Samsung Gear Sport And Fit 2 Fit 2 Launched

Samsung Gear Sport And Fit 2 Launched in India

Samsung today unveiled the Gear Sport smartwatch and Gear Fit2 Pro for the Indian audience on 29 November. It is quite clear that both these devices are targeted towards a niche set of users who are inclined towards sports and fitness. That doesn’t mean that regular users won't find these devices useful.

The Samsung Gear Sport and Gear Fit2 Pro

Both of the devices are quite appealing to look at (in my opinion) and are packed with a ton of features. Both the Gear Sport and Fit2 Pro had earlier been unveiled at the IFA event in 2017. I got a chance to test the devices first hand and here are my first impressions for both the Samsung Gear Sport and Gear Fit2 Pro. As the main attraction is the Gear Sport these impressions are directed towards it rather than the Fit2 Pro.

Gear Sport

Build and Design

Holding the device for the first time, both devices felt quite premium. The watch itself has a good build quality and Samsung has claimed that the Gear Sport has military-level durability.  However, the Gear Sports’ rotating bezel interface has made the experience of the device immensely enjoyable.

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The bezel is far more effective at navigating than the touch screen interface of the watch and the subtle clicks made while rotating gives the bezel a soothing touch.

The design and build quality of the bezel and the strap feels premium.

To turn the screen on just twist your wrist towards your body slightly. However, quite a few times the screen did not immediately turn on when I flicked my wrist. You can always opt for an always on display in the settings menu, however it will come at the cost of a poor battery life.

Display and Specifications

The Gear Sport has a circular 1.2-inch 360x360 Super AMOLED display which is quite good to look at. The touch screen seems to work well but the small screen makes it difficult to correctly choose the required option. To be honest if you have fat fingers, you are going to have problems. Even, the rotating bezel is only meant for navigation on the smartwatch and not selecting any option.

The Gear Sport features the Always On Display by Samsung

The watch runs on Tizen OS, same as all the Samsung Gear smartwatches. In terms of specs the device has 4 GB of internal storage, 768 MB of RAM and a dual-core 1.0 GHz processor.  The Samsung Gear also supports wireless charging and the wireless charging dock is provided in the box.

Features

Coming to the features, the smartwatch has a heart-rate monitor and can automatically detect activities like sleeping and exercise. Along with this third party apps such as Speedo will also measure how many laps you have done while swimming. The Gear Sport is pretty much water resistant and can be used even 50 meters under water. There is also a barometer and altimeter built-in which is pretty nifty I’d say. The device has a 200 mAh battery, which the company has claimed to last for over four days on stand by mode.

The Gear Sport packs in some extras over the Fit2 Pro

One interesting feature with the Gear Sport is that it has NFC capabilities. This means that the device can be used for making payments via Samsung Pay. However, before that the device needs to be paired using Bluetooth with a Samsung smartphone. Based on the limited time with the device I found that it could play Music when paired with a headset, track your movement with its inbuilt GPS, give you fitness motivation for your daily exercise routine and lots more. Basically any fitness freak would definitely want to get their hands on this smartwatch.

Fit2 Pro

The Fit2 Pro is not that much different than the Gear Sport. Both of them have the same fitness tracking features like calorie counter, heart beat monitor, water resistance for up to 50 meters, barometer, fitness motivation, GPS and a music player. However, design wise the device has a rectangular 1.5 inch curved Super AMOLED touchscreen display.

The Gear Fit2 Pro is a slimmer and more affordable smartwatch offering from Samsung

The Fit2 also runs on the Tizen OS and has 4 GB of internal storage. However it has 512 MB RAM, which is slightly less than the Gear Sport. Other differences include lack of NFC and no altimeter. It also does not have the Always On Display of the Gear Sport nor does it have the wireless charging. Instead it is charged using a chord and adaptor provided within the box

Apart from that there is no difference between the two devices. Both serve the same identical purpose of giving additional resources for those who take their fitness seriously

Conclusion

Both devices feel pretty great and serve the fitness purpose that Samsung has targeted with these devices. So in the end everything comes down to the price. The Gear Sport has been priced at Rs 22,999 and the Fit2 Pro has a price tag of Rs 13,590.

The differences in price come at the cost of features.

Both devices have a similar set of fitness tracking features. But the Gear Sport edges out with the NFC ability, wireless charging and its rotating bezel. Is it worth paying the extra 10,000 on the Gear Sport for the above mentioned differences? Depends a lot on what you plan on using the device for. Stay tuned for our full comprehensive review which will shed more light on the matter.

Xiaomi's Redmi 5A launched at Rs 4,999

Xiaomi's cheapest phone Redmi 5A launched at Rs 4,999

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Xiaomi launched the entry-level Redmi 5A in India today. Touted as 'Desh ka Smartphone', the cheapest offering from Xiaomi stables in India will be sold at an introductory price of Rs 4,999, which will be withdrawn some time later. The phone will have a starting price of Rs 5,999 after the scheme expires, the same price tag seen on Xiaomi Redmi 4A.

Apart from the price tag, the USP of the device is its long lasting battery. Xiaomi claims that 3000mAh battery on the Redmi 5A is good for a standby time of 8 days, or 7 hours of video playback.

As earlier indications suggested, Xiaomi redmi 5A will be 'Made in India' and will have some changes as compared to the version sold in China. Launched in October earlier this year, the Chinese model of the sports a hybrid SIM tray, where the Redmi 5A will ship with a dual SIM slots and a dedicated microSD card slot. Additionaly, Xiaomi is bringing a 3GB RAM/32GB ROM variant to India which is not available in China.

The Xiaomi Redmi 5A has now replaced the Xiaomi Redmi 4A which just released in the March of 2017.

Processor

The Redmi 5A is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 quad-core chipset clocked at 1.4GHz. The device comes in two options, one with 2GB RAM, 16GB ROM, and another with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage. The chipset will also be paired with Adreno 308 GPU.

Design

When it comes to design, the device looks similar to the previous iteration. However, this time around the company has used a metal body instead of polycarbonate that was used in the Xiaomi Redmi 4A. Similar to other current generation Redmi phones, the antenna-lines have been pushed to the edges of the device, giving it a cleaner look altogether.

Similar to the previous iteration Xiaomi Redmi 4A, the company will be skipping on the fingerprint sensor for this budget oriented Redmi 5A.

Camera

The rear camera on the Redmi 5A sports a 13Megapixel module with an aperture of f/2.2. The camera comes with common features like HDR mode, panorama mode and burst mode. For the front camera, Xiaomi used a 5Megapixel sensor with an f/2.0 aperture.

Display

Redmi 5A features a 5-inch display with a resolution of 1280x720. The IPS LCD panel on the Redmi 5A is a multitouch display with a pixel density of 296ppi.

Connectivity
For connectivity, Xiaomi has placed a dual SIM tray which can either store two SIMs, along with a dedicated slot for a microSD card upto 128GB.  The device comes equipped with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1 and GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, and a 3.5mm audio jack. The array of sensors on the device include an acccelerometer, a proximity sensor and ambient light sensor.

The Xiaomi Redmi 5A will also come with an IR blaster which can turn the device into a universal remote with the Mi Remote app.

Software
On the software front, the device will ship with MIUI 9 based on Android Nougat out of the box.

Battery
One of the biggest USP's of the previous Redmi 5A was its lasting battery and this time the company claims to have radically improved on that end. Xiaomi claims that the Redmi 5A can give a battery-life of eight days. Although the device sports a smaller 3000mAh battery, running MIUI9 and Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 helps the Xiaomi Redmi 5A with battery life.

Price
The Xiaomi Redmi 5A has been launched in Indian with a introductory price of Rs 4,999 for the  2GB/16GB variant, making it the cheapest smartphone Xiaomi markets in India. The offer stands for the first 5 million customers only. After the introductory scheme expires, Xiaomi will sell the device at Rs 5,999 for the base variant and Rs 6,999 for the higher 3GB/32GB variant.

How To Track shipment from multiple couriers with single app

Track shipment from multiple couriers with single app

When you are expecting a delivery from any courier or postal service, one of the biggest challenges you probably face is to properly track your shipment. Some courier services do provide you with a tracking ID, but generally, you need to manually check the status of your shipment. Unless the service has ties with a major e-commerce company, it is usually unlikely that you’ll find a dedicated tracking service that automatically keeps you updated with shipment status changes. Some services do provide mobile apps to give you push notifications for shipment status. But then again, if you usually receive frequent packages from multiple services, you’ll need to install individual apps for each of them. Also, most courier services don’t even have mobile apps.

What if a single app could provide integrated push notifications for all of your shipment status updates across multiple courier services from around the world. In fact, there are a few apps that already allow you to do so. In this article, we’ll explore some of these apps.

Aftership

Aftership supports more than 235 postal and courier services from around the world and lets you track the status of your packages being handled by any of the supported services. Once you provide a valid tracking number for your shipment, it will automatically detect the courier name and fetch other details such as item to ship, shipping history, current status of shipment, etc. You can manually select the courier service name in case it is wrongly detected. Tracking ID can also be scanned using a built-in barcode scanner. It also gives push notification every time the status of shipment changes – Info Received, In Transit, Out for Delivery, Delivered, Failed Attempt, and any other delivery alerts from the courier service. In addition, the app also saves all your tracked shipments in case you want to refer to it at a later time. Supported couriers include FedEx, UPS Mail, USPS, DHL, Blue Dart, DTDC and many more popular services worldwide. Aftership is freely available on the App Store (iOS) and Android (Google Play).

Parcel

Parcel is another package shipment tracking app similar to Aftership which supports more than 240 courier and postal delivery services worldwide, including services like Royal Mail, HDNL, UK Mail, Yodel, Deutsche Post, TNT, UPS, USPS, FedEx, etc. Tracking data is collected in the server and pushed to the app, so that you get all your shipment notifications directly on your device. Like Aftership, it can automatically detect the courier name from the tracking number and can provide push notifications for changes in shipment status. Additionally, the delivery of package can also be viewed on a map. Parcel is available for free on the Mac and iOS App Stores, but this version only allows you to track up to three simultaneous shipments and does not provide push notifications. To unlock these features, you need to upgrade to the Pro version.

Slice

Slice is a great app for keeping track of all your online purchases. Though its shipment tracking capabilities are limited, with support for only a limited number of courier and delivery services, it’s actually more useful as a one stop destination for managing everything you buy and sell on the Internet. To use Slice, you need to register for an account and link your email address to it. Once linked, Slice scans your email for all your online purchase receipts and organizes them in various views, giving you detailed stats on your overall purchase trends. You can also track shipments from a limited number of popular delivery services including DHL, FedEx, UPS, USPS, Prestige, OnTrac, etc. Slice is available as a web based app, and is also available for iPhone, iPad and Android devices.

How To Record Android Screen with or without computer

Record Android Screen with or without computer

Android is usually known for having easy solutions and workarounds for almost everything you’d expect a typical smartphone to do; unfortunately though, screencasting is not one of them. If your Android smartphone or tablet is running a version below KitKat 4.4, there is no screen recording support for your device. But, if your Android runs KitKat or a later version of OS, this article will help you to screencast your Android device. Here, we’ve provided both rooted as well as non-rooted solutions.

Record Android Screen with Computer

Record Android Screen with ADB

If your smartphone or tablet runs Android 4.4 or later, you can record your device’s screen activity using the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) utility of Android SDK. ADB is a powerful command line tool for Android developers to help them debug their apps. But it is also useful for performing special tasks that aren’t possible from within the device itself. For example, you can install custom recovery on your Android with the help of ADB.

Here, we’ll use ADB commands to initiate screen recording on an Android 4.4+ device. This method does not require root access. The following steps will guide you to do so:

1. Download and extract the Android SDK package in a suitable location on your computer.
2. On your Android device, enable USB Debugging under Settings >> Developer Options. (See Note 1 for more details.)
3. Connect your phone to the computer via USB.
4. Navigate to the “sdk\platform-tools” folder of the extracted SDK using the File Explorer (Windows/Linux) or Finder (Mac).
5. Open a Command Prompt / Terminal session from the current folder location. (See Note 2 for more details.)
6. Once Command Prompt / Terminal launches, run a test command to test ADB connection: “adb devices”
7. If everything is okay, you should see your device listed. Next, run the following command to start screen recording on your Android device: “adb shell screenrecord /sdcard/example.mp4”
8. Here, you’re specifying that the recording will be saved as “example.mp4” in the /sdcard/ location of your device. You may provide any other path for saving the file. Now, perform the desired actions that you want to record. Press Ctrl + C when you’re done.

You can now retrieve the recording from the save path on your Android phone or tablet. The screenrecord commands also let you to customize the settings of the recorded file. Run this command to check out more options.

• Note 1: If you don’t see Developer Options in the Settings menu, go to About phone / About tablet from Settings and tap on the Build Number a few times until you see the “You are now a developer!” message. You should now be able to see Developer Options under Settings menu.
• Note 2: On Windows, hold Shift and right click inside the folder and select “Open command window here”. On Mac, open Settings >> Keyboard and go to Shortcuts tab. Select Services on the left pane and check on “New Terminal at Folder” option. Now select the particular folder in Finder, Ctrl + Click on it and select Services >> New Terminal at Folder from the menu. On Linux (Ubuntu), you need to install an add-on to get “Open Terminal here” option in File Explorer. Head on to this article for more details.

Android Screencasting with Miracast

Miracast is a WiFi Alliance based certification program that defines a standard protocol to connect to an external display (TV or monitor) over WiFi. If you have a Miracast certified Android device, you can record its screen using third party desktop based Miracast receivers such as AirServer. AirServer client is available for both Mac and PC. The free version of the software offers all the features of the paid versions, but requires an active Internet connection for operation

Record Android Screen without Computer

Android Screen Recorder

Recordable is an app available on Google Play Store that enables screen recording on your Android 4.4+ smartphone or tablet directly from the device itself, without requiring root. Though a computer is required to complete the installation process, screen recording can be done independently on your Andrpid device.

The installation takes place in two stages:

• First, download the Recordable app from the Play Store and launch the app. Additionally, turn on USB Debugging option from Settings >> Developer Options.
• Next, download and run the Recordable Installer on a Windows, Mac or Linux computer (Java Runtime required).
• The setup will install Android drivers and ask you to connect the Android device over USB. It then scans for connected devices and activates the app.
  Once the app is activated, you can record on-screen activities on your device without requiring a computer. There is, however, one catch. If you reboot your Android, you’ll have to go through the setup process once again.
  Besides Recordable, there are a number of apps on Google Play Store, such as Rec, Shou.TV, Screen Recorder, Lollipop Screen Recorder (Android 5.0 only), etc. that allow you to perform screen recording on your Android device. But as mentioned before, unless you’re running Android 5.0 (L) on your device, you need root access for these apps to work. Android L has official screen recording APIs that make it possible to build such apps that work without rooting. All these recording apps usually allow you to configure various settings, like video size, recording quality, frame rate, countdown before recording and other customizations.
  Note that all these solutions mentioned in this article cannot capture internal device sounds while recording the screen. Some of these apps, such as Screen Recorder or Recordable, does allow you to record audio, but the audio recording source is the microphone rather than internal audio. If you need to record internal audio for screen recording, you can capture it from the audio output via line-in and use a suitable sound recording application like Audacity to record the sounds.

How To Custom Equalizer on iOS, Android and Windows Phone

Custom Equalizer on iOS, Android and Windows Phone

Custom Equalizer on iOS, Android and Windows Phone

Smartphones serves as the primary media device for many people, ever since the iPhone. And if you are especially crazy about music, you might be looking for advanced music controls in your music player app, such as equalizer.

Equalizer on your phone helps to alter its audio output according to your preference. Generally, a set of predefined equalizer settings (a.k.a presets) just do the work. But advanced users often prefer to use custom equalizer settings to fine tune the output. These custom settings give control over different audio frequency bands. More the number of bands available in an equalizer, better the control over sound output.

In this article, we’ll explore the various ways of enabling equalizer controls on iOS, Android and Windows Phone.

Note: The impact of equalizer on sound output is significant when playing music through a pair of good quality headphones or speakers, capable of providing sound output over a wide frequency range.

Equalizer on iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

iOS provides a host of equalizer presets under the Settings menu. These presets are a good way to modify sound output by music genre. To change the current equalizer setting on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, open the Settings app, head to Music and choose EQ under playback section. Here, you can select any one from a set of over 20 different presets.

But if you’re not satisfied with the available presets, there are third party music players available on the App Store that provide custom equalizer controls. Most of these apps (which offer up to 10-band equalization) are paid ones, but there are a few (usually 5-band equalizers) that are available for free.

Equalizer+ (Free)

Equalizer+ is a free audio player for iOS that has a 5-band equalizer built into it. The app can access the iOS Music Library so that you can play songs stored locally on your iPhone. The app allows you to configure custom equalizer settings for your songs, and save them as presets. The app includes a bass booster setting to amplify the low frequency sounds. In addition to custom equalizer settings, the app provides 10 different equalizer presets based on different music genres – Acoustic, Classical, Dance, Electro, Flat, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Pop, R&B and Rock.

The app is available for free on the App Store, although it includes in-app purchases to unlock extra features such as Bass Boost, Visualizer, Preset Saver, etc. However, there is no option to increase the number of configurable equalizer bands. If you want an equalizer app with more customizable equalizer bands, you may want to try the other alternative apps mentioned below.

n7player (Free / Paid)

n7player is another third party music player app for iOS with a lot of customizable options. The app includes a 10 band equalizer (with Pre-amp) to tune and enhance your music listening experience. There are a number of equalizer presets available, but the app also allows you to save your own custom ones. Separate bass and treble controls are also available to help you boost the respective outputs.

n7player is available for free on the App Store, but in order to unlock the 10-band equalizer, you need to upgrade the app via in-app purchase.

Musify Player (Paid)

Musify is a paid music player app for iOS with a built-in 10-band equalizer and bass booster. With only a $0.99 price, it is one of the cheapest music apps which includes a 10 band equalizer. It can access and play songs from the iOS Music Library, but it can also stream free legal music from services like SoundCloud and Jamendo. It includes over 20 equalizer presets and provides the option to save custom presets.

Equalizer (Paid)

The app claims to be the “Music player with the most powerful and accurate equalizer in the App Store”. Equalizer provides a powerful parametric equalizer to control sound output with 7 control points or lets you directly enter values for each frequency band. There are even separate equalizer controls for left and right audio channels. The Pre-amp allows you to control the overall boost, while the control points helps you to set the level across 7 different frequency bands. The app also lets you to choose from more than 10 equalizer presets, and even save your own. The app is available on the App Store for $2.99.

Equalizer on Android

Equalizer settings on Android can be customized natively from the Settings app. Depending on the version of Android your device is running, the location of equalizer settings are slightly different, but it is usually found under the Sound section. You can perform a web search to find out the exact location of equalizer settings on your Android device.

The default equalizer on Android provides 5-band equalization with a limited number of presets and a bass boost option. For better sound enhancement with more than 5 customizable EQ bands, you can try third party music player apps such as Rocket Player, PowerAmp, n7player, etc.

Equalizer on Windows Phone

Just like Android, Windows Phone also has a built in 7-band equalizer, which can be found under Settings >> Audio on supported devices. In addition to custom equalizer, there are more than 15 presets to choose from depending on the genre of music being played.

The support for equalizer primarily depends on the firmware version running on your Windows Phone device. Usually, the high end Windows Phone devices (such as the Lumia 930 or Lumia 1530) have the equalizer settings enabled since launch, whereas some others (such as the Lumia 630/635) only got the feature enabled after the latest Lumia Denim firmware update.

We didn’t find any decent apps with equalizer on the Windows Phone Store yet. But according to a tweet from one of the developers of VLC for Windows Phone, the app might introduce equalizer support in a future update. We’ll update this article when the update is available, so stay tuned.

If you know of any decent app for iOS, Android or Windows Phone with equalizer support that we didn’t mention in this article, tell us about it in the comments below.

How to use Dual-SIM in Single-SIM Phone

Nowadays, it’s a growing trend for people to use multiple SIM connections. But when it comes to high-end smartphones, most of them (such as iPhone) usually don’t support dual-SIM facility. As a result, either we end up ditching our favorite smartphone in favor of a dual-SIM one, or carry a secondary phone along to complement the primary smartphone.

However, a few developers have come up with feasible alternative solutions to convert your single-SIM smartphone into a dual-SIM one. Here, we’ll explore a few of these solutions.

Dual SIM Card Adapters

What if you could somehow connect your two SIM cards together, and access services from both SIM cards from a single phone. Companies like MagicSIM and Simore are doing just that.

The key idea is to use a thin, bendable metal strip that connects two SIM card holders. The Nano-SIM end of the hub is inserted to the phone’s SIM card slot, while the other SIM card holder can be attached to the rear cover of the phone by bending the metal strip around. This particular product is designed exclusively for iPhones, but can also be used in other phones with external SIM card slots.

MagicSIM and Simore are two companies that manufacture multi-SIM adapters. While MagicSIM wraps around and attaches to the rear of the phone, Simore provides you with a separate case or cover which houses the extra SIM card slot.

The general advantages of this strip-based Dual-SIM adapters are as follows:

1. Both the SIM cards are attached to the phone and you don’t need to carry a separate phone or device.
2. The secondary SIM card can be used for call, massaging as well as for internet surfing with easy 3G, 4G, LTE, GSM and other basic connections.

But these products come with a few downsides.

1. iPhone and other single-SIM phones are not capable of using two SIM networks at the same time, so you can only use one SIM card at a time. A small chip embedded in the adapter circuit switches the active SIM card depending on which one you want to use.
2. The strip may take away some of the aesthetic advantages as it interferes with the phone’s design.

So, if you don’t really want to switch the SIM card each time you need to call, text or use data packs, or don’t want to make your phone bulky, then there is another solution which comes from the developers of PIECE.

How To Get updates for Non-Play Store Android Apps

Get updates for Non-Play Store Android Apps

Apart from Google Play, Android allows users to install apps from external sources. This is a handy feature for users to try out apps that aren’t available on Google Play due to regional restrictions or several other reasons.

he method to install apps from external APK sources is quite well-known. You enable app installation from Unknown Sources under Settings >> Security, then download the APK package of the required app and install it to your device. Once installed, it blends in with your other apps and you can use it just as any other app installed from Google Play.

But unlike Google Play Store apps, apps installed from third-party sources cannot be updated automatically over the air, since Google Play does not recognize them as purchased apps. If you want to update apps installed from external sources, you need to download the updated APK from an external source and run it on your device, so as to overwrite the previous version. But there are two major concerns that need to be addressed here.

How do you find a trusted source for downloading APKs?

When installing updates, you’d be downloading APK files from particular repositories more often. But it is quite difficult to pick a source which is trustworthy enough to offer clean and unaltered APKS that are malware-free.

How do you know when a new version of an app is available?

When updates are available on Google Play, the app automatically notifies you. This is not true for any app installed externally via APK. Thus, even if you get a trusted source for downloading APKs, manually checking them for an app update is tedious and rather inconvenient.

With these concerns in mind, we have found a workaround for receiving app update notifications for non-Google Play apps

Install app updates from APKMirror

APKMirror is an Android app repository that hosts apps directly uploaded by developers. It has a dedicated team that works round the clock to ensure that all APKs uploaded to the repository are authentic and safe to download. It was launched by one of the most popular Android communities, Android Police. Thus, the APKs uploaded to APKMirror are official and trustworthy as well.

Note: APKMirror has a no-piracy policy and does not host paid apps. On very rare occasions, some developers make updates to paid apps available to the public, usually to test beta releases. In such cases, there is usually a license check involved to make sure the apps were previously purchased. MX Player Pro is a notable example of such an exception.

You can read more about APKMirror in this post or visit the FAQ section of the official website.

Receive push notifications for non-Play Store app updates

APKMirror uses Pushbullet integration, and you can subscribe at a variety of levels — all new APKs, all APKs from a certain developer, or just APKs for a specific app. Whenever an app update is available from a certain subscription, Pushbullet will notify you of it. And you can get the desired updated APK from APKMirror.

The following steps will help you to set up push notifications for new app updates from APKMirror:

1. Download and install Pushbullet app on your Android device.
2. Register or sign in to Pushbullet using the app.
3. Go to APKMirror.com on your Android web browser.
4. Search for an APK, an app or a developer. The search results will be available in three different tabs.
5. Click on a particular result to open the APK-specific page.
6. Here, click on the Subscribe via Pushbullet button (the rightmost icon on the top row of the Description box) to view all related subscriptions.
7. Select a particular subscription. You’ll be redirected to the Pushbullet to confirm the subscription.

Once subscribed, Pushbullet app will notify you when updates are available from your subscribed apps (or developers). Just follow the respective link in the notification to download the update from APKMirror.

APKMirror hosts APKs for most of the popular Android apps that we generally use. And you can download APKs for all the different versions of a particular app that was ever uploaded on the website. That means, you may downgrade an app to a specific version by installing it from the respective APK file, provided it’s already available on APKMirror.

How To Play NES, SNES games on iOS and Android with NES Controller

Play NES, SNES games on iOS and Android with NES Controller

For many people who grew up in the late 80’s and 90’s, classic NES and SNES games will always hold a special place within us. So, even though console gaming nowadays includes detailed, realistic graphics, we still yearn to play that Mario game, or get excited whenever we hear a popular 8-bit game tune. We can’t blame ourselves; there’s a lot of nostalgia involved here!

With the help of emulators available for both iOS and Android platforms, developers have made it possible to bring many of our favorite classics to our smartphones and tablets. Still, for dedicated gamers who want to press actual buttons instead of virtual ones on the screen, game controllers can optionally be paired up with your Android and iOS devices to provide a near-complete retro gaming experience.

In this article, we’ll let you know how to setup your iPhone, iPad or Android device to play retro classic games from NES, SNES, Atari, GameBoy, etc.

How to install retro games on iOS and Android

The game you’re trying to run on your smartphone or tablet may be available in two forms:

1. It might be an iOS/Android port of a classic NES, SNES game, available on the App Store or Google Play.
2. It might be available as a raw game file; for example, with a .nes or .snes extension.

In the first case, the game may directly be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play Store and you can start playing by simply launching the game from the Home Screen or App Drawer (in case of Android).

In the second, the game file may need to be separately downloaded, along with a suitable Emulator app.

Most retro classic emulators won’t be directly available on the App Store, but may be installed from external sources. Many of these are available on third party app stores like BuildStore, which do not require jailbreak to install them. For Android devices, many SNES, NES, GameBoy, etc., emulators are available on Google Play Store, but you may also download them from the Internet.

Some of the popular Game Emulators available for iOS and Android are given below:

iOS Retro Game Emulators

Here are a few iOS Retro game emulators that you can try:

GBA4iOS 2.1: GBA4iOS is a Game Boy Advance Emulator for iOS devices, with built-in AirPlay support, as well as support for MFi certified game controllers. This provides you the big screen gaming experience, while also being suitable for people who prefer to use controllers. One can download games and manage them within the emulator app, so there’s no need of file management.

NDS4iOS: NDS4iOS is a Nintendo DS emulator for iOS devices, which is a port of the multi-platform DeSmuME 0.9.10 for iOS. Like GBA4iOS, it also features built in support for MFi controllers and AirPlay. Game files need to be copied into the emulator’s in-app storage, in order for them to be detected.

MD.emu: MD.emu is a full-featured Sega Genesis, Mega Drive emulator for iOS. The app includes iTunes file sharing option to copy game files to its in-app storage.

HappyChick 1.51: HappyChick is one of the most comprehensive game emulators, supporting a wide range of arcade (MAME/FBA) and retro game formats, such as GBA, GBC, MD, SFC (SNES), FC (NES), PSP, N64, NDS, PS1 and DC. This also requires you to copy supported games to the in-app storage in order to play them.

Android Retro Game Emulators

Below are some Android Retro game emulators that are available for download from Google Play Store.

Nostalgia NES: Nostalgia is a great NES emulator for Android, which is based on the latest version of FCEUX. It does not contain any built-in games, but supports importing games via .nes or .zip files stored on your Android device. The emulator features some unique features, such as Multiplayer WiFi controller mode (with support for up to 4 players), Rewind Mode and more.

Snes9x EX+: Snes9x EX+ is an open source SNES emulator based on Snes9x 1.53. It includes a public domain game called Bio Worm. However, users can import other games from the Internal Storage or SD Card. Supported file formats include .smc and .sfc; zipped formats such as .zip,.rar and .7z are also supported.

MegaN64: MegaN64 is a Nintendo 64 emulator for Android, which is a modified version of the open source Mupen64+ project. As with other emulators on the list, MegaN64 does not include any game files. Games stored on the Internal Storage or SD card may be played using the emulator.

Once you have installed a suitable emulator on iOS and Android, you can load any supported game and play using the usually customizable, virtual, on screen controls provided in the emulator interface. For a better experience, you may also opt for a suitable game controller that supports your device and the emulator. Most of the emulators mentioned above are compatible with external gaming controllers, which may be wirelessly connected to your iPhone, iPad or Android device via Bluetooth.

Wireless NES controller for iOS and Android

Below are some decent gaming controllers that are compatible with most of the iOS and Android devices.

8Bitdo Game Controllers

8Bitdo is a popular gamepad designing company established in 2013 that builds retro-style game controllers for modern devices, including Mac, PC and iOS / Android devices. It has a number of Bluetooth game controllers in its lineup, including a new Kickstarter entry named the AP40. The AP40 is a Bluetooth gaming controller inspired from Apple’s original multi-colored logo. It is compatible with Android, iOS, Mac, PC and more.

Other significant releases from 8Bitdo include NES30, SNES30, NES30 Pro, 8Bitdo Zero, etc. All iOS/Android supported 8Bitdo controllers are MFi certified and are compatible with the latest iOS devices.

SteelSeries Stratus (for iOS)

The Stratus mobile gaming controller is a premium wireless controller designed for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, built for superior gaming experience. It is compatible with all iOS apps with external controller support.

SteelSeries Stratus XL (for Android)

The Stratus XL is a powerful wireless gaming controller for Windows and Android devices with built-in Steam support. The Bluetooth connection is reliable with almost zero lag — just as responsive as other major game controllers.

Some other Android and iOS supported Gaming controllers include ICade 8-Bitty Wireless Retro Game Controller, Gametel Portable Wireless Retro Game Controller for smartphones, and BEBONCOOL Wireless Bluetooth Game Controller for Smartphones and Tablets.