Android Market Catching Apple App Store in Size

In the next few months, it’s expected that the amount of apps available in the Android Market will overtake those available in the Apple App Store. The date this will happen will more than likely fall in August 2011 if the current trends continue.

By August, Google will have around 425,000 apps in the store available for download. What is important to note with this is that although there will be more apps available, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Android apps will make more money for developers.

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iOS 4.3.3 To Fix Location Tracking – Update Coming Soon

A new version of iOS will be launching soon. The new update will be version 4.3.3 and will fix a few recently uncovered problems such as the location tracking issue.

The changes made to location include the decrease in the size of the database, down to 7 days I believe. Also, this particular database will no longer be backed up by iTunes. We also hear that the location based data will be wiped completely when the location services are switched off.

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Modified Camera and Proximity Sensor Found in White iPhone 4

Now that the white iPhone 4 has arrived, 9 months late, it’s time to take a quick look inside to see what changes have been made. We hear that the device is 0.2mm thicker than the black version and this could be to do with extra UV filtering on the front panel that Apple needed to add. (Phil Schiller doesn’t agree to that though… tweet now deleted).

Differences that have also been found are the camera and the proximity sensor which have both been modified a little. This could be for a number of reasons, but more than likely it’s the fix to what was broken on the original white iPhone 4 when it didn’t launch due to technical problems. Alternatively, it could be just different parts as the new white version has been manufactured a lot later.
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Android Smartphones to Get Video Chat

Google has announced that Google Talk is being updated to include video chat. The update will begin rolling out to Nexus S owners in the coming weeks and following that, any device that supports Android 2.3 and has the correct hardware, meaning a camera, will also be getting the update.

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Apple Responds to Location Data Questions

Over the last week it was revealed that the Apple iPhone and 3G iPad was storing location data within an unencrypted file on the iPhone/iPad and any computer that the device syncs to with iTunes. Apple has now responded to a number of questions to explain why it does this and what it will do about the amount of data that is being kept.

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Apple to Launch White iPhone 4 April 28

Apple has finally announced that the white iPhone 4 is going on sale. The launch comes 9 months after the original date and we’ll see it, as of tomorrow, being sold in 28 countries around the world.

“The white iPhone 4 has finally arrived and it’s beautiful,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “We appreciate everyone who has waited patiently while we’ve worked to get every detail right.”

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iPhone 5 Digitizer Panel Hints at a Larger Edge to Edge Display

The part pictured below is believed to be the digitizer panel for the iPhone 5. If real, we see that it appears to be a similar design to the iPhone 4 although the bezel around the edges of the screen are actually smaller on all 4 edges. This lines up with rumours about the iPhone 5 screen being 4 inches rather than the regular 3.5 inches we have seen in all generations of the smartphone so far.

We don’t know for sure if the digitizer is real and to be honest, we don’t know how large the full part is, but we suspect it is a very similar size to the current iPhone 4 and that the extra half an inch will be gained by slimming down the bezel on the device. By doing this, Apple will be keeping competitive with the current Android devices that often have larger screens.

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iOS Location Tracking File Could be Just an Oversight

Yesterday, an app was released that was able to read a file generated by iOS (and backed up to computer with iTunes), that shows where your iPhone or 3G enabled iPad has been since the day you purchased it. The file is called consolidated.db and uses cell tower information to give a guide as to where you have been.

Although there’s some obvious privacy questions here, the main questions are why this is allowed to happen, and what exactly does it track? A map of what the consolidated.db file looks like when placed on a map… program available here.

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iPhone 4S Handed out to Select Developers

Apple will be introducing a next gen iPhone later this year. Some say it will be arriving in June, while others are expecting to see it in September. Either way, it will be more powerful and more than likely it will be a refined iPhone 4, perhaps called the iPhone 4S.

We hear today that Apple has been handing out a new prototype iPhone 4 that has been described as the 4S in that it looks identical to the iPhone 4 on the outside, but inside it carries an Apple A5 processor to speed things up.

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Angry Birds Magic Mixes Gaming with NFC

Rovio will be launching another version of Angry Birds in the coming months. The new version will be called Angry Birds Magic and will be designed for phones that utilise NFC (near field communications). The idea behind it is that you need someone else with an NFC device to help you move to the next batch of levels. Rovio is making the Magic version exclusive to Nokia and will launch it on the Nokia C7 when the Anna update arrives.

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iOS 4.3.2 Update for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch Arrives

Apple has released an update for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. The new version is 4.3.2 which is a minor update that brings a few bug fixes to the OS.

The fixes include the FaceTime problem where a blank screen or frozen video would occur during a call. Also, a fix specific to the iPad WiFi+3G model has been fixed which prevented some users from connecting to networks (international problem only). Finally, a number of other security updates were baked in to the update which we suspect just seal a few security holes, perhaps to help prevent those who update from jailbreaking with the current methods.

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Windows Phone Developer Update Coming in May – Multitasking Support Included

At MIX11 this year, Microsoft took the stage and announced that the next version of Windows Phone is coming. To add to that, Microsoft also commented that developers will be able to download it free in May this year.

Several new features are being added to the update such as multitasking with background processing, fast app switching, audio and file transfer as well as deeper integration with apps in to the operating system.

The new update will also allow developers to have deeper access to the sensors on the device so that the gyro and compass will be available. Access to these will come through the Motion Sensor library.

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