GOOGLE PLAY STORE GETS UPDATED

A new update for the Google Play store is rolling out, upgrading it to version 3.7.15. This update doesn’t bring anything exciting like the previous update that brought a fully revamped Play store. This seems like a fairly behind the scenes update that fixes minor download issues and other glitches related to back-end.

Nothing obvious can be noticed with this update. The UI remains the same and the only thing that is changed is the performance of store as it seems much faster and smoother than the previous update. If you haven’t already received the OTA update for the store then try side-loading (manually Installing the .apk file). Download links are given below.

downloads: mirror 1, mirror 2, mirror 3, mirror 4

LOCAL SEARCH RESTORED TO SAMSUNG GALAXY S3 VIA UPDATE

Recently Samsung removed the local search capabilities of their flagship device, Galaxy S3. Well, Samsung quickly issued an apology stating that the update was not meant for the International version and it will soon be restored to its previous state. Local search, is the center of an ongoing trial of Apple and Samsung that has caused the ban on Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Nexus.

Samsung removed the local search capability from the US carrier branded variants of the device and mistakenly stripped the International version as well. Although, they soon realized their mistake and as of today the new update is available for the International Galaxy S3 that will bring back the local search. The update also fixes other stability issues, claims Samsung but the package is nearly 5MB so looks like it’s just the local search and nothing else.

NEXUS Q SOLD OUT IN ONE DAY

Google might have another hit at their hands. Just in one day of the availability of the Nexus Q on Google Play, the company has managed to sell out the whole first batch of the units. So, people who want to buy the Nexus Q will have to put up with longer shipping dates.

If you head over the devices section on Play store you can see that the Nexus Q is now out of stock and will be shipping soon in 2-3 weeks time.

Looks like either Google had a massive success with this positive response and high demand for the weird device or Google just produced a limited number of the devices in the first batch to test the markets response. Well, either way this is a green signal for Google to produce more Nexus Q devices and cash-in on the profits.

Did you get the Nexus Q already? Let us know.

ASUS TRANSFORMER INFINITY LAUNCHING IN UK THIS AUGUST

My fellow Android lovers in UK, if the Nexus 7 doesn’t suit your needs and you want something bigger, brighter and bolder. Well, you’re in for a treat, Asus has announced today that the top-end Transformer Infinity will be available in the UK market starting from 31st August and you’ll be able to get a 64GB one for yourself at pretty hefty price tag of £599.99 that includes the official keyboard dock as well.

Asus is the best tablet manufacturer at the moment considering that Google partnered with it to create the Nexus 7. Well, If you have extra £600 in your pocket then surely pick one up but would people really want to pay that much of money when they can simply get a Tegra 3 powered Nexus 7 for as low as £160?

Let us know what you think by commenting below.

GALAXY SIII HAS SOLD MORE THAN 10 MILLION UNITS WORLDWIDE

In a recent statement given to the Korean press, Samsung’s Head of mobile JK Shin has revealed the sales figure of their latest flagship smartphone, Galaxy SIII. He reports that the SGS III has sold more than 10 million units worldwide.

The Galaxy SIII was released two months ago internationally while US carriers began selling the device in June. However, Samsung has not provided any specific numbers for the device. At this rate the Galaxy SIII is expected to cross the 40 million mark at the end of this year surpassing its predecessor, Galaxy SII by nearly 20 million.

Galaxy SII sold 20 million units worldwide in its first year of release while the Galaxy SIII has sold more than 10 million units in just 2 months of release. These figures show how the mobile phone market has been dominated by Samsung and its flagship devices. The Galaxy SIII is the hottest and most popular device in the market at the moment but according to reports this won’t be the same after the next iPhone’s launch. Let’s just wait and see which phone comes out on top at the end of this year.

HTC CONFIRMS NO ICS UPDATE FOR DESIRE HD

HTC’s plans for updating the Desire HD to ICS have changed yet again. First we heard from the carrier Telus that the device will not be getting the ICS update because of poor performance but an HTC spokesperson denied the report and said that the update was scheduled.to be delivered. However, HTC has just updated their list of devices getting the update and unfortunately they’ve crossed out the Desire HD and have added the following statement.

After extensive testing, we’ve determined that the current version of HTC Sense with Android provides customers with the best experience on the HTC Desire HD. When we consider new versions of software, we weigh a number of factors, but ultimately the customer experience on the product is the deciding factor. We apologize for any confusion this change may have caused our customers.

 This is probably the final decision as HTC doesn’t want the customers to experience any poor performance on their devices. This reminds me of the No ICS for Galaxy S incident. Do we really need custom skins? Let us know by commenting below. (It rhymes)

JELLY BEAN NOW OFFICIALLY ROLLING OUT TO NEXUS S WORDLWIDE

Google has officially announced on its Google+ page that the Jelly Bean update for the Nexus S has begun rolling out. The update is headed to the phone on most of the carriers worldwide including but not limited to T-Mobile, Vodafone, Rogers, O2, etc in most countries. You will be receiving the Jelly Bean smoothness on your Nexus S anytime now. Keep hitting the Update firmware button.

You’ll only be able to update the Nexus S when running a Stock ROM, so guys who are running Custom ROMs are advised to revert back to stock in order to enjoy the smoothness of project Butter as Google intended it. Leave a comment below if you have already received the update, don’t forget to mention your country.

SWIFTKEY 3 UPDATE BRINGS JELLY BEAN AND NEXUS 7 SUPPORT

One of the most popular 3rd party keyboards on Android has just got a quick update. Yes! I’m talking about Swiftkey. Today Swiftkey 3 has received a quick update that fixes some minor bugs/glitches and best of all adds support for Jelly Bean and Nexus 7.

This update doesn’t only bring the Swiftkey love to Nexus 7 and Jelly Bean but also fixes some notorious prediction issues, UI glitches and improved performance to make it smoother than ever. Swiftkey is the best keyboard for me atleast and it is also in the Editor’s Choice category on Play store so you better buy it if you haven’t already. You can also try out the 1-month trial version before making up your mind to fork out the cash.

Let us know what Android keyboard is your favorite?

MORE COLORS FOR GALAXY SIII COMING, SAYS SAMSUNG

If you’re getting sick of the black and white colored smartphones then Samsung has absolutely got you covered. They recently released a pebble blue color for their flagship Galaxy SIII and AT&T is already accepting pre-orders for the Garnet red colored variant of the device. There are reports coming in that Samsung is looking forward to release more color options for their flagship device.

According to the reports Samsung has different colors in mind for the smartphone. These colors will be launched in due course. However, there is still no confirmation about what colors will be available but we are certain that these colors will be something unique and different from other smartphones.

There is no black Samsung Galaxy SIII yet so Samsung might dish out a black Galaxy SIII to please some fans who still love their black Galaxy SII. Let’s wait and watch what Samsung ahs to offer. Leave us a comment below telling what color would you like to see the Galaxy SIII in?

GOOGLE ANNOUNCES THE NEXUS 7 TABLET: SPECS AND PRICE

Finally, Google has announced their long awaited Nexus tablet dubbed as Nexus 7 or Nexus7. We’ve heard a dozen of rumors for the past few months about his tablet and to be honest those rumors were pretty much accurate. Check out the official specs below.

- 7-inch display with 1280 x 800p HD resolutions
- Quad-Core Tegra 3 CPU with +1 and a 12 core GPU
- Front facing camera only
- 9 hrs of continuous Video playback
- Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

It looks pretty awesome with a simple design like previous nexus devices. With these specs and a price tag of $199 this is one hella contender to the iPad and even other Android tablets out there. It is now available forPre-order directly from Google Play and everyone who pre-orders it get $25 free credit on Google Play. [Pretty sweet!]

Are you going to pre-order one?

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MOZILLA TEASES SOMETHING “BIG” COMING TO ANDROID NEXT WEEK

The Firefox team has tweeted out something of interest to the Android masses. They said that something “BIG” is coming to Android next week. Although, it seems like they’ll be releasing a long-awaited update to their Firefox browser for Android, the update that has been in Beta phase for quite some time now. We will have to wait and see what they are bringing to the browser game.

With the Google I/O 2012 scheduled next week and a pretty obvious launch of next Android iteration [Jelly Bean] that will have Google Chrome as its standard browser, it seems that the folks behind Firefox might have chosen a bad time to unveil something big as Google will be the only buzz in news for coming weeks.

However, I would like to see some updates to the firefox browser for Android as the beta was pretty slow and buggy. I prefer the Chrome Beta over it as it is much faster and stable. Lets hope they release something big enough to change our minds. It’s most likely that they’ll announce flash integration and official tablet version of their browser. We’ll keep updating you as the news build till then keep in touch with us by subscribing to our channel.

Also share your thoughts by commenting below.

SAMSUNG GALAXY S III BURNS WITH A BANG!

Unfortunately, one of the Galaxy S III phones has just burst into flames causing some minor car damage and burn marks at the bottom of the phone. The phone just simple sparked up some flames followed by a tiny explosion. Well, it is definitely not the first phone to fire-up automatically and burn to its death, we’ve seen the mighty iPhone go up in flames before as well.

According to the owner, the phone started to burn with a white flame, a few sparks and a bang while in the car mount. It burned from inside out even though the screen was still working but there were no signals, saysdillo2k10. It also burned a small piece of the car plastic.

The owner has sent the phone back to repair center through the retailer, Carphone Warehouse. They have refused to give him a replacement and sent it for investigation, to confirm if the fire was automatic or a deliberate attempt. [Who would light-up their all new Galaxy S III? An Apple fan?] Check out the images below to see for yourself how a burnt Galaxy S III looks like.

VLC PLAYER MAKING ITS WAY TO ANDROID SOON!

VLC media player is one of the top media clients available on PC and now there are serious reports that it is making its way to Android. There have been numerous reports about it being in active development for a while now and there were some unofficial Beta releases as well. [You can download those here]. However today VideoLan have themselves confirmed this news

This report was out in a straightforward and to the point tweet by VideoLan tweeting only “Android! Here we come!”. This was enough to get any android fan out there excited. Also the point to be noticed here is that they Tweeted via Twitter for ANDROID! [They got themselves some android love!]. VLC is the best media player that does it all and handles it all. It will be a great addition to my app drawer.

The beta versions [Link in first Paragraph] have been pretty decent and I personally liked them. So, a full official release will seriously kick some MX-Player ass. There are still no words on the official release date but assumptions are that it will be out in a week or so. We’ll make sure to bring you more updates on it as the news builds. Till then let us know what is your current favorite media player on Android?

CYANOGENMOD ROLLS OUT FIRST CM9 NIGHTLY BUILDS FOR TRANSFORMER PAD AND GALAXY S III