Triplicate Thoughts

About three months ago, I wrote an article explaining why  Telegram is a better messaging service compared to WhatsApp . It did quite well, and quickly shot up to be my third most popular post of all time. As a quick recap, the reasons I mentioned were faster and more frequent updates, Telegram is cloud-based which allows it to be used on multiple devices simultaneously and also allows users to store shared media in the cloud rather than on devices, usernames as a way to connect instead of phone numbers, and the ability to send files. I never planned to write another article on the issue, but Telegram just has so many benefits over WhatsApp, a single article wouldn't be sufficient. So here are five more reasons why Telegram is better than WhatsApp, and why you should make the switch.

Messaging apps are some of the most popular among smartphone users. Three of the top five free apps in the Play Store are messaging apps, and there are many more as well. When it comes to sheer user base, none can boast a higher number of users than WhatsApp. As of August 2014, WhatsApp reports a total of 600 million active monthly users . WeChat is second by a huge 132 million user margin. But as in other markets, just because something is the most popular, doesn't mean it's the best. WhatsApp will always benefit from being one of the earliest cross-platform messaging apps in the market. They've had years to build up their massive user base, and as long as they have that, competing apps will find it difficult to get a foothold in the market. The problem newer messaging apps face is that not many people will use a service if none of their friends and family are. What good is a messaging app if you don't have anybody to send messages to? Telegram is very young compared...

There are many utility apps in the Play Store, but Pushbullet is easily one of the best apps you can have on your device. Simply put, it acts as a bridge between your mobile device(s) and your computer(s), allowing you to perform several tasks between them. Initially it was just used to easily send data between all your connected devices like links and files, but the devs are amazing at adding new functionality. The app has grown to be much more than just a tool to send files between your devices. You can also receive your phone's notifications on your computer, send SMSes from your computer, have one clipboard for all your devices, and it even has an RSS-like feature called Channels. If you want to find a way to productively connect all your devices together, this is definitely an app to checkout.

I'm a big fan of Google Drive. I've been using it almost exclusively ever since I learned about it a couple of years ago. In fact, I recorded all my Master's research data, and wrote my entire thesis using Google Drive, only turning to Microsoft Office once my writing was completed to comply with university requirements. And with 72 of the world's top 100 universities also using Google Drive , I'm sure many other students have used it the same way too. I've actively been sharing my experiences using Google Drive on social media, because I really do think it's a great productivity tool. It may have some limitations when compared to what Microsoft Office offers, but for the majority of people who create documents, spreadsheets, and presentation slides, I'm confident what Google Drive and the associated app suite (Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides) offers is more than sufficient to meet consumer needs. And despite those few limitations, Google D...

It's been quite some time since I did an app spotlight. This time I'm highlighting an app which I think, is one of those apps that puts the "smart" in "smartphone". If you read my post about the things I like and dislike about the Nexus 5 , you'll remember that I said one of the things I disliked was the power button being on the right side of the device, because I'm left handed. However that wasn't a huge problem, largely due to this app I'm using, called Gravity Screen - On / Off . I started using it on my One X, and continued using it immediately once I got my Nexus 5. What it does is basically turn your screen on or off, depending on the situation your device is in. In the couple of months I've used it, it's been an excellent experience, which I will share with you in this post.

The Play Store is abundant with amazing apps. Image: Tested Our smartphones are only as good as the apps we have on them. Having a powerful smartphone with a buttery smooth OS is cool sure, but having the right selection of apps is what makes the entire experience worthwhile. With over one million apps in the Play Store , choosing the best ones can be a bit difficult if you are new to smartphones or Android. Especially if you have no idea what Android is capable of, because some of the best apps in the Play Store take advantage of some of Android's strengths. This list is not a list of the best apps in the Play Store, because quite frankly, different people have different preferences. But these are some of the most popular in their respective categories, and I use all of them frequently on my smartphone. You can always look for alternatives if my suggestions don't suit your style. That's why Android is cool. You always have a choice. So here are my suggestions for must...

Customisation is probably the greatest strength of Android. There are of course other reasons why Android is so great , but when it comes down to something that every Android user can easily do, without needing to do any hacking (i.e., rooting), simple customisation is what I see as Android's greatest strength. Some of the more advanced methods of customising an Android device like changing icon packs, the colour theme, grid size and transitions may require a bit of know-how with regards to custom launchers , but there are three things I believe anyone can do on their own right from the start; changing their wallpaper, ringtone, and notification tones. Don't laugh, it may seem trivial to many of us, but there are a lot of Android users who seem to not know about this simple customisation, or simply don't care. I've seen friends' phones that still use the stock wallpaper even after months of owning the phone, they use boring ringtones that come out of the box, an...

Many of us nowadays get information from the world wide web. Be it educational information, entertainment gossip, political scandals, sports news, editorials or opinion articles, or even some new recipes we want to try, the internet is probably the most informative and knowledge-laden place in the world. But with so much information at our disposal, we often times find ourselves unable to consume all this information at any particular time. We may browse our favourite news aggregator or RSS feeds for interesting stories across various fields, but we may not have time to read all of them at that time. We could be preparing to go to work or school. We might only have a few minutes in the train. Or even while stuck in a jam. We could of course try to remember those articles we want to read and find them again later when we have some time to spare, but how reliable can our memory actually be in these situations? Thankfully for us, Pocket is an app that does all the remembering for us. ...

Smartphones and tablets have really come a long way. They are now highly capable of performing almost every task the average consumer would use them for. Taking and viewing pictures, writing and editing documents, recording and watching videos, all can be done without a hitch. I view smartphones and tablets as more of an extension of our computers. Things we would usually do exclusively on our computers can now also be done on our mobile devices. While this is a great convenience for people who are always on the move and aren't always in front of their computers, it does pose another problem; file management. With so many different devices, how do we manage all our files? Do we constantly need to be plugging in our phones and tablets to our computers to copy and paste files? Do we need to email ourselves a document from our work computer so we can access it at home? What if we leave the house having forgotten to transfer a document into our tablet that we needed for work? We could...

Text input on mobile phones has come a long way. From the old T9 keypad to BlackBerry's world famous physical QWERTY keyboard to today's software QWERTY keyboards. While the technology has swiftly changed to fit with the current trend of capacitive touch screen smartphones, users have found the switch a little bumpy. Without a tangible typing experience, we practically need to be looking at our phones constantly as we type, as opposed to how it was back in the day. I could confidently type an SMS without looking at my phone thanks to a physical T9 keypad I could feel. I bet many long-time BB users could type just as easily as well. The removal of a tangible keypad has made blind typing (accurately) almost impossible. On small screens, typing can be a challenge due to closely spaced letters. Typing errors have become accepted as a normal occurrence when it comes to typing on a software keyboard. Embarrassing auto-corrected messages have spawned an entire genre of internet LOL ...

This will be the start of a new series I'm starting on my blog. As the name suggests, I'll be highlighting one of my favourite apps in each episode. I won't be covering the best apps in the market though, as I don't have experience with each and every one of them. I'll only cover what I feel are the best apps in my own collection, which I have used for quite some time. Also I won't be covering games. Games to me is a whole separate category of apps with its own sub-genres. Different gaming genres will appeal to different people, which would make writing spotlight posts about it difficult. I want to focus on services and productivity apps, which I feel will benefit a larger audience. To get the ball rolling, a category of apps which I feel every Android user should use; custom launchers. My personal favourite, Nova Launcher .