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BlackBerry Messenger beta for Android and iOS now available

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The hotly anticipated BlackBerry Messenger for Android and iOS that was officially announced by BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins, back at the company’s annual Live 2013 conference is a step closer to its official release as the app is now in its beta testing stages.

The cross-platform version of the upcoming instant messenger is available to a number of developers and beta users to test the app on their Android and iOS devices. Read more »

Gameloft releases new Asphalt 8: Airborne teaser trailer with jaw-dropping graphics

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Gameloft has released a new trailer for its upcoming Asphalt 8: Airborne game. The game was featured at the Google Android event last week to show the capabilities of the new Nexus 7 in terms of graphics performance.

And in this trailer you can see some of the game’s glorious graphics, including some in-game footage. That’s a result of the brand new physics engine the game is boasting. Read more »

Samsung responds to benchmark cheating allegations

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Yesterday we told you that Samsung tweaks the GPU performance of the octa-core Galaxy S4 in order to achieve higher benchmark scores. It was proven both by tests and internal code pointing to specific benchmarks such as Quadrant, AnTuTu, Linpack and GLBenchmark.

Today Samsung issued a response to those allegations. Read more »

Amazon adds ability to search and purchase books from iOS Kindle app, sort of

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If you have used the Amazon Kindle app on iOS, you’d have noticed that there is no way to actually search and purchase books from within the app itself and you would have to do that from Amazon’s website whereas the same is completely possible from Apple’s own iBookstore.

Apple charges 30 percent of in-app purchases for all the apps on the App Store, an amount Amazon would have to pay if they enabled purchasing Kindle books through their app. This is something they wanted to avoid, which is why there was no option to purchase books in the iOS app. That is until now, in a way. Read more »

Octa-core Samsung Galaxy S4 caught cheating on GPU benchmarks

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Samsung I9500 Galaxy S4, the Exynos 5 Octa versions of the flagship, didn’t make it to most of the markets and remained the more exotic option. Production hiccups and delays plus the lack of LTE radio in the initial batch was the reason Samsung switched to Snapdragon 600 chipset and make the I9505 its worldwide flagship.

Anyway, the octa-core version followed shortly after the Snapdragon 600 was launched. We already had a meeting with the beast and found it slightly faster in benchmarks than its international sibling, but weaker when it comes to battery life. A new development however, suggests that the scores posted by the Exynos GPU are obtained by cheating and the I9500 real life performance is lower than its scores indicate. Read more »

Nokia Pro Cam for Lumia 1020 updated, brings exposure bracketing

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Nokia has updated its Pro Cam app for its recently launched Lumia 1020 smartphone. The Pro Cam app, which grants you full control over the settings of the monstrous camera and allows capture of 38MP shots, now brings the exposure bracketing functionality.

The exposure bracketing allows you to shoot a series of images in either 3 or 5 different exposure settings. Read more »

Sony Xperia Z and ZL get the official Android 4.3 AOSP treatment

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Sony was quick to announce the list of devices that will get Android 4.3 and release an AOSP ROM for the Xperia Tablet Z. The Japanese have since updated the post with good news for Xperia Z and Xperia ZL owners – they get an AOSP build too.

Note that this is the early days and just like the Xperia Tablet Z build things aren’t 100% operational and the builds aren’t suitable for daily use. Read more »

Google releases Play Games app for Android

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Google has released a new dedicated app for all the games on the Play Store, called Google Play Games. This app puts focus on discovering new games as well as tracking your achievements and scores as well as playing multiplayer games with your friends. It’s more or less the Game Center equivalent for Android.

The Play Games app looks quite similar to the new Play Music and Play Movies apps. You can see a list of your friends from Google+ with details about the games they have and their achievements. Currently, not a lot of games support this feature so you’re likely to see mostly empty profile pages. Read more »

Chromecast is smart stick for your TV that costs just $35

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Google unveiled a smart HDMI stick for TVs – unlike most sticks we’ve seen so far, Chromecast runs a simplified version of Chrome OS rather than Android. It integrates with Google services like YouTube, Google Play Music, Google Play Video and the Chrome app (on a phone, tablet or laptop). Long story short, it’s the Nexus Q done right.

How does Chromecast work? Say you’re viewing a YouTube video on your phone (Android or iOS) and hit the Chromecast button. The device will switch on your TV if it’s off, change the input so that the TV displays that feed and start playing. Read more »

Samsung shows 10 features you probably didn’t know the Galaxy S4 had

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Samsung’s TouchWiz is loaded with ridiculous amounts of features (especially on the Galaxy S4), it took even us quite a while to find them all. Not that we’re complaining – as gadget geeks finding new toggles and buttons to play with is half the fun of a new phone. Yet, Samsung takes pity on those less tech inclined and posted a list of 10 features the Samsung Galaxy S4 has out of the box that you might have missed.

They range from “that’s nice, I guess” to genuinely useful features. Read more »

Windows Phone 8 torrent client graduates from beta, hits WP Store

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Windows Phone 8 has finally received its own a native torrent client after wpTorrent graduated from beta and is now available on the Windows Phone Store.

Obtainable in a paid and a free versions, the app allows you to download files from torrent files and magnet links alike. Read more »

Canonical turns to crowdfunding for its Ubuntu Edge smartphone

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The Ubuntu Edge, the dual-booting Android/Linux smartphone which was teased today in a promo video, needs a little help getting off the ground.

Canonical, the people behind Ubuntu, have launched an Indiegogo campaign to try and get a hefty $32 million to get their device to market. Read more »

The Amber update will bring Glance to all WP8 Lumia phones except the 520

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The Amber update for Nokia Lumia phones will bring a number of нев features to current phones, including the Glance feature. What is Glance? It allows you to wake the phone with a double tap (a la MeeGo) and it displays the time and missed notifications.

It’s not an AMOLED-only feature, LCD-packing Lumias will get it too. They can leverage the Timed option, which switches off the display completely after a preset period of time. Read more »

New Android 4.3 build now available for Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play edition

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Google is yet to announce its newest version of Android OS and will be doing so on July 24 in San Francisco. But, a second Android 4.3 test build is already available for Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play edition, courtesy of a XDA developer.

The Android 4.3 version with build JWR66V has been leaked and the latest Android OS brings battery improvements, supports wireless charging even when the device is powered off and few other under the hood enhancements. Read more »

Firefox OS 1.1 is now available for Geeksphone Keon and Peak

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The first Firefox OS powered smartphones – Geeksphone Keon and Peak was officially announced earlier this year and the developer designed devices are now getting a new version of the HTML 5 based Firefox OS.

Firefox OS 1.1 is now available for Keon and Peak and the users can manually upgrade their devices to the latest version of the newest OS. Read more »