Current Windows Phone 8 and upcoming BlackBerry 10 handsets look great, but will people switch? Not likely, and even first-time smartphone owners may balk. It’s a perfect example of old phrase, “timing is everything” as most smartphone innovation has already taken place. Read more »
It looks like AT&T’s Galaxy Note 2 will be the last to get the unique multi-window feature in the U.S. Sprint and Verizon devices already have it and T-Mobile announced that its version will see it become available starting this week, if all goes to plan. Read more »
Looking to cut down or measure the energy usage of an appliance? MeterPlug is one option. This small pass-through device watches electricity consumption in real-time to a Bluetooth-enabled smartphone. It also cuts power when an appliance isn’t in use, helping to save electricity. Read more »
Somewhere tech companies didn’t get the memo that the holidays were a time of peace and love because spats are breaking out all over. Twitter, Instagram and Flickr ratchet up the mobile photo fight. And Apple fends off attacks on multiple fronts. Read more »
SendGrid is inching towards ubiquity with new integrations to Parse, Stackmob and Windows Azure mobile backend services. SendGrid is popular with developers who want easy email integration for their mobile apps and who don’t want to rely too much on Amazon services. Read more »
The FTC is lighting a fire under the mobile app industry to improve its privacy and disclosure policies for children’s apps. The FTC said that most apps still don’t do basic disclosure about the use of data for advertising and other third-party services. Read more »
Bad directions and misdentified locations are usually just inconvenient or annoying; they don’t usually lead to life-threatening scenarios. But police patrolling a remote national park in Australia are finding otherwise. The department recommends not using Apple Maps in the area. Read more »
Just one month after announcing free voice calls over Wi-Fi in BlackBerry Messenger, Research In Motion delivers the feature to all handsets running BB 6 OS or better. A video demo shows the added functionality, which could save money for some, easy to use. Read more »
Snapseed, the hottest photo editing iOS app, arrived on Android this week; the free download is a must-try. Galaxy S III owners are about to get the ability to run two apps on one screen while the Samsung Muse MP3 player has a unique feature. Read more »
Now that Amazon has its own devices in the Kindle Fire lineup, downloads from the Appstore are on the rise: up 500% in the past year. It doesn’t hurt that Amazon has added a number of developer-friendly features over the past 20 months, either. Read more »
Apple’s iPad app of the year in 2011 lands on Android in 2012 and if you take pictures with your Android smartphone or tablet, you’re going to want it. Snapseed uses a slick touch interface for photo edits and also integrates with Google+ for picture sharing. Read more »
The larger a smartphone screen is, the harder it becomes to use one-handed. Keyboard application Tyype for Android helps solve this problem because it adds a useful trackpad to the on-screen keyboard. However, it still needs to add more features for me to switch. Read more »
The modern era of mobile apps is just over four years old, but their usage continues to grow, according to new survey data released Wednesday. Time spent in apps grew 35 percent in the last year, while TV watching remained steady and web usage dropped. Read more »
The company announced several other updates to the Google Maps for Android API on Monday, including vector-based maps, better 2D and 3D maps, as well as indoor mapping. Read more »
The week started with a nifty wireless NFC experiment but not ever Android phone has NFC. Free software accomplishes the same task of toggling Wi-Fi based on location. The Nexus 7 dock makes an appearance as does Xbox SmartGlass for Google’s 7-inch Nexus tablet. Read more »
I’m not one to waste battery power on my devices, so I often shut radios off when not in use. Smart WiFi Toggler for Android does this automatically when moving in or out of preferred network range. Best of all: It doesn’t use a GPS radio. Read more »
At long last, Google has added spreadsheet editing features to its Google Drive mobile applications. The updated software is available for both Android and iOS devices. You can’t get too fancy in your spreadsheets just yet, but this is a step in the right direction. Read more »
Do you miss webOS as much as I do? If so and you use Android today, you’ll be happy to see webOS running as an Android app. The project isn’t ready for prime-time use, but it’s making progress. Practical? No. Geeky and nostalgic? You bet! Read more »
In time for the heaviest travel weekend of the year, GateGuru on Wednesday rolled out an updated version of its app that provides more day-of-travel support services, including the ability to book discount car rentals. Read more »
Mobile app discovery service Appsfire is hoping its update to 4.0 will create the ultimate app discovery engine for users. It combines Appsfire’s previous discovery app with its Appsfire Deals app, which displayed apps that were free or on sale. Read more »
Using Twitter on an Android smartphone or tablet? You’ll want to check out Echofon; my favorite Twitter client for iOS and OS X. Why? Aside from all the basic Twitter features, Echofon for Android syncs your Twitter activity so you never read a tweet twice. Read more »
At GigaOM’s Roadmap conference Monday, Birchbox co-founder Katia Beauchamp and Warby Parker co-founder Dave Gilboa each talked about why their companies hadn’t yet released mobile apps and what they have in store. Read more »
Freemium app revenue is now dominating premium for developers on both iOS and Android, said App Annie. The analytics firm said that freemium apps generate 69 percent of the worldwide iOS app revenue and 75 percent of global Android app revenues. Read more »
Polar Mobile is rolling out its HTML5-based MediaEverywhere content distribution system with The Hockey News and Canadian Living. The tool allows publishers to build custom websites and native apps in quick and cost-effective way. Read more »
App developers tired of testing their software on multiple Android apps have long used emulators to simulate an Android device. Now they can do that right in the browser: Manymo offers 42 various online emulators for different screen sizes, display resolutions and Android versions. Read more »
Smartphones and tablets are getting more complex while folks new to this market are jumping in. How do you stay informed of news, tips and tricks for your device? Try Drippler. It’s like a Flipboard edition for your mobile device and 2.5 million have downloaded it. Read more »
Opera Mobile for Android gets speedy — or should I say SPDY — with version 12.1 of the browser, now available for free in the Google Play store. The popular mobile browser also gains some web fraud detection features and wider support for HTML 5 standards Read more »
My Samsung Galaxy Note 2 arrived and so did an update that adds the ability to run two apps on the screen at the same time. Atooma, a free beta app, is making all of my Androids smarter and Sony launched PlayStation Mobile this week. Read more »
Advertisers looking to drive more downloads of their apps are getting a new tool from TapSense. TapSense’s new ad units allows consumers to download a promoted app right from the ad without getting forced out to the App Store to complete the transaction. Read more »
One benefit of Android phones is the ability for users and apps to access the phone’s sensors and controls to make things automatically happen. Apps to help with this automation can be complex and intimidating. Not Atooma: I had it making magic in just five minutes. Read more »
Sony is taking games beyond its own hardware with the Sony PlayStation Mobile platform. The game store opens today for Sony and Sony Xperia Android phones and tablets, with three HTC models to have access soon. Purchased games also run on Sony’s PS Vita. Read more »
Appcelerator is launching a fund to back early-stage mobile startups. The first investment is in Lanica, which is building a gaming engine on top of Appcelerator’s Titanium platform. Appcelerator is looking for startups that can help its ecosystem and accelerate mobile in general. Read more »
App analytics firm Distimo, in its latest monthly report, found that outside of English-speaking countries, China, Japan and South Korea have the highest proportions of free downloads and revenue from native language-only applications. That can be an opportunity for developers who translate their apps. Read more »
It’s day two of Google’s 25 billion app download celebration and that means more twenty-five cent apps. My picks today include two fun puzzle games, a super-looking alarm clock and one of the most amazing camera apps that I’ve seen yet for any smartphone. Read more »
Chartboost has released some comparative data on cost-per-installs and cost-per-clicks in 18 markets around the world. It’s helpful in seeing where developers might want to look to expand as they go global. Read more »
Got an AMD chip in your Windows PC? Then you just gained access to more than half a million Google Android apps thanks to an AMD partnership with Bluestacks. A virtualization app and website filled with Android titles can help bridge your mobile and desktop world. Read more »
Google is celebrating 25 billion app downloads from its Google Play store with twenty-five cent apps. There are a number to choose from, but these four stood out for me and earned my buck: Two for productivity and two fun games for after work. Read more »
Duck Duck Moose, a San Mateo, Calif.-based company that makes educational smartphone apps for kids, has raised $7 million in Series A funding from Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Stanford University. Read more »
Two-thirds of mobile developers in a new survey believe that Facebook can get disrupted by a mobile-first startup. And most developers are unhappy with the state of HTML5. The results help explain why Facebook bought Instagram and why it has backed off supporting HTML5. Read more »
With multiple Amazon Kindle Fire tablets that differ in screen size, display resolution and even hardware capabilities, how will developers manage their mobile apps across the platform? A new “device targeting” feature will help and it supports Android devices through Amazon’s app store as well. Read more »
