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Facebook Messenger Is Bringing SMS Support Back

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SMS texting will be available on Messenger

It seems that Facebook Messenger is bringing SMS support back now that they’re sure their messaging platform will not be out staged by the old school system. Admittedly, their plans worked.

  • Facebook Messenger had SMS support, but dropped it in 2013
  • They will start testing the SMS support for a limited amount of users in the U.S.
  • SMS will appear with purple, instead of the regular blue
  • The feature will likely only be available for Android devices

When first introduced, Facebook Messenger already had support for SMS, the good ol’ texting system that most have relinquished by now. It’s all about messaging apps, and with titans such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger taking advantage of the almighty and all-around WiFi, they have pushed SMS to the back. However, that was not always the case.

Thus, back in 2013, Facebook decided to drop their Messenger’s support for SMS. It was done for the purpose of keeping users as long on their platform as possible. After all, why use Facebook Messenger for SMS when your phone’s default system worked just fine and it was familiar? The social media giant believed that not a lot of users would make use of their SMS support system. In fact, most found it redundant. Texting was texting, and IM-ing was IM-ing. There was no need to merge the two worlds or data plans.

However, the time has come to return to that support now that Facebook Messenger is confident in their 800 million user database. Now, it’s their platform that people are accustomed to. So, it’s the right time to bring back SMS support, as people are, in fact, more likely to stick with Messenger. Facebook built trust, gained users, and now believes their platform could defeat a smartphone’s default texting system.

Some users in the United States might already start seeing the integration happening on their app. In fact, they will be able to begin sending an SMS to others, which is especially important for those who do not have a Facebook account. Even if they’re not on the social media platform and don’t have Facebook Messenger installed, the app will still be relevant among users. It’s especially clever to start rolling out this feature now.

But, as Facebook declared, their aim is to keep a line of communication open among everyone. They are “always trying to create new ways for people to communicate seamlessly”. So far, they must be doing something right, especially since Facebook also owns WhatsApp, which is the world’s most popular messaging app, recently topping 1 billion users.

Users will start noting the difference between the regular “Write a message” and “Write a SMS”, which will also be differentiated in coloring. The Facebook blue bubble will appear for regular messages through the app, and a purple one for SMS. The move to bring back is also in line with the company’s 2016 vision of eliminating phone numbers.

The feature will only be available for Android, and it’s unlikely that it will ever appear for iOS. This is due to the fact that the operating system itself must be modified to allow this, and Android is known to show much more flexibility.

 Image source: digitaltrends.com

No Android update Release Date for Samsung Galaxy S5, Other Devices

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The new update will do quite a lot for you, but s’mores are sadly not on the list

Few things are more personal than out mobile devices. Be they smart phones or tablets, they are part of our everyday lives much more than many other things. So of course we want the next software update as soon as possible so that our portable devices run to the best of their capacities. Sadly for some users, there was no Android update release date for Samsung Galaxy S5, other devices.

  • The new software update is entitled Marshmallow
  • Android Marshmallow in only available as a beta version for Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge users in South Korea and the UK
  • Android users are excited because of all the app permissions the update will allow
  • You can update your Samsung Galaxy S5 device yourself, via custom ROM
  • A great many new features will accompany the new Marshmallow Android update

Currently, unfortunately for worldwide Android users, the new software update will only be available in South Korea and the UK, as a beta test, exclusively to Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge users.

But if you are one of the lucky few to actually fit the criteria, you might have already received a message from Android asking you if you want to participate in the beta test.

And after all the good things that were already leaked about the new platform, you should most definitely go for it.

If you happen to be busy and unable to commit to the long update or maybe just tired after a long work day, you can just leave the phone to complete its update while you’re sleeping, with the new ‘install overnight’ feature.

Aside from all the tiny interface tweaks and the over 200 emojis that accompany the update, the Marshmallow’s best feature will be those related to functionality.

Doze is one of those very useful new features, as the power saver can extend your phone’s battery life by up to 30%.

But the biggest feature awaited by the fans, aside from the myriad of other less important or useful, but not all bad to have features, just happens to be the huge permissions unlock that will accompany the Marshmallow software update.

The new Android version will come with almost fully customizable permissions, allowing you to change the settings required by the apps you install to whatever you please.

Gone will be the days when apps demanded things of you and refused to be installed unless you did exactly what they asked.

With the new update, you can install whatever apps you want, and allow them whatever permissions you deem worthy. You will indeed be king of your domain… as long as that domain is your device.

Image source: Pixabay

Kodak to launch a smartphone in 2015

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Kodak has risen once again like the proverbial Phoenix from the ashes and is going to take another shot at business and will create a smartphone based on the Android technology and its very own Kodak photo technology.

Kodak claims that the smartphone it will create will have what it calls “best-in-class image management software and features” and will appeal immensely to customers who are looking for a “high-end experience.”

Kodak is also believed to be developing a new tablet and a connected camera. All the three devices will hit the shelves by the second half of 2015. The hardware aspect will be taken care of by British firm Bullit.

Kodak

Oliver Schulte, CEO Bullitt Mobile said, “Kodak is one of the world’s most recognizable brands. It is trusted by consumers as a marquee of quality and innovation. We’ve taken that heritage and used it to inspire a range of beautifully designed devices that will let users take great pictures and edit, share, store and print them in an instant.”

Besides the camera experience, Kodak has not talked much about the software or the hardware though it did say that it will have “great design and UI” for customers.

It is not clear if Kodak will primarily focus on the camera aspect of the smartphone much akin to the Samsung Galaxy Zoom, or whether Kodak will offer an all-round package to compete with flagship devices.

Choosing Bullit for hardware and manufacturing means that the supply will be limited as the British firm does not have the capacity like Foxconn and Pegatron. It will be smart thinking on the part of Kodak to focus more on the camera aspect because its name means a lot in the world of photography but does not carry much weight in the smartphone sector.

Amazon’s Troubled Fire Phone Gets a Huge Update

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Amazon has not hung its boots on Fire Phone yet. Fire Phone got a meaty update on Friday which brings along a host of functions which will endear it to its users.

The latest update adds to the Firefly feature and now it could recognize more than 2000 paintings. It will use the information available on Wikipedia to do this. Text translations have been enhanced and are now available for English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

A new addition is the best shot option which takes pictures just before and after you press the shutter. So users will now have three options to choose from.

The update also boasts a number of new fixes and this includes improved battery life, option to add custom ringtones and option to block phone numbers. Users can also choose and download dozens of keyboard languages.

Amazon-Fire-phone

Despite the reported failure of Fire Phone (just 1% of the U.S. market share), Amazon is reported to be working feverishly to release the next iteration of Fire Phone some time in 2016. According to an anonymous source, Amazon has shelved a phone it had been working on for months and gone back to the drawing board stage.

It is an apparent case of once bitten and twice shy. Amazon has burnt its fingers with the launch of its Fire Phone and this has been accepted by none other than Amazon Senior Vice President of Devices David Limp who told Fortune in October, “We didn’t get the price right. I think people come to expect a great value, and we sort of mismatched expectations. We thought we had it right. But we’re also willing to say, ‘we missed.’ And so we corrected.”

It could be Amazon’s second and only chance to become a major player in the smartphone market. It will be facing stiff competition from its Android, iOS and Windows Phone based rivals.

BlackBerry Developing a Self-Destructing Smartphone with Boeing

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Canadian mobile company BlackBerry LTD is working in partnership with Boeing Company to develop a smartphone which self destructs if it is tampered with by someone other than the user.  The device will be known as Boeing Black.

BlackBerry CEO John Chen said on a conference call held to discuss its mixed third quarter results, “We’re pleased to announce that Boeing is collaborating with BlackBerry to provide a secure mobile solution for Android devices utilizing our BES 12 platform. That, by the way, is all they allow me to say.”

The Boeing Black smartphone encrypts calls and is aimed at federal agencies where data and communication security is of paramount importance. The device has a dual SIM setup and can be programmed to access biometric sensors and satellites.

Boeing-Black-BlackBerry-BES-12

BES is a mobile device management platform and it will enable enterprises to police cross-platform devices, including those running Android and iOS.

There have been talks about a hush-hush smartphone being developed by Boeing in close cooperation with BlackBerry. The device in question is very strange – Firstly it is a device which is based on an Android platform it is made in cooperation between two entities that are alike as chalk and cheese. Again it is very hush-hush affair and details are terribly scarce.

Whatever is the outcome of this new partnership, it is welcome news for BlackBerry which is deep in red. Security was one of the key features of the BlackBerry platform and it had closely worked with the establishment earlier. The military is interested in smartphones though Android seems to be the preferred platform. It is a good sign that BlackBerry is willing to work with Android and there are future prospects which BlackBerry can pursue to allay its woes.

 

Microsoft acquires cross-platform mobile app power with HockeyApp

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Microsoft has added one more cross-platform mobile application to its toolset. Microsoft has just acquired a small German software company which specializes in crash analysis and beta testing of mobile applications. The company, HockeyApp is to be integrated into Microsoft’s very own Visual Studio Online, a hosted service for managing the lifecycles of applications being developed by teams of programmers.

Somasegar, Microsoft corporate vice president overseeing the company’s developer division, in a blog item posted Thursday announcing the purchase wrote, “Integrating HockeyApp crash reports with Application Insights usage analytics will extend device support for Application Insights across all major mobile platforms and make application analytics an ambient part of the application development cycle.”

HockeyApp’s service is based in Stuttgart, Germany and it offers services which greatly help in the development of mobile applications. Developers are given exhaustive reports of what went wrong and this information could be integrated with bug tracking systems. HockeyApp also serves as a platform for disseminating beta versions of apps, which collects user feedback on how well the app performs.

HockeyApp

HockeyApp also gives a combined interface which can handle Apple iOS, Android and Windows Phone platforms with equal ease. It also serves Microsoft’s goal in recent times to build a development environment not only for Microsoft Windows, but for other platforms as well.

HockeyApp came into existence in 2011 and its services are much akin to Apple’s TestFlight, which Apple acquired in 2012 when it purchased Burstly. Apple had severed support for TestFlight for applications which so not run on iOS platform, something which will not happen with HockeyApp according to Somasegar.

Till HockeyApp is fully incorporated into Application Insights, developers have been asked to try the service as a stand-alone offering.

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