Amazon are today celebrating their Android Appstore’s first birthday and in light of this fact, they’ve come over all generous. As well as a number of discounts on popular paid apps, they’re also giving away eight Kindle Fire’s between now and the end of March.
As well as the week-long app discounts, the company also revealed a number of stats which they’ve been able to pull over the course of the year. For one, there are now some 31,000+ applications available to download from the Appstore up from 4000 last year, but lets talk more about those deals. Read more »
FaceTime caused a lot of “oohs” and “aahs” but there are still problems with it – like needing a Wi-Fi connection for it to work. Even if you have blazing fast LTE connection on your shiny new iPad, you still can’t do a FaceTime call.
It has already been pointed out that using the iPad as a Wi-Fi hotspot and connecting an iPhone 4/4S to it to do a FaceTime is one way to get around this restriction, but that’s hardly an ideal solution and it certainly won’t work for everyone. Read more »
Speaking at the SXSW today, Instagram founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger said that the Android version of the popular Instagram app is coming very soon. In fact, Systrom even said that in some ways the Android version of the app is even better than their iOS app and that it will be the most amazing Android app we’ll ever see.
Now we have been hearing about this Android version of Instagram for quite a while now when Instagram itself mentioned it on their blog a few months ago but we did not have any concrete date for the launch. Unfortunately, we still don’t have that yet but it’s nice to know that it will be coming shortly. Read more »
Last year, Tether submitted their iTether app to the App Store, which would let users tether to their iPhones even if the functionality was not available by default from the carrier. Although Apple initially allowed the app, it was later on removed, saying that the app burdens the network.
Now, however, Tether has come up with a new HTML5 version of iTether, which lets you tether to your iPhone using the Safari browser instead of a dedicated app. Read more »
During the just iPad announcement yesterday we saw iPhoto migrate from a OS X-only to an iOS-capable app.
And while that on its own doesn’t deserve too much attention, the iPhoto maps integration is curious in that it no longer features Google’s Maps. Read more »
Android 4.0 was launched on November 17, 2011 along with the Galaxy Nexus. It was a major step ahead of Gingerbread, the OS it replaced, but like every new software, had its fair share of issues. Due to this, Google had to release the first update in the form of 4.0.2 on November 28, less than two weeks after the first version came out. This version can still be found on the Galaxy Nexus.
When the time came to release the update for the Nexus S in December, however, Google directly released Android 4.0.3. Google also announced that this will be the new base version of Android 4.0 and OEM’s should start with this version when putting ICS on their devices. However, like the two versions that came before it, 4.0.3 too had several issues. So many, in fact, that Google never released it for the Galaxy Nexus and also pulled down the update that was being sent out to all the Nexus S users. Read more »
An anonymous source has tipped off The Guardian that Apple is working on bringing HD sound quality to iTunes. This will reportedly happen through the introduction of a new file format with advanced functions.
The new audio format is said to be very flexible – it will offer both high-quality HD audio and a version with smaller size. It will also offer adaptive streaming depending on the device and the internet connections. Read more »
Opera has released a new beta of the world’s most popular mobile browser, called the Opera Mini Next. This will give you a taste of some of the new features added in Opera Mini, which will arrive in the stable version later this year.
The changes you see will differ depending upon whether you have a feature phone or a smartphone. On feature phones, you will see a new homepage, along with your usual speed dial page. This new homepage will give you quick access to all your social networks and other information such as news, weather forecasts, sports, entertainment and more. The speed dial list is also updated and can now contain an infinite number of items. Read more »
The Google+ app for iOS has always been (understandably) behind the curve compared to its Android counterpart, with some of the features appearing a bit later. The latest feature to trickle down from the Android app is Instant Upload.
As some of you may know, Instant Upload uploads the pictures you take with the camera on your phone and uploads it to a private folder in your Google+ account. It’s actually a neat way to back up your images on an Android phone but with Photo Stream in iCloud, iOS users might not be in any real need of this feature. Read more »
The highly popular Instagram app was recently updated and brought a handful of new features and changes. First of all is the new Lux effect, which brings out more detail in your images. It works a bit similar to the HDR function built-into the iPhone’s camera and brings out the details in the dark as well as light areas of the picture. This effect can then also be accompanied by a filter.
Other changes include the addition of a new filter called ‘Sierra’ and a redesigned interface that uses an updated header and menu buttons for a simpler and more refined look. Instagram has also added tappable notifications, where tapping on a notification will take you to the relevant image, comment or profile page in the app. Read more »
Apple may have opted against a spot amongst the other big names promoting mid-Super Bowl, but that doesn’t mean the marketing team have been standing idly by.
The iPhone 4S features in two new ads, which were released by Apple last Thursday and Siri is again the star of the show in both instances. Read more »
Phones4u, one of the UK’s largest independent mobile phone retailers, has unveiled a program which lets you upgrade to a new phone every six months, regardless of your carrier contract.
While being able to rub the latest iPhone or Android device in your friends’ faces every six months does sound enticing, the new service does some weight to your monthly phone bill. Read more »
Dropbox just released a beta version of its next Android app and is offering lucrative prizes for everyone who takes part in the testing. Dropbox 2.0.9 introduces a cool new feature called camera upload – it lets your phone automatically upload whatever photos and videos you capture to your Dropbox account.
The best part is that you can earn up to 5 GB of extra storage for your Dropbox account just by downloading and using the beta app. All you have to do is set up your account, and enable the camera upload feature. Read more »
Nowadays, your average smartphone or tablet comes with wireless connectivity options such as Bluetooth, WiFi b/g/n and maybe 3G as standard and each of these has its own benefits and drawbacks.
Speed is the key in wireless data transfer and Panasonic are working on some tech that promises to be quick, really quick; able to transmit a DVD wirelessly in 60 seconds thanks to WiGig. Read more »
US LG Optimus G Pro hands-on
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BLU Life Play hands-on
‘Circulets’ for iOS and Android game review
Nokia Lumia 925 comes into our office, flaunts its new design, display and software