It can be hard for Android users to keep track of what exactly their apps are doing, but it looks like that's about to change with Android 4.3.

Android Police caught wind of a function called "App Ops" in the latest Android update that lets you control exactly what apps can access, be that navigation, data, phone calls or something else.

That way if specific apps are acting up and such as, for example, using your phone's GPS while you don't want to turn navigation off system-wide, you can go into App Ops and restrict the problematic app's permissions.

It seems the feature isn't fully ready yet, but there are a number of ways for adventurous Android users to activate it.

You have my permission to die

TechRadar asked Google to clarify whether users were meant to access these controls and whether the App Ops feature will ever be implemented more fully in the OS. We haven't heard back from the company yet, but we'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, it seems the easiest way to access individual apps' permissions on Android 4.3 is to open the app and navigate through the settings menu to "App Ops."

But to get the full App Ops experience you can download a third party called Permission Manager app from Google Play.

The app was launched yesterday, though it looks like these functions weren't yet meant to be accessed in this way, so use at your own risk.

But if you do boot it up, it should display a list of all your apps with the specific functions each use and a timestamp showing the last time they used them. It's divided into four categories based on permissions related to "messaging," "location," "personal" and "device."

Selecting an app shows a full list of permissions for it with easy on/off toggles, though it seems those permissions won't show up there until the app has tried to use them at least once.

That means at this point you'll never know if the list is complete, since location permissions for Facebook won't show up there until Facebook has tried to use location services at least once. It's a slight annoyance that may be part of the reason this feature isn't 100 percent there yet.

In addition, if you turn off location services for, say, Facebook, then forget that you did so, the system won't remind you if you try to use geotags in Facebook and the app can't access the GPS. It simply won't work.

So again, use at your own risk, and hopefully "App Ops" will get more official in a future Android update.

• Android 4.3: when will your phone get it?

It can be hard for Android users to keep track of what exactly their apps are doing, but it looks like that's changing in Android 4.3.

Android Police caught wind of a function called "App Ops" in the latest Android update that lets you control exactly what apps can access, be that navigation, data, phone calls, or whatever else.

That way if specific apps are acting up and, for example, using your phones GPS, but you don't want to turn navigation off system-wide, you can go into App Ops and restrict the problematic app's permissions.

It seems the feature isn't fully ready yet, but there are a number of ways for adventurous Android users to activate it.

You have my permission to die

TechRadar has asked Google to clarify whether users were meant to access these controls and whether the App Ops feature will ever be implemented more fully in the OS.

But in the meantime it seems the easiest way to access individual apps' permissions on Android 4.3 is to open the app and navigate through the settings menu to "App Ops."

But to get the full App Ops experience you can download this new third party Permission Manager app from Google Play.

The app was launched yesterday, and it seems these functions were not yet meant to be accessed in this way, so use at your own risk.

But if you do boot it up, it should display a list of all your apps with the specific functions they use and a timestamp showing the last time they used them. It's divided into four categories based on permissions related to "messaging," "location," "personal," and "device."

Selecting an app shows a full list of permissions for it with easy on/off toggles, though it seems those permissions won't show up there until the app has tried to use them at least once.

That means at this point you'll never know if the list is complete, since location permissions for Facebook won't show up there until Facebook has tried to use location services at least once. It's a slight annoyance that may be part of the reason this feature isn't 100 percent there yet.

In addition, if you turn off location services for, say, Facebook, then forget that you did so, the system won't remind you if you try to use geotags in Facebook and the app can't access the GPS. It simply won't work.

So again, use at your own risk, and hopefully "App Ops" will get more official in a future Android update.

• Android 4.3: when will your phone get it?

Google has its sights set on the future with projects like Google Fiber and Google Glass, and now it's adding real time voice-to-voice translation to that list as well.

Google's Vice President of Android Hugo Barra said this week that Google is now in the early stages of creating real time translation software that it hopes to perfect within the next "several years," according to The Times.

The company already has prototypes phones that can translate speech in real time, so that a user speaks into the device in one language and the person on the other end hears it in a different one, like the fictional Babel fish in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy or the TARDIS in Doctor Who.

"That is where we're headed," Barra said. "We've got tons of prototypes of that sort of interaction, and I've played with it every other week to see how much progress we've made."

Same old hurdles

Google's speech-to-speech translation project is reportedly being developed as part of Google Now, the Google services suite that's being designed to predict your needs before you know them yourself.

The real time translation is reportedly better for certain language pairs, such as Portuguese and English, but accuracy remains an issue.

Anyone who's tried to use Apple's Siri or Android's voice-to-text services knows that a little background noise can cause a lot of inaccuracies, and that's something Google is wrestling with still.

The groundwork for real time voice-to-voice translation certainly exists, though, between that speech recognition software and Google's online Google Translate service.

Google said that on that service alone it translates a billion entries per day in 71 languages, and it just added new languages from places like the Philippines, South East Asia and Indonesia.

Don't stop me now

Google discussed voice translation software back in 2010, when Google Distinguished Research Scientist and head of machine translation Franz Och made a prediction.

"We think speech-to-speech translation should be possible and work reasonably well in a few years' time," he said at the time. "Clearly, for it to work smoothly, you need a combination of high-accuracy machine translation and high-accuracy voice recognition, and that's what we're working on.

"If you look at the progress in machine translation and corresponding advances in voice recognition, there has been huge progress recently."

It would have been nice if he was right - we'd probably have real time voice translation on our Galaxy S4 right now. But at least we know they're still working on it.

• TechRadar spent a week with Google's newest search tool and wrote about what it's like living with Google Now.

Canonical is heading into the weekend with about $6.6 million (about £4.29m, AU$7.14m) raised for the Ubuntu Edge, not too shabby for the superphone's 5-day old Indiegogo campaign.

We chatted with Mark Shuttleworth, the software company's founder, on the day Edge was announced, discussing this "concept car" device and the potential crowdfunding as a mechanism for spurring innovation. We also dived into converging computing, which the Edge aims to accomplish by having it serve as the "brain" of a PC.

The Edge dual-boots Android and Ubuntu for smartphones, but when users plug into a monitor, Ubuntu for desktops kicks in. The Edge's proposed specs - 4GB of RAM, a multi-core processor and 128GB of storage - are built to take on the task of transforming into a PC manageable and seamless.

Having a shared thread among various devices draws comparisons to Microsoft's Windows 8, but Shuttleworth said there are some important disctinctions.

"I think our story scales a bit more smoothly from phone to tablet to PC," he said, drawing up Ubuntu's strenghts over the Softies' offering.

"I think we have an advantage in that our core OS is much lighter in a way. Because it works on phones it makes it to the PC faster - we're stripping out all the fat on the phone."

Still...

Canonical is clearly trying to draw its own path with Ubuntu and the Edge, but Shuttleworth wasn't without a degree of deference for Microsoft's labor.

"Microsoft has clearly articulated a design vision that's designed to expand across platforms," he said. "As much criticism as the [Windows 8] has taken, I have to agree with them. It recognizes it needs to make a bold foundation. It's very difficult to make bold transitions like that without tickling somebody's nose hairs."

Ubuntu is in its early mobile device days - the Edge won't even be out until May 2014 - but we could be in for an interesting OS war that's for once not Android and iOS.

• Speaking of Android, had a gander at Android 4.3 yet?

You know what I hate about iPhone owners? Siri.

I can't stand them for it. I have this notion that they're all sitting around in bars, screaming into their phone that they want to know what the weather is like (have you looked out the window?), or asking if they have emails from Mum.

They're probably not, as I've never actually seen anyone use Siri in real life. Nobody has. We've all heard the double-plunk of it being fired up, only to be followed by an under-the-breath "balls", and then the sad sound of it being switched off.

But, real or imaginary, you know why I don't like these people? Ask Siri - I'm sure she'll tell you (or he, depending on what country you're in). It's because I really want it, and I can't believe more people aren't desperate for a proper voice recognition app in their phone.

Google, not Now

I'm an Android user at the moment – flitting between the consumers' pet, the Galaxy S4 and the enthusiasts' grail (and TechRadar's best phone in the world), the HTC One like some kind of demented tech-addict yoyo. Both ultra-smooth. Both ultra-capable. Both Android devices.

And yet, both lacking one thing: A decent digital assistant.

A couple of years ago, when Ice Cream Sandwich was all the rage, and Jelly Bean was simply a sweet-tasting pie in the sky, we got whisperings that Google was working on an ultra cool digital assistant that would make Siri look rubbish.

That may have been the case at one time, but right now we're still left wandering around trying to get Google Now to do all the things that it's supposed to do - I've yet to hear of anyone getting relevant flight or sports details, despite their best efforts.

Google's attempt isn't meant to be a Siri challenger. It's what Google calls 'intelligent' and is meant to be different. We all know how the cards system works and that it learns from us all. .

And yet, it seems to bring up information that isn't relevant to millions of people (like stocks and shares) whilst making it impossible to carry out the simplest of tasks – like play music.

The impossible dream

OK, so I admit it, Android-fans. I have cheated in the past. I'm not wedded to Android and have enjoyed owning and using every iPhone iteration there has been. And this is where I can tell you that Apple wipes the floor with Android.

There is so much to be said for driving and being able to tell your phone to play a particular song and have it just do the damn thing. Siri is brilliant, and while it's a little limited, it does what it's supposed to do better than anything out there. If you've not tried it properly on your iPhone or iPad, at least to see if you can use it more often, you're an idiot.

And don't tell me you look stupid talking to your phone. That's what they were designed for - it's just you being embarrassed because you're unsure about what might happen.

Google Now is supposed to do something similar, but it fails miserably at searching local content when I just want it to play a song I have stored in my memory card. Forums littered with complaints will attest to my frustration.

Samsung tried to convince us that it had solved the problem when it unveiled the Galaxy S3 last year, announcing S-Voice. You'd think it could wipe out third world debt, the way Samsung sold it. Unfortunately, it can barely do the simplest of tasks. Nailed the industry, this has not. It can't even set a timer properly.

Theoretically, one of Android's strong points is the fact you can customise it so well. If you don't like the gallery, download a replacement version. Hate the keyboard? No problem, tap away on a third party one that you installed.

But this goes to show how so many people are trying to cash into the digital PA and failing miserably – with dozens of options from Skyvi and Sherpa, to Robin and Jeannie, with Iris and others in between. And all are as bad as each other, with Speaktoit Assistant having the highest success rate, albeit with its own flaws, when ordered to do something.

I don't want witty conversation with a piece of code, I just want the flaming thing to play Bonnie Tyler when it's told to.

Maybe this is something that Google will sort out with Key Lime Pie – but I doubt it. Android's motivation is to drive you towards the internet. Which is why Google Now is brilliant at web searching and not so brilliant at simpler tasks.

Until then, keep shouting at Siri. See if I care. (I do.)

I've reviewed dozens of phones and tablets for TechRadar over the years - each time putting them through their paces in the most unbiased, rigorous way possible.

But as well as being a professional, I have a love/hate relationship with tech, and that's what these columns are all about: the passionate howlings of a true fanboy. Tell me why I'm right, wrong or a hopeless idiot in the comments below or by tweeting @techradar or @phillavelle.

After whisperings of such a thing previously, the Galaxy Note 3 could arrive in triplicate according to the latest leak which suggests the company is working on 5.5-, 5.7- and 6-inch varieties.

The current Galaxy Note 2 totes a 5.5-inch screen which some might say is plenty big enough for a phone-tablet-crossover-thing.

On an Indian import and export shipment tracking database, one eagle-eyed phone fan spotted the Note 3 affiliated model number SM-N900 surface with the three screen sizes alongside it.

Big, bigger, biggest

They're tagged as "for R&D purpose" which at the very least means that Samsung is considering each of the sizes.

However, as with the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Samsung Galaxy Mega, the company could quite easily be planning to launch various devices under the Galaxy Note 3 banner.

• Is that a good idea? Phones and tablets editor Gareth thinks not

Talk of the 6-inch dimension has surfaced before, most recently in a Twitter leak. We've also heard word of a 6.3-inch Note 3 and a 5.9-inch Note 3…

The true size of the thing is likely to be revealed to us all in early September at IFA 2013. We'll be there to bring you the over-sized phone news as it breaks.

The Apple iPhone. A product synonymous with the advent of the smartphone and largely credited for shaping the current crop of mobile devices - but is it time for a change?

Back in 2007, the iPhone brand wooed fans with its simplistic concept (who puts the description of the product in the brand name anyway?), but the novelty is wearing thin.

Perhaps Apple is alienating those who are not hardened fans, the people who are put off by the iPhone brand no matter what the handset actually offers.

So could a new name reignite interest by those turned off by the iPhone and open up a whole new market to Apple? Let's find out.

More QuickRadar

Has the mere suggestion of Apple dropping the iPhone brand got your blood boiling? Then get ready to pop with more QuickRadar videos.

• HTC One meets HTC One Mini
• Xbox One takes on the PS4
• Google Glass - half full or half empty?

IP telephony firm 3CX has updated its cloud-based Mobile Device Manager (MDM) service to give small and midsized businesses (SMBs) greater control over corporate email on Android devices.

The company has equipped Version 6.3 of its MDM with AquaMail, a commercial Android email client that allows administrators to remotely push configurations to users' devices, store and delete attachments and emails (including wiping accounts if an employee leaves), and view logs.

The update also includes integration with 3CX's DroidDesktop Android app, which IT teams can use to free a smartphone's space remotely by dragging files from a desktop window that displays its interface.

Other features

MDM's existing features include mobile device management with the ability to deploy, remotely review and install apps, and monitor malware. It also allows adminstrators to remotely wipe mobile devices by sending an SMS in the absence of an internet connection.

Companies can try a fully-featured version of 3XC's Mobile Device Manager service with a free account that supports up to five devices by signing up here.

The Arctic Blue (read: blue) edition of the Samsung Galaxy S4 is now available in the UK from Phones 4U.

Arctic Blue: also a musically-confused tribute band that only plays Blue covers in the style of Arctic Monkeys.

Anyway, the phone itself will set you back zero pounds if you go for the £37/month contract at Phones 4U.

More blips!

Don't be blue - our patented (note: note patented) blips will cheer you up:

• Breaking Bad's final episodes will be on Netflix UK a day after US TV
• Google Translate gets handier with a handwriting tool
• Google Play Games goes retro with Konami Code Easter Egg

Apple may have reported healthy iPhone sales this week, but its being dwarfed by its robotic competitor.

The recent IDC tracker findings, which look at the worldwide shipments and market share of all mobile phone makers, noted that Apple shifted 31.2 million iPhones in the last quarter, but only nabbed 13.1% of the market.

Apple and Samsung were the only two vendors in the top five to report a drop in market share, with LG, Lenovo and ZTE all clawing back some ground as Android handsets grew massively in popularity.

LG was one of the big winners in the last year, driven mostly by the popular Nexus 4 (although this was thanks to Google's incredible subsidy on the handset) as well as members of its Optimus G and F- and L-Series phones too.

Lenovo and ZTE grabbing fourth and fifth place respectively shows that China is becoming a key battleground in the smartphone war, and one that Apple has yet to come close to cracking thanks to ongoing battles to effectively range its handsets in the region.

Not the One?

HTC is once again absent from the rankings, despite gaining awards all over the world for its recent One handset.

The company has recently released the HTC One Mini, and it strongly tipped to re-enter the budget market soon, along with unveiling a phablet device, in order to address dwindling sales and profits.

Don't worry about Samsung though, as the South Korean brand is way out in front of the pack, with shipments of 72.4 million smartphones showing a huge increase on the 50 million shifted in the same period last year.

The rise of interest in the market is such that this actually led to a drop in its share, taking 30.4% of the market.

Nokia is still in second place in the overall worldwide mobile phone (including non-smartphones) market, lobbing 61.1 million units into the market to take 14.1%. It was a drop of 27% year on year, but we'll gloss over that.

So come back at the same time next year, to see if Huawei, HTC or Nokia can mount an assault on the top five. Set yourself a calendar reminder now, in case you forget. We'll wait.