BlackBerry Messenger is close to becoming a cross-platform messaging service for the first time, but when will you be able to download the app on your Android and iOS devices? BlackBerry has been pretty quiet about launch dates up until now, but a new rumor claims BBM will hit Google Play this Friday, September 20, before landing on the App Store a day later.
YouTube has today announced that you will soon be able to download videos and watch them offline on your mobile devices. You won’t be able to hold onto them forever, but YouTube says users will be able to “add videos to their device to watch for a short period when an Internet connection is unavailable.”
Although we thought it was a pain in the butt to assemble, one thing TwelveSouth’s HiRise dock really got right was this core concept that a dock doesn’t have to be specific to one iPhone or iPad model, but can be universal as long as it uses a Lightning connector.
EverDock is a new dock that takes that concept even further. It’s a universal dock that will work with pretty much anything, whether an iPhone, a Galaxy S3, an iPad, or something weirder all together.
Mobile start-up Bump just announced that it has been acquired by Google in a blog post on Monday.
The company was founded in 2008, making a name for itself on the hot technology of bumping phones together to share contact data. The app has been downloaded over 100 million times, and continues to get updates. The same team released a fairly popular photo-sharing app called Flock last year, as well.
The acquisition was reported on AllThingsD as netting the company somewhere between $30 and $60 million.
Taking their sweet time about it, Sprint will be following the likes of Verizon Edge, AT&T Next and T-Mobile Jump with an annual update plan all of their own. The plan is called One Up, and it will be available on Sprint the same day the iPhone 5S/5C go on sale: September 20th.
You can talk speeds and feeds, specs and features, build quality, materials and engineering all you want. The Moto X is far more “human” than any other phone.
It feels like a friend and an ally, a sentient being that’s loyal and thoughtful. And these endearing qualities can actually trigger emotional attachment to the Moto X. Here’s why.
Apart from looking pretty, the stock Android messaging app is pretty simple and basic in nature. It lacks a lot of features including pop-up notifications, and support for quick reply right from the notification bar.
88sms, a direct port of the CyanogenMod 10.2 messaging app, fixes a lot of issues the stock messaging app, while adding some really useful features.
Three has today provided us with more details on its 4G launch plans for the United Kingdom. The carrier aims to cover four major cities by the end of the year, but its new super-speedy service will really take off in 2014 when it increases the number of 4G locations to 42.
Apple just announced the much-anticipated iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c at an event in Cupertino, and both devices will go on sale next Friday, September 20. The iPhone 5s hopes to compete with the latest high-end devices from the likes of Samsung, Nokia, and HTC, while the iPhone 5c aims to be a decent midrange offering that’ll get you into Apple’s ecosystem without breaking the bank.
So how do these devices stack up against their rivals? We’ve compared the iPhone 5s with the Galaxy S4, the HTC One, the Nokia Lumia 1020, and other popular devices to help you establish which one provides you with the most bang for your buck. We’ve also thrown in the iPhone 5c for good measure so that you can decide whether its price tag is as good as it seems.
If you’re hoping to pick up one of Apple’s new iPhones next Friday, but you need a little cash to put towards it, then it might be worth heading down to your local Walmart with your old smartphone. The retailer is set to launch its own smartphone trade-in program, which will give you between $50 and $300 when you hand over your old device and sign into a new plan.
Samsung has earned quite a name for itself copying Apple’s most successful products, but it’s not only in smartphones, tablets, computers, and accessories where the South Korean company sources its inspiration from its closest rivals. British manufacturer Dyson is suing Samsung for allegedly ripping off one of its inventions in a new vacuum cleaner that was unveiled at IFA in Berlin last week.
When Apple introduced Photo Stream to iCloud back in 2011, the Cupertino company made it incredibly quick and easy for its users to share their favorite photos with their friends and family without syncing them to their computer first. But Photo Stream has a downside, and that is that it’s only available on iOS.
Fortunately, there are plenty of awesome alternatives with cross-platform support, and one of those is Kicksend. Not only does Kicksend let you share photos with friends — regardless of the smartphone platform they choose — but it also lets you print and send real photos to those who don’t have a smartphone at all.
Yahoo may have received all of the attention lately for its boring new logo change, but it appears that Google might be changing the design of it’s logo as well.
Deep in the heart of the latest Chrome for Android beta, Ars Technica has managed to unearth what appears to be a new Google logo that ditches the beveling and shadows of yore for a flatter, modern look with some desaturated colors.
Google hasn’t commented on the new logo, and quickly removed it from the beta. However, it looks similar to the design direction Google has been taking lately, and you can still pull it from Google’s servers, so it’s possible we’ll see it used company-wide in the near future.
Here’s how it compares to the old logo:
Microsoft has today launched Xbox Music on Android and iOS almost a year after the music streaming service made its debut alongside Windows 8. The apps allow subscribers to stream tens of millions of songs straight to their mobile devices, and create playlists that sync across your smartphone, tablet, PC, and Xbox 360.
Microsoft has also updated its Xbox Music web app to offer free, ad-supported streaming for all.
Microsoft has a weird business model, and a fragile one.
Their model is: Get people to need Microsoft software, then sell that software at high prices.
Contrast this with Apple’s model, which is: Get people want your consumer electronics so bad they’ll pay a lot for it, then sell the hardware, software, services and content at high prices.
And finally, Google’s model: Get people use the Internet more by making it awesome and free, and make money when people use the Internet.
All three companies make operating systems for phones, tablets and desktop computers.
But which models will succeed in the future and which will fail?
I think it’s clear that Google’s model is most likely to succeed and Microsoft’s most likely to fail. And Apple will do just fine.
Here’s what’s happening.
Despite the fact that Brother’s new, top-of-the-line all-in-one inkjet printer looks like a swarthy behemoth, Brother says the MFC-J6920dw is actually 35 percent smaller than comparable competitor’s models.
Brother achieves this through something they call “Landscape Print Technology,” a feature it introduced last year that lets the printers output to large pages from printers with relatively small footprints.
At an event in Berlin in just under two hours time, Sony will announce two attachable lenses that you’ll be able to stick onto the back of your smartphone to take better photos. They’re called the QX100 and the QX10, and you can see exactly what they’ll look like in the leaked press images above — and exactly how they’ll work in the leaked TV ad below.
Google’s head of Android and Chrome, Sundar Pichai, has just confirmed that the next delicious version of Android won’t be just any old generic desert, but will instead be called Android 4.4 KitKat.
Along with the announcement of the new name Pichai told his Google+ followers that he just got back from a trip to Asia to visit device partners, and that Android has now passed over 1 Billion device activations:
Dreams of an Android-powered Nokia were well and truly quashed today when Microsoft announced that it has reached a deal to acquire Nokia’s Devices and Services unit for $7.2 billion. The move will see Microsoft take ownership of the Finnish firm’s entire smartphone lineup, giving it complete control over both hardware and software.
Verizon has today announced that it has reached a deal to acquire Vodafone’s 45% stake in the company for £130 billion. The buyout consists primarily of cash and stock, and was unanimously approved by the board of directors of both Verizon and Vodafone. It’s expected to be completed in 2014 following regulatory approvals.
Between now and Christmas, we’re going to see a flood of new smartwatches hitting the market, and I have the feeling that Google’s rumored smartwatch will be one of them.
Google is working on a smartwatch. But what kind of watch?
In the wake of revelations that Google bought WiMM Labs, it’s looking like Google’s smartwatch may be more than just a watch. Much more.
AT&T has received a lot of gruff over the past few months from T-Mobile and its prepaid wireless service plans, so to strike back, AT&T is launching its Aio Wireless prepaid brand nationwide next month.
The new service offers AT&T customers the option to sign up for prepaid data plans starting as cheap as $40 a month for 250MB, to $70 a month for 7GB with a bunch of other options in between. After being tested in markets in Flordia, Texas, and Atlanta, Aio wireless will be available online to all U.S. customers starting mid-September.
Skype has confirmed that it is working to deliver 3D video calling for compatible televisions and computer displays. But according to Mark Gillett, Skype’s corporate vice president, it could be a number of years before the technology comes to fruition due to a lack of suitable capture devices.
Last night, EE officially announced that it has now successfully brought 4G LTE coverage to more than 100 markets across the U.K. Accrington in Lancashire was named the hundredth town to have its EE’s LTE service activated, on the eve of both O2 and Vodafone’s 4G switch-ons.
Imo Messenger, the messaging service that now boasts over 10 million users worldwide, has today received a nice new update on Android and iOS. In addition to free video calling on both platforms, the new release adds the ability to share broadcasts to your favorite social networks on iOS, and makes the app a universal release with support for both iPhone and iPad.
