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Amazon has expanded the reach of its app store in 41 new countries putting more focus on Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. The app store has now expanded its global presence in total 236 countries.
"This expansion represents an opportunity for Amazon developers to target new areas in Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, including some of the most populous and connected nations in the world. Singapore, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, and Turkey are just a few examples."
said Peter Heinrich of Amazon Appstore in a blog post.
The entire list of 41 new countries and territories where the Amazon App Store is now supported and accessible includes Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina, Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Gambia, Guinea, Indonesia,Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, OmanPakistan, Palestinian Territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.
Not all apps within the Amazon Appstore catalog will be available in all regions due to local laws and restrictions on certain apps and content. Amazon claimed in June that the Appstore hosts more than 240,000 applications for Android which is still way less as compared to the number of apps available in Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store, which are offering more than 1 billion apps each.
Yesterday, ...
Panasonic today introduced its Eluga range of smartphones in India but these are not the devices that we've often lusted over. The Eluga U is a new handset designed straight up for India and as such drops many of the features that made the Eluga series unique. But keeping all preconceived notions aside, we spent some time with the new handset. Here's what we think about it.
Panasonic Eluga U specifications
5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD IPS OGS display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection
1.2 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor with Adreno 305 GPU
Android 4.4 (KitKat)
Dual SIM
13MP rear camera with LED Flash, 1080p video recording
2MP front-facing camera
7.95 mm thick and weighs 141 grams
3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio with RDS
2GB RAM, 16GB internal memory, 32GB expandable memory with MicroSD
3G HSPA+, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS
2500 mAh battery
Panasonic has talked a fair bit about the design of the handset and2 on first glance, it certainly looks above average. We won't go as far as calling it the best looking device in the category nor is it the most unique but the overall feel of the hardware both in terms of design and quality is decent. Three capacitive buttons are what you find below the 5 ...
Yesterday, there were reports stating that HTC will announce its upcoming flagship device the One W8 on August 20th and launch it on August 21st. However, today HTC has sent out press invites for an event on August 19th. It is anticipated that the company will announce a Windows Phone based on the HTC One (M8) design.
No clues about the event can be drawn from the invites that are sent out. The HTC One W8 is expected to boast of similar feature to its Android counterpart with Snapdragon 801 chipset, 2GB of RAM, 16 and 32GB memory and a 5 inch 1080p display. The phone is expected to be dubbed as “One (W8) for Windows”, as per Engadgets source. It also says that it would feature voice over LTE, but it is likely to be enabled by Windows Phone 8.1 GDR1 update.
The latest Windows 8.1 update also adds support to the smart covers like the HTC Dot View case in the Windows Phone. No other details about the specs, pricing and availability of the HTC One W8 are known as of yet. We will have to wait till August 19th and see what does HTC actually has in for us.
via:WPCentral
Huawei has sent out press invites for an event scheduled at the upcoming IFA trade show in September in Berlin. The invite simply reads "Empowering a Future of exciting possibilities" and does not give out any hints about the phone.
But, it is widely expected that Huawei will launch the Ascend Mate 3 at the event. Earlier this week, the specs of the phone appeared in the AnTuTu benchmarking site. The phone is expected to sport a 6-inch full-HD display, a 13MP and 5 MPfront-facing camera. It is also expected to be powered by Huawei made octa-core HiSilicon Kirin 920 processor and run Android 4.4.2 KitKat OS out-of-the-box.
Huawei is yet to confirm any details about the anticipated Ascend Mate 3 handset. The Chinese smartphone maker had launched its predecessor, the Ascend Mate 2 at CES earlier this year.
Another Honor-branded smartphone, the Honor 6 is also expected to launch in China. It sports a 5-inch display with 720p resolution, a MediaTek MT6582 chipset, a 1.3GHz quad-core Cortex-A7 CPU and 1GB RAM. The rear camera is only 2MP
via:GSMArena
The market for wearables is clearly divided. Smartwatches have lined the upper end of the spectrum with Samsung's Gear line of devices and now Android Wear based watches being the most prominent ones. The other end of the spectrum includes the standalone fitness focussed wearables. These wearables are then focussed on tracking your fitness related activities and include basic time keeping functionality. Due to the price, functionality divide between the categories, neither of them really have the potential to democratize wearables. And so step in indigenous manufacturers that try to bridge that gap by introducing a device that cherry picks features from higher end smartwatches and makes them available at a very accessible price point. Today we take a look at the Spice Smart Pulse, a device pegged as a smartwatch for the masses by the company. Worth it? Read on to find out.
Box Contents
Spice Smart Pule M-9010 Smartwatch
Extra watch bands (Blue, Yellow)
Bluetooth headset
Data cable & Travel charger
Micro USB earphones
420 mAh battery
User guide, Warranty card
Hardware
The Spice Smart Pulse is pegged as a phone and a watch and as such there are limits to the form factor. On the face of it, the Spice Smart Pulse looks like any other smartwatch. It ...
Samsung just reported its earnings for Q2 2014, in which the company has managed to make operating profit of 7.19 trillion won ($7.02 billion) for the quarter ended June 30th, down 15% compared to last year. It has reported net profit of 6.25 trillion won ($6.1 billion) on revenues of 52.35 trillion won ($51.02 billion), down by 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year.
In the mobile sector, it has reported revenues of 27.51 trillion won, down 12% compared to 31.36 trillion won in the previous quarter. The main reason of fall in profits is due to slow global sales of smartphones and tablets and increase in marketing expenditure, said Samsung. Overall, the Mobile Communications and Networks sector saw operating profits of 4.42 trillion won on 28.45 trillion won in revenue, compared to 6.28 trillion won profits in 35.54 trillion won revenue from a year earlier.
Even though demand for smartphones remained the same as in the previous quarter, tablet demand slightly decreased. Mid to low-end shipments down due to weak demand in EU and lower 3G demand coupled with intensified price competition in China, it said, but it did not reveal the exact number of smartphones and tablets shipped in the quarter, but it is certainly losing market share to Chinese OEMs. In OLED ...
HTC has just announced the J Butterfly (HTL23), its new smartphone in the Butterfly series for Japanese carrier KDDI. Most of the specifications of the new J butterfly are similar to One (M8), including a 5-inch 1080p display, quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor and Android 4.4 (KitKat) with Sense UI, but this comes with Water ( IPX5 / IPX7) and dust resistance (IP5X).
The UltraPixel camera has been replaced by a 13-megapixel camera, but it still has the duo camera arrangement, where the 2-megapixel camera captures the depth information. It has the same 5-megapixel front-facing camera. It has Dual front-facing stereo speakers with built-in amplifiers. It comes bundled with in-ear JBL headset and the company sells the Dot View Case separately.
HTC J Butterfly (HTL23) Specifications
5.0-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Full HD Super LCD 3 display
2.5 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with Adreno 330 GPU
Android 4.4 (KitKat) with HTC Sense UI
13MP primary rear camera with dual LED Flash
2MP secondary rear camera to capture depth information
5MP front-facing camera
10 mm thick and weighs 156 grams
IPX5 / IPX7 for dust and water resistance
3.5 mm headset jack, Dual front-facing stereo speakers with built-in amplifiers
Nano SIM, IR LED
2 GB RAM, 32GB internal memory, expandable memory up to 128GB
4G LTE / WiMAX 2 + / WiFi 802.11 ...
AgileBits, the developers behind 1Password have unveiled app extension for third party apps. The extension will allow third-party developers to integrate 1Password access into their apps. That would allow 1Password users to fill in log-in information without ever leaving the other app. Prior to this on iOS, users had to copy and paste passwords out of password manager apps. AgileBits has also released a video preview that shows just how easy that extension will make it to use logins that are saved in 1Password on iOS devices. The company also plans to support TouchID for authentication. You press your thumb to Touch ID, and the extension automatically brings up the different accounts you have saved for that app. With another tap, the credentials are entered and you can sign in.
httpv://vimeo.com/102142106
AgileBits has supplied documentation and sample code on GitHub for other developers wanting to integrate support for the app extension with other iOS 8 apps. 1Password made its debut on Android in June.
Micromax Canvas L A108 that surfaced on the official website last week is now available from online retailer Infibeam. It has a 5.5-inch qHD screen, powered by a 1.3 GHz quad-core MediaTek processor and runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat). It has a 8-megapixel autofocus rear camera with LED flash and a 2-megapixel fixed focus front-facing camera.
It has Dual SIM support similar to other Micromax smartphones, comes with 1GB RAM, 8GB of internal storage with expansion slot and packs a 2350 mAh battery. Other than the larger screen, battery rear camera and battery, there is nothing new in the phone compared to the Unite 2 A106.
Micromax Canvas L A108 specifications
5.5-inch (960 x 540 pixels) capacitive touch screen IPS display
1.3 GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6582M processor
Android 4.4.2 (KitKat)
Dual SIM (normal + micro) with dual standby
8MP rear camera with LED Flash
2MP front-facing camera
3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio
1GB RAM, 8GB internal memory, expandable memory up to 32GB with microSD
3G HSPA+, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS
2350 mAh battery
The Micromax Canvas L A108 comes in black and white colors and is priced at Rs. 10,499.
HERE Maps got a major update for Windows 8.1 yesterday with manual positioning, city pages and more. Today, they are being updated for Nokia X devices. HERE Maps on Nokia X now allows global navigation with voice directions.
The HERE Maps will now require few steps to access them as all the extra and unnecessary wizards have been removed from the app. This gives direct access to the Maps which will eventually increase user engagement. Users can now download maps to their devices and use them later without an internet connection. Nokia X devices are targeted at emerging markets like India where majority of people use 2G connections. This is the reason it takes time for Maps to load on the phones. With the latest update, Maps inform users that the app is gathering and downloading the data and that the maps will appear shortly on the screen.
The updated Maps also bring improved satellite imagery that makes them appear more clear on the phone. Nokia X2 device owners can download the update right away from Nokia Store. However, Nokia X, X+ and XL device owners will have to wait for an update that is coming in weeks.
Sony has scheduled their IFA 2014 press conference for 3rd September. Last year it was scheduled on September 4th, where it announced the Xperia Z1, QX10 and QX100 smartphone camera lenses. According to earlier rumors, this year the company is expected to announce the Xperia Z3 and the Xperia Z3 Compact smartphones, Sony SmartWatch 3 (SW3) and QX30 smartphone camera lens.
According to recent leaks, the Xperia Z3 would have more rounded sides and is just a minor upgrade compared to Xperia Z2 that was unveiled earlier this year. It is rumored to come with a 5.15-inch 1080p display, 20.7-megapixel rear camera with Sony G lens, 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera, 3GB RAM and 16GB internal memory with expansion slot.
The Sony Xperia Z3 Compact, a smaller version of Z3 is rumored come with a 4.6-inch 1080p display, Snapdragon 801 processor, 20.7-megapixel rear camera and 3GB of RAM. Both these would run on Android 4.4 KitKat.
The Sony press conference starts at 4:15PM CEST (7:45PM IST) on 3rd September 2014.
Nokia rolled out Z launcher for Android in June that predicts apps and brings them in the front depending upon user usage pattern and preferences. Today, the Z launcher has received an update that will allow you to configure the way you want your favorite apps to appear on your home screen, using drag and drop.
"Today, we’re releasing our first significant update to Z Launcher based on your feedback and suggestions. Z Launcher will notify you of an update, but you can also check manually in Z Launcher settings.We have incorporated some of the most popular suggestions in this latest version with more to come. We’re still in the early phases of developing Z Launcher so please keep sending us your suggestions for improvements"
posted Nokia Z launcher via its blog.
The Z launcher was previously available for a limited number of users however, this update has also opened more pre-beta sign ups. Nokia says that it has rolled several user-requested features into the update and that it plans to continue to do so in the future.
The list of changes included in the update:
Configure Favorites via drag-n-drop on your home screen – #2 requested feature on user forum.
Hide apps, Uninstall apps via press-n-hold: A ...
Amazon Appstore is back with its new offer. Today the company has announced that it would offer 29 paid Android apps worth over $100 for free on the Amazon AppStore starting Thursday, 31st July (from 1 PM IST) to Saturday, 2nd August (up to 12 PM IST). Last month the company offered 31 apps for free for two days. This time the list is new, that includes Bills Reminder, Sonic and SEGA All-Star Racing, Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary 8th edition, Instapaper and more.
These apps are usually priced between US$0.99 and US$ 29.99. All you need to do is just get the Amazon App Store from here and sideload it on your Android device. You can scroll to the $100 of Paid Apps banner and click it to see the list of apps and install them.
Check out the complete list of free apps below
Carcassonne ($4.99)
Sonic & SEGA All Star Racing ($1.99)
Daily Workouts ($3.99)
White Noise ($1.99)
Essential Anatomy 3 ($24.99)
Photo Editor+ ($0.99)
Food Diary and Calorie Tracker PRO ($3.99)
Convertor Pro ($0.99)
My Alarm clock ($1.99)
Instapaper ($2.99)
WiFi File Explorer PRO ($0.99)
MathsApp Graphing Calculator ($4.99)
Fraction Calculator Plus ($0.99)
Bills Reminder ($3.99)
CalenGoo ($5.99)
Weather Live ($2.99)
Ultimate Guitar Tabs and Tools ($7.99)
Docs to go premium ($9.99)
Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary,8th edition($29.99)
Flightradar24 Pro ($2.99)
List Master ...
Samsung has officially launched the Samsung Galaxy Star 2, Galaxy Star Advance and Galaxy Ace NXT smartphones in India. The Galaxy Star 2 has a 3.5-inch HVGA display, powered by 1GHz single core processor and has 2-megapixel rear camera. The Galaxy Star Advance has a 4.3-inch WVGA screen, powered by a 1.2 GHz single-core processor and comes with a 3-megapixel rear camera with LED flash. The Galaxy Ace NXT went on sale earlier this month and packs a 4-inch WVGA screen and comes with a similar single-core processor and 3MP rear camera with LED flash as the Star Advance.
All these run on Android 4.4 (KitKat) with Samsung TouchWiz Essence UI. It supports 12 Indian languages including Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Guajarati, Punjabi, Urdu, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, and Assamese.
Commenting on the launch, Asim Warsi, Vice President, Marketing, Mobile & IT at Samsung India said
Samsung is committed to offer the best in technology and innovative products at an affordable price to the consumers. We believe in cutting across language and data cost barriers to ensure every consumer has access to the world of smartphones. Especially created for the Indian market Galaxy Star 2, Galaxy Star Advance and Galaxy Ace NXT have been launched to provide a larger ...
Motorola has filed for a trademark by name 'Moto Maxx' which could likely be the name of its next smartphone. The trademark filing was recently uncovered at the US Trademark and Patent Office.
The name 'Maxx' has been used by Motorola for handsets like Razr Maxx, DROID Razr Maxx, and DROID Max which boasts of a larger battery life. While Motorola's budget smartphones bear the branding 'Moto'. Currently, the name Maxx indicates a device with an extended battery life but again the Moto branding also suggests a budget smartphone. Hence, there can be a possibility that the upcoming device may be a blend of both Moto and Maxx devices.
Nothing else is known at the moment except for the trademark name. The patent filing was made by Motorola on the July 22nd and states that the trademark is for “Mobile phones, smartphones and accessories therefore, namely, battery chargers and adapters. Meanwhile, Motorola is expected to announce Moto X+1 for quiet some time now.
via:Droid Life
BlackBerry has released BBM Beta for Windows Phone for the the public on the Windows Phone Store, as it promised last week. BBM app for the beta testers went live in the Windows Phone Store last week. Last week the company said Windows Phone platform got 10,000 signups within 24 hours after the registrations began earlier this month. The company says it has 85 million monthly active users worldwide.
Features of BBM Beta for Windows Phone
BBM Chats: The Chats page is your single destination for all your chats, including groups, multi-person and one-to-one. In a chat, you have lots of ways to share. You can attach a picture from your camera, add a voice note, send a contact, share a photo from your gallery or send your location. Chats also include BBM signature “D” and “R” notifications that allow users to know when messages are delivered and read.
BBM Groups: With BBM Groups, up to 50 people can be added to the conversation. Chat, share photos and schedules with even more friends.
Find Friends: Discover people you know that are also using BBM and invite them to your BBM contact list, from within the app. With the ability to easily share your PIN with your friends ...
LG G Vista that surfaced earlier this month has gone official for the Verizon in the US. It has a 5.7-inch HD display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 Screen Protection, powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor and runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat). It has a 8-megapixel rear camera with single LED flash, laser auto focus and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera.
It has rear buttons, similar to the LG G3 and has slim bezels on the front. It has Dual Window, Mini View, QuickMemo, QSlide 2.0 and Knock Code.
LG G Vista specifications
5.7-inch (1280× 720 pixels) HD IPS display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection
1.2 GHz Snapdragon 400 (MSM8926) processor with Adreno 305 GPU
Android 4.4.2 (KitKat)
9.1mm thick, Weight: 168 grams
8MP rear camera with LED Flash
1.3MP front-facing camera
1.5GB RAM, 8GB internal memory, expandable memory with microSD
4G LTE / 3G HSPA+, WiFi , Bluetooth , GPS
3200mAh battery
The LG G Vista comes in black color and is priced at US$99.99 with new two-year contract and US$399 off-contract on Verizon. It is available through Verizon Wireless stores in the U.S. starting today, July 31st. It is not clear if the smartphone would launch outside U.S.
[Update: Verizon has updated the page, that now says it has a HD display instead of qHD.]
Microsoft has updated Office for iPad with several features that makes the app more productive. For starters, the app now supports exporting files to PDF from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and this can be done even without an Office 365 subscription.
All the three apps has gained new Picture Tools that let users crop to focus on the right part of an image. Each of the app also gets support for third party fonts. Printing options have been expanded too and now allows users to choose from more scaling and paper sizes.
Microsoft said that this update adds more power to Powerpoint as it now enables Presenter View when projecting to another screen, so that you can preview your notes and view next slide. PowerPoints can now be enhanced by background music or by adding videos. Additionally, new eraser and open settings make annotations even easier also hyperlinks can be edited.
Excel 1.1 gets Flick to Select, allowing users to flick a cell's selection handle in any direction to quickly and easily select all the data in a row or column. Another important feature added to Excel is PivotTables that are key to helping explore that data. With Excel for iPad you can now sort, filter, expand ...
SamMobile stated just two days ago that the Samsung Galaxy Alpha will be launched on August 4. However, a new report from AllAboutSamsung says that the company's first ever Android smartphone to sport a metallic design is now said to be launching on August 13.
It looks like the Galaxy Alpha will be a little smaller than the Galaxy S5, but will be encompassed in a metal rim framing body. The mid-range handset is said to feature a 4.8-inch 720p screen, an octa-core processor, most likely the Exynos 5 Octa 5433, which has four Cortex A15 cores and four Cortex A7 cores. It is expected to boast of a 12 MP rear and 2 MP front camera. The German Samsung centric blog further touts that the Galaxy Alpha will have 2 GB of RAM, and 32 GB of non-expandable internal memory and will run on Android 4.4.4 KitKat. It will also include a heart rate sensor and a finger print scanner.
Live images of the smartphone surfaced online last week confirming that the phone comes with nano sim card slot. Samsung is also expected to announce the Galaxy Note 4 at the IFA 2014.
via:PhoneArena
Samsung Galaxy S5 LTE-A was released exclusively in South Korea but now according to SamMobile, the phone is coming to Europe as well.
The European variant which carries a model number SM-G901 had recently appeared on GFXBenchmark. The specs in the benchmarks stated that the phone runs on 2.5 GHz Snapdragon 805 processor similar to that of the South Korean variant. However, the Galaxy S5 LTE-A European version will sport a standard 1080p Full HD resolution instead of 1440 x 2560 pixels Quad HD on the Korean model. In addition, the display of the SM-G901 allegedly measures 5.2 inches which is an inch larger than that found on both the Galaxy S5 LTE-A and the regular Galaxy S5.
It must be noted that the that benchmark tests are not always accurate and hence these features are prone to changes. Other specifications of the SM-G901 are 16 MP rear camera and a 2 MP front-facing camera. Also it will bear a 2 GB of RAM and 16GB of internal memory.
It is not clear when Samsung might formally announce this model, but considering a European variant the Galaxy LTE-A might be announced at the IFA 2014 in Berlin in September. Earlier this month there were reports stating that Samsung Galaxy ...
Amazon has expanded the reach of its app store in 41 new countries putting more focus on Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. The app store has now expanded its global presence in total 236 countries.
"This expansion represents an opportunity for Amazon developers to target new areas in Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, including some of the most populous and connected nations in the world. Singapore, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, and Turkey are just a few examples."
said Peter Heinrich of Amazon Appstore in a blog post.
The entire list of 41 new countries and territories where the Amazon App Store is now supported and accessible includes Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina, Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Gambia, Guinea, Indonesia,Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, OmanPakistan, Palestinian Territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.
Not all apps within the Amazon Appstore catalog will be available in all regions due to local laws and restrictions on certain apps and content. Amazon claimed in June that the Appstore hosts more than 240,000 applications for Android which is still way less as compared to the number of apps available in Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store, which are offering more than 1 billion apps each.
Yesterday, ...
