Archive for the 'Android' Category

One universal charger for all cell phones

Published on August 4, 2010 by Andre in Android, Apple, FriendCaller, Nokia, Technology News, Tips and Tricks, iPhone 4 and iPhone and iPod VoIP. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , .

Snows of yesteryear!

Good news for consumers: all strong-selling phone suppliers determined universal chargers for the beginning of 2011. Indeed, this arrangement is only valid in the EU-States, but it is not improbable that it will expend worldwide.

The new charger is equipped with a special USB plug fitting to all marketable cell phones, which will be sold after January 2011. The universal chargers are not just more user friendly. In fact, they will be friendlier to the environment. According to statements of the EU spokesman this change will procure that 1000 tons of electrical waste will be dropped out yearly, since it will be possible in the future to continue using the chargers with a new phone.  In addition to this, households will have chance to share chargers.Nokia, Apple, LG, Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson are the participating firms.

In Future, one charger will be sufficient to have enough battery to use the mobile FriendCaller App !

No Chance for illegal apps – Google introduces Androids new “licensing service”

Published on July 29, 2010 by Andre in Android, Android app, Features, General, Technology News and Tips and Tricks. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Thats how it works!

Google announced that there will be a licensing service for applications in the Android Market Place to shield that Apps can be copied and spread without charges.  That way Google reacts on the sustained criticism of many developers that it is to easy for users to exchange apps illegally.

In the future the licensing service will synchronize the data with the Google server to detect if users are legitimized to use the software. If the opposite is true the app will withdraw the service.

So you can be glad that the FriendCaller App, which enables you free international calls, is for free!

Androids Market Place increased tenfold

Published on July 15, 2010 by Andre in Android, Android app, Technology News and Tips and Tricks. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , .

Googles Android: iPhones greatest competition.

The number of Apps for Googles Smartphone Software Android grows at express speed. The quantity of new added software has been increasing month to month for a year and now the mark of 90.000 Apps is passed. In June 2009 the number of new added applications amounted to about 1700 and in June 2010 it were nearly  already 17000 new software-apps, which means that the market place could decuple in a year.

This trend might continue in the future, since its no more than mid-July and there are already 10.000 new apps in the market place this month.  Based on this expansion rate there might be a million software downloads from android users right now.

Needless to say FriendCaller also offers an application for Android. For this reason Android users also have the chance to benefit from FriendCallers cheap prices for international phone calls.

Google wants to enter a new market

Published on July 6, 2010 by Andre in Android, Android app, Browser Based VoIP, Technology News, Tips and Tricks, Travel with iPhone and iPod touch, facebook, facebook web phone, iPad, iPhone 4 and iPhone and iPod VoIP. 0 Comments

Google wants to simplify buying online flight tickets!

Google wants to buy an enterprise called ITA Software, which offers the possibility to search for flights, prices and free seats. The firm also provides Microsoft’s search engine Bing.  Whether the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proceeds against this purchase is not known right now. The purchase price of ITA amounts approximately 700 million U.S. dollars.

Google declared that they are looking forward to the collaboration, that they will respect all existing contracts and that they do not have the intention to start selling flight tickets. If the deal is clinched they want to develop new tools to search for flights. These tools shell simplify to compare prices and to buy the tickets.

However Media experts expect that the FCC will definitely intervene, since ITA provides global players like Microsoft, Kayak, Orbitz or Expedia with their flight data.

Interesting for people, who fly often is also the possibility to call for free over the Internet. The VoIP-Supplier FriendCaller offers this for the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad or Android. By the way, the software can also be used in a browser without downloading a client.

Apple released iOS 4

Published on June 24, 2010 by socialmedia in Android, Browser Based VoIP, Features, General, Technology News, Tips and Tricks, VoIP Freedom, iPad, iPhone and iPod VoIP and iTunes App Store. 0 Comments

Apple's new firmware.

Yesterday Apple released its new firmware iOS4, which enables recent functions. But the most important innovations are the Multitasking and the Folders function.

Multitasking allows us to run apps and switch between them instantly without slowing down the performance of the foreground app or draining the battery unnecessarily. Authorized for multitasking are for example navigation-applications as well as audio streaming services or VoIP-Clients. But currently this is slightly problematic due to most producers have not updated their applications yet.

A folder in iOS 4 is a group of apps you access by tapping a single icon on your iPhone’s Home screen. When you tap a folder, which sports an icon that includes miniature versions of the icons of the apps inside, along with a name intended to describe the folder’s contents the dock fades and slides down, and the main Home-screen area fades and slides up to make room for a view of the folder’s contents. This view shows the name and full-size icon of each app. Tap on any app to launch it, or tap anywhere outside the folder area to close the folder and return to the Home screen.

Other notable new features are Spell Checking, a built-in dictionary, which automatically suggests words and corrects spelling. IBooks, a great ebook reader, which is also a place to browse and shop for books. And finally the possibility to create a playlists right on your iPhone.

But you should also know that many users claim that they met with several problems updating their software. Most of them complain about crashes when opening the photo album or apps. Moreover they had problems to backup their data. Nevertheless the free software update for the iPhone or iPod Touch can be found and installed on iTunes.

iPhone, iPad and iPod touch conversion in to a FREE VoIP phone

Published on June 7, 2010 by Shabaz in Android, Android app, Tips and Tricks, VoIP Freedom, iPad, iPhone and iPod VoIP and iTunes App Store. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

cut down phone billsWould you like to cut down the huge phone bills your iPhone or iPad operator sends you every month? Would you like to pay only the monthly base contract price and get rid of all the call charges applicable on your contract every month? We bet anyone would like to do that as soon as possible. The solution is to use the evolutionary Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology. With VoIP you can call anyone on the Internet for FREE, and can make cheap calls to any mobile or landline worldwide.

FriendCaller VoIP app running in backgroundFriendCaller ranks among Top 10 apps in the Social Networking category in app stores around the world. One can download the free app for his/her iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, and can make full use of the VoIP technology. Not to forget, FriendCaller is also available for Android. And the advantage for Android users is that they can use FriendCaller app on Android as a background service. This means that they can use their Android as they like; play games, browse Internet, watch movies, listen songs or use any other application, and side by side FriendCaller runs in the background, converting a normal cellular android phone in to a full featured VoIP phone. One can receive and make calls anytime and won’t have to quit current activity. Whereas, in case of Apple products, like iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, 3rd party application can not run in the background, and one has to quit the current activity to make a call or receive one.

The problem to convert the iPhone, iPad or the iPod touch in to a full featured VoIP phone has now been resolved. With the new release of Apple’s OS 4.0, multitasking is no more a problem now. Now you can make and receive calls on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch anytime, and you won’t have to quit the current application. This new multitasking feature of OS 4.0 makes using the iPhone or iPad so much easy, and finally any one can convert their device in to a full featured VoIP phone for FREE, and forget about the expensive cellular calling plans of their operators.

FriendCaller OS4.0 background Incoming call via FriendCaller running in background

Soon, you will be able to experience FriendCaller on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch on OS 4.0. Please note that multitasking is only possible via OS 4.0 on iPad (all versions), iPod touch (3rd Generation only), and iPhone (3GS models only). Above you can see screenshots of FriendCaller on the new OS 4.0 running as a background app, and an incoming call notification. Stay tuned, and not long from now, you can enjoy it too :)

Finally the Android 2.2 makes app update handy

Published on May 31, 2010 by Shabaz in Android, Android app, Features and Technology News. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

froyoNot long ago we blogged about the Android’s lack of updating apps, like sometimes skipping updates and the missing feature of updating all apps in one go. Our support team faced several complaints from Android users like why FriendCaller’s features are claimed but not provided. Each time we have to convince our Android users to manually update the app, as we all knew that Android’s capability of updating apps is not so friendly. Sometimes the OS looks for updates on a regular basis but most of the times even after several updates by the developers, the OS fails to look for an available update from developers.

android 2.2 update all

Android's 2.2 Update All apps feature

Looks like the problem have been solved now. We are happy to welcome the latest release of Android 2.2 which solved our app updating issue. Android 2.2 users can now navigate to their downloads and select the option Allow Automatic Updating check-box for any particular app they want to update automatically. This new feature is far more better than what the previous version of Android OS offered, where a user had to navigate to the Downloads and then check whether there was any update available for a particular app or not.

The best part is that the new 2.2 version of Android OS allows the user to update all the apps in one go by simply clicking the Update All button in Downloads. iPhone users have been a bit proud uptil now because of the iPhone having the Update all button since the beginning, and Android not. But, now it seems that Android users can enjoy more freedom in updating apps and can prevent the tedious task of updating each app manually and separately.

Now is the time when Google should start focusing to pimp its Android Marketplace which lacks a lot what Apple’s App Store has to offer currently.

To learn more about the new features of Android 2.2, watch the video below:

Android OS edged out Apple OS

Published on May 11, 2010 by Shabaz in Android, Technology News and iPhone and iPod VoIP. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

Smartphone market shareAccording to a recent press relase by the npdgroup, the android operating system continued to shake up the U.S. mobile phone market in the first quarter (Q1) of 2010. npdgroup’s research revealed that the RIM’s OS (Blackberry) stands 36 percent, and Android OS moved into the second position at 28 percent, leaving behind the Apple’s OS on 3rd position at 21 percent.

Smartphones Market Share Q1 2010“As in the past, carrier distribution and promotion have played a crucial role in determining smartphone market share,” said Ross Rubin, executive director of industry analysis for npdgroup. “In order to compete with the iPhone, Verizon Wireless has expanded its buy-one-get-one offer beyond RIM devices to now include all of their smartphones.”

The strong selling of Droid, Droid Eris, and the Blackberry Curve via such promotions helped Verizon Wireless’s smartphone sales on par with AT&T in Q1 of 2010.

“Recent previews of BlackBerry 6, the recently announced acquisition of Palm by HP, and the pending release of Windows Phone 7 demonstrates the industry’s willingness to make investments to address consumer demand for smartphones and other mobile devices,” Rubin said. “Carriers continue to offer attractive pricing for devices, but will need to present other data-plan options to attract more customers in the future.”

Its time for Apple to shift to a multioperator strategy in U.S., and take control of the smartphones market share. Not to forget that recent lawsuit papers filed against Android by Apple revealed Apple’s 5 year contract with AT&T which is now going to end in early 2011.

Developer Frustration with Android Market

Published on May 6, 2010 by Shabaz in Android, Android app and iTunes App Store. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .
Android Shopping Bag

Developers view: Empty Android shopping bag

We have been very frank in the past about the challenges we have been experiencing with the iTunes App Store, the approval process and we have reported about the great progress Apple Inc. made. In the beginning there was no love lost between Apple and iPhone VoIP apps: We had to wait for weeks to get our FriendCaller VoIP processed and more than one time they were rejected with rather obscure reasons. That changed. iTunes approval is now very fast, and updates to our FriendCaller apps are approved within days even the fact of iPad drastically increasing the approval workload.

Now it is time for developers like us to call on Google Inc. to made improvements to the Android Market. The good news first: There is no approval process, you upload the app and it goes Online in a matter of minutes. The bad news: there is almost nothing else either, the web version of the Android Market provides the feel that it was created on one weekend and then abandoned. It has

  • No Web preview, very limited app screen shot space and descriptions
  • No complete web store to speak of, a few example for each categories only
  • No proper app statistics, demographics etc for developers
  • No web review of user comments and ratings or browsing through stores
  • Ok, this is my favorite and I believe it is really funny: you can not even search the Android Market web version, believe it or not, yes you can not!

It gets a little better when one visits the market through an Android phone, but only a little. What puzzles us is the question that why the store has been neglected for so long? Google is famous for creating superior products, like think of Analytics, AdWord, Gmail, Google docs, Orkut, etc. Then how come Android Developers are to suffer from the fragmentation of OS version and the lack for common hardware standards like screen resolutions.

Our FriendCaller VoIP Android version is available on the store and still is in BETA. So it is an early effort, but it is very apparent that the Android market place is a way too behind the Apple iTunes store, and it is only able to deliver a small fraction of what iTunes has to offer.

A message to Google: there is some catch up to do on Android Market. As far as developers are concerned, we don’t see much interest developing there, and only see empty shopping bags.

QR bar codes – Scan and get all you want

Published on April 13, 2010 by Shabaz in Android, Android app, Features, Technology News and iPhone and iPod VoIP. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , .
qr bar code

FriendCaller QR bar code

QR Code is basically a two-dimensional bar code which is now used by most of the mobile applications, magazines and newsletters, labels on marketed products and knowledge based websites. QR stands for Quick Response. They were basically created by a Japenese corporation Denso in 1994.

These codes have the ability to be scanned by bar code scanning apps, and provide the information/action encoded within them. On an Android phone, a free bar code scanner app, like ‘Barcode Scanner‘ by Zxing Team can be used to scan a QR code straight from the Android phone’s camera. The application can also be used on iPhones, Blackberry and other J2ME cell phones.

Once you have installed the Barcode Scanner, all you have to do is launch the app, and your camera will be automatically activated. Just hold your cell phone in front of the bar code you wish to read, and the app will read it in a moment. The information source encoded inside the bar code, will be decoded and you will get all you want to know.

This revolutionary use of bar codes allow developers to encode any kind of information or action. A bar code on a product label in a supermarket can tell nutrition info, price, etc. Similarly a bar code on a business card can contain extended information about the contact person, or company. Perhaps a bar code on a paid media streaming website can allow new customers to preview trailers in advance. The possibilities are endless.

FriendCaller barcode android install

Similarly, FriendCaller VoIP app can also be installed on an Android in the same manner. On Android page, you can scan the bar code and download the app rite away. There is no need to search for an app, no need to filter results again and again, just scan and get all you want.