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The SwiftKey Android keyboard can now be purchased for a discounted price, but only for a limited time only. The app, which offers arguably one of the best third-party keyboards for Android, is now available for you to buy at a 50 percent discount. The keyboard will run you $1.99, £1.49 or €1.99, depending on your location. The offer is a limited one, so make sure you grab yours quickly. The blog post announcing the discount also talks about the app receiving a new update, which brings the SwiftKey Android keyboard to version 4.1. This is not a big update, like the one to version 4.0 was, but it still comes with some useful things. First of all, the new update comes with three new themes – Dusk (a blue theme with a yellow Flow trail on the keyboard), Regal (purple with a yellow trail) and Pitch (black, with a pink trail). The developers claim that the new themes use less pixels on the screen, thus eating less of your smartphone’s battery, something users had been asking for, according to the quoted blog post. The update also brings a lot of small, but very useful bug fixes. Here’s the entire change log, so you know exactly what’s been fixed.

Are you a SwiftKey user? If not, do you plan on getting it now, for the discounted price?

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Samsung has announced that it will be hosting another contest for budding app developers. The electronics manufacturer previously ran an event where developers could submit apps for its web-connected TV’s, but this time the competition centers around app development for its flagship Galaxy smartphones, specifically the new Galaxy S4.

According to Won-Pyo Hong, President and Head of Samsung Electronics Media Solution Center:

The Samsung Smart App Challenge will greatly enhance application choices for GALAXY S4 so users can enjoy a valuable experience.

The obvious aim of the event it to strengthen Samsung’s software collection in an attempt to one-up its competitors when it comes to proprietary software. As we all know, unique pieces of software can often be the deciding factor when choosing between two equally good handsets. Think about the choice between Samsung’s TouchWiz or HTC’s Sense, for example.

However, this contest is aimed particularly at apps which work alongside Samsung’s Group Play service, the new Galaxy S4 feature which allows users to share files with each other.

All of the submissions must be built using the Samsung Chord SDK, which will assist developers in creating real-time solutions for multi-group devices.

All entries will be submitted under the “Smart Chord Apps” category, which really means Group Play services, from which a panel of judges will pick the winning entries. Prizes will be handed out to the ten most innovative applications which use group functionality in interesting, useful, and experimental ways.

The prize pot comes in at a mouth-watering $800,000, which will be split amongst the various winners. But as well as a juicy jackpot to motivate the developers, the winners will also receive a variety of promotional benefits and the chance to pitch their app to Samsung Venture Investment after the prize ceremony. A successful pitch could result in even greater rewards and an additional financial investment for the best apps.

Okay, so the majority of us aren’t developers and don’t stand a chance at winning something from the prize pool. But this is good news for the general consumer, too, as it means that we could all be receiving some useful new features for our handsets in the future. At the very least, the Galaxy S4 should see some interesting, and hopefully useful, new apps, providing that the quality of the entries is good enough. Better yet, some of the apps could always be made available for other older Galaxy handsets.

It’s great to see Samsung supporting the development community, and it’s a no-lose situation for consumers. Now we’ll just have to wait and see what the developers can come up with.

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Interested in the Galaxy S4? What if I told you it were gold? How about if it had a $2,200 price tag? If you’re still in the market, keep reading. We have found the perfect phone for you.

Goldgenie, a company that seems to enjoy the midas touch, is offering the Samsung Galaxy S4 draped in a variety of precious metals. You can get the handset in gold, platinum, or rose gold. It’s also free of SIM cards and unlocked, freeing you up for any network. If you can afford to get service after paying for the phone, that is.

We’re left to wonder why one would want a gold phone. I suppose it would be one of a kind amongst your friends and family, unless you’re a Kardashian or something. It definitely solves those nagging issues about Samsung and their plastic build quality, right? Nothing more solid than gold!

Perhaps the biggest selling point is that this will be the only device you’ll ever own which appreciates in value. If you ever decided to sell it, it would be the only phone worth its weight in gold. Literally.

Check out our Samsung Galaxy S4 review, then ask yourself if gold is for you. If a mobile device encased in gold is something you’d seriously consider, see a doctor. We’re concerned for your mental well being.

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Official Google+ app hits version 4.0 with Snapseed photo tools and more

Following on from the 41 new Google+ features announced at Google I/O last week, Google has unveiled one more to bring the count up to 42 — a new Google+ app for Android. The new Google+ version 4.0 incorporates many of the photo management and enhancement features of the latest update to G+ on the web. Specifically, Google+ will automatically show you "highlights" of each photo gallery, saving you from digging through large galleries of imperfect shots. It'll also allow you to preview or undo automatic photo enhancements. "Auto-awesome," the tool that lets you create animations or panoramas from still shots, is included as well.

But the biggest news for Google+ photo sharing might be the addition of Snapseed photo enhancements directly within the app. A selection of filters including Drama and Retrolux can be accessed from with in the app, alongside bread-and-butter tweaks like cropping, rotating and exposure changes.

Location sharing is also a bit smarter in Google+ 4.0, allowing you to see friends who are sharing their location directly on a map, in a new "locations" section. Automatic hashtags, added to Google+ on the web last week, makes its way to Android in this latest update too.

The update doesn't seem to have landed on Google Play just yet, but we imagine it'll also retire the stand-alone Google+ messenger app in favor of the integrated Hangouts app released last week.

We'll update this post when the new version starts rolling out, so stay tuned.

Source: Google+ blog

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The latest version of the Google Plus Android app brings some of the features that came last week to the web version.

We now know what kept Vic Gundotra from sleeping last night. After last week brought us a major redesign and no fewer than 41  new features to the web version of Google Plus, the 42^nd feature has just been revealed (with a sweet reference to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy to boot).

The Google Plus Android app has been updated with a series of features that were until now only available on the web version. Check them out.

New photo functionality

• Auto Backup – automatic upload to the cloud, full size
• Auto Highlight – the app will pick the best images from your collection, avoiding blurry shots and duplicates and focusing on  images of people close to you
• Auto Enhance – the app will automatically enhance your images, by improving contrast, fixing under and over exposure, and more
• Auto Awesome – the app will automatically create animations based on similar images on your phone
• New filters based on Snapseed – think Drama, Retro, and Sepia; similar to Snapseed and Instagram

New Locations section

• A new Locations section is available in the left pane
• Google Plus friends that enable shared location will show up on the map, similar to Latitude and Foursquare

Related hashtags

• The app will automatically tag your posts with related tags, like it currently happens on the web version
• Tags can be tapped, which opens a stream of posts related to the hashtag

Others

• One tap Hangouts integration
• Improved notifications
• More profile fields can be edited on mobile

According to Google’s Bradley Horrowitz, the new Google Plus version 4.0 app will roll out throughout the day, so keep an eye open for a notification.

What do you think of the new changes? Do you like the web version of the new Google Plus?

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Verizon smartphone prepaid plans now include bigger data allowances, while keeping unlimited talk and messages in place.

As you may remember, the Verizon smartphone prepaid plans have been made available in February, and you could choose between two options. The smaller plan included unlimited talk and texts and 500MB of data for $60 a month, while the more expensive one, at $70, also had no limits on voice calls and messaging, but included a data allowance of 2GB.

Both plans only worked on Verizon’s 3G network and, if that part hasn’t changed, the good news is that the data you’ll be receiving with each one of them has been increased. The $60 plan will now include 2GB of data, with the $70 one will be offering you 4GB.

If you’re already using one of the two prepaid plans, you’re getting the bigger data allotment right now, according to what Verizon says on its website. However, if you plan on switching to one of the two Verizon smartphone prepaid plans, the new data allowances will only be available to you starting on June 6.

This should be pretty good news if you’re already using one of the two plans, or you’re thinking about taking the Verizon prepaid route in the future.

Do you use a prepaid plan or do you prefer a contract?

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Are you still undecided about whether to buy yourself a swanky new Samsung Galaxy S4? Perhaps Samsung’s latest advertisement for its flagship handset will help you part with your cash. It is, after all, “the next big thing”.

It looks like Samsung has manage to find some form again with this short ad, especially after the disappointing advertisements seen around the launch event for the Galaxy S4. Personally, I think that it tops the selection of ads we saw a couple of weeks ago too, but sadly there’s no Apple mockery this time.

Amusing? Yes I suppose, but will it help you decide if the Galaxy S4 is really the right phone for you? Like many others of it’s kind, this one is meant to showcase a very cool feature, and the S4 is definitely packed with them. If having to touch your phone to pause a video is troublesome, then the S4 may be perfect for you.

If advertisements aren’t your thing, then feel free to check out our own review of the Galaxy S4, which might be a little better at helping you make that all important decision regarding your next handset. It’s a great handset, but like anything Android, there are many other options. Let us know which device you have in the comments section below!

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Google Maps is a go-to source for finding just about anything. The service is so well designed and built, you can go just about anywhere, virtually. Curious if that new restaurant has enough seating for your party of ten? Go inside the establishment via Maps! Everything from street views of local neighborhoods to standing at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial is covered in Google Maps. The only thing we don’t see much of are the great oceans of our planet.

Teaming up with Catlin Seaview Survey, Google is working on mapping the Great Barrier Reef, and has six locations overall currently in the works. Of course, this promises to be just the beginning. The mapping is currently done by humans, taking shifts diving to capture images. The team hopes to create a diverless system that can stay under the ocean surface for 12 hours or better. Driverless cars, diverless dive mapping. How Google-y!

What about the camera? Do they just take a street view backpack system and throw it into a waterproof housing? Not at all. The underwater cameras are specially designed and built for this task, costing about $50,000 each. There are currently four in existence, and Google hopes to map much of the ocean someday. Think of all the interesting photos that would come of underwater mapping! You think a donkey laying down on the side of the road is fun, wait for the giant cephalopods to make their appearance.

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Galaxy Exhibit also tipped for May 29 arrival

With the Samsung Galaxy S4 launch over and done with, T-Mobile USA is looking to bolster its smartphone line-up with an LTE-capable version of the Galaxy S3. T-Mobile internal screenshots obtained by TmoNews show a Jun. 5 launch date for the device. No word on pricing yet, but TmoNews speculates that the carrier will likely replace its current HSPA-only S3 with the new 4G LTE model. T-Mobile currently sells the Galaxy S3 on its instalment plans with a $69.99 down payment.

Alongside the S3 LTE, T-Mobile looks set to debut the Galaxy Exhibit, a phone we first saw leaked back in February. With a dual-core 1GHz CPU and a WVGA screen, the Exhibit looks like T-Mo's answer take on Galaxy S3 Mini. The Exhibit is listed with a May 29 launch date.

Source: TmoNews

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Details about the first Jolla (Sailfish OS) mobile phone in the world have hit the web revealing that the handset is available for pre-order and that it would support Android apps.

The phone will apparently be called the “Jolla” and, according to available information, it will pack a 4.5-inch Estrade display with “HD” resolution (supposedly 720p), unspecified dual-core processor, 16GB of storage, microSD support, 8-megapixel camera with auto-focus and 4G LTE and a user-replaceable battery.

Interestingly, the device comes with various color case options (“The Other Half”) and matches the theme of the handset accordingly, allowing you to set up “your other half, exactly as you want it to be.”

While the Jolla would run the “gesture-based” Sailfish OS, it looks like the handset will be able to also run Android apps. That doesn’t mean that Jolla buyers would immediately be able to install apps from the Google Play Store, as the Android app support is not clearly detailed.

In case Sailfish OS doesn’t ring any bells, you’ll have to know that we’re looking at a mobile operating system based on that old “MeeGo” platform that was unveiled only just over three years ago at MWC 2010 by Intel and Nokia. The Linux-based OS, a result of the merger between Nokia’s Maemo and Intel’s Moblin platforms, was soon ditched by both companies. Nokia focused on Windows Phone while Intel formed a partnership with Samsung to develop Tizen, also a Linux-based mobile platform.

The Jolla will cost €399 and is expected to ship by the end of the year, although actual launch dates are not available at this time.

Interested buyers can pre-order the device for €100 and once they do that they’ll get a voucher of €100 that will be deducted from the phone’s price “at the time of purchase,” an exclusive “Other Half” case that will ship at some point near the Jolla phone’s launch and a Jolla t-shirt. For €40, buyers will also get to pre-order a limited edition Jolla phone and a t-shirt. In case you don’t want to pay anything upfront, you can still pre-order the handset to be among the “very first ones to obtain a genuine Jolla.”

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