Bolt offers free voice calls and replaces your Android dialer
When it comes to making free VoIP calls using your Android phone, you have a bunch of options. Services like Skype or Fring let you call other users for free, but you’ve got to remember to fire them up before you start dialing. Instead of using one app for regular calls and another for VoIP, newcomer Bolt replaces your phone’s dialer with a one-stop solution for both. Unlike other services that require you to buy credits to make regular calls, the app connects to traditional phones the old-fashioned way — over your wireless carrier’s network. Calls made to other Bolt users are routed over the web for free, and sip a meager 60KB per minute. That means even with FreedomPop’s free deal (which includes a paltry 500MB of data), you’d be able to chat with mom for more than 142 hours before getting hammered with overages.
The company hopes to ultimately become a fully formed communication platform, and offer messaging services as well. Long-term that could mean users could pare down on mobile minutes and messaging packages, and instead spring for a slightly larger data package on their mobile bill. Android users can snag the app now from Google Play, and an iOS version is already in the works.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile
Via: The Verge
Source: Bolt
Geeksphone Revolution comes with Android and Firefox OS
Internet users around the world are familiar with the name of Mozilla Firefox, but they probably don’t know that Mozilla also introduced an OS for mobile known as Firefox OS. Just like Android, it’s based on Linux, and now a company known as Geeksphone introduced a smartphone, which is first of its kind. Geeksphone Revolution, a smartphone with dual-boot option, featuring Firefox OS and our favorite mobile OS i.e. Android. It will be available in Europe starting Feb. 20 for €289 ($304).
It’s not a cutting edge smartphone like the HTC One and Samsung S4, but Geeksphone promises that it will deliver. About the specs, it’s running a dual-core 1.6GHz Intel CPU, 1GB of RAM, 4.7-inch qHD display with a resolution of 2560×1440 pixels, 8MP camera with 1.3MP front-facing camera, 4GB of on-board storage with a microSD card slot expanding up to 32GB, and 2000 mAh battery.
So if it comes to US, will you grab one? Tell us about it in the comment box below.
Source: Geeksphone
The post Geeksphone Revolution comes with Android and Firefox OS appeared first on AndroidGuys.
MightyText Android app goes Pro, adds extra features for monthly cost
Three years ago, MightyText started out as a clever app that, when paired with a Chrome extension, could sync your texts and incoming call alerts to your computer. Since then, it’s blossomed into a web app in which you can access your SMS/MMS, calls, contact list and photos/videos from any browser. Next up in the app’s progression: a Pro version. It’s technically been in a limited beta for the past few weeks, but the developers of MightyText have wiggled most of the bugs out and are ready to open Pro account access to any and all who are willing to pay a monthly or annual fee.
The Pro account, which is launching at an early bird price of $2.50 per month (or a flat annual rate of $30, if you know you’ll hang onto it for a while), comes with a rather large list of additional features. A Pro’s arsenal of software weaponry will include eternal message storage, number blocking, mass group messaging (up to 25 people), themes, the ability to sync older texts from your phone to the app, message templates, 50GB storage space for photo and video uploading and a scheduler. If Pro isn’t your thing, the free version will continue to be available — MightyText plans to always have one.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Google
Source: MightyText (Play Store link), MightyText
Radiohead’s PolyFauna app will make you feel like a subterranean homesick alien
Radiohead has a new app for iOS and Android. It’s called PolyFauna, and here’s how Thom Yorke describes it:
Your screen is the window into an evolving world.
Move around to look around.
You can follow the red dot.
You can wear headphones.
Filed under: Misc, Portable Audio/Video, Internet, Mobile
Source: App Store, Google Play
Geeksphone’s Firefox-and-Android phone launches February 20th for 289 euro
Spain’s Geeksphone has been teasing the Revolution for a few months now, but today’s the day we find out how much the thing will actually cost. The device, which can switch between Firefox OS and Android, will be priced at 289 euro ($395) when it lands on February 20th, just four days before MWC 2014 begins in Barcelona. If you’re fast, however, the company has hinted that it’ll offer the handset for 269 euro with an online only early-bird sale. There’s no word on how much more (or less) this one will set you back if it arrives over in the US, but we’ll keep our ears close to the Iberian ground.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Source: Engadget Spanish (Translated)
Flappy Bird’s creator says he pulled the app for your own good
If you were hoping Flappy Bird would find its wings and fly back onto the App Store or Google Play, its creator has some tough news for you. Less than 48 hours after he pulled the explosively popular game, developer Dong Nguyen briefly emerged from his self-imposed exile to talk to Forbes about why that little bird will flap no more. According to Nguyen, the game was designed to help people relax, let players blow off some steam when they had a spare few minutes. Instead, Flappy Bird became an “addictive product” that was causing him, and its players, issues. Nguyen became the subject of intense media scrutiny, while players became enraged by their tragically low scores. “To solve that problem, it’s best to take down Flappy Bird. It’s gone forever,” he told Forbes, shortly after he’d had an impromptu sit down with Vietnam’s deputy prime minister.
Since it disappeared, owners of the app have put their phones and tablets up for bidding on eBay, with prices reaching $1,000 for an iPhone with the app pre-installed. Despite its popularity, and reports that Flappy Bird was reportedly making $50,000 a day in ad revenue, Nguyen says he has no regrets: “I don’t think it’s a mistake,” he said. “I have thought it through.” If you didn’t manage to grab the app before it was pulled, there’s no shortage of Flappy clones on the App Store or Google Play — just in case you need a Flappy Angry Bird fix.
Filed under: Gaming, Internet, Software, Mobile
Source: Forbes
No Google Core Apps for the Nokia Android Device
A Nokia built Android device has been a rumor for a while now. It has unofficially been confirmed a multitude of times. Various leaked images, leaked specs and talks of it being an entry level Android powered device set for emerging markets has everyone in huff. Many of us would like to see a high-end Android powered Nokia device come to market, but it certainly doesn’t sound like that will happen anytime soon.
A recent report from the Wall Street Journal does lean to a launch of the Nokia Normandy, or Nokia X, or whatever the final production name will be, sometime this month. It is fully expected that Nokia will have it on hand and make the official announcement at Mobile World Congress later this month. Don’t expect the Nokia Android powered device to be much though. Talks now push towards the device being free and clear of Google’s core apps like the Play Store, Gmail and everything else we live and die by on our devices. Instead expect a more forked variant of a custom Android build much like that of the Kindle Fire line from Amazon. It will be housing Android as the base but being loaded up with a Nokia app store and powered with Microsoft and Bing.
While we know that the developing community could and probably will break into the device and clean things up, the overall specs of the device that leaked out at the end of January don’t necessarily mean it would be worth it. As Eveleaks mentions “2 x 1GHz Snapdragon, 4″ WVGA, 512MB / 4GB / microSD, 5MP Camera, 1500mAh battery, Nokia Store + 3rd party, dual-SIM, 6 colors.” At the time of the tweet we didn’t even give a thought to the mention of the Nokia Store + 3rd Party. Samsung has their own store on their devices as well. Heck, even the leaked screenshots don’t have any core Google apps in them.
With Microsoft behind the helm none of it is really all that surprising. Microsoft already makes a killing on licensing when it comes to Android devices anyways. Testing the waters with something affordable and forked is a pretty safe bet, but it sure won’t be looked upon or be very well received by the majority of Android users.
Source: WJS via 9to5Google
Nexus 7 finally get “certified” for Verizon 4G LTE
It seems Verizon is finally ready to carry the Nexus 7, and it is Verizon 4G LTE CERTIFIED. The tablet is now arriving at Verizon stores, although we don’t know when they will officially release it, but it is rumored that Feb 13 is the date. In the image below, you can see the Verizon logo on the box:
On the box below, you will see that it’s a 32GB version, and 32GB LTE model is available for $349 on Google Play Store. It seems that Verizon will launch it on contract-based, so it might be a good option for people looking forward to a LTE/4G tablet. Everything else is same under the hood, just like the original Nexus 7.
Are you planning to grab Nexus 7 from Verizon or you already got one? Tell us in the comment box below.
Source: DroidLife
The post Nexus 7 finally get “certified” for Verizon 4G LTE appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Nokia is reportedly unveiling its low-end Android phone this month
If you’re eager to get an officially sanctioned glimpse at Nokia’s rumored Android cellphone, you may not have to wait long. Sources speaking to the Wall Street Journal claim that Nokia will unveil the low-end handset, currently nicknamed Normandy, at Mobile World Congress later this month. The tipsters haven’t shed new light on the hardware itself, but they support beliefs that the device’s customized interface will revolve around Microsoft and Nokia services while stripping out Google content. If the leak is accurate, Microsoft may be in an awkward position once it closes its acquisition of Nokia’s phone business — it might have to sell a phone using the very platform it has been trying to destroy.
[Image credit: @evleaks, Twitter]
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Nokia
Source: Wall Street Journal
IMO messenger enables video calls right from your browser
There’s a big surprise waiting for IMO users who log into the redesigned website today: a new video chat feature that works right from a browser. Yes, that means there’s nothing to download, as the messaging service can now make and receive video calls (using WebRTC) on its web interface. It’s supposed to work even between platforms, so friends can call each other from a computer to a mobile device (via IMO’s Android or iOS app) or vice versa. The problem, of course, is getting friends married to other messengers to join you on IMO, but that’s another story.
Source: IMO
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