Articles about Mobile App

Despite being one of the main means of downloading pirated content and, therefore, a threat to Microsoft's profits (and that of many other big companies), the software giant just accepted a BitTorrent client on Windows Phone Store. Surely, popular service providers Netflix, Pandora, Spotify and the like are not too pleased about this decision, especially after releasing apps for the tiled smartphone operating system.

The BitTorrent client in question is called wpTorrent, and, judging by the number of features it touts, all the basics are covered. Users can discover and find files via RSS feeds and search engines and download content straight to their handsets (even when the device is locked).

Continue reading →

Security and management in the mobility space, at least since the dawn of  the iPhone, has always had a "figuring it out as we go along" quality to it. So far we’ve gotten away with it; even though the potential for significant security breaches via mobile devices has always been there, and even though compliance with best practices in mobility is a rare thing, I’ve seen no evidence that they are a significant source of actual breaches. The real problems are what they always have been: SQL injection, weak passwords, social engineering, and so on.

In the meantime, the market for products to manage and secure mobile devices has been maturing. Of course management and security should be closely-intertwined, if not run by the same products. That can be difficult when the major products don’t include more than trivial management capabilities and very little is compatible cross-platform.

Continue reading →

Typing is just so passé; swiping is very much where it's at these days. SwiftKey's latest Android beta adds interesting new cloud features that can be tested for free during the beta phase. What’s new? Backup and sync options mean that dictionaries can be synchronized between multiple devices, and upgrading your phone need not result in having to start from scratch.

But perhaps the most interesting feature is the introduction of trending phrases. Whether you're writing in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese or Brazilian Portuguese, SwiftKey analyzes trending topics on the likes of Twitter to help bolster its dictionary and provide better suggestions.

Continue reading →

If you are unfamiliar with Flipboard, it is a service which aggregates your favorite online news sources and social media accounts. It then displays the data in a magazine-like layout, including page-turning animations. In addition to personal use, Flipboard also allows users to create "magazines" which can be shared publicly with the world. These are an aggregate of various sources on a specific topic (skiing, cats, technology, and more). Unfortunately, people with whom you shared your magazines were required to have a Flipboard account and access the mobile app -- until today.

Flipboard announces that magazines can now be shared with anyone using a modern browser (an account is not required). "The Web magazines are supported in desktop browsers IE9+, Safari, Chrome and Firefox in 11 languages, including English, Japanese, Chinese, French and German", according to the company. Is this worth flipping out over?

Continue reading →

Following Photo Editor by Aviary, that was released earlier this month, yet another picture editing app is now available on Windows Phone 8 -- the Microsoft-developed FreshPaint. The new offering arrives on the tiled smartphone operating system six months after the launch of its Windows 8/RT sibling.

According to Microsoft, FreshPaint for Windows Phone 8 "lets you make original works of art, or turn your photos into beautiful paintings with just a few taps". The app is quite easy to use, allowing users to snap pictures, add filters on-the-fly (users can choose between three distinct ones when taking a photo) and create new digital paintings, as the main highlights.

Continue reading →

The release of Windows 8.1, complete with the more tightly interwoven SkyDrive, brings Microsoft's cloud storage service to the fore. In a new blog post, Mona Akmal from the SkyDrive team explains how the service is able to make files available on all of your devices without eating up too much bandwidth. How is this done? It's largely down to "placeholder" files.

The obvious solution to making all SkyDrive files available on all of your devices would be to simply sync everything. But when it comes to tablets and phones, it is entirely possible that the amount of available local storage is far lower than the amount of cloud storage space that has been used. Placeholders are essentially "ghost" files that take up a fraction of the space of the original.

Continue reading →

Thirty-eight in a series. Last week was rather disappointing in terms of new applications, both volume but also quality wise. While the overall application growth is still lingering at around 2,000 apps per week, the overall quality of apps that launched this week has improved slightly. At the very least, this week got an app of the week while last week did not.

A total of 2,171 apps found their way into the store this week, with the total app count reaching 74,553 in the US store. 57,669 of those are free to download and use, an increase by 1,354 apps. Paid apps jumped to 16,884, an increase of 804 apps this week.

Continue reading →

Hot on the heels of its Google Maps for iOS update, Google has unveiled Google Chrome for iOS 28, its alternative web browser for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch users. The new build contains a number of notable new features, plus rolls out full-screen support for iPad users, something that has been available to iPhone users for quite some time.

The first major new feature is better interoperability with other Google apps. By tapping Settings > Google Apps in Chrome itself, users can instruct the browser to pipe relevant links through to other installed Google apps such as YouTube, Google Drive and Google Maps rather than using the browser itself.

Continue reading →

Microsoft is today launching a new initiative called the "Companion Web" which is designed to bridge the gap between the various different internet enabled devices we already use in conjunction with one another.

As Bryan Saftler, Senior Product Manager, Internet Explorer explains, "more than 80 percent of smartphone-owning Americans use [their handsets] while watching TV. Of those smartphone users, 4 out of 5 use their phone to look up content relevant to what they’re watching". Microsoft feels this manual seeking of information could be replaced with a more cohesive, tailored and engaging experience.

Continue reading →

Popular social network Twitter just released a refreshed BlackBerry 10 app, which now finally brings support for traditional features, already available to those relying on the Android, iOS or Windows Phone counterpart, like multiple user accounts and the ability to save embedded images.

The latest update is designed to bring the BlackBerry 10 app closer, in terms of functionality, to Twitter's offerings from other platforms. It now "helps you connect more seamlessly to the people and topics you care about", according to the popular social network. Let's take a look at the complete changelog.

Continue reading →

Google showed off a new version of Google Maps for the web at its I/O conference back in May, but made the updated preview invite only. Yesterday, the search giant finally opened up the new Maps to all -- no sign up required. Just go to Google's Explore Maps page, click the Try Now button, and you’re ready to start using it.

In addition to that, a week after Google rolled out a "new mapping experience" for Android smartphones and tablets, the firm has updated its app for iOS devices, introducing the same enhanced search and navigation features, as well as an optimized iPad design.

Continue reading →

Prolific Windows Phone developer Rudy Huyn (known for popular offerings like 9Gag, Fuse and Wikipedia) has finally released the much-awaited, third-party Vine client called 6Sec. The new app arrives in Store after a lengthy development and testing phase and, right from the get-go, is touted to provide complete functionality.

The odds, however, are against Huyn's client -- according to Finnish maker Nokia, an official Vine app will "soon" launch on Windows Phone 8. 6Sec will, therefore, face fierce competition and, in order to gain considerable traction, must offer unquestionable value straight from its first iterations.

Continue reading →

Thirty-seventh in a series. The app growth has slowed down considerably again in the past two weeks. This week growth made it past the 2,000 new apps mark, but barely with a total of 2,083 new apps. That's almost half the growth we saw two weeks ago in the Windows Store.

The total application count in the US store is 72,382 applications. 56,315 of those apps are free to download and use, while 16,080 are paid apps or desktop applications.

Continue reading →

In an effort to improve the Facebook experience on the tiled smartphone operating system, Microsoft just released a new update for its homebrew beta app which now finally allows Windows Phone 8 users to unfriend and unlike added folks and pages, respectively.

The latest Facebook Beta version (5.0.2.1) also fixes an issue which prevented the notification counts from updating and comes with the common "stability and performance" enhancements. The latest features will likely make their way to the stable Facebook app in a future update, after the obligatory testing is conducted.

Continue reading →

Google has started rolling out a new version of Google Maps for Android devices, with plans to update the iOS edition "soon".

According to Daniel Graf, Director, Google Maps, the updated app builds on the version Google released for the iPhone last December, but improves on it by adding additional search and navigation features, as well as a dedicated design for iPads and Android tablets.

Continue reading →