Apprtize

Windows Phone Store crosses 255,000 apps

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June 24, 2014

So BlackBerry is getting some 240,000 apps from the Amazon Appstore? No problem at all, since the Windows Phone Store has marginally more apps. According to a report coming in from Australia, the Windows Phone Store has crossed 255,000 apps milestone. That’s around 55,000 more apps from last December when the store touched the 200,000 apps mark.

In all, Windows Phone has some 510,000 registered developers churning out about 500 new apps a day. Download rates on the platform have also hit 10 million downloads per day. Of course, with over one million apps each, Windows Phone Store is nowhere close to Google Play Store or Apple Appstore. However, we’ve seen some high profile additions to the store lately, including Pinterest, Facebook Messenger and others. But then, there are still many high profile apps missing (Candy Crush and Quizup for instance), while others lack in features compared to their iOS and Android counterparts.

There’s still some headway to make, but Windows Phone Store is no more the laggard it once was. We can only hope the developer interest to deepen further in the future.

[Source]

Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution 2 coming to iOS on July 2nd, Android port to follow

Games
News

Sharang Sharma

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June 23, 2014

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Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution that was released in 2008 will soon be getting a sequel. However, unlike the original game this one will only be released on mobile platforms. Called Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution 2, the game will be landing on iOS on July 2nd, followed by an Android port later (although no specific date has been given). The original was also available on iOS and has been among the most popular turn-based strategy games over there.

Since there’s no console version this time around, you can expect Civilization Revolution to be much more optimized for touch screens. The game will combine the core tactical elements of the series with intuitive controls and a friendly user interface. It will also feature 16 historical leaders from the first game, including Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi and Napoleon, alongside new leaders like Churchill and Kennedy.

There’s no word on a Windows Phone version. Although we’re hoping Firaxis eventually brings one, since the first was was also released on the platform.

[via]

Subway Surfers adds São Paulo in the latest update

Games
News

Sharang Sharma

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June 22, 2014

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Kiloo has updated popular endless runner Subway Surfers on Android, iOS and Windows Phone together. The update adds São Paulo as the newest location in the world tour. Along with that there’s a new kid in town known as Edison and he’s known to be a soccer player. Of course, these two additions have been done to commemorate the FIFA World Cup 2014 that’s going on in Brazil. Here’s the full changelog for version 1.25 of Subway Surfers we picked from the Android version (but applies to iOS and Windows Phone too).

Follow the Subway Surfers World Tour to São Paulo
Join the weekly Top Run race and compete against players from your country
Add Edison, the Brazilian soccer kid, to your Surfer crew
Boost your collection with the iconic Banana board and fresh Outfits for Edison and Zoe
Reach the best Ranks in the Top Run race to get cool Awards

You can pick Subway Surfers on the three platforms at the store links below.

Subway Surfers – Android
Subway Surfers – iOS
Subway Surfers – Windows Phone

Torrex Pro allows you to download torrents to public folders on Windows Phone

Sharang Sharma

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June 21, 2014

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Windows Phone has taken the road somewhere in between iOS and Android. While it’s not as open as Android, it’s not exactly a walled garden like Apple’s iOS. However, with Windows Phone 8.1 things have been relaxed down a little. We’ve already seen an official file manager for the OS and now you can also download torrents (legal) on your phone and transfer them to your PC.

Torrex Pro is a new free app on Windows Phone that allows you to download torrents to public folders (the ones that can be accessed through your computer). Earlier, users had to rely on wpTorrent, which did a great job at downloading files, but made them inaccessible to public folders or other apps. Torrex Pro breaks those shakles and works like you would expect a normal torrent client to work. The BitTorrent client is a universal app available for both Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows Phone.

The app can directly pick magnet links off the Internet Explorer and get to work. Unfortunately, the app doesn’t support background downloading and will only download torrents while it is running on the screen. Also, you can’t choose to download on only WiFi networks so you’ll need to be careful that it doesn’t start downloading using your mobile data when a WiFi signal is lost.

Torrex Pro is free and can be picked on the Windows Phone Store here.

BBM is landing on Windows Phone in July

Sharang Sharma

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June 20, 2014

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Many Windows Phone users have been waiting for the launch of BBM on the platform. While BlackBerry had promised to bring a port soon after releasing the app on Android and iOS, it wasn’t exactly known when the app would arrive until now. However, at today’s earnings call, BlackBerry CEO announced that the app will be landing on the platform next month.

While he didn’t give an exact date, but it’s reassuring to know that Windows Phone users won’t have to wait much longer. We have no doubt that after the sale of WhatsApp and Viber, BlackBerry must have reconsidered its plan of making BBM exclusive to iOS and Android. After all, users aren’t likely to consider a BB10 smartphone over a Windows Phone just because of BBM and the company is only not gaining more users by keeping the app unavailable.

That’ll be one more high profile app on Windows Phone. We’ve got most of the top hundred covered on Windows Phone except a few apps and gaming titles.

Waze gets updated to version 3.8 on Android and iOS

Sharang Sharma

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June 19, 2014

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Even though Waze is owned by Google completely, it doesn’t play favorites with the app and continues to support it for other platforms. Today, the app got pushed to version 3.8 on both Android and iOS. The social GPS app has added some social features in the latest update. Here’s the changelog:

Find friends on Waze by adding Contacts
Send friend requests & manage your list
New design for sending location
Locations sent between friends are saved for future navigation
Easily share drive from ETA screen
See who’s viewing your shared drive
Keep Waze on screen when answering calls
Bug fixes

The update allows you to add friends on the app using your contact list. Locations shared with friends are also saved for future reference. Then, the update makes it possible to see who’s viewing your shared location. You can grab the app at the store links given below.

Android
iOS

Facebook officially launches Slingshot, doesn’t make it a shameless Snapchat clone

Sharang Sharma

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June 18, 2014

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After its failed attempt to buy out Snapchat for $3 billion, Facebook went back to the drawing board and started working on its own version of the software. Well, it’s done now and Slingshot, the competitor to Snapchat has gone live on Android and iOS. In essence, it’s much like Snapchat, where the sent message or image gets deleted after being viewed by the person receiving it. Yet, Facebook’s Creative Labs division has done a good job at not making a shameless clone.

Like Snapchat, Slingshot allows you to send images or text to your friends that gets deleted once viewed. you click a photo, add a caption and send it off to your friends. However, rather than just opening the new message and reading it, you’ll have to ‘Sling” something back to the sender first in order to see the message. Facebook hopes this will encourage people to send more messages back and forth (a strategy that can easily backfire). Also, unlike Snapchat, Slingshot allows you to send a message to all your friends with a simple press of a button.

You can find friends on Slingshot using either their numbers or your Facebook contact list. Opening the app fires up the camera that offers three options: Flash, Shoot and Selfie. Every time you send your friends a shot, a notification pops us telling about the new shots that have been unlocked. These shots appear in your news feed in full screen and disappear once viewed.

It remains to be seen how people react to the idea of having to send a shot before viewing one (imagine being able to read a text message only if you send something back first, without even reading the message). The app is free and can be picked on Android and iOS.

Facebook Beta gets a major overhaul on Windows Phone

Sharang Sharma

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June 18, 2014

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Facebook Beta gets a major overhaul on Windows Phone

The official Facebook app on Windows Phone has often been described as hobbled or lacking in terms of features compared to the Android and iOS counterparts. However, Microsoft has just pushed a big updated for Facebook Beta on the platform, the beta app for Facebook that gets all the new features tested upon before getting pushed on to the official app. The update brings major UI changes along with several new added features. First things first, here’s the changelog:

Updated design
Improved performance
Video upload
Support for additional languages

Verison 5.3 brings a new News Feed banner on the top with a search button and a quick button to see who all are online. Five icons below the banner give quick access to News Feed, Friend Requests, Messages, Notifications and your profile. At the same time, a new bar at the bottom allows you to quickly add a photo, status or check-in. Also, users can now directly upload videos from the app, a feature that was recently added in WhatsApp on the platform. The app also feels quicker and smoother than before.

You can grab Facebook Beta from the Windows Phone Store for Windows Phone 8 and 8.1 here.

BlackBerry releases BBM Protected: IM for enterprise

News

Sharang Sharma

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June 17, 2014

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With governments across the world snooping on users’ data and privacy, the need for secure channels has grown exponentially in the past year or so. Known for its security features, BlackBerry has jumped into action and released BBM Protected. The IM service introduces another layer of encryption using a PGP like model to the existing BBM model, making it even more secure. Each message is encrypted with its own unique key, making it harder to crack.

BBM Protected will be offered as a part of eBBM suite and is aimed towards the enterprise market. What’s more the app will allows users to communicate with all BBM Protected users and not just the ones in your company. BBM Protected is available for BlackBerry 6.0 and above. However, given that BBM is available on Android and iOS, we expect the feature to be rolled on these platforms soon.

[Source]

Amazon Appstore now boasts 240,000 apps

Android
News

Sharang Sharma

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June 17, 2014

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Amazon’s Appstore which it offers as a replacement on its own devices instead of the Google Play Store, has just crossed 240,000 apps mark. The news was broken by Amazon and the according to the company, the number is triple of what it had to offer last year. Of course, that number is nowhere near what the Play Store and the Apple App Store have to offer, but given that almost all of major apps are available on the store, it’s not half as bad.

The number of developers developing for Amazon has also doubled in the last year thanks to the strong revenue on devices like Kindle Fire. In fact, 65 percent of the developers surveyed by IDC said that the total revenue on Kindle Fire was as better or similar to other platforms. 74 percent of the developers found the revenue per user/app similar to what they are getting on other platforms.

With Amazon expected to unveil a smartphone in the coming weeks, it needs all these apps more than ever to have a strong launch. Of course, it will be a trickle down effect and we could see many more apps on the platform once the phone takes off.

[Source]