Blogger vs WordPress

Reasons Why I still blog in Blogger even though it's dying

Blogger is one of the first blogging platform that came to existence in 1999 and was acquired by Google in 2003. Started during the dot-com bubble,  It was a huge moment for the Internet users. Professional as well as passionate bloggers joined this wonderful platform. But today, WordPress claims that it owns 28% of websites in internet and the lack of support from Blogger to its users accelerate the process of bloggers moving to alternatives.

The Blogger app made for Android and iOS devices is buggy and will not support the modifications of the template. 

If one uses the seamless bug-free WordPress app, we can find that it is more advanced. There is no common platform in which the posts published by bloggers can be exhibited. 

A lot of projects like FeedBurner API, Google Reader has been shut down by Google and continuing in Blogger is not quite promising.  

But there still exists a handful of bloggers who use this platform. Even we got a scare when all our blogs were down for almost two whole days. I am one of the bloggers who believe in this platform and expect some modifications. We cannot simply ignore the benefits of this platform too. Here in this post we give our five reasons for preferring Google-owned Blogger over other trendy colourful platforms.

Simple Interface

This platform is user-friendly and I prefer Blogger because of its versatility for a beginner and a professional. It is straightforward and doesn't believe in adding complicated interface and is a lightweight system. Moreover it is currently owned by Google and all the photos other media can be backed up in Google Photos and Drive and are accessible quite easily.

One can modify or customize the template

 Here comes the main reason for we using Blogger. One can customize or upload templates. Note that there is no support to integrate your blog with a server, instead it will redirect your custom domain to your blog. We are like a novice in the field of website development and would love to fiddle with the html codes of the template. If one pays for the WordPress Premium version, there is an option to change the codes. But seriously who would pay for experimenting, if you can experiment in a free platform. 

Here comes the word, I am an experimental blogger.

Adsense Integration for free

Adsense is a monetizing programme by Google which can be implemented in Blogger for free. In WordPress, one has to pay for a Premium version to add advertisements by Adsense. Otherwise they will put ads on your website for maintaining the network. Blogger is be free for all, and also provides an option to monetise one's content. 

Let us appreciate Blogger for it. 

It is owned by the best search-engine

Google is unarguably the best search engine and I don't think this fact is going to change. SEO wasn't bad, but nowadays WordPress blogs have a slight edge over Blogger. WordPress can be the platform for professionals and Blogger for those who can boost their post manually by using social networks.

It has scope for improvement

Blogger has the potential to become the best blogging platform, provided if they can help bloggers with SEO and create a common platform for them. A Blogger android app similar to WordPress app will definitely prompt bloggers to choose this platform. When we search for the best blogging platform, WordPress tops the list. This can be changed, if Google takes necessary steps. Blogger was one of my favourite blogging platform but it hasn't matched up with its competitors. In the age of smartphones, we search for a platform which can match up to our requirements. Blogger.com can become the blogging platform, every blogger is looking for.

This is our twentieth post and we have an announcement to make, that we are starting a new WordPress site which bears the same name. -App Nation at WordPress

Unacademy App Review - A learning app

Preparing for exams like IAS, TNPSC, PSC, NET etc. is tough but the solution which the latest technology can provide is an app to prepare for exams in India.

Unacademy is an ideal app that provides quality content to aspirants of IAS, NET and other competitive exams. Being called as India's largest learning platform, this app will help students to connect with qualified teachers who provide lectures for free. High-quality videos with an option of offline viewing can be helpful to students from all sectors of the society. Individuals who are interested to contribute to this app can use Unacademy Educator App to post their courses.

 App Nation: This app is definitely a revolutionary app which can provide you with rich content oriented videos especially to discuss previous question papers. We went through the app, it has a good interface and one can study almost any subject (Free of cost). The main concern is we should find best tutors and lectures. Even though a rating has been allotted to every course,  the reliability of the content is not assured. The content provided is free of cost but cannot replace coaching from reputed institutions. If you have time to spend in a smartphone, this app will make you more aware about Current Affairs and give you the best content that Internet can provide for your exams. 

Unacademy is one of the best learning app available for Indian Competitive Exams. Feel free to install the app and join this initiative.

Android
Unacademy 

CarX Drift Racing Review 2017

Racing Games are always exciting to play in Android but CarX Drift Racing gives you a chance to drive a car around and drift. It is fundamentally a car simulator which solely focuses on the drifting capability of the player. The graphics in this game makes it stand at a whole new level. Gorgeous graphics with detail will definitely amaze any Android gamer.

The interface and menu is surprisingly simple and the controls are not so different from other racing games. Even though the size of the game is about 250 MB, it deserves to be compared with the top games like Asphalt 8. There are different camera viewing angles and sets it apart from many popular titles in this genre.

App Nation Smooth Gaming Experience

 "We tested "CarX Drifting Racing" in a Xperia  phone with 4 gigs of RAM, and it was a satisfactory gaming experience. The game had a eight second delay (Loading Screen) to open. The phone got warm after 2 minutes of gameplay. There was a bit of overheating of phone, but it was expected, I guess."

"The interface is pretty straightforward. Since drifting is the main objective of the game, we didn't have a smooth experience in the first match and scrambled around the controls; handbrake, brake and the accelerator. Scored a 60 out of 700 points in the first match. But we went for training in the second try and scored 720 in three minutes"

Verdict

The graphics in "CarX Drifting Racing" is surreal and if you like to drift, spend some minutes to install and play this game. It's also a serious game with no turbo boosts and also gives you the most refined form of racing itself.

Drift Racing from CarX-Tech is not the ideal racing game for a beginner. But the game lives up to its name to stand out as the best drifting game available in for a smartphone platform. 

Platforms: Available Android, iOS and Windows.

Visit CarX Technology website.

Download Link

CarX Drift Racing Android 

CarX Drift Racing iOS

CarX Drift Racing Windows

OnePlus 5 Review

                

OnePlus 5 is unarguably one of the best smartphones available in the market. But we hear that it is not quite a flagship killer when compared to its predecessor. Packed with Snapdragon 835, it is lightning-quick to respond. These are the specs of One Plus 5.

Processor:

Qualcomm MSM8998 Snapdragon 835 Adeno 540(Released June 2017)

This is the best available smartphone processor and the chip is smaller in size when compared to Snapdragon 821. The smaller size will definitely enable them to make this smartphone thinner or pack in with a powerful battery.

Display:

5.5 inch 1080p AMOLED touchscreen, Corning Gorilla Glass 5

The AMOLED screen is the same display its predecessor OnePlus 3 used. It can be a disappointment for some, but as a budget phone, it looks quite good. The Corning Glass 5 might give you a bit of extra protection from minor drops and scratches too.

RAM:

6GB or 8 GB LPDDR4

Storage:

64 or 128 GB RAM

Operation System:

Android 7.1.1(Nougat)

Nougat is certainly energy-efficient and user-friendly. Being the latest release of Android, it has its own advantages too.

Camera:

Dual Camera System, 16MP-Primary/20MP Telephoto camera, 16MP-Secondary

The dual camera is one of the features which was unexpected in OnePlus 5 and makes it look like a copy of iPhone. But definitely it enables the user to capture comparatively better photos.

Battery:

3300mA Li-Po Battery (with Dash Charging)

3300mA is not a great battery power rating, but it will allow one to use it for an entire day. The revolutionary dash-charging capability coupled with energy-efficient processor might satisfy a tech-savvy individual.

Weight:

153g

This is one of the attributes that one should check before buying a phone. Because sometime if we get a bunch load of powerful specifications, the phone might turn a bit more heavier than usual. But in this case, OnePlus 5 weights only 153 g.

Price:

INR 32,999

Since OnePlus is a small company, they are unable to get the cutting-edge technology which S8 and iPhone 7 have. But for a price of under 600 dollars (33,000 INR), this is a smartphone for those who want to get the latest technology without spending a lot of money.

                     

This phone also lacks a bezel-display and has no water-resistance. But it doesn't actually matters for a person who is looking for a budget phone.

OnePlus is an innovative company who makes phones by analysing the consumers. By the release of OnePlus 3, they provided us with a phone that rivalled Apple and Samsung phones. But now they have responded with an amazing phone which is suitable for an average user.

Cross DJ- a sleek mixing app for a beginner

Are you looking for a Mixing app which is easy to comprehend and seemingly... professional? Cross DJ is the perfect app that I could find, fulfilling these criteria. Android has been A fascinating platform, allowing third parties to create apps and soon innovative ideas (apps too) creep in. Who would have thought one day, we can access and work on a PC from a mere device running Android ?

Cross DJ is a innovative app with a fairly simple interface with amazing audio performance. This app has fifteen effects (Low-pass, Bi-filter, Hi-Pass, Delay, Echo, Phaser, Flanger, Cut, Crush, Bliss, Brake, Roll, Chopper, Cut, Phaser, X-Phaser, Jet, Flanger, Crush, Reverb and Bliss).

Of course we have FL Studio Mobile (which I haven't used), I don't know how to compare this with FL but for an iOS user, Jam created in Cross DJ can be synced with other apps. 

One can also access SoundCloud tracks through the app itself, there's no need to download and add to the mixer. This mixer app is created by MIXVIBES, There are two versions, one is the free and other is the pro version which costs INR 350, which is quite low for a professional app. 

Who will be satisfied with this app?

Cross DJ

It's definitely not the substitute for FL Studio/ Ableton Live, but this is perfect for a beginner who wants to create a track for a function. (or something else). FL Studio mobile costs INR 1000+  which is worth it but there's no demo version, whereas this can be tested before buying. I always recommend FL Studio for PC but for Android, Cross DJ looks more elegant and probably more cheaper... I hope you get it.

'Are you looking for a mixing app but sadly FL Studio is too pricey, well Cross DJ is the app for you!'

PowerDirector: The perfect solution for your editing woes.

PowerDirector Video Editing app is one of the best editing apps which you can get in the Google Play store. Equipped with audio editor and Photo video editor, one can easily combine pictures  and video to produce a movie. 

This app is ideal for a rookie to easily comprehend the app editing interface and also add effects with a quick tap. The FX editing with drag and drop controls for videos, images and audio will be a suitable replacement for Windows Movie Editor in your PC. With high quality editing facilities, this app unarguably will rise over your expectations.

One can create projects effortlessly even if he/she is a total beginner in creating presentations. 

Provisions for editing the audio; music volume and adding voice to videos, are provided in this app. The whole interface is in a linear format and we can produce videos in 720p and 1080p.

Need more proof, try to download the app 

Rating in Play Store: 4.5

Here are some of the videos I created by combining some clips using this app.

The best document manager for iOS (unrooted)

Being called as a complete solution for managing files in iOS, Document 5 rises to be an excellent free app from iTunes, the Apple store. It is a tool in iOS which helps you to become organised as well as Read, View and Listen to any content in your device. 

Document 5 has a completely revamped interface which retains the original phone's theme. It has a drag and drop management and is sorted by name, date and file size. This is regarded as a PDF management system and also as an iOS browser. The app is quick and has minimum glitches. Its options are easy to detect too.

Document 5 replaces your PDF reader, read later apps, your file managers and has a bunch of other exciting features too. This app is used in unrooted phones as there are better solutions in rooted devices. It is a Editors choice in many iOS stores and rectifies the hassle in finding document files in a device. Even I got confused when asked to open a file from an iOS device. Thus it is a complete productivity hub with plenty of innovative features.

The app is completely free with no In-app purchases. 

Concluding the features in gist,

1. It is a document viewer.
2. Can be used to transfer files from computer to phone & vice versa.
3. Used to play music tracks.
4. Can upload files to Dropbox and Google Cloud.
5. One can save webpages as PDFs.
6. Download files from internet .
7. Used as a text editor.
8  Used to mail more than five images.

Document 5 is one of the most popular apps in iTunes and is optimised for iPhones and iPads. This definitely helps the users to experience a new lease of life while struggling to cope up with the incompatibility of iOS devices.

This review was suggested by a friend, Calvin. He is a owner of iPhone 4 and has provided the screen shots for this post. Special thanks to Calvin.

Nova Launcher vs Arrow Launcher

One of the major advantages of using Android devices is that we can try to change and design its interface. Nova Launcher and Arrow Launchers are two top launchers for Android. We compare them both and find the best one for you.
Arrow Launcher is a launcher from Microsoft and was originated from Microsoft Garage, a platform for their employees to work on projects which differ from the company's broad perspective. 

It is a simple and innovative personal Android launcher. Microsoft first launched this launcher on October 2015. It actually gives your smart phone, a premium look something which an iOS theme can provide you . 

Arrow provides a simplified outlook by giving importance to basic features, every Android user requires. This app will not provide you with endless customization like Nova Launcher but presents the users with features like Quick find and Icon pack support. Users say that this launcher provides a unique Windows feel. Of course,The launcher is linked with Bing, Office and Wunderlist which allow the users to integrate their messages etc. 

It has iOS style notification tabs and easy access to the recently accessed files, actions, images etc. Also when we swipe from bottom, it would reveal some mini control tabs. 

Nova Launcher

If we list down the features and customization available in Nova Launcher, it would be fit to become an article. Nova Launcher is like the king of customisable launchers available in the Play Store. But are these features really required for an Android device used for daily purposes and accessible for everyone. A novice would find it difficult to make use of the customization options and some of their features are locked too (Prime Version). There is a night mode equipped with a blue light filter too. If we upgrade to the premium version, we can get gesture control and a whole bunch of handy features.

Nova Launcher is one of the oldest and most customisable launcher available in the Play store with a rating of 4.6. But I would recommend Arrow Launcher because it is more user friendly and simplified. If you are enthusiastic about customisation, the premium version of Nova will be the perfect launcher. It is only 5.26 MB and might help you in organisation of apps if you are able to spend some time with it. 

Arrow Launcher cannot be called only a launcher to launch apps, but it collects information about the daily activities and makes you aware of it. Arrow Launcher cannot be called perfect as there were possibilities as they could have added Cortana Integration and made it a more battery friendly app. Both apps are equally useful and the only difference is one is more customizable and the other is a bit more conventional and simplified.

Silence is a Bliss, find it in this app.

This free crazy app solves a problem which you never thought that existed. Notification sounds triggers the urge to check the messages or e-mails which we received. But notification sounds during hearing music or while surfing in the internet are annoying. These sounds are a part of various techniques implemented by the social media sites and other apps.

By using 'Dingless', one can regulate sound notifications not only for social media sites but for all the apps. So with this app installed on your phone there is no need of silencing your smartphone and avoid sound alerts.

Major Features

When your Android device is active, then you can turn off the sound notification.
You can control the vibration along with notification sound of your device too.
One can disable sound notifications completely too.
We can introduce time intervals between sound notifications.
Music Mode enables a person to disable notification sound, while hearing music.
It has an easy and hassle-free UI.
This app is completely free with no in-app purchases.

Dingless is an app which is a really smart package at just 1.82 MB and it is truly free, this could be your solution to annoying notifications. This app is available in the Play Store for Android devices. Check this app, its going to be worth your time.

Next-generation text-editor for Android

Jotter Pad is an app which equally suits for those who professionally write or out of passion. If you are passionate about words ,this app is the tool which will help you succeed. Its not just a mere suggestion, but its a necessity for every writer. Jotter Pad is packed with an excellent UI and unique features like typography and research.

Snapshots of the updated work will definitely help us recall the deleted words, basically like a efficient recycle bin. 

This is more suited for those who want to type long texts in their android smartphone. There is no Jotter Pad available for Windows, but there are alternatives. Jotter Pad is available for free from the Google Play Store, but more features can be unlocked when one buys the premium version. There is also a typewriter feature which highlights the parts of the texts we are working on. The night mode is also useful to write in dark rooms too.
We can call Jotter Pad,a next generation text editor engineered for Innovative writing.