Unreal Engine 3 devs won't pay royalties until they pass $50k in revenues

Posted by Unknown on Friday, March 11, 2011 , under games, Technology | comments (0)

Epic Games has upped the point at which developers using its Unreal Development Kit must pay royalties from $5k to $50k.

Developers making a mobile game using the Unreal Engine 3 will no longer have to pay royalties to the engine's creator Epic Games when they pass $5,000 in revenues. The limit has now been set at ten times that amount - $50,000.

"We're really excited about folks making some amazing things with UDK and we realize that a lot of you are just started in the business so not having to pay royalties on your first $50,000 should help you get a financial footing toward building a quality game development business," says Epic boss Mark Rein.

Once a game passes $50,000 in revenues, developers start paying a 25% royalty to Epic Games on their revenues.

The Unreal Development Kit has been used for big iOS games like Infinity Blade (pictured) and Dungeon Defenders - a trend that is spreading to Android devices too.

To give a concrete example for mobile: once an iOS developer makes more than $50,000 in revenues from the App Store, they will start paying a 25% share of their net revenues to Epic.

in other words, once their UDK-powered game is successful, the gross sales will be divvied up 30% to Apple, 17.5% to Epic Games, and 52.5% to the developer.

Instagram launches its real-time API with 2,000 developers signed up

Posted by Unknown on , under apis, Social, Technology | comments (0)

Photo-sharing service has unveiled details of its new real-time API, and a list of developer partners already using it.

Social photos service Instagram has taken the wrappers off its real-time API, which allows other app developers to tap into its photos, tags, locations and geographies.

The API is already being used by Dropbox, Foodspotting, Fancy and Momento, with Flipboard and About.me on the way soon, according to TechCrunch.

"We really wanted to push our API to the next level to support a new kind of interaction around photos – one that supported the real-time nature of the content that people create on Instagram," blogs CEO Kevin Systrom, introducing the new API.

Developers can sign up here to use the API, and Instagram says more than 2,000 already have.

Instagram's iPhone app is popular, with more than two million users. However, what's important for any app looking to become a standard is APIs, to push it out into as many other apps as possible.

Microsoft will publish Angry Birds for Windows Phone 7 handsets

Posted by Unknown on , under games, Windows Phone 7 | comments (0)

Smartphone smash Angry Birds will make its debut on Windows Phone 7 in April, via a publishing deal between Rovio and Microsoft.

Rovio's Angry Birds game is finally heading to Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 handsets, but the most intriguing aspect of the deal appears to be the fact that Microsoft is the publisher.

The news was announced on the official Windows Phone blogby Microsoft's Michael Stroh, citing six games coming to Windows Phone 7's Marketplace from 6 April. Besides Angry Birds, WP7 is also getting Doodle Jump, Plants Vs. Zombies, Hydro Thunder Go, Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I, and geoDefense.

Stroh's blog post linked through to a Must-Have Games on Windows Phone 7 webpage, which gave more details on the six games. Microsoft Game Studios is listed as the publisher for WP7 Angry Birds, as well as geoDefense, which was developed by Critical Thought Games for iOS and Android.

Assuming this information is correct, it seems Microsoft is not just courting popular iOS and Android developers to bring their titles to its platform: it's also offering them publishing deals. All six titles mentioned above will tie into the Xbox Live community for achievements and leaderboards.

One in five US and UK adults use the mobile web every day

Posted by Unknown on , under antenna, Market Data, mobile web, yougov | comments (0)

Not quite as ubiquitous as many would have thought.

A study by YouGov commissioned by Antenna Software found that 23 per cent of UK adults use the mobile internet every day, compared to 13 per cent a year ago.

The US daily user base is 20 per cent, up three per cent on last year.

On a weekly basis, the rate for browsing is 34 per cent of UK and 33 per cent of US users.

Is this good or bad?

Depends on how you look at it. It probably reflects smartphone penetration levels in these markets – and don't forget how ubiquitous PC broadband access is too in these advanced markets.

Of course, there is still a large army of people who don't use the mobile web at all: 44 per cent of American consumers who have mobile-internet-capable handsets never use it.

It's worth noting that many mobile web users are launching a sesssion not from the browser by via another application.

Instant messaging drove 21 per cent (UK) and 22 per cent US, while social networking services was the prompt for 27 per cent for both the UK and US.

Emdigo closes $1.1m funding round

Posted by Unknown on , under apps, emdigo, javelin venture, marketing, mobile web | comments (0)

That's $7m to date for the company behind the Get It marketing platform.

The cash came from Javelin Venture Partners, and will accelerate the development of a firm that 'streamlines the delivery of apps, video and mobile websites to all popular mobiles and tablets'.

Get It appears to supply a single call to action across multiple touchpoints, including the web, Facebook, SMS shortcodes, QR codes and more.

It then optimises the content to work with the user's handset, OS and network.

Get It was launched last October and is used by Electronic Arts, CBS and CNET.

China has 853 million subs

Posted by Unknown on , under asia, china, Market Data, subscribers, wireless intelligence | comments (0)

About 500 million more for the full set.

The new stats, from the country’s three major operators, show just how voracious the Chinese mobile market remains.

China Mobile saw its subscriber base rise to 589.3 million in January, including 22.6 million 3G subscribers.

China Unicom increased to 169.7 million for the month, including 15.5 million 3G subscribers while China Telecom’s base rose to about 94.1 million, including 13.6 million 3G subscribers.

Analyst firm Wireless Intelligence forecasts China will hit the 1 billion connection milestone in the second quarter of 2012.

Broker note suggests iPad2 delayed to June

Posted by Unknown on , under apple, iPad, ipad 2, Tablets | comments (0)

Taiwanese brokerage blames production bottlenecks.

According to Reuters, Yuanta Securities said in a note that production company Hon Hai had to change their production processes after Apple made design changes to the iPad2.

The firm's head of downstream tech equities, Vincent Chen, wrote: "Our checks suggest new issues are being encountered with the new production process and it is taking time to resolve them."

His note claimed a delay would reduce iPad shipments to 23 million from 30.6 million units.

The new device is said to be thinner and pre-loaded with a camera.

Adobe confirms Flash won't be ready for all Android 3.0 tablet launches

Posted by Unknown on , under Android, flash, Tablets | comments (0)

Motorola's Xoom tablet will be launching without Adobe's Flash Player, with early purchasers having to wait for an OTA download.

Adobe has announced that its Flash Player 10.2 will not be preloaded on the first crop of Android tablets, although it has promised to make the Player available as an over-the-air download soon after.
Its announcement was sparked by blogosphere speculation about the wording on Verizon Wireless' webpage for the new Motorola Xoom tablet, which noted that "Adobe Flash expected Spring 2011".
Motorola then confirmed that this meant no Flash when the device launches this week. "Motorola Xoom will include full support for Adobe Flash Player for accessing the rich video and animations of the web, to be available after launch," said the company in a statement.
Flash is one of the key advantages Android-based tablets have over Apple's iPad, so the news came as something of a surprise. However, Adobe has since published its own response to the reports.
"Adobe will offer Flash Player 10.2 pre-installed on some tablets and as an OTA download on others within a few weeks of Android 3 (Honeycomb) devices becoming available, the first of which is expected to be the Motorola Xoom," says the company in a blog post.
It goes on to say that "Consumers are clearly asking for Flash support on tablet devices and the good news is that they won’t have to wait long. We are aware of over 50 tablets that will ship in 2011 supporting a full web experience (including Flash support) and Xoom users will be among the first to enjoy this benefit."

MWC 2011: Microsoft promises Windows Phone 7 updates and Kinect crossover

Posted by Unknown on Monday, March 7, 2011 , under Android, facebook, microsoft, MWC 2011, nokia, stephen elop, Windows Phone 7 | comments (0)

Also plans to integrate Twitter as tightly as it has Facebook in WP7 OS.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer provided MWC attendees with a sneak peak at the future of the Windows Phone 7 operating system in his keynote speech.

One of the highlights was news that WP7 handsets will be able to interact with Xbox 360's Kinect motion control system. A demonstration showed someone firing balls with their WP7 smartphone at a friend, who had to dive about to block them using Kinect.

Microsoft also showed how Windows Phone 7 multi-tasking will work in a forthcoming software update - it's similar to iPhone's fast app switching. Music apps will be able to run in the background too, matching other smartphone platforms.

Ballmer also said Microsoft will soon integrate Twitter deeply into the WP7 software, just as it did Facebook for launch. The Internet Explorer 9 browser will also get a pocket-sized version for Microsoft's mobile OS later this year.

He gave an update on Windows Phone Marketplace too, saying the store now has 8,000 apps available, with 30,000 registered developers.

Interestingly, Ballmer also made a direct appeal to operators, saying that WP7 "will be the best place for operators to add value... we will be the most operator-friendly platform available" - a direct challenge to Android and BlackBerry.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop was a guest on-stage during Ballmer's keynote, reiterating the two companies' ambition to create "a third ecosystem" to rival iOS and Android.

ME’s news coverage of MWC is supported by NewBay, the leader in cloud-based digital content services. NewBay’s LifeCache white label platform enables operators and device makers to deliver a lifetime of content experiences across mobiles, PCs, tablets and TVs. Customers include T-Mobile, Telefónica O2, France Telecom Orange, AT&T, Telstra, LG and more.

MWC 2011: HTC Salsa and HTC ChaCha are the latest Facebook phones

Posted by Unknown on , under devices, Social | comments (0)

The Android devices both have dedicated sharing buttons branded with Facebook's logo, but aren't The Facebook Phone.

After all the rumours about a Facebook Phone, HTC launched two this morning. The HTC Salsa and HTC ChaCha have been produced after working closely with the social network, with sharing their key feature.

The ChaCha (pictured) is a BlackBerry-style handset with a Qwerty keyboard and 2.6-inch screen. Meanwhile, the Salsa is a touchscreen-only model. Both run the very latest version of Google's Android OS, version 2.4, which hasn't yet been seen in a live handset.

Both the ChaCha and Salsa sport an 'F' button towards the bottom of the handset - Facebook's instantly recognisable mark. It's used to share photos, updates and check-ins, depending what you're doing on the phone at the time.

The handsets also feature unified inboxes, pulling down Facebook messages as well as emails and texts. The devices also link their address books to a user's Facebook friends, tying in Facebook chat. Both the ChaCha and Salsa are due to be available this summer.

MWC 2011: ZTE previews Skate Android phone

Posted by Unknown on , under Android, devices, handsets, skate, zte | comments (0)

Inspired by the skateboard. Let's hope the wheels don't fall off.

The rise of China/Hong Kong based ZTE has been synonymous with the emergence of a mass market mid-range Android device.

IDC says ZTE has become one of the world’s top five handset makers – in 2010 it shipped 60 million units and terminal products in over 90 million units.

This new phone will definitely maintain that momentum, but actually it's a pretty smart bit of kit, featuring a large 4.3-inch screen, the Android 2.3 operating system, an 800MHz processor and the Adreno 200 graphics processing unit.

There's also a 5mp camera, multimedia Bluetooth extension, A-GPS capability, hardware compass, and G-sensor.

The Skate is expected to be available from May.

It also kicks off ZTE’s “Light Your Smart World” strategy, which will become the family brand of its smat devices, including Amigo, Blade Android Smartphone, and the F952 handset running Brew MP and supporting the WAC.

Samsung Wave 578 bada phone showcases NFC partnership with Orange

Posted by Unknown on , under handsets, MWC 2011, nfc | comments (0)

The latest NFC-capable handset to be shown off is the Samsung Wave 578, which has NFC as one of its main selling points.

Samsung waited until this morning to announced its new Samsung Wave 578 handset, the latest device to run its own bada operating system.

One of its key features is Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, for mobile payments, ticketing and touch-based coupons. The phone also comes with the Samsung Apps store preloaded, as well as the company's Social Hub software to aggregate contacts and social networking.

Alongside the Wave 578's debut, Samsung has extended its existing partnership with Orange on the NFC front. Orange will sell the device in Spain, Poland and France from the second quarter of this year, before launching it in other countries. Orange says it will also launch new NFC handsets from LG, Nokia and other manufacturers.

"We are spearheading the third biggest revolution in the mobile arena, after mobile voice services and the explosion in mobile data," says Orange's EVP of mobile services Anne Bouverot. "Mobile contactless services will change people’s daily lives."

MWC 2011: RIM's 4G BlackBerry PlayBook tablets and App World expansion

Posted by Unknown on , under BlackBerry, MWC 2011, Tablets | comments (0)

Research In Motion has unveiled new models of its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, along with new countries for its App World store.

Research In Motion has announced plans to launch LTE and HSPA+ models of its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet in the second half of this year, following the debut of the Wi-Fi-only and Wi-Fi/WiMax models in the first half of 2011.

"We are now building on the BlackBerry PlayBook’s many advantages with support for additional 4G networks that will allow enhanced business opportunities for carriers and developers and unparalleled mobile experiences for users," says president and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis.

RIM has also announced that it's launching its BlackBerry App World smartphone apps store in 27 more countries across Europe, Africa and the West Indies. That means the store is now available in 101 markets around the world, with the 20,000 apps in its catalogue generating two million total downloads a day.

Big news for App World at MWC includes the announcements by T-Mobile and Vodafone that they'll both start offering carrier billing within RIM's store this year across various local subsidiaries.

The company is hoping to spur the development of more innovative apps by chipping in to the BlackBerry Partners Fund II, a VC fund with $150 million to invest in mobile startups. It's launching in 2011, and will apparently have a wider focus than the first BlackBerry Partners Fund, which launched in 2008 and has invested in 13 startups.

"We are very pleased with the positive impact of the first Fund on our mobile ecosystem and we look forward to BlackBerry Partners Fund II bringing additional resources and support to mobile innovators in a broader range of international markets," says co-CEO Jim Balsillie.

RIM has also announced a new BBM Mobile Gifting platform that will allow BlackBerry users to give one another apps, airtime and other operator services using the BBM Messenger service. Finally, RIM has launched a new BlackBerry Travel app for users.

MWC 2011: SPB demos 3D user interface

Posted by Unknown on , under 3d, MWC 2011, spb, ue, ui, user experience | comments (0)

Presents 'auto-stereoscopic' experience for glasses-free 3D phones.

SPB is well-established in the interface market, and is best known for its down SPB Mobile Shell product.

That mimics 3D by letting the users move 'through' the graphical menu system. So it was inevitable that the firm would explore 'true' 3D now that it is available.

It's therefore joined with Spatial View, a pioneer in stereo 3D auto-stereoscopic technologies, to deliver 'an all-encompassing home screen'.

This houses a set of animated 3D widgets, a collection of 3D folders and a suite of customisable panels in stereoscopic 3D.

Sebastian-Justus Schmidt, CEO of SPB, said: “By partnering with Spatial View and combining our flagship SPB UI Engine with Spatial View’s leading auto-stereo 3D display technologies, we are able to demonstrate a very compelling stereo 3D UI platform for readily creating highly responsive stereoscopic 3D user interface solutions.”

ME’s news coverage of MWC is supported by NewBay, the leader in cloud-based digital content services. NewBay’s LifeCache white label platform enables operators and device makers to deliver a lifetime of content experiences across mobiles, PCs, tablets and TVs. Customers include T-Mobile, Telefónica O2, France Telecom Orange, AT&T, Telstra, LG and more.

MWC 2011: Myriad Group launches text-based social networking service

Posted by Unknown on , under emerging markets, MWC 2011, Social, Technology | comments (0)

Myriad Updates aims to help operators bring social features to phones without data connections.

Mobile technology firm Myriad Group has announced a new white-label service called Myriad Updates, which helps operators bring social networking services to non-data users.

The service uses Myriad's Xumii platform, allowing people to connect to friends on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Flickr. The software pulls down updates and collects them into one place, for operators to offer to users.

Myriad is targeting developing countries with the new service. "Through Myriad Updates, operators can enable mobile users with no access to data services, to connect with each other and the world around them for the first time," says CEO Simon Wilkinson.

The company recently inked a deal with Telefonica to launch Xumii-powered social networking across the operator's Movistar and Vivo brands in Latin America.

MWC 2011: Motorola XOOM coming to Europe

Posted by Unknown on , under Android, google, honeycomb, motorola, MWC 2011, Tablets, xoom | comments (0)

Google-endorsed tablet will be available from Q2 2011.

The XOOM runs on Google’s Android 3.0 Honeycomb – the Android OS for tablets – and is unofficially the Google tablet (in the same way that the Samsung Nexus was its Gingerbread phone).

Let's get the specs out of the way: widescreen HD display with 1280x800 resolution to support HD video and with HDMI out; 5-megapixel rear-facing camera for 720p video capture; 2-megapixel front-facing camera; gyroscope; barometer; e-compass; accelerometer and adaptive lighting.

Its being launched in a 3G/WiFi-enabled version as well as WiFi-only.

MWC 2011: RIM and Samsung sign with Navteq location ads

Posted by Unknown on , under ads, lbs, Location, MWC 2011, navteq, nokia, rim, samsung | comments (0)

Handset firms join the LocationPoint ad network to drive proximity-based advertising.

LocationPoint delivers ads to smartphone users when they’re near to signed-up merchants.

Navteq trialled the service in 2010 and reports a seven per cent click through on McDonald’s ads.

Nokia is already a partner, as are location-based app providers including Appello, CoPilot Live, Navigon, NDrive, Poynt, and Telmap.

Now RIM and Samsung are on board, though it's not clear from the release exactly how the relationship works.

We'll try to find out.

But this is clearly very significant for Navteq, which has made lots of money from licensing its maps but now sees a huge commercial opportunity in linking these assets to contextual marketing.

MWC 2011: Out There lands Deutsche Telekom contract

Posted by Unknown on , under ads, deutsche telekom, MWC 2011, opt-in, out there | comments (0)

Another big win for the opt-in mobile advertising specialist.

Out There Media has grown its business hugely over the last two years, securing partnership agreements with 40 carriers across Europe and Asia.

These deals are built around its Mobucks cross-carrier, cross-advertiser platform, which delivers message-based ads to opted in customers.

ME’s news coverage of MWC is supported by NewBay,

Out There got its start in Eastern Europe and the Balkans, but has steadily expanded into Asia and Western Europe.

So this deal is a major coup.

Its highlight will be “SpecialOffers”, which will be free for customers that sign up to receive news, promotions, special discounts and opportunities to enter competitions.

Prizes including a Mini, tablet PCs, phones and more will help entice people into signing up.

Kerstin Trikalitis, CEO of Out There Media, said: “Bringing our Mobile Advertising expertise to a market of such strategic importance like Germany is an achievement that makes us extremely proud.

"The fact that this milestone is undertaken in collaboration with Deutsche Telekom not only maximizes its importance, but is also a guarantee of its success.”

MWC 2011: Qualcomm unveils quad-core chipset for Tablets

Posted by Unknown on , under chipsets, MWC 2011, Qualcomm, snapdragon, Tablets | comments (0)

Dual core? That's, like, pre-historic or something.

The new spec is the flagship for Qualcomm's Snapdragon family, and it's full name is the APQ8064.

It's the first in a new family of Snapdragon chips based on the codename 'Krait', but it's still based on the same basic ARM design as the recently launched dual-core APQ8060.

However, the speed is ramped up to 2.5GHz and doubles the number of processing cores to four.

Yeah, four.

Qualcomm says the new chip can deliver 12 times the overall performance of the APQ8060 yet requires 75 per cent less power than the original Snapdragon SoC platform.

ME’s news coverage of MWC is supported by NewBay, the leader in cloud-based digital content services. NewBay’s LifeCache white label platform enables operators and device makers to deliver a lifetime of content experiences across mobiles, PCs, tablets and TVs. Customers include T-Mobile, Telefónica O2, France Telecom Orange, AT&T, Telstra, LG and more.

MWC 2011: Sony Ericsson adds two Xperias

Posted by Unknown on Saturday, March 5, 2011 , under Android, bravia, gaming, gingerbread, MWC 2011, playstation, sony ericsson, xperia | comments (0)

pro and neo revealed – and there's the official unveiling of Xperia Play.

The newest additions to the Xperia smartphones range, follow after the launch of the arc earlier this year, and are based on Android Gingerbread.

ME’s news coverage of MWC is supported by NewBay

The neo is all about the screen. Its 'Reality Display with Mobile BRAVIA Engine' plus Exmor R mobile sensor enables the capture of quality pictures and HD videos even in low light. All this can be shared on an HD TV via the built in HDMI-connector.

Meanwhile the pro is messaging focused and combines a slide-out keyboard with Type & Send functionality eliminating the need to open a dedicated app for each type of message.

Its Smart Keyboard function triggers predictive messaging actions automatically when the user slides out the keyboard.

And it comes pre-loaded with Office Suite Pro to let consumers view and edit office documents directly on the phone.

The Play also got its official unveiling today. That's the PlayStation phone, and it's all been covered before. Clickhere.

ME’s news coverage of MWC is supported by NewBay, the leader in cloud-based digital content services. NewBay’s LifeCache white label platform enables operators and device makers to deliver a lifetime of content experiences across mobiles, PCs, tablets and TVs. Customers include T-Mobile, Telefónica O2, France Telecom Orange, AT&T, Telstra, LG and more.

MWC 2011: Samsung Hubs content stores debuts on Galaxy S II

Posted by Unknown on , under Android, books, ebooks, galaxy s, gameloft, games, gingerbread, MWC, ngmoco, samsung, Social | comments (0)

Four discrete stores for books, music, games and social all accessible from the home screen.

Another interesting move from Samsung, which is stealthily evolving from a pure device maker to one with its fingers in many services pies.

It's already launched the Samsung App Store and its own bada OS on lower-end smartphones.

Now Samsung Hubs.

It's broken into four parts:

• Social Hub Premium: Contact list, IM status, and updates from social networking sites in one place.
• Readers Hub: 2.2 million books and novels, 2,000 global and local newspapers in 49 languages and 2,300 magazines in 22 languages.
• Game Hub: Free and premum titles from Gameloft, plus social games including ngmoco’s We Rule and We City.
• Music Hub: Over 12 million tracks from 7digital.

ME’s news coverage of MWC is supported by NewBay,

The home for these new services is the Galaxy S II, which Samsung says is the “world’s thinnest smartphone”

It's 8.49mm thick, and looks a lot like iPhone 4, which is 9.3mm.

This follow-up to one of the darlings of the Android world was widely expected.

However, the specs remain very impressive. The Gingerbread (Android 2.3)-powered phone has a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED screen and Dual-Core processor.

Samsung says this dual core capability speeds up web browsing, and brings multi-tasking comparable to a PC-like environment.

There's also an eight megapixel camera and a camcorder with 1080p full HD recording and playback.

Another new innovation on the device is the Live Panel, a kind of content bar that aggregates live web and apps on a single customisable home-screen.

ME’s news coverage of MWC is supported by NewBay, the leader in cloud-based digital content services.

NewBay’s LifeCache white label platform enables operators and device makers to deliver a lifetime of content experiences across mobiles, PCs, tablets and TVs. Customers include T-Mobile, Telefónica O2, France Telecom Orange, AT&T, Telstra, LG and more.

MWC 2011: Samsung unveils Galaxy Tab 2

Posted by Unknown on , under Android, galaxy tab, honeycomb, MWC 2011, samsung, Tablets | comments (0)

Actual name is the Galaxy Tab 10.1, because of the screen size.

Samsung's Galaxy Tab has been the only serious rival to the Apple iPad, and now the vendor has got in first with a 'sequel'.

The firm says the new machine is intended to be a 'multimedia hub for afficionados of games, electronic books and social media, with a 10.1 inch (25.7 centimeter) screen, dual surround-sound speakers, and front- and rear-facing cameras.

It's based on the new Android tablet platform, Honeycomb.

Vodafone has got a limited time exclusive in more than 20 countries.

ME’s news coverage of MWC is supported by NewBay.

Samsung has sold around two million Galaxy tablets to date, against seven million iPads - although the later has been out for longer.

ME’s news coverage of MWC is supported by NewBay, the leader in cloud-based digital content services.

MWC 2011: Google launches Heat MWC app to help find the busiest bars

Posted by Unknown on , under apps, Location, MWC 2011, Social | comments (0)

Or stands, keynotes and press conferences. But we sense it'll mostly be used for bars.

Google's mobile advertising team has teamed up with ad agency Jung von Matt Stockholm for a social location app focused on this week's Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona.

Called Heat MWC, the free app is available for Android and iPhone, and shows a heat map of which areas in the Fira - and out in Barcelona itself - are 'hottest' at any point in time.

Suggested uses are stands, keynotes, events and bars. Users can filter their map to only show activity from a specific nationality of attendee, if they're feeling particularly xenophobic.

The app also uses the Bump API to help two users exchange contact details by bumping their handsets together. It joins an existing official MWC 2011 app from the GSMA, which is available for various smartphones.

MWC 2011: LG Optimus 3D smartphone and Optimus Pad tablet make debuts

Posted by Unknown on , under Android, devices, MWC 2011, Tablets | comments (0)

Will Android plus 3D be the winning formula for success in 2011?

LG has confirmed that it will be unveiling two new products at Mobile World Congress this week: the LG Optimus 3D smartphone and the LG Optimus Pad tablet.

Both had been teased in recent weeks with photos and brief video footage, but LG has made them official today, likely to steal a march on Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson - who all hold their MWC press conferences tonight.

"I`m confident that this year, LG will emerge as a leader in the next generation of smartphone and tablet devices," says LG's mobile boss Dr Jong-seok Park.

The Optimus 3D smartphone includes a dual-core 1GHz processor, a 4.3-inch WVGA touchscreen, and runs the latest Android software. However, as its name implies, 3D is the big selling point: the device has a glasses-free 3D display, and also a 3D camera to shoot videos.

Meanwhile, the Optimus Pad is an 8.9-inch tablet running Google's Android 3.0 Honeycomb software, with a 1GHz dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor inside. It also has a 3D camera built in.

2010 saw LG's fierce rival Samsung steal a march in the smartphones and tablets sector with its Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab. LG is clearly hoping 3D will lead its fightback in 2011.

Report claims BlackBerry PlayBook will run Android apps

Posted by Unknown on , under Android, BlackBerry | comments (1)

Research In Motion may be looking to boost the app catalogue for its PlayBook tablet by pulling in 130,000 Android apps.

Research In Motion is working on software that will allow its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet to run Android apps, according to a report on Bloomberg citing 'three people familiar with the matter'.

The move would make more than 130,000 apps available for the PlayBook, although the report suggests that the software may not be ready until the second half of this year, a few months after the PlayBook goes on sale this spring.

"It will be a shrewd move to let Android apps run RIM without any performance or user interface hiccups," analyst Chetan Sharma says in response. "It will make the RIM platform attractive to consumers as it lacks the strength of the rivals from an apps perspective."

However, the move could also backfire if it makes developers more likely to make Android apps rather than native BlackBerry and/or PlayBook applications.

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