Category Archives: android
Windows Store apps pass magic 50,000 mark
Bunging developers $100 for every app made seems to be working
Microsoft’s initiative to pay developers $100 for every app they make for Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8 looks to be paying off, with 50,000 programs now available. The landmark number was passed at the weekend [March 2013], according to industry watcher MetroStore Scanner, which says that an average of 279 apps have been developed daily in March alone, reversing what had been a rapid decline. Continue reading
GoMo tries MusicQubed’s O2 Tracks on Windows Phone
Rating: O2′s site thought that we were using an iPhone not WP7.5
Having just chatted to Chris Gorman who’s in charge of MusicQubed, the company that created the technology and service behind O2 Tracks on iOS, Android and Blackberry, we thought it best to try out the service. Especially since the company has only just announced availability of the app for Windows Phone which you can find here. It is already available via other devices’ app stores: - Android, BlackBerry, and iOS. We had a bit of fun and games downloading the WP7.8 version, of course. Continue reading
Chance remark by China’s Lenovo boss sends BlackBerry’s shares soaring
And it’s not the first time Lenovo has hinted of a takeover
Takeover speculation sent shares in handset maker BlackBerry 14 per cent higher on Nasdaq last night [11th March 2013], despite analysts pouring cold water on the rumours. The surge in BlackBerry’s stock price came after Yang Yuanqing, CEO of giant Chinese PC maker Lenovo, told a newspaper that his company could be interested in buying the troubled Canadian manufacturer at some point in the future. Continue reading
Guest Post: The Samsung Juggernaut – will it keep being the Next Is what?
by Rupam Gogoi who works with FindYogi
Remember the Samsung ads which carried the ‘Next is what?’ as an advertisement ending monologue? Well, Samsung has moved in the direction that its ads promised it would move. Next is what wasn’t just a tagline or an ad slogan with Samsung, It has been the mantra of the direction in which its products have moved, most noticeably in the last five years. It was the trailer to what its products would soon be in the mobile industry and market. In the ensuing years of the next is what slogan, Samsung went on to launch its most popular products in the Samsung Galaxy S series and the Samsung Galaxy Note series. Continue reading
Another 1,200 jobs to go at Motorola Mobility
Owner Google says costs are too high
A further 10 per cent of jobs at Google’s Motorola Mobility subsidiary are to be axed on top of the 4,000 jobs lost last August after the search giant acquired the company. According to the Wall Street Journal, an email circulated internally within Motorola Mobility warns that most of the 1,200 redundancies will be at plants in the USA, China and India as Google switches to making more profitable smartphones instead of simple handsets. The email is said to have told workers, “Our costs are too high, we’re operating in markets where we’re not competitive and we’re losing money.” Continue reading
GoMo encounters worst ever mobile aware experience
Rating: We still win £14 from Ladbrokes though
Whilst rival bookmaker, Paddy Power, has been in the news for the growth in its profits from the mobile sector (see here), GoMobile News suspects the same won’t be said about Labrokes. We spent the best part of an hour battling to place a bet on the Real Madrid versus Manchester United football match via its mobile site yesterday [March 5th 2013]. We were defeated – but so was Manchester United so we won £14. Continue reading
GoMo tests Android contacts book cleaning app from tactel
Rating: Android OS recoils in horror at number of deletions
Whilst visiting the recent Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2012, GoMobile News just happened to run into ace Swedish PR lass, Madelene Kornfehl, who tempted us onto the tactel stand within the Swedish pavillion. What we actually wanted to see was an app (which is still in Beta) that allows you to control an Android handset from a web browser. That app is called Reach Beta and is available for free. However, when GoMobile News mentioned why we wanted to try out the application and tactel’s Jonas Andersson pointed at another completely different app – Contact Clean App. We were pleasantly surprised when we road tested it. Continue reading
Big surge in UK sales of Windows phones
Consolidating position as No.3 platform
Sales of Windows smartphones have grown by a staggering 240 per cent in a year and now account for 6.2 per cent of the UK market, latest figures from research firm Kantar reveal. In the past year some 700,000 new Windows users were added, while in the three months up to end of January 2013 the Microsoft-based devices – spearheaded by Nokia’s Lumia 800 and HTC’s 8X – surpassed those of BlackBerry in Britain. Continue reading
ZTE launches Grand Memo smartphone @ MWC 2013
Rating: If this ain’t intended as an iPhone killer …
GoMobile News attended its first major Press conference at MWC 2013 which was introduced by He Shiyou, head of mobile devices division with Chinese telecoms manufacturer – ZTE. The occasion was to mark the announcement of its Grand Memo smartphone. Significantly, it claims to be the first smartphone to boast a Qualcomm quad core Snapdragon 800 processor which is why ZTE managed to have Raj Talluri, a senior vp for product management with Qualcomm , in tow. Continue reading
New Firefox OS for smartphones to challenge Apple and Google
Mozilla, the not-for-profit outfit behind the Firefox web browser, has unveiled its own smartphone operating system aimed at challenging Google’s Android platform while also throwing down the gauntlet to others ahead of the Mobile world Congress event in Barcelona.
According to Mozilla 18 carriers including Deutsche Telekom and Spain’s Telefonica, which owns O2, have already signed up with the new operating system intended for smartphones that sell for £100 or less. Continue reading
Mixed reaction to the HTC One launch
Rating: Camera, Blink Feed, aluminium casing all mentioned
There has been a bit of a mixed reaction to the introduction yesterday [February 19th 2013] of HTC‘s Samsung S3 and Apple iPHone5 killer smartphone – the One. Vodafone seems to view it as just another smartphone in its 4G ready range. Ernest Doku, an expert with uSwitch.com, likes its camera the best. Research analyst with Informa Telecoms & Media, Julian Jest, has gone heavy on the One’s UI which he reckons makes it WP8-like. Meanwhile, UK High Street retailer, Phones 4u, was most impressed by the “beautifully crafted, full aluminium metal body with zero gap construction that took 12 years to perfect.” It did like Blink Feed function too as well as the camera. It looks like things could go either way for the Taiwanese handset manufacturer, though. Continue reading
GoMo stumbles across genuine smartwatches
Rating: They’re Italian and it is all in the patented Bluetooth tech
We’re not quite sure how we missed this before but here at GoMobile Towers we were impressed to learn of the existence of an Italian made smartwatch called the i’m Watch from imsmart. Don’t be fooled by the name – these watches aren’t mere iOS/iPhone accessories. They work with Android phones as well. Indeed, the watches designers have created their own version of the Android OS specifically for their products which they cheekily have name i’m Droid. What makes these watches unique is that the designers have managed to patent three Bluetooth based capabilities which have made the whole concept of a smartwatch a reality. Continue reading
Guest Post: Top 5 Android apps to check out
by Courtney Lee, a blogger who sometimes works with newegg.com
Did you know that Google Play currently offers over 450,000 apps? Out of all these many are useful and top-rated, but there are also many that will only waste your time if you download them. Anyhow, if you want to improve the functionality of your device here are the Top 5 android apps that you must check out: – Continue reading
Apple lures app developers with bigger cash pot
Apple is continuing to increase how much it pays to developers as it battles for supremacy in the app market with Google’s Android.
At a conference in Sans Francisco, CEO Tim Cook revealed that a colossal $8 billion had been paid to developers in the last quarter, up $500 million on the $6.5 billion handed out this time in 2011. Continue reading
