android apps – Tech Raman

FreeCharge App Review – Recharge on the move swiftly

Lakshmi Rajan — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 15:11:25 +0000

When the prepaid plan came into mobile scene in India, it was a boon. It freed the users from the fixed tariff plans every month and gave more control on the mobile spending on calls and data. But it also meant running to the neighborhood stores for quick recharge when you ran out ‘currency’. It became problematic when traveling, initially during the early days of mobile we have to call back a friend or relative back home to ‘recharge’ your number. The advent of online recharge sites eased things. It was convenient and easy. Soon many websites offering online recharge of mobile appeared. Personally I been using FreeCharge.in website for for quiet a long time for my prepaid recharges. Still when I was on a move or not able to access desktop, I have to call back someone in a hurry to top up my phone number. Accessing the desktop version for e-payment still doesn’t entice me for couple of reason. First at times the desktop versions are slow on mobile platform, secondly due to screen size, the desktop versions are cramped and I am not psychologically comfortable making e-payment transaction on a cramped screen. There were already few apps for online recharge but the familiarity with FreeCharge refrained me from trying them out. Then FreeCharge App appeared on Play Store but it took some time for me to actually download it and use it. So how good and convenient the app? Read on. To begin with, at 2.2MB, the app is a light-weight and would be easy on your phone storage. If you are already a FreeCharge user like me using their desktop version, you can use the same login else you can use your existing play store gmail id you use in your phone to login or alternatively you can sign-in with your Facebook login too. Again, if you want to use a different email id to register, simple tap on the create new account and fill in the details. From the app, you can recharge prepaid mobile number, pay postpaid bill for your mobile as well as recharge DTH and Datacard. When you type your mobile number, the app automatically detects the operator. Making payment is easy. I already had Rs 500 balance in ‘My Credits’. We will see the payment options a little later. So to recharge my number, all I have to do is add the amount, if you have balance in my credits it will automatically show the ‘FreeCharge’ credits and you can proceed with the payment. Done, within a minute. When you are making the payment. On the field where you key the amount, there is an option to select the ‘Tariff plans’. Clicking on the option, gives you various plans the operator offers including full talktime, 3G,2G and other special top up plans available from the operator for your telecom circle. As an add-on, FreeCharge also lists various discount coupons to choose upon spread across various categories while making a transaction. Now let’s see the available mode of payment. The most convenient way of course is keep a buffer credit in your FreeCharge account that will enable you to swiftly make payment without having to go to your bank/credit card payment gateway each time. Once your credit is dry, you can replenish to your convenient amount. If you don’t want to keep your money idle on ‘My Credits’, there are other options payment via debit card, net banking and credit card supported by many leading banks. The app also gives an option to save your card details for faster future transactions. You can also check your past recharges by clicking the My Recharges tab, which lists your previous recharges with the details. I found FreeCharge a swifter mode to recharge. With a neat and straight forward interface, the app is now my mainstay for my recharge needs.]]>

I'm Shakti is a safety app that might help you in emergency situations

Lakshmi Rajan — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 09:27:32 +0000

I’m Shakti an android app to help the users reach out in emergency situations. The app works similar to the Safety Assistance feature that Samsung introduced with Galaxy S4 and later in couple of other Galaxy devices.

How I’m Shakti works?

Once installed, the app resides in the background and when in emergency situation if you have to notify your contacts you have listed to reach out in tight situations, all you have to do is press the power buttons 5 times in quick succession. Quick Send Emergency SMS fires a pre-set message to the emergency contacts or alternatively you can customize your message and send it to the emergency contacts. When you send the SMS, it will intimate the emergency contacts the message with your location. The location will always be included regardless of whether your GPS or Internet is on. Turning on GPS and internet is on, it will give a very accurate picture of your location right from the street address. If the GPS is off, the emergency SMS will include the approximate latitude and longitude tracked from the mobile operator network. Additionally, within the app you can dim the screen display or turn off the connectivity services when low in battery and to save power. The user can also put the phone in silence from the app menu. [gallery link="file" columns="5" ids="5312,5313,5314,5315,5316"] ]]>

How to check if a Website is down or not on Android device? [isDown App]

Lakshmi Rajan — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 17:12:12 +0000

isDown? app to check if a website is down only on your device or for everyone. Not just checking the connection status the app also helps to shorten the URL or in case you received a minified URL and want to verify it, the app allows you to expand it. The interface is pretty simple. You can paste the website link or type and hit the isDown? button. It will give the status of the website. There is also option to convert the url to tiny url and also to expand a tiny url to the real source. There is also options to share the results on social networking sites.]]>