out, it allows them to discuss licensing with the platforms. They could also talk about demanding attribution, requesting a take-down, tracking consumption statistics, and more. It has a huge database consisting of more than 20 billion audio and video tracks across all popular social media websites. In the latest news, Pex has acquired Dubset. The latter is another platform that is working on trying to get the remixes and multi-song DJ sets legalized for streaming services. Together, they will be working on Pex’s new Attribution Engine that will set up a three-sided marketplace for content.

March 28, 2020
How To Enable Touch Controls For Stadia Games On Android

Stadia is Google’s game-streaming service. Its strict controller requirements have raised a lot of confusions and questions. You can only play Stadia games with the official Stadia controller that needs to be plugged in via USB. This is true for even Android phones. This requirement, Controls For Stadia Games, has put a restriction on its ability as a portable gaming service. While Google has already announced that it is working on changing these conditions, Reddit user SmashShock has found a way around it. Google says that it is working on introducing other controller options in the near future.

Controls For Stadia Games

According to the Reddit user, you can use a hack and make Stadia easier to play on your mobile device. SmashShock’s TouchStadia program allows you to enable touchscreen controls for both Android and desktop PCs. This lets the users play Stadia games without needing a controller to be plugged in. So, how can you do this? Learn how to set up Controls For Stadia Games.

Chrome users will simply need to install the TouchStadia Chrome extension. However, Android users have a slightly longer procedure. Open the TouchStadia code link, copy the text, and open the Stadia Desktop site on Chrome. Click on the URL and type javascript: and paste the copied code. Pressing Enter will run the code. As soon as a connection has been established, you will see a notification. Players can easily control the game with the on-screen button overlay. Chrome users can use CTRL+; to enable the edit mode.

March 27, 2020
Get Gold Play Points Status Through 2021 When You Upgrade Your Google One Storage To 2TB

Google’s Gold Play Points scheme is designed to allow users to spend on anything you fancy in the Play Store. They are awarded freebies quite often and even permission to access something nee when it comes up. However, if you are already paying for Google One cloud storage, then you can get even better rewards with a big upgrade. Even if not, you can use the time to get the bonus. As of now, Google One members spending about $10 a month for 2TB of cloud storage will be upgraded to Gold level. This is the second-top out of the four tiers.

Gold Play Points Status

Basically, for every dollar one spends on the Play Store, they will be receiving 1.2 gold play points. This includes in-app purchases, music, apps, movies, books, and more. If the user purchases certain promotional item a week, they get huge multipliers as well along with a weekly prize of up to 200 points. These gold play points then can be converted to credits and used for Play Store purchases. If you want, you can also convert this into cash.

For all those enrolling in the 2TB plan through November 30 will be allowed to redeem Gold status. This can be done by visiting the Play Points section in the Play Store app before December 31. Users will be able to enjoy the Gold status till the end of 2021. This is, of course, as long as their cloud storage is at that level too. This is the latest in news with Google improving One membership with other benefits including hotel discounts and rebates of certain purchases on Google Play Store.

March 27, 2020
2FA Security Keys For Your Google Account Can Now Be Set Up From Android Devices

While all of us value our privacy and security, a few of us might be too lazy to take active steps towards ensuring that which could pose a problem. Not all of your account can be set up with two-factor authentication. To help us deal better with it, Google just removed one barrier. Now, users would be able to enrol 2FA Security Keys from Android using Chrome and Safari (for macOS users).

2FA Security Keys

This move was announced sometime earlier today on the G Suite blog. At the moment, it is live. If you make your wat to the security settings section of your Google account, you will notice that the system is now in place to help you go ahead with the setup process. It works perfectly well with most devices, with Pixel users being able to breeze through. You can add a Titan USB key to the account via NFC without any issues at all.

Along with this, Google also announced support for registering the 2FA Security Keys via Safari on macOS. This means that if you don’t want to use Chrome on your Mac, you will now be able to use the other option for setting up security measures on your Google account. Do note that devices will need to be Android 7.0 Nougat or later and Chrome v70 or later. Naturally, they will also need to support NFC, USB OTG, Bluetooth, or any mechanism that you are trying to use. The best part here is the fact that users can now add a hardware 2FA security key to their Google account from Chrome using just their Android devices.

March 27, 2020
Galaxy S9 Update With One UI 2 And Android 10 Starts Rolling Out
While Samsung’s roadmap suggests that the Android 10 update for the Galaxy S9 and S9+ might be delayed a bit, the company has already jumped into action regarding the latest Android build. While the Galaxy S10’s update was quite slow, this one has already gone live in a few countries in Europe and in the US. Users in Lithuania, Spain, Germany, and the US mentioned that they have received the Galaxy 9 update. However, since this is just the beginning, we are sure to see Android 10 updates from other carriers across different locations.

Galaxy 9 Update

The update is sent along with the January security patch in tow and weighs about 1.8GB to 2GB. Galaxy S9 users will be able to enjoy dark mode, improved sharing, and gesture navigation along with new features like quick settings changes and native screen recorder. There are also several improvements to the system and animations.

You can always check your settings on the Galaxy S9 to see if you have the update waiting. Another way would be to download and then flash the update yourself. However, you will lose your data and potentially, even brick your device. Do this only if you are well-versed with the procedure or you don’t mind experimenting dangerously with your phone! The rollout is confirmed from the following countries and carriers.
- US
- Unlocked
- AT&T
- Sprint
- T-Mobile
- Verizon
- US Cellular
- Australia
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
- Canada
- Croatia
- Germany
- India
- Italy
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Netherlands
- Poland
- Romania
- Russia
- Serbia
- South Africa
- Spain
- Switzerland
- UK
March 26, 2020