Tag: App

Flickr For Android Redesigned, 1TB Of Space For All Users

Flickr has finally updated its long-neglected Android app alongside a revamp of its web page. The announcement coincides with what Yahoo intends to be the “big reveal” of Flickr’s future: an ad-supported model with 1TB of storage for free users; paid users can pay $50/year to remove the ads, or $500/year to double the storage space.

It’s a gutsy move that is seen as necessary against, on the one hand, Google+ and its increasingly photo-centric nature, and on the other hand 500px, which is eating Flickr’s lunch in the amateur and professional photographer realm.

Flickr has been seen as largely neglected in recent years, left to wither while Instagram stole its mobile traffic and Facebook swooped the desktop.

The most notable development is the issuance of 1TB of free storage space to every Flickr user. The Flickr team notes in its official blog:

At Flickr, we believe you should share all your images in full resolution, so life’s moments can be relived in their original quality. No limited pixels, no cramped formats, no memories that fall flat. We’re giving your photos room to breathe, and you the space to upload a dizzying number of photos and videos, for free. Just how big is a terabyte? Well, you could take a photo every hour for forty years without filling one.

And to help you fill your newly super-sized storage space, Flickr now also lets you upload up to three minutes per video of 1080p HD quality.

But there are ads — lots of them — that take away from the experience for the average free user.

To the mobile side, though the iPhone app has been beautiful for some time, the company’s Android app was, to put it bluntly, terrible. This new version improves everything about it, from the interface, which now has a left-side navigation bar, to the photo viewing workflow. Taking photos is still a bit annoying: you have two options for editing, which can be combined or used individually. First is the typical Instagram-like preset filters, many of which are actually quite nice and varied; the issue is that, even on a high-end phone like the HTC One they take over a second to apply. The second editing method incorporates the popular Aviary SDK, which is, while powerful, a cop-out from having to build their own functionality into the app.

Granted, photos look beautiful, and you can finally see all the EXIF data and creator information, much like on the iPhone. But the iPhone version feels like it’s been given more love, despite the fact that there is limited Android tablet support.

According to Yahoo, since its redesign, the iPhone-optimized Flickr app has led to a 25 percent increase in iOS usage in terms of photos uploaded and photos viewed.

With all the attention on Yahoo’s acquisition of Tumblr for $1.1 billion, the Flickr redesign may not seem so important. But the photo-centric portal is still hugely popular, and Android users now have another tool with which to take advantage of their excellent cameras.

[MobileSyrup]

May 21, 2013
Twitter’s Vine App For Android “Coming Soon”

Vine, Twitter’s popular video sharing app, has been a success on iOS and consistently remained as being one of the top ten social apps.

The free app allows you to record 6-second looping videos and share them via Vine, Twitter or Facebook. Dom Hofmann, the original creator of Vine, spoke with The Verge and he noted that a future enhancement that will be coming to iOS will be the option to tag people, which as a result will make it even more social.

In addition, Vine is poised to expand past Apple and integrate into the lives of Android users.

The company told The Verge recently that an Android version is coming soon, but didn’t say exactly when we can expect it to hit the Google Play store.

Clues pointing to a Vine Android app have been out ever since February, when the company has started looking for a lead Android engineer. Why would anyone do that, unless they were developing an Android app?

More interesting though is the thought process that went into creating Vine. Vine co-founder Dom Hofmann told The Verge that the key to the app was not in “reducing complexity” as Steve Jobs and Jony Ive were noted for saying, but rather “concealing complexity”.

In other words, allowing users to do something relatively complex in a simple way. Quite an interesting interview if any of you are interested.

In any case we’ll keep you guys updated, but in the meantime Android users, are you guys excited?

[The Verge]

April 26, 2013
HTC First announced, phone with Facebook Home

The HTC First will continue on the partnership that HTC and Facebook have shared in the past, enabling users to experience a little more Facebook on their android screen, as the device comes preloaded with Facebook Home. Launching on April 12th on an exclusive carrier deal with At&t in the US the HTC First is expected tot be available globally shortly after.

AT&T had been collaborating with Facebook on its Home experience, and invited HTC to assemble the phone, said Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T Mobility said at a Facebook’s press conference on Thursday.

On Thursday Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook Home, a family of apps that would sit as a integrated layer on the Android operating system.

Zuckerberg said Home was not an operating system or a “forked” version of Android akin to Amazon’s Kindle, but a separate software layer that could act as a home screen for smartphones.

The mid-range HTC First will be available in black, white, red and pale blue, and sports a 4.3-inch display that matches with earlier reports. Facebook Home obviously serves to obscure the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean build that’s actually running the show, while one of Qualcomm’s dual-core Snapdragon 400 chipsets (and not the MSM8960 that was previously reported) provides the horsepower from inside that smooth, curved chassis. The HTC First has a 720p display and LTE

[youtube id=”HKyO0hJEp-g” width=”100%” height=”300px”]

[toggle title=”Press Release”]Facebook’s Newest Mobile Experience Available Exclusively on the Nation’s Fastest 4G LTE Network

DALLAS, BELLEVUE and MENLO PARK, April 4, 2013 – AT&T*, HTC and Facebook have teamed up to develop and launch the HTC First™, the first and only smartphone built to feature Facebook Home, which puts your friends at the heart of your phone. Facebook Home is the first mobile experience designed to give you your friends’ latest updates right on your home screen and messages that reach you no matter what you’re doing.

HTC First will be available for pre-order today for $99.99 with a two-year commitment and available exclusively in AT&T stores and online starting April 12. To pre-order, visit www.att.com/facebookhome.

The HTC First runs on AT&T 4G LTE, the nation’s fastest 4G LTE network.** In addition, independent mobile research firm RootMetrics® has published a special report on 4G LTE in the U.S. which notes that AT&T wireless customers in our 4G LTE markets that were tested by RootMetrics have access to the fastest mobile speeds on their smartphones. AT&T also has the nation’s largest 4G network, covering 288 million people.

“The HTC First will offer the best Facebook Home experience on mobile, right out of the box. That’s why we’re committed to this phone and making it exclusive in our stores,” said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO, AT&T Mobility. “Because AT&T offers the fastest 4G LTE** in the nation, it’s the best network for Facebook Home. And the best device for Facebook Home is the HTC First.”

“HTC has a track record of providing beautiful hardware design, and of being first-to-market with smartphone innovations,” said Peter Chou, CEO, HTC Corporation. “The HTC First continues that track record, providing AT&T customers with a unique home experience that puts a user’s friends and family at the center of their mobile experience.”

“Home is a completely new experience for your phone,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s Founder and CEO. “With Home available right out of the box, you’re getting the best quality experience for connecting with your friends.”

Facebook Home brings your News Feed to the surface, immediately giving you the content you care about right on your home screen when you turn on your phone without having to open an app or access a mobile website. Just sign into your Facebook account and begin using Home – no need for download or configuration. Facebook Home connects you directly with your friends, whether it’s their real-time updates and newest photo uploads being streamed on your cover feed or the ability to chat with friends without jumping in and out of apps.

Facebook Home is built around your friends and puts them at the center of your phone:

· Cover feed: A constant, fresh stream of photos and updates from your newsfeed, cover feed is always present when you wake up your phone. It lets you stay up-to-date on your friends’ latest activities in real-time, all the time. You can swipe through to see more photos and updates, double tap to “like” a post and comment right from cover feed. To learn more about cover feed, check out this video.· Notifications: Notifications from apps and friends appear right on your home screen. It’s easier to see when you have a missed call, calendar reminder or new message. Open a notification with a double tap or clear them away to see your Cover Feed. To learn more about notifications, check out this video.

· Chat Heads: The mobile messenger lets you jump in and out of conversations while you do other things, like watch a video and browse the web. Reply right from chat heads, or move them around if you’re not ready to respond. Plus you can send and receive texts and Facebook messages from the same spot. To learn more about chat heads, check out this video.

· App Launcher: See your favorite apps and post right to Facebook from the same spot. You choose what’s on your app launcher-press and hold an app then drag it anywhere.

· Instagram: HTC First is the only phone that comes with Instagram pre-loaded.

HTC First will be available in four colors: black, white, red and pale blue. The hardware is thin, modern and seamless, with soft edges to draw your attention to the updates from friends and family on the 4.3-inch glass display. Inside, the smartphone runs Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) with the new Facebook Home experience and incorporates a Qualcomm Snapdragon™ 400 processor with dual-core CPU and 3G/4G world and multimode LTE so you can enjoy the richest content on AT&T’s blazing fast 4G LTE network.

For more information, or to pre-order HTC First, please visit www.att.com/facebookhome.[/toggle]

April 4, 2013
“XCOM : Enemy Unknown” Coming To iOS

Firaxis has announced that the full version of console and PC strategy title XCOM : Enemy Unknown will release on iOS.

XCOM‘s developers spoke with Joystiq on Saturday after revealing the iOS port of the award-winning strategy game during a PAX East panel. The iOS version of XCOM : Enemy Unknown, they said, will arrive fully intact, with all the features available on its PC and console counterparts.

“It is a straight port,” XCOM lead designer Jake Solomon said. “We have not made any gameplay exceptions. You play the exact same game… it’s just now fully playable on an iPhone or an iPad.”

XCOM : Enemy Unknown is a re-imagined version of the 1994 game X-COM: UFO Defense. The game puts players at the head of a secretive agency charged with protecting Earth from extraterrestrials. Players must monitor alien activity throughout the globe and respond to it with force. They can scramble jets to shoot down UFO’s, or send teams of agents into battle against alien ground forces. Players will directly control their agents in turn-based battles. They’re also in charge of researching new technologies to ensure that their team is adequately equipped to stop the alien invasion.

The game’s developers stressed that XCOM : Enemy Unknown on iOS will be a premium product and priced accordingly.

“It’s going to be priced appropriately for what it is,” Solomon said. “It’s going to be a premium price point. It is the game. It is the full game.”

Some questions remain, however. Will multiplayer make the port? Will any kind of cross-platform saving or online matches be possible?

March 25, 2013
Google Play Revenues Leap 311% In 2012, But iOS Apps Still More Profitable

Google Play seems to be going on one heck of a growth spurt. According to new stats, the Android app store is catching up to iOS fast.

Even though the Apple App Store is four times more profitable than Google Play, iOS can’t match Android’s revenue growth of 311 percent since January and 17.9 percent in the last month. These numbers are misleading, however, since Google started the year with next to nothing in its Play Store coffers, while Apple had already earned $4 billion from App Store revenue.

Most app revenue, on both platforms, unsurprisingly came from game publishers. Zynga and EA, along with Gameloft and Halfbrick (makers of Fruit Ninja) were among the top 10, but Japan and Korean owned eight of the top ten places for app revenue sorted by publisher on Google Play. iOS was more Western-focused, with Electronic Arts leading the way, though with over 950 titles on the App Store their lead is anything but shocking.

Though Apple still outstrips Google in terms of free app downloads by 10%, it’s interesting to see developers such as Go Launcher, makers of the insanely popular launcher alternative for Android, sitting at number four, ahead of big names like Twitter, Skype and WhatsApp.

Overall, the situation doesn’t look as grim for Google as it did a year ago. Users are paying for apps, although most are games, and total numbers of downloads are approaching App Store territory quickly. People are beginning to understand that Google has built itself a versatile and potentially profitable portal for app developers, and users are beginning to see the value in investing their money into it.

December 2, 2012
Nokia brings the Xpress browser compression to the Lumia Line

Nokia has launched a new Xpress browser of or the Lumia line that is identical to the browser found n the new Asha phones.

Announced today via the company’s Beta Labs site, Nokia Xpress leverages the cloud to compress internet data up to 85 percent, help users keep tabs on their consumption habits and even reformats favorited sites into a magazine-like layout.

The app also allows for simple searches for items across Bing and YouTube from within the browser.

Its not available in the marketplace as of now but can be downloaded from the source below.

[Nokia BetaLabs]

October 4, 2012
RIM’s New CEO plans massive comeback for Blackberry with new UI and feature rich Ecosystem

Research In Motion CEO Thorsten Heins is promising to restore the BlackBerry phone’s stature as a trailblazing device even as many investors fret about its potential demise. Heins took the stage Tuesday at a conference for mobile applications developers to rally support for the upcoming release of BlackBerry 10, a new operating system that Research In Motion Ltd. is touting as its salvation after years of blundering wiped out some $80 billion in shareholder wealth.

Blackberry held almost 50% of the market share prior to the Android and iPhone era. With new UI that is more user centric blackberry plans to make a comeback not only in the consumer segment, but its primary source the business/enterprise segment.

RIM is also planning Native apps for Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and LinkedIN, which are quite identical to their iOS/Android counterparts.

In addition to sharing new details about its forthcoming BlackBerry 10 OS, RIM used the BlackBerry Jam keynote to make an announcement about App World. The company just revealed that in addition to applications and games, the store will sell music, movies and TV shows. There are currently 105,000 apps in the store, with 3 billion downloads logged since the store’s opening.

RIM says, BB 10 applications will join the herd soon: the company will begin accepting submissions on October 10th.

September 26, 2012
Google Introduces Voice Navigation To India

Commuters in India are all set to get turn-by-turn, voice-guided directions, using the Google Maps Navigation. In addition, if you’re living in Bangalore, Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Pune and Hyderabad, you’ll find that live traffic updates feature just got activated on your maps menu.

You can even speak your destination into your phone and have your route set for you. A country-specific option lets you set the voice to an Indian accent for easier comprehension.

[quote]“Whether you’re heading to the Bengaluru airport for a business trip or visiting Agra’s world-famous Taj Mahal for a weekend of sightseeing with friends, Google Maps Navigation has you covered,” say Darren Baker, product manager and Suren Ruhela, senior program manager, Google Maps, in a statement posted on the Google India blog.[/quote]

While Navigation app was always a feature of Android phones in India, the service was not supported officially. It used to show just the route and lacked support for voice instructions. Currently, the Navigation feature is in beta and Google tells users to exercise caution while using it.

September 8, 2012
Cleartrip launches mobile app for iPhone

Cleartrip launched its mobile app for iPhone with its special split-screen search facility.

The split screen design was invented by Cleartrip when it launched six years ago.

The new search form hosts some handy features like geo-location for selecting departure airport for current location, recently searched airports and the ability to easily swap the “from” and “to” cities with a tap. Additionally, there are filters that help narrow down the search by sorting results by specific airlines, flight timings or non-stop flights.

Payments can be made using credit cards, debit cards or net banking account. Alternately, by signing into the Cleartrip Account, payments can also be made using Expressway. The cards selected on Cleartrip’s desktop site are also available on this app.

August 7, 2012
Microsoft Skydrive for Windows App Gets Update, new Fresh UI

Microsoft has updated the SkyDrive for Windows App with a new user interface.The newest update to SkyDrive for Windows (version 16.4.6003.0710) includes quite a few improvements that are said to bring “performance, reliability, and compatibility.

Apart from that the app, no longer crashes out as it used to, and looks good while it downloads or uploads files. The new status windows allows users to see time and data remaining to be synced. The new SkyDrive logo also seems to be readied for the Windows 8 Metro UI

July 14, 2012
Blackberry App World gets “Upgrade All” Action, All Rejoice

It has been literally years, since the Blackberry App World updates had to be launched one by one. Blackberry users and fans will finally get a reason to rejoice as the latest update to App World introduces a feature that’s been a long time coming: the ability to upgrade all apps at once.

Now you can finally put the frustrating and slow single app list update, which can be really painful if you get more than 5 app updates at once. The latest update to Blackberry App World also brings the ability to view and share lists of installed apps with friends via NFC and adds Finnish language support.

July 14, 2012
RIM’s Blackberry App World marks 3 billion App Downloads

Everything may seem horribly wrong at Rim but all is not lost , when the company shows up with good numbers in at least one sector. The Blackberry App World just registered 3 billion app downloads it’s seen since the launch. According to RIM, that number amounts to 2.5 million downloads a day. At present, there are 90,000 apps available through the mobile app market.

[Inside BlackBerry]

July 9, 2012
Google Indoor Maps come to UK

Google Indoor maps was launched in the US last year mapping all the insides of malls, hotels, etc. But now Google has started to expand the reach of indoor maps, extending to more than 40 indoor venues in the UK including a mix of museums, stations, malls and airports in the main mostly in London. With building owners being able to upload their own maps, however, this should / could expand quickly. Hit the Google Lat-Lon blog for more info.

[Google Lat-Lon]

July 4, 2012
Chrome No. 1 free app on iTunes

Chrome for iOS features tab-syncing and incognito mode.

Within days of it being announced for Apple’s iOS, Google Chrome rocketed to the top by becoming the no. 1 free app on the iTunes app store.

It’s getting decent reviews from users who so far have cumulatively ranked it at 4.5 stars, although the biggest complaint they seem to have is the browser is slow compared with Apple’s Safari which is due to the fact that Apple restricts the use of its Nitro JavaScript engine to Safari and other apps don’t have access to it.

We will be coming out with the Chrome’s review soon, stay tuned.

July 2, 2012
Nike + and Flipboard come to Android

The Nike+ app lets you keep track of your work outs

Good news for Android users, the Nike+ and Flipboard apps have finally made their into the OS, after gaining success and popularity on Apple’s iOS.

Nike announced the Nike+ Running App for Android, which, as you’d expect, connects you to nikeplus.com, making exercise social. It features a smooth, intuitive user interface – tailored and optimized for Android – that hosts a number of features to enhance the running experience. The in-run navigation is seamless and simple, allowing runners to easily check key run stats, see their in-progress GPS maps, change songs or get audio feedback without missing a stride. It is available for free on Google Play.

[quote]The expansion of Nike+ onto multiple mobile platforms will allow us to serve more runners than ever before. This opportunity will give even more athletes the chance to experience Nike+, which makes this an incredibly exciting time for the running community, said Stefan Olander, Vice President, Digital Sport.[/quote]

Flipboard is a free application that turns Web content into a magazine format

Flipboard is a free application that turns Web content into a magazine format, and it has also been announced the app will be available for the likes of the Kindle Fire, Android tablets, along with Nook tablets and smartphones around the world. and to run the app, consumers will need to be using Android version 2.2 or later on a devices with a chip running at least 800 megahertz. The app will not be available for tablets with larger screen sizes, such as the 10-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Flipboard also announced that it is adding access to Google+ and YouTube, bringing to 12 the number of social networks users can view within the app.

June 22, 2012