Good news for Google Chromecast users

Google Chromecast

Good news for the Google Chromecast users. The latest update to the Chromecast app for your smartphone unlocks the "Cast Screen" feature. If you are wondering what is this feature all about and if it is not clear enough by the name, through "Cast Screen" you can project you smartphone's screen on your smart HDTV through Wi-Fi.

If you are thinking what's the big deal about it, just imagine what you can do with this feature. You can view pictures, movies which are stored on you smartphone directly on you TV without any wires. And what more, for game enthusiast like me, you can project the game directly on your TV and enjoy it on the big screen that too with sound.

My experience with Cast Screen feature

I used cast screen feature with my humble Moto G 1st gen and it worked beyond my expectations. I enjoyed playing a few games and browsing with more or less satisfactory performance. Though there are some minor glitches as screen cast sometimes slows down or even freeze depending on you network bandwidth, it is still a much awaited feature.

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Smash cops heat: Smashing is in the air

When it comes to racing games, the pattern of these games is more or less similar, either it is four wheeled or two wheeled vehicles racing against each other. Then there are variations where you either play cops trying to nab drivers indulging in street racing or miscreants trying to avoid cops. Racing games are very entertaining and always have a higher game replay value. Today I am writing about a racing game with a twist. In this game you play the role of a cop who is obviously behind the miscreants but you are allowed to smash their vehicles and destroy it completely, that too in style. Does it sound a lot of fun to you, well it is.

"Smash Cops heat" game is presented by Hutch Games and it is a car racing game.

Smash Cops Heat: Launch screen

Game Plot
Being a cop you are behind the criminals in your car and you need to overtake them, smash their vehicles and arrest them. You get plenty of chances to show your driving skills and also enjoy smashing the vehicles. Each game level is a police case where criminals have committed some crime and you as a police officer on wheels have to nab them. 


There are plenty of police vehicles to choose from. Though, at the start only one basic vehicle is available for use. As you play the game and complete the missions you get opportunity to buy other high performance vehicles with varying capabilities.

Smash Cops Heat: Choosing a police vehicle

Game Controls
The controls are very easy to operate. You can choose between the onscreen joypad or push control, where joypad is more comfortable to use if you are playing the game on tablet. No need to worry about gear shifting, move up or down the joypad to move forward or backward the vehicle, or left and right to turn it.

There are few extra powers available at your disposal like "RAM" and "INSTARAM". RAM is quite interesting, the idea is, if you are strategically close to a criminal's car you can use RAM and your car will move forward with a sudden jerk which is enough to topple the car in front and destroy it. Once used, RAM needs some time to activate again and here the INSTARAM comes handy, so if you have INSTARAMs available it can be used instantly without the wait time. RAMs are unlimited but have some waiting period, INSTARAMs are limited and you have to earn it.

Smash Cops Heat: Smashing is so much fun

Game levels have associated objectives and if you achieve the objectives, you are rewarded with stars. The stars are necessary as it helps to unlock further game levels and also more powerful police vehicles.

Smash Cops Heat: Mission complete

Each game level is either a criminal case like criminals have stolen cars or a police mission like police needs to transfer a high profile prisoner across the town and his accomplice trying to rescue him. So, depending on the mission you need to devise a plan to finish it.

Smash Cops Heat: level selection

Smash Cops Heat: Let's start the chase

Few game levels require specific vehicles for its speed or sturdy build and without that vehicle it is very difficult to complete the level. That's the main reason to collect as many stars as possible for unlocking the vehicles.

Smash Cops Heat: Criminals arrested

It is not an endless racing game, each game level needs to be completed in specific time before the criminal drives off its car beyond the city border or the missions fails.

Smash Cops Heat: Criminals managed to flee

The games also offers IAP where you can buy INSTARAMs or unlock vehicles.

The game graphics are good and so the sound effects, but the main feature is smashing scenes which are simply stunning. I never came across any racing game with such variety of car crashes and smashes, I am pretty sure you will like it.

How much it costs you: Not a single penny, though you can buy certain items through IAP.

If you like this post or know any other app / game in the same category, let me know via comments.

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See also:

Other posts in this series:

1. Need For Speed - Most Wanted: Dare to challenge the most wanted

2. Beach Buggy Blitz : A fantastic racing gamewhich will transport you to a stunning island, that too for free

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Vacations: Kullu - Manali - Dalhousie - A place close to heaven

As they say all work and no play makes jack a dull boy. For the same reason I always try to find some time to unwind myself. And, it was that time again when I packed my bags for a fun filled vacation. This time the destination was Kullu-Manali in Himachal Pradesh. Himachal Pradesh state is located in Northern part of India just below Jammu and Kashmir. This was the first time I was visiting Kullu-Manali. 

The best time to visit Manali is between April - June period. As by this time of the year the internal roads are cleared of snow and weather is not that cold. If you are travelling to Manali from Pune, the most convenient route is to reach Delhi first and then from Delhi you can catch a bus or a private vehicle for Manali. Manali is approximately 600 kilometers from Delhi and it's a long journey of 14 hours due to the hilly narrow roads and difficult track. 

We reached Delhi at around 3 PM and without wasting any time we started our journey in the cab we booked earlier. We traversed through four states of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and reached Manali at around 7 AM next day. I must say the journey was quite exhaustive. It was drizzling that day and due to fog the visibility was very less. Thankfully we were able to get our hotel room before the check-in time, and could rest for a while.

Manali - Picturesque view

Manali is not a very big town, it has few tourists attractions like temples, a club house, a little market which is known as Mall road etc. The Mall road is quite interesting where you will find shops selling all types of items for daily use, some souvenir shops and few restaurants. Also there is a separate market where you can find variety of woolen clothes, sweaters and jackets. Though I would like to mention, you will find plenty of photo taking opportunities wherever you are in Manali, it is simply picturesque.

Manali - Greenery and flowers everywhere

Manali - A lazy foggy day

Manali - A nearby small village

We spent the first day to explore the places in and nearby Manali, as the next day was going to be an adventurous one, we were going to visit Rohtang pass. Rohtang pass is a high mountain point which is 50 kilometers from Manali and is on the way of Manali - Leh highway. It is a very famous tourist point where people go to enjoy the snow view. The peaks here are always covered with snow and it is developed as a ski point and other fun activities for people to enjoy the snow. I have never been to a snow point earlier so it was going to be a different experience.

Our driver had earlier informed us that we must leave our hotel no later than 4 AM in the morning otherwise we will be stuck in the heavy traffic going towards Rohtang pass :(. Though it was a daunting task for us to wake up that early, we somehow manage and was able to start for Rohtang pass by 4 AM. On the way we stopped to get the snowsuits, there are plenty of shops on the way which provides the snowsuits for nominal rent.

Manali - Snow point near Rohtang Pass 

Once we reached near Rohtang pass we realized our driver was right, there was a heavy rush of vehicles and people and it was a traffic jam like situation. But as we were very close to our destination we left the vehicle and decided to walk. 

It was a clear sunny day and there was snow everywhere. People were trying their hands on skiing, children were playing with snow and snowman. There were guides available to give quick skiing lessons. Also there were few yaks which you can ride on. I liked the sledge ride most, it was fun to ride on these. We spent few hours enjoying the view, played in snow and were mesmerized with nature's beauty. It was the time well spent. If you are interested in photography you will not regret coming here.

Manali - Ski slope at Rohtang Pass

We returned back to our hotel by afternoon and as were tired so spent rest of the day at hotel. Next day we went to Kullu which is about 40 kilometers from Manali. Kullu is comparatively a small town, one can do river rafting here which is quite popular or river crossing through ropes on river Beas. One can also visit the Naggar castle, which is a small but well maintained castle and art gallery. This was our last day in Kullu-Manali so we covered the places which were on our list, did some shopping and returned to our hotel.

The next morning we packed our bags and left for Dalhousie. Dalhousie is another hill station in Himachal Pradesh and it is around 350 Kilometers from Manali, still due to the narrow and hilly roads it takes around 9-10 hours to reach there. The route is very scenic with great valley views, waterfalls and the Beas river flowing close to the road, overall an enjoyable journey. We found Dalhousie little warmer as compared to Manali.

Next day, we were ready to visit Khajjiar which is the most visited tourist spot near Dalhousie. Khajjiar is around 30 kilometers from Dalhousie and usually it takes 1 hour to reach this place. If you have been to any European country you can relate with Khajjiar. It's a small plateau with a lake in between and surrounded by forest. You will find few restaurants at one end, cows and sheep grazing in the grass fields. Khajjiar is also known as mini switzerland for the same reason. You can take a horse ride there or do zorbing. I earlier had some doubts about Zorbing but once I experienced it I enjoy it, it is liked by adults and children alike. Again, you will get lots of photographing opportunities here so make sure your camera is prepared for it.

Dalhousie - Khajjiar aka Mini Switzerland

Indian squirrel posing for the camera

This was the last stop of our trip, we returned back to Delhi and took our flight back to Pune. At the end, it was a fun filled and refreshing trip and surely I look forward to visit Himachal Pradesh again in future.

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See also:

Other related post:

1. Vacations: Refreshing Las Vegas, a different ball game

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Train Crisis: Whatever you do, do not let the trains collide!

We all have traveled by planes and wondered the sophistication of the planes and also how accurately the air traffic is controlled with near to zero accidents. Well it is not just the air traffic control which needs skill and experience, our humble trains also need lots of planning and skills so that it can run with safely and with high efficiency.

"Train Crisis" is a game which lets you experience what goes behind operating trains on the tracks safely and guiding it to reach the destination. This game is presented by developer U-Play online. In this game you play the role of a rail traffic controller whose job is to avert train accident at any cost. There are trains coming from all directions and the train drivers are clueless about the other trains heading in their direction. Can you prevent the accident?

This is a strategy game and gets tougher as you move forward in terms of levels.

Train Crisis: Launch screen

At the launch screen, you are presented with few options to connect with other players, view leadership scores etc., along with the shop to buy the in-game currency.

By choosing the play option you move to the next screen where you can select which era you want to play. There are in-total 7 eras to choose from. Each era is set in a different time period with matching locations and rolling stocks for example, the Farwest Era covers the location from farwest like the rivers, tunnels and trains from that time period. Each era presents you various kinds of difficulties and is quite different from each other.

Train Crisis: Era selection

Within each era there are 24 levels, and you must complete all the levels of one era to move to and play the next era which is locked in the beginning.

How to play

After choosing a level to play, you see trains ready to move and the layout of the tracks and as soon as you tap on the screen it comes alive. On the tracks there are some spots which are highlighted, you need to touch the spots to change the tracks and send the trains to another track. As a rail traffic controller you control the movements of train on right time and right track so that it reaches their respective sheds safely and on time.

There are few options which can help you in playing the level, these are shown on the upper right of the screen. Options such as, getting hints on how to clear a level, making the trains run slow etc. Each option charges you in-game money. You earn in-game money by successfully completing a level.

Train Crisis: Tracks and train sheds

As you move to higher levels the number of trains increases and so the hurdles. As the game begins, all the trains starts moving simultaneously and you should operate the tracks considering all of them at the same time as even a single accident can end the game and you have to start from scratch.

Train Crisis: Avoiding accidents gets trickier

Train Crisis: Completion of industrial era

I could only complete the Industrial Era and unlock the Farwest era. In the Farwest era, you will see trains travelling through valleys, rivers, tunnels. I must tell you the tunnels are very confusing because the tracks get switched in the tunnels and its very accident prone.

Train Crisis: Collecting money from bank

Train Crisis: Tunnels adds more chaos

You will find some new elements in Farwest era like banks where the trains need to collect money, tracks blocked by big rocks which you must blow using the dynamite etc. Such elements keeps you glued to this game for hours. Each level challenges you to think more.

Train Crisis: Dare to control the trains?

How much it costs you: Not a single penny.

If you like this post or know any other app / game in the same category, let me know via comments section.

To get notification about the new posts on this blog, do not forget to subscribe to this blog through email subscription option from the side bar.

See also:

Other posts in this series:

1. Airplane: Do-it-yourself lessons in plane flying

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Quick tips and tricks for Moto G

This post is dedicated to tips and tricks related to Moto G. It is now around 3 months I am using Moto G and it is a very satisfying experience for me. Moto G is one of the best handset with great performance and stunning screen in its price range. While using it I came across few features / issues which I was unaware of and I had to google for it. So, I thought of writing this covering post.

1. Using USB On-The-Go (OTG) with Moto G and related issue

I believe most of us know about USB OTG, still I will talk a little about it. USB OTG is the specification through which your device can act as a host to devices which have USB interface for example, your humble pen drive or digital camera etc. So, your android powered phone if it supports USB OTG (Android version 3.1 and above support it but not on all devices) can act as a host to your pen drive, this enables you to transfer data to and from the pen drive directly, eliminating the need of a computer.

As you will agree this is a very nice feature and comes handy. All you need is a support device and USB OTG cable (available widely and reasonably priced). I use this feature on Moto G mostly to transfer data to and from pen drive and it works just fine. The procedure to use it is very simple:

1. Just connect your pen drive to the USB OTG cable and connect the cable to micro USB port of Moto G. Within seconds Moto G detects the USB storage, now you can use any file manager (I use Astro File Manager) to access it.
2. Once you are done, first unmount the storage through setting -> storage -> Unmount USB storage, now you can safely disconnect the cable and pen drive.

Looks simple right, but there is one issue with it. As soon as you disconnect the USB OTG cable you start seeing a notification "USB storage removed" which you cannot dismiss.

Moto G USB OTG sticky notification

Now the question is, how to get rid of this confusing and useless notification. One sure shot way is by restarting your device, but it is an overkill to dismiss a sticky notification.

There is one more way, long press on the notification until the "App info" option is visible, select that option and it will take you to the app (System UI) information. Here you will see the "Force stop" button, click on it and confirm. That's it, the notification is gone. It is comparatively a neat option to dismiss that notification. But as a side effect of this, you device wallpaper will be switched to factory default, though you can re-set it per your preference.

2. Enabling display of Battery percentage

This is not something every Android user care about, but still it's better to have the ability to quickly check the remaining battery percentage. There are few apps available on Play store which can display the battery percentage and these apps work just fine. Also, starting from Android version 4.4, battery percentage indication is implemented in status bar that to within the battery icon itself. There are few benefits of using the native feature instead of installing a third party app as it does not add extra overhead on the device and also do not drain the battery. 

This native battery indicator is not enabled by default and you need to follow few steps to enable it. You need to install an app "Battery Percent for Kitkat" from xda-developers from play store. This is a simple app through which you can enable the battery percentage setting on your device. You need to reboot your device after you enable the setting from the app. Once enabled, you can uninstall this app, your device will continue displaying the battery percentage. Later, if at all you do want to disable showing the battery percentage, just install this app again, uncheck the setting and that's it. 
Well, this is not the only method to enable battery percentage, but it is simpler and clean.

If you like this post and also know other such tips and tricks, make good use of the comments.

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See also:

Other similar posts :

1. How to take a screenshot on: Nexus 7, HTC Desire S
2. Nexus 7 not booting up

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Quarterly roundup: Top blog posts from January to March 2014

Quarterly roundup of the posts from January to March 2014 on the top apps / games available on Android.









Games
1. Contra Evolution: Do you still have the courage to fight?
Now a days we have access to the latest and the greatest 3D games and we all like these too but still Contra has a permanent place in our memories. Contra is back again as Contra Evolution on Android with better and improved 3D graphics and touch screen controls but under the hood it is still the same old and our beloved Contra.

2. Giant Boulder of Death: It's coming, run for your life!
The concept of GBOD game is, you control a giant boulder which is rolling down from a mountain at a high speed. There is a valley, animal grazing fields, trees, huts, people and animals and you are expected to crush them all to score points and coins. But mind you, it is all done in a comic way and there is no blood or any sort of violence shown, so it is completely safe for your kids.

3. MotoHeroz: You must be crazy to take up this challenge
MotoHeroz presented by Gameloft studio, is a side scrolling racing game. And you can be rest assured that if it is coming from Gameloft, the graphics has to be stunning. It is not a typical racing game and the difficulties in it are also refreshingly different.

4. Rayman Fiesta Run: Running was never so much of fun
Rayman Fiesta Run, is fun filled and entertaining game from Ubisoft, you do not come across such games that often. Everything from the game play, to the character, the over all graphics and the background music all have a different feel and energy, and it looks stunning on a tablet device. The game has lots of elements to keep you glued and hooked.

5. Airplane: Do-it-yourself lessons in plane flying
'Airplane' game presented by developer Quantum design will let you fly various types of planes. This game is very light weight and loads in a jiffy. The game graphics are good enough and gives you just the similar view as you see from the plane window. It feels really great when your plane starts running on the runway and just when the runway is about to end it lifts off and starts to ascend.

Apps
1. Actual Movie Trailers: Look no further for movie trailers
Looking for upcoming Hollywood movies trailers on internet? Then you will agree that it is a time consuming and frustrating experience to find good quality trailers that too at one place. Get 'Actual Movie Trailers' app on your Android device and look no further.

If you like this post or know any other app / game in the same category, let me know via comments section.
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Airplane: Do-it-yourself lessons in plane flying

When we do air travel we basically rely on the pilot's ability to safely transport us to our destination. As we are used to drive cars or bikes we know the complexities involved in driving the vehicle, but have you ever wondered how is it like to fly a plane? Or even further do you dream of flying a plane by your own? Well it is more difficult than you ever thought, but worry not, today I am going to tell you about a game which allows you to do just that with the ease of sitting in your home's couch.

'Airplane' game presented by developer Quantum design will let you fly various types of planes. This game is very light weight and loads in a jiffy. The game graphics although not spectacular are still good enough and gives you just the similar view as you see from the plane window. It feels really great when your plane starts running on the runway and just when the runway is about to end it lifts off and starts to ascend.

There is no background music in this game and all you can hear is the engine noise coming from the airplane which gives you a realistic feel. 

The launch screen allows you to start the game, access the options menu and a nice and quick tutorial.

Airplane: Launch screen

Once you select the play option, the next screen shows the various environments you can choose from, to fly your plane. Not all the environments are available to you at the start except the "Day" environment. On the next screen you select the plane and the mission objective. There are not many planes available at the start of the game but as you keep playing and earning you can unlock some of them.

Airplane: Choose the environment

Game plot
The game plot is pretty simple, you have a plane standing on the airport ready to be flown. You just need to select the flight objective and the destination, fly the plane to the destination, land it safely and park it at the hanger. If you are successful you get coins.

Game Controls
You can either choose on-screen controls or tilt controls to steer the aircraft and there is a lever on the left side of screen to control the speed of the airplane. There are three meters on the screen showing various stats of your plane as: speed, direction and altitude.

You also get onscreen buttons on the right side of screen for pausing the game and for changing the camera view. As they say the most difficult part of flying a plane is the take-off and landing so, you also get an assist button to assist you in landing the plane but beware it costs you heavily.

Airplane: Safe landing is a tough job

The coins you earn by successfully landing the plane at the destination can be used to unlock few of the available planes. BTW there is no time limit to finish the flight objective so you can fly the plane at your own pace and you will not find angry travellers yelling at you if the flight gets delayed :).

Airplane: Earn coins to buy new planes

Not all planes are same, they differ in size, in their responsiveness to the controls and also in speed. Some of the planes are so fast that you will have to prepare for landing just after the take off.

Airplane: Flying the fastest plane

Pay attention and be careful at the time of take-off and landing. While take-off you should remain on the runway all the time and should have the required speed else you will find yourself in need of a longer runway. Similarly while landing the speed of the plane should not be too high and it should be accurately aligned to the runway, any mistake and you will meet the same fate as seen below :).

Airplane: Unfortunate airplane disaster

The zeppelin aircraft shown below is the most boring plane to fly, it is so slow that once you are in air you can take a long nap and still you will find it hovering at the same place. But then you earn a lot of coins if you land it safely at the destination port.

Airplane: Fly this plane if you have enough time to kill

Well, am I confident enough to fly an airplane now with my newly acquired skills? Of course I am (though only in my dreams :).

How much it costs you: Not a single penny. But it supports in-app purchases (IAP) if you like to unlock and try out all available airplanes.

If you like this post or know any other game in the same category, let me know via comments.

To get notification about the new posts on this blog, do not forget to subscribe to this blog through email subscription option from the side bar.

See also:

Other posts in this series:

1. Wingsuit Lite: Now you can fly risk-free
2. Stickman Base Jumper: Take a deep breath and jump

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Actual Movie Trailers: Look no further for movie trailers

Do you love watching movies? Sure, I am no different, it's my favorite way to pass time when I am not playing games on my Android device. Usually, I like the movies which fall in one of these genres: Sci-Fi, aliens based, action, horror and last but not least comedy. Similarly, I like to be aware of the upcoming movies and love to watch movie trailers. Usually when I search for the Hollywood movie trailers on the internet it returns a lot of scattered links and searching through those is a time consuming and frustrating experience. One, there is no central location where you can find all the trailers and then finding high quality video trailers is also an issue. Recently I came across this app 'Actual Movie Trailers' for Android and my search stopped then and there.

'Actual Movies Trailers' presented by developer the Wayout is the one stop shop for the upcoming movie's trailers you always wanted to watch. Let's see what it has in store for us.

Actual Movie Trailers: Launch screen

As you launch the app, after the initial connection to their database, you will see a simple but attractive layout in horizontal mode, showing the cover art of the movies. Below the cover art there are sections showing information about the movie genre and movie plot. There is also search option available if you are looking for a specific movie trailer.

Actual Movie Trailers: Trailers listing

If you like to know the plot of a movie, you can see that by choosing the 'more' option shown in front of the 'Plot' section.

Actual Movie Trailers: Showing movie plot

From the settings menu, you can control the way this app operates. In settings menu, first option is to select the video quality. Depending on your data download limit, how fast is your internet speed and also your device's screen resolution, you can choose the video quality from: Full HD (1080p) or HD (720p) or normal (480p).

You can also enable/ disable the maturity warning based on if you are above or below 18 years of age. 

This app maintains the state of the trailer whether you have seen it or not and that state is shown along with the trailer. The last setting allows you to mark all the available trailers as seen. 

Actual Movie Trailers: Settings menu

That is it, now simply select the trailer from the listing, sit back and watch the trailer. It plays the trailer in its own video player which has a basic but functional interface.

Actual Movie Trailers: Godzilla strikes again

Actual Movie Trailers: Kids friendly

How much it costs you: Not a single penny for the ads supported version. 
But there is also a Pro version available for around 1.5 US $ which is ad free and also have few extra features, out of which most useful of them is the ability to download the trailer for offline viewing.

If you like this post or know any other app in the same category, let me know via comments.

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