TechLife April 2021

Every now and then it can be handy to go back over the basics of an operating system, even if you’re a seasoned pro. After all, chances are that you may have forgotten something elementary along the way to mastery... On the other hand, maybe you are just starting out. You could be wanting to get a child up to speed with their first phone, or maybe you yourself have just gotten a new Android device and need a little help on where to start. So that’s where this issue’s massive guide to starting with Android comes in. From first steps, to connecting to Wi-Fi and sorting out Gmail, this guide has everything you need. However there’s more to this issue than just Android advice – as always there are hints and tips…

Ashampoo UnInstaller 9 Make sure everything’s spic-and-span with Ascomp Cleaning Suite. Ashampoo UnInstaller 9 makes installing, testing and fully uninstalling software a breeze. Four dedicated deletion methods provide a cleaner system that Windows-default uninstallation facilities. Even software sideloaded through nested setups poses no problem. Ashampoo UnInstaller 9 takes the fear out of SPAM software or spyware, whether full-fledged application or browser plugin. The program follows a four-way strategy with full installation logging as method of choice. Download link: www.techlife.net/exclusives Ashampoo Disk-Space-Explorer 2018 Analyse the file distribution and disk space usage of your disks. The compact but powerful Disk-Space-Explorer 2018 provides a detailed overview of file distribution and disk space consumption. Unlike Windows Explorer, Disk-Space-Explorer 2018 lists results based on file types and helps quickly locate potential resource hogs. The file type filters are customisable making it…

$1,649 www.samsung.com Why buy a Galaxy S21 Plus when you could go for the cheaper Galaxy S21, or the all-singing, all-dancing, Galaxy S21 Ultra? It’s a fair question, and it’s one that has a simple answer: buy the S21 Plus if you’re after a phone with a larger screen and battery than the Galaxy S21, but don’t need all the bells and whistles – mostly photographic – of the Ultra. Samsung has now established the Ultra versions of its Galaxy S flagships as the devices to buy if you want all the latest and greatest tech that the Korean electronics giant can offer, which leaves the Galaxy S21 Plus in a slightly awkward position, with the extra money you’re paying over the ‘standard’ S21 getting you little more than a larger screen…

An apparent benchmark listing for the so-called Apple M1X CPU may have given us a glimpse at next-generation Apple Silicon. The leak shows an Apple M1X with 12 cores, according to CPU Monkey, an increase over its predecessor’s 8, which will reportedly arrive in the form of 8 high-performance ‘Firestorm’ cores coupled with 4 efficient ‘Ice Storm cores’. The CPU will allegedly see an even more impressive upgrade in the graphics department. The leaked benchmarks, which are said to come from a “pre-sample” of the M1X, suggests the processor will feature a 16-core GPU with 256 execution units. The M1, found in Apple’s latest MacBook Pro and MacBook Air devices, features an 8-core GPU with 128 execution units, which suggests that its incoming successor could offer up to double the graphics performance. The Apple…

Microsoft announced its latest update to their productivity suite, Office 2021, this week in a blog post by Jared Shapiro, Microsoft 365’s corporate vice president. He also announced Office Long Term Servicing Channel for businesses that need a long-term, static option for the software. Like the previous release, Office 2019, Office 2021 is designed for personal and small business users who do not want to subscribe to the company’s cloud service, Microsoft 365. While we don’t have the full details yet about what kinds of feature changes or additions Office 2021 has in store, The Verge points out that Microsoft is likely to introduce any major changes to Office products in their subscription-based Microsoft 365 first. Shapiro says in the blog post that Office 2021 will be supported for five years and that…

The Android 12 beta is live, with Google announcing that the first official Android 12 Developer Preview is now available to adventurous app developers. While we’re likely months from an Android 12 release date for consumers (last year’s Android update launched September 8), today’s beta sheds light on the changes coming to Android phones. You don’t have to wait until Google IO 2021 to find out. Android 12 beta features include better-looking images vs standard JPEG files, faster and more responsive app notifications, and more privacy measures – or at least the promise to be more transparent about the use of your data. Google is also making app compatibility easier across devices like foldable phones and Android tablets. The 19 new Android 12 features outlined are split into three categories, according to…