Nokia will no longer be updating the HERE mapping and navigation apps on the Windows Phone platform. Although originally created by Nokia, the map data has now been licensed by Microsoft, who will now be updating the app instead.

On the other hand, Nokia has no plans of abandoning HERE maps but will instead be moving to greener pastures. Read more »

Google is giving away a copy of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring for free on the Google Play Store. If you have a Google account with your credit card information in it (it’s necessary, even if the movie is free) you can download the HD version of the movie for free for a limited time.

There is not much to say about the movie as it would be rare to find someone who hasn’t heard about it or the subsequent two movies and the books they are all based upon. There is also the lesser known fourth Hobbit book (or first, to be chronologically accurate), which was made into three movies, the third and final part of which is now playing in theaters right now, which is probably what prompted this sale. Read more »

Popular online multiplayer card game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, better known as just Hearthstone, is now finally on Android. The game has only received a soft launch for now and is available only in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. As with the iOS version, Hearthstone on Android only runs on tablets.

For those who are not aware, Hearthstone is a card game where you compete against people online. You play one-on-one against another player with your deck of cards, with each of the cards having different health and attack points. You can choose your cards and form your deck of 30 cards, which then appear randomly as you play. Your objective is to attack your opponent and reduce their health to zero using your cards before they do that to you. Read more »

One of the fun (or horribly annoying, depending upon how you see it) things about the live streaming videos on YouTube is you can post in the chat with everybody else watching the video, and the chat appears on the side and updates live as people post messages.

This functionality has been missing from the mobile apps but with YouTube 6.0 Google is bringing it to the Android app. Now when you open a live streaming video, you will find the button to live chat at the bottom, which will show you the messages from others and let you type your own. Read more »

If you have been using Hangouts for some time now, you’d know the app was in some serious need for overhaul. Not only was it not updated to Google’s new Material Design but also had several other issues.

That all seems to have been taken care of in the latest update, however, which not only brings an updated design but also several other features and improvements. For starters, the app now conforms to Material Design guidelines and looks a lot better, if not significantly better. Read more »

Last week we took a look at Telltale’s latest game based on George R R Martin’s series of ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ books (and the subsequent HBO show). Back then iOS was the only mobile platform where the game was available on but you can now also purchase it on Android on Google Play Store for $4.99 for the first episode, with subsequent episodes costing $4.99 each.

In my review of the iOS version of Game of Thrones I noted several graphical issues with the game. On Android things don’t get any better. Read more »

Xiaomi has announced a new air purifier for homes. Called, well, Mi Air Purifier, the tiny tower takes up about A4 paper size space on your floor and costs just $150.

The Mi Air Purifier has two fans and four air ducts. It can produce 10,000 liters of clean air per minute and the 3 layer filter removes 99.99% of PM2.5 particles. PM2.5 particles are the ones that are smaller than 2.5 micrometers and contain dust , dirt, soot, smoke and liquid particles and are harder to filter and usually cause the most damage to lungs. Read more »

It took a while, almost a year and a half since it was announced in the US, but the Google Chromecast is finally coming to India.

The multimedia streaming device will be available exclusively through Snapdeal.com for a price of Rs. 2,999 ($48). Read more »

Apple recently launched the new iPad Air 2, which is the company’s thinnest and most powerful tablet so far. The original Air was already a super thin tablet but the new one is even thinner while being more powerful and having similar battery life.

The company has now released a new commercial for the product. The video is similar to all of Apple’s recent ones; just concentrate on the product and features, particularly the great third party apps available for the platform and just let the product do the talking. Read more »

Game of Thrones is the latest series of games from developer Telltale Games, who very recently brought us titles such as The Walking Dead series and The Wolf Among Us series.

Game of Thrones follows the episodic release nature of Telltale games and tells the story of House Forrester that happens concurrently with the fourth season of the eponymous TV series on HBO. Telltale released the first episode – Iron from Ice – on the PC, consoles, and iOS, and as usual we are talking a look at the mobile version today. Read more »

Motorola has released four new ads for the Moto 360 smartwatch. The ads focus on the design and craftsmanship of the device while stressing that despite its classic design it’s a device made for modern times.

The ads are pretty awesome and genuinely amusing. They also perfectly encapsulate the experience of using the device, that despite its sophisticated appearance you are still going to occasionally get a silly notification on it that’s just at complete odds with design. Not something that would happen with an actual premium watch. Read more »

AirDroid for Android has been given a major update in v3.0. The app now has companion desktop apps for Windows and Mac that brings iOS Continuity like features to your Android device.

With the new desktop app, you can get notifications from your phone on your computer. You can reply to SMS from your computer or pick up or receive calls (calls can only be answered from the phone, however). You can also mirror apps on your computer, so you can, for example, reply to WhatsApp messages from your PC. Mirroring apps only works on rooted devices for now. Read more »

I know there isn’t a shortage of messaging apps available on mobile devices but every once in a while something new comes up that manages to grab your attention. One such app is Wire.

Wire is a new messaging and calling app for Android, iOS (iPhone and iPad), and OS X, with a browser version arriving later. The app focuses on a simple, minimalist design with a gesture based interface for navigation. The UI features large, legible fonts with inline previews for images, YouTube, and SoundCloud links. Other than one to one chats Wire also supports group messaging. Read more »

The HTC One (M8) was one of the best phones to have come out this year. It excelled in many things, including the design, build quality, display, loudspeaker, software, hardware, and battery life. Yet it had a big drawback and that was the UltraPixel camera on the back.

HTC seems to have heard all the feedback about the camera and has now come up with a new variant, the HTC One (M8 Eye). The One (M8 Eye) gets a new 13 megapixel camera and a lower price. That sounds like a recipe for success but it’s not without its caveats. Let’s see what the phone is like. Read more »

Sony is working on an e-paper display. Called the FES Watch, the watch is one of the things under the FES group of devices with e-paper displays.

The unique thing about the FES Watch is that the entire surface is actually an e-paper display. You can change the patterns on the display to change the look of the watch. Read more »