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Ground Miles app launched by Bupa, makes fitness tracking social

Fitness enthusiasts now have yet another option to track their daily walks and runs. Ground Miles is a new app developed by Bupa which is the company behind Max Bupa and is meant to encourage you to walk a bit more. Makes sense coming from a health insurance brand! The app was launched in association with the World Health Federation and is a ‘personalized and motivational’ walking app. The application uses GPS to keep a track of the distance you’ve walked and even helps you locate walking routes.

What sets it apart from the wide range of similar apps available out there is the social bent to the app. The app helps you find walking clubs, compare scores against family members and friends. There’s the usual stats like walking quotient, number of steps taken, distance walked and calories burnt. The Ground Miles app also has a gamification angle to it where it awards badges on the basis of goals crossed. Continue reading “Ground Miles app launched by Bupa, makes fitness tracking social”

Micromax to preload BBM on all its Canvas Smartphones

BlackBerry messenger, one of the most popular instant messaging services, had announced its arrival on iOS and Android platforms earlier, but it looks like manufacturers are already warming up to the concept of pre-loading it on their devices. Micromax is the one of the first manufacturers to announce that it will pre-load BBM on all of its Canvas Smartphones starting from the first week of October. But of course existing users too, can download the BBM app through the play store, irrespective of the device they own.

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Jolla’s Sailfish OS now fully compatible with Android apps and Android hardware

Seen as a major move from a small, yet significant new player in the mobile industry, Finalnd’s Jolla(pronounced as yo-la) announced today that the Sailfish OS is now fully compatible with Android apps as well as Android hardware. It was already confirmed that Sailfish would run Android apps, but the question was when. Now we know.

Taking advantage of the already robust and immensely popular Android ecosystem is what Jolla have done, on top of the unique UX the Sailfish OS offers. Not only you can download popular Android apps on the Sailfish OS, which Jolla claims, is without any modifications, the operating system is also Android hardware compatible. Meaning Vendors can take Sailfish OS and make devices with their current Android-based hardware implementations. Or one day, you can possibly load Sailfish on your Android phone, if you wish.

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Nokia was testing Android on its Lumias before the Microsoft acquisition, could it have worked out?

This has been blowing up on the Internet for the past few hours. New York Times reporter Nick Wingfield initially had this scoop that Nokia was testing Android on its Lumia range of devices as a “Plan B” if Windows Phone completely fails to take off. Yes, Nokia was indeed testing Android on its Lumias and it is speculated that it might have been a possibility in light of growing tensions between the two companies, with Microsoft failing to deliver features at a pace Nokia wanted it to. It is believed that this would have played a role in pushing Microsoft to acquire Nokia, but not a huge one, as insiders say that Microsoft was aware of this early on in the partnership.

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Android passes 1 billion activations, 1.5 million devices activated daily

Back in July, at Google I/O, Sundar Pichai announced that the total number of Android activations had surpasses 900 million. Ever since that announcement, the whole of Tech industry has been expecting when the Android activations will hit the magical billion. Yesterday, Sundar Pichai, via his post in Google+ announced that Android has surpassed 1 billion activations so far.

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Last year, in September, Google announced that the total number of Android activations had surpassed 500 million with 1.3 million activations per day. This year, the number has doubled and the number of activations per day has rose from 1.3 million to 1.5 million.

Essentially, there are a billion Android devices out there in the world and the rate is increasing rapidly at 1.5 million activations per day. Last month’s Android distribution break down revealed that more than 40% of Android devices are on Jelly Bean, 2.6% increase from 37.9% in July. Google is yet to release the distribution chart for last month.

Alcatel refreshes the One Touch series with super thin Idol Alpha, Idol S and Idol Mini smartphones

Alcatel, the French company well known for its Enterprise level communications equipment is also responsible for some of the consumer facing devices in the One Touch range of Android Smartphones. After launching the One Touch Idol X, the flagship of the portfolio, the company has also released three other phones in all sizes and prices. The three new phones that have launched in the One Touch series are the Idol Alpha, the Idol S and the Idol Mini. This is along with the new Phablet and the Tablet from the same series.

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Netgear Push2TV PTV3000 Unboxing and Miracast Demo

Miracast is a wireless screencast standard that aims to be an open alternative to Apple’s AirPlay. With certified devices, the technology works over a peer-to-peer WiFi Direct connection and mirrors everything on your screen on to compatible devices, like for example, your TV. There are many devices that support the Miracast standard and one of them is the Netgear Push2TV that we bought recently. It supports not one but two wireless screencasting standards – Miracast for many Smartphones and Tablets, and Intel WiDi for the new range of ultrabooks. We unboxed it and took it for a spin on video, watch –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UT4YwkxxwE

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TomTom Navigation with fully offline maps arrives for Android in India

TomTom is a well known navigation solutions provider and can be spotted in most automobiles fitted with a navigation system, be it cars or even public transport. It is also widely known that mobile phones have made specialized navigation devices a bit redundant by offering excellent capabilities for everyone that owns a smartphone. TomTom has previously released its navigation apps on all mobile platforms, but they have seen a staged roll out in terms of countries, and now it is finally available for India’s Android devices.

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HTC begins Android 4.2.2 update roll out for One X, brings along Sense 5

Bringing its erstwhile flagship up to date, HTC has begun the rolling out the Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean update for the One X. The update brings along the latest version of Sense UI ie Sense 5 as seen on devices like the One and Desire 600.

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Google Nexus 7 (2013) Review

Google’s Nexus program is aimed at providing an Android experience the way the California based company meant it to be. Now in its second iteration, the Nexus 7 manufactured by Asus is sharper, faster and just a bit more expensive. Does it still pack the same value and punch that made the original perhaps the best Android tablet on the market ? Read on to find out. Continue reading “Google Nexus 7 (2013) Review”

Shifu To Do & Task Manager Review

Over here at FoneArena, we are passionate about trying out new apps that help us manage our life better and increase productivity. So when we were pitched a new app that aims to be “your smart friend who lives in your smartphone and observes when and how you use your phone”, we jumped on the opportunity. So what is Shifu? In short, it is an application that acts as a personal assistant and helps you manage your life better. Read on to find out more. Continue reading “Shifu To Do & Task Manager Review”

UC Browser v9.2 for Android brings add-on support

Popular smartphone browser, UC Browser, just got an update to version 9.2 that brings with it support for add ons. The feature that has previously been seen on competitors like Dolphin browser opens up the browser to a lot of possibilities. Third party developers will now be able to create plugins or add ons that will integrate with, give additional features to the browser.

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IDC – Windows Phone posts the fastest growth in 2Q13, Android leads the market at 79.3%

idc-vendors-marketshare

Last quarter, we saw how Windows Phone marketshare finally leaped ahead of BlackBerry, and the trend seems to continue here. In the second quarter of 2013, Windows Phone has posted the fastest growth amongst the top 5 smartphone OSes with 8.7 million units shipped, according to IDC, which lines up with growth expectations from other analysts. While the growth percentage is less than what Windows Phone had last quarter(133% – Q1, 77.6% – Q2), it is certainly good news for Windows Phone’s uptake as an operating system. On the other hand, Android shows no signs of slowing down while it is the exact opposite for Apple which has its marketshare reduced from 16.6% to 13.2% while growing slower than the market at 20%.

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LG G2 Hands On

At an event in New York, LG announced its next generation flagship dubbed the G2. The phone is a fairly significant departure from the design language of the Optimus G. In fact the device comes off as a smartphone inspired by the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and this ideology is not restricted to the hardware of the G2. We’ve had some time with the handset and while not conclusive, here are our thoughts on LG’s latest.

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