Facebook has spruced up its messenger app to stay in the race, especially with WhatsApp hogging all the limelight. It has been around for a while and the recently updated version looks quite promising. To begin with, now you no longer need to have a Facebook account to use the messenger; you can simply sign-up with your phone number. While this may seem insignificant, there are still a sizeable number of people who do not have a Facebook account and most importantly, it makes the app universal just like WhatsApp and others. Secondly, the app now also features the ability to send voice messages. We tested the app and here’s what we found.
The app is swift and you won't expereince lag
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Features and UI
The look and feel is in keeping with Facebook, so it’s not difficult to get used to. Also, its layout is quite simple without too many options and devoid of clutter. On the homescreen, you will find all the messages from your Facebook account. Pressing the small paper-pen icon on the right hand corner at the bottom will allow you to create a new message. A dotted bar is placed at the right-hand corner at the bottom, just below the paper-pen icon, to access the settings. From here, you can change the message settings like notification, location services or even switch account to log-in with a different account.
If you want to refresh the page, then you can do so by going to the settings or simply sliding the screen downwards and releasing it. On the other hand, clicking on the icon on the top right corner, or simply sliding the screen to the left, will reveal your friend list. You can see who is online and simply tap on their name to send them a message. Here you will find the edit option that allows you to pin friends you frequently chat with, so that they always get featured at the top in the list. Additionally, you can drag individual names to arrange them according to your liking.
You can send text, image as well as voice message
When composing a message, you can send it to a single individual or add as many people as you want. You will see an arrow icon next to 'send', which is for the location; tapping on it will activate the location info. This will make your location visible to the person you are sending the message to. Apart from plain text, you can send an image, or even a voice message – a feature that was recently introduced. When it comes to sending an image, you can either select one from the albums or click a photo. Additionally, you can search for an image online and simply tap on it to send. If you want to send a voice message, then click on the 'record voice' option, hold down the red button to begin recording and simply release it when done. Currently, it allows you to record up to a one-minute long message.
The app will show you who has seen the message. If you want to see more details, then in the message window, click on the ‘i’ symbol on the top right hand corner. By clicking on it, you can see all the people who are part of the conversation along with their location on the map underneath. From here, you can give a name to the conversation and even add a picture for it. This is working backwards, as you can only access this after the message has been sent and the conversation is underway. You can also add people to the conversation, manage the notification for current conversations and if you wish to leave the conversation, then you can do so from here as well.
You can set the notification settings from here
Performance
If you are quite active on Facebook and have all your close contacts on it, then having the messenger app is a good idea as you can easily connect with all your friends and save on some SMS money. Unlike the other apps, the advantage that messenger has is its familiar layout—not that this should come in the way, but it sure does lead to ease of adaptability. It provides a wide range of emoticons to jazz up your message. It is also very swift and loads quickly without any lag.
You can arrange your frineds and have those you chat with most pinned at the top
However, having said that, the app needs a few more features to make it robust – like the ability to add name and images at the beginning of the conversation rather than having to do so after the conversation is underway. Also, in case you send a message and lose network, then you will have to resend your message. Another thing that we noticed was that if you have both Facebook native app and the Messenger app installed on your phone, then you will receive the notification for new message in both the apps. This can be a bit annoying. Also, currently there is no option to send videos.
In a bid to increase the reach of the app and compete with other existing apps in the market, Facebook did away with the requirement to have a Facebook account to be able to use the Messenger app. We tried to see how that worked as well. If you are not on Facebook, then you can sign-up using your phone number. It will then search your contacts and show you those who are already using Facebook Messenger or the Facebook app on their smartphone. You can invite your other friends who aren’t using any of these services and they will be prompted to download the Facebook Messenger app via SMS. The other features remain the same.
Those who do not have a Facebook account can use the app
Verdict
Overall, it’s a good app, especially if all your close contacts are on Facebook. It also has all the features that you would need and hence, you won’t be disappointed. The biggest thing going for the app is the familiar layout. And as the app gets updated, the little niggles will hopefully get ironed out. A slew of features is already in the pipeline – like it recently released free calling feature for its iPhone app, which allows users to make free calls to other iPhone users who are using the Messenger app. Currently, this feature is limited only to iOS and is available only in Canada.
The Facebook Messenger app is available for Android and iOS.
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Popular searches: Facebook Messenger,Facebook Messenger review, Facebook Messenger price in India, Facebook Messenger price
Tags: Facebook Messenger , Facebook Messenger app for Android , Facebook Messenger app for iOS , Facebook Messenger app , Facebook Messenger app review , Messenger app , Messenger app review.
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Making a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 8 isn't all that tricky, but it's always nice to find an app that simplifies things. Not only does WinToFlash make the process about as easy as it can get, but it can also create Windows XP, Server 2003, and Server 2008 installers.
The default options make it easy to roll a silent Windows install, or you can flip the custom switch and specify the exact setup parameters you want to use.
The handy app also has one more trick up its sleeve: moving Windows Preinstall environments. PE discs can be extremely handy for troubleshooting and repairs, and being able to painlessly zap them over to a USB flash drive means not having to burn a new copy every time someone's haggard old optical drive decides to chew up your CD.
WinToFlash is a free download and is totally portable. It's an excellent tool to add to your USB-related utilities.N
Making a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 8 isn't all that tricky, but it's always nice to find an app that simplifies things. Not only does WinToFlash make the process about as easy as it can get, but it can also create Windows XP, Server 2003, and Server 2008 installers.
The default options make it easy to roll a silent Windows install, or you can flip the custom switch and specify the exact setup parameters you want to use.
The handy app also has one more trick up its sleeve: moving Windows Preinstall environments. PE discs can be extremely handy for troubleshooting and repairs, and being able to painlessly zap them over to a USB flash drive means not having to burn a new copy every time someone's haggard old optical drive decides to chew up your CD.
WinToFlash is a free download and is totally portable. It's an excellent tool to add to your USB-related utilities.N
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English | Platform: PC | Release: 2011 | Publisher: BigFish Games | 12.4 GB
Genre: Collection / I am looking for a business puzzle
Contains “BEST OF” Big Fish Games until 2011 in :
1. Card & Board Games
2. Kids Games
3. Marble Popper Games
4. Match 3 Games
5. Strategy Games6. Time Management/Dash Games
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Projectors have been and are mostly still being marketed at large organizations. The cost of projectors have gone down considerably over the last year and manufacturers are now targeting home users as their primary audience. BenQ, a company, which is widely known in the market for their displays and other PC related products have launched a line-up of projectors designed for home entertainment. One of these are the BenQ W700 that features DLP Link technology which offers 3D content through a single feed.
Design and Build Quality
The BenQ W700 is a slightly large projector and is made entirely out of hard plastic. It has a glossy white and matte dark grey finish. The glossy white adds to the stylishness of the W700. While most of the projector has a white finish, the grey is featured only on the front, back and strips at the side. There are vents that run along the sides and half of the front - this helps in the cooling process of the projector.
The controls are easy to navigate through
At the bottom centre is a push to release stand. The button to deploy feels sturdy. To aid in straightening of this stand are feet that are located at the bottom on the rear of the projector. These feet have to be rotated to get it to its maximum length. Together, with the stand and the feet, this projector can be well-balanced. The focal ring along with the zoom ring are finished in silver and located directly above the W700’s lens. The controls for this projector are located on the bottom right of the top panel. They, like the rest of the top panel are finished in glossy white. The spacing of the buttons is large and within a matter of minutes one can easily use the controls without looking at the pad. The bundled up remote control is black and has a whole lot of controls, which are well spaced out. The build quality of the remote control is good and could survive even after a couple of accidental drops. Overall, the BenQ W700 is a stylishly designed projector that is well-built as well.
Features
The W700 DLP projector has a native resolution of 1280 x 720, which is a 16:9 aspect ratio. This ratio is a common feature found on most displays nowadays, be it televisions or monitors. The brightness levels of this projector are 2200 lumens as rated by BenQ. Apart from this, BenQ claims that the W700 has a contrast ratio of 10000:1.
Large vents help the cooling process immensely
The interface is simple to navigate through. The design of it is rather plain with the interface in Grey. A tad bit more colour would make it look better. The default mode when connected to a notebook is the Cinema mode. Other modes included in this projector are User 1, User 2, Game, Bright and Living Room. While tweaking the settings in the default preset are limited, one can easily tweak brightness, contrast, etc in the User modes.
A host of connectivity options
Various connectivity options are found on this projector and the most interesting ones are the two HDMI inputs. These can be used to connect to a home theatre system or a gaming console allowing people to project the content on a large surface. Other connectivity options include component, composite, D-Sub, mini USB, RS-232 as well as a 3.5 mm audio jack. All in all, the W700 has some interesting features that can be used in either a home or a small conference room.
Performance
The BenQ W700 projector was tested using a notebook and all the lights in the room were turned off to get optimum results. We ran the DisplayMate test along with a number of videos to check the performance. Let’s start of by mentioning that this projector does not emit a lot of heat, but the top panel gets a bit warm. Another thing we noticed was that there was a constant low humming sound noticed. Connected to the notebook, we used the default settings to check how well the projector fares out of the box.
Video playback is really good
During the DisplayMate test, we noticed that greys and whites reproduced well in the intensity range test. Black levels noticed were really good and colours were very accurate in the colour contrast test. There was a lot of sharpness noticed throughout all colours and there was a noticeable difference between each scale in the colour intensity scales test. During video playback colours rendered accurately and watching videos through this projector was an enjoyable experience. Out of the box, the BenQ W700 performs really well and there is no need for tweaking, whatsoever.
Verdict
The BenQ W700 sells at a market operating price of Rs. 52,000. The projector is mainly designed for home use and with a price point as such we get back to the debate of whether one should pick up a large screen LCD HDTV or a projector.
Simple yet stylish design
While there may be no match for a television as of now, this projector surely closes the gap between the two. While we do not discard the fact that one should not buy an HDTV, if the BenQ W700 falls in one’s budget, this can be a very good solution for a large viewing area home theater setup...N
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