Bharadwaj Chandramouli | Fone Arena

Google Play Store clocks the most downloads but still lags behind App Store in revenue

According to new statistics released by App Annie Index, Google’s Play Store exceeded the iOS app store by 45% in total downloads but still lagged behind when it comes to actual revenues. Worldwide, it is clear that Android is dominating the market, with over 80% marketshare, which has led to a surge in downloads from emerging markets like Russia and Brazil, but the downside is that a large number of apps on Android are free or based on the freemium model, which drastically lowers the barrier of entry, keeping the target markets in mind, whereas Apple’s iOS enjoys higher marketshare and install base in developed countries. This news might not surprise you, but head past the break for some more interesting analysis based on the data.

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Universal Windows apps start showing up on the Windows Phone 8.1 Store

Just after rolling out the Windows Phone 8.1 Developer Preview, universal Windows apps, the key factor Microsoft aims to attract developers with, are already starting to show up on the store. Microsoft announced this new addition, along with several other enhancements to the developer side of things on Windows Phone, in a blog post today. Developers can now link their Windows Phone apps and Windows apps, as Microsoft has unified the Store front on both the platforms, with the same pricing and even streamlined in-app purchases. Apple has been allowing universal apps between the two form factors iOS is based on, but Microsoft is taking it to another level with support for all of its consumer platforms that occupy a wide range of form factors, from phones to tablets to desktops and even its Xbox gaming console on a TV.

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Windows Phone 8.1 Developer Preview Update is now live

As promised, Microsoft has initiated the Developer Preview program today, for its latest and greatest mobile operating system, Windows Phone 8.1. Touting a new virtual assistant, tile backgrounds and a lot more, the update is now available for download as a part of the enthusiast program that officially started with the GDR3 update for Windows Phone 8. Microsoft had its grand reveal of the newest operating system at the Build developers conference, with them showing off all the new features in a lengthy keynote. The highlight was, of course, Cortana, the new virtual assistant that provides a combination of functionality from Apple’s Siri and Google’s own Voice and contextual assistant.

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Google Glass loses invite-only purchase in the US, but only for a limited time

Google Glass, the Mountain View company’s first wearable product that took the world by storm, started out as a preview, with an invite-only explorer program. But in a turn of events, Google will be selling the Explorer edition of Glass to anyone in the US, but with a tiny catch. It will be available only for a limited time frame, and only on April 15th, when it will be out for anyone to buy. All you have to do is sign up with your details on this page and you will be able to get the Glass on the 15th, but of course you have to be a US citizen and have to pay the same 1500$ price. But the upside is, you get a frame or shade, according to your preferences and there is no extra cost associated with it.

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Age of Empires goes mobile with World Domination for iOS, Android and Windows Phone

Age of Empires, the classic strategy game that put you in command of your favorite characters from history, is going mobile, with a game titled “Age of Empires: World Domination” for iOS, Android and Windows Phone. This Microsoft title, that has been the rage among RTS online multiplayer geeks for a long time, has gone through many iterations, with the company recently announcing that it will be licensing its franchise for the mobile platforms. As reported earlier, this mobile version takes its form thanks to KLab Global, a game development company that will be doing this port. The game is slated to be available for all the major mobile platforms including iOS, Android and Windows Phone and will ship this summer. Here’s the game trailer –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2PEXEO2ga0

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Google’s Project Ara gains a Modular Development Kit

Google might have sold off Motorola to Lenovo, but is keeping all those patents and research teams close to Mountain View. Motorola’s R&D initially unveiled a concept called “Ara”, the first modular smartphone that has the potential to totally change the way we look at, and buy smartphones. The concept is pretty simple, as it follows the typical “Build you own PC” method, which grants you the flexibility of choice in interesting permutations and combinations. Ara now belongs to Google, and naturally, we are seeing some momentum here, with them announcing a Modular Development Kit, using which hardware manufacturers or “Module Developers” can create different modules that will eventually turn up on your own custom Ara phone.

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Lenovo India picks Ranbir Kapoor as its brand ambassador for smartphones

Ranbir Kapoor, the critically acclaimed Bollywood actor slash rom-com hero, who incidentally used to be the brand ambassador for Lenovo’s PC products, will now promote the company’s smartphones too. As the company slowly moves away from its focus on PCs to Smartphones, Ranbir Kapoor too will move along to promote the Chinese company’s smartphones as well as tablets in India. The deal includes TV commercials, online advertising and so forth, which will eventually be released in some time to the Indian media.

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Flipkart for Windows Phone is now available for download

Flipkart, one of the leading e-commerce businesses in India, has finally released its official app for Windows Phone. To make everyday shopping easier, this new Windows Phone app follows a fresh design language, focusing on clear information and search. The free app is now available for download on the Windows Phone store, following the release of its eBooks app earlier. Like the former, we expect this app to be bundled on Nokia Lumia smartphones out of the box.

Download Flipkart for Windows Phone here

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Google Glass with a Titanium thin Frame – Unboxing and Demo

Ever since we heard about Google Glass getting less geeky with new frames that could support prescription lenses, we wanted to try one. We promptly ordered one once Google started taking those elusive orders, and what we have here now with us, is a Titanium thin frame, in Charcoal colour that will stop making us look like Glassholes. Yes, it is just a frame with plain lenses that lets you attach your old Google Glass to it, but it suddenly makes it way less intimidating than before. Essentially, you will stop looking like a cyborg with an extra eye and the frame will now hide the glass apparatus somewhat, making it a better blend than before. We had shot a video to show how one fixes the new frame onto the Glass, watch –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN15MR1G8uk

Check out our previous Google Glass Unboxing video

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Sony Xperia E1 Dual Photo Gallery and Hardware Walkthrough

The Sony Xperia E1 Dual is the Japanese company’s improvisation of its long time low end play. The Xperia Tipo Dual and the earlier Xperia E used to occupy this segment, and keeping up with the times, the E1 dual will now occupy the place of a low end smartphone from Sony. Armed with a dedicated Walkman button and audio enhancements with XLoud and ClearPhase, the E1 dual aims to satisfy the young hip smartphone buyer who listens to a lot of music. Something tells us this is familiar territory for the company. With a plastic body and design elements that Sony has only recently pushed forward, we give you a tour of the phone in photos.

Check out our Sony Xperia E1 Dual Unboxing

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Vine introduces Direct messaging with updates to its iOS and Android apps

Vine, the popular video sharing service, has updated its service today, to include direct messaging. The updated service is now being rolled out to iOS and Android devices with an app update on their respective stores. Since launch, Vine has grown into a massive community of video makers, using it mainly for its performance art potential. In the mean time, the community itself started getting personal, with couples vining each other, and viners forming couples, so there obviously was a bit more space for personal communication for Vine as a service, as video messaging has been a long time riddle. We also think that Vine would be happy to know that the service has matured to become part of a particular set of people’s lives, an indication of growth and popularity.

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Apple to reveal the future of iOS at WWDC’14 on June 2nd

Following the yearly tradition, Apple has announced the dates for its Worldwide developer conference, the WWDC 2014, starting on the 2nd of June. The event, where Apple’s software products take center stage, mainly for their new features and updates, will be touching upon the future of iOS and OS X, the company’s operating systems for its two different kinds of devices. Two months after Microsoft’s own developer conference, it will be Apple’s to tell the story of how its platforms have evolved.

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Universal apps are coming to Windows on Phones, PCs, Tablets and Xbox

Among the myriad of announcements Microsoft made at its Build 2014 keynote is one small but highly important detail. With the Windows Phone 8.1 operating system moving to a WinRT layer, all the Microsoft platforms now run on the same runtime, which includes all the devices like a PC, a tablet, a phone, and yes, even the Xbox One. Powered by a common runtime, developers will be able to target all these devices with a shared set of code that will work across all the platforms, like for example notifications, in-app security and so forth. This also means that users can buy an app from one store and use it on another, although the interface will change according to the form factor.

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Lumia Cyan update brings more features to Nokia’s Windows Phones

It has been a known fact that Nokia bundles its own software additions onto the Windows Phone build, which we call the device specific firmware. Likewise, Nokia will be releasing the Lumia Cyan update to its devices, to run on top of Windows Phone 8.1. This update brings more Nokia specific features on top of the default Windows Phone experience. After Amber and black, Cyan is the additive experience Nokia continues to provide on its Windows Phone devices. Some of the features added to Nokia’s firmware are enhancements to the Nokia camera app, updates to some photo apps and audio specific features for some devices.

Read more about Windows Phone 8.1

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This is Cortana, Microsoft’s take on Siri and Google Now

Cortana, once popular for being Master Chief’s personal assistant, is now truly digital, as it takes the form of Windows Phone’s own virtual assistant. Cortana is Microsoft’s take on Siri and Google Now, currently the two popular voice assistants for iOS and Android respectively. While Siri took a more personal approach to an assistant, Google took it another way with contextual search and ambient presence, while Cortana is trying to marry the both. Powered by Bing’s neural networks, Cortana literally takes advantage of all the data mined over the search engine’s life time. And not only that, it will learn you like Google Now on actions and like Siri on personal detail, which makes it a decent competitor to Google.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX9P6skzZNU

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