Friday, June 7, 2013

Software : Latest Facebook update brings app tray to Home launcher

Software : Latest Facebook update brings app tray to Home launcher

Latest Facebook update brings app tray to Home launcher

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Latest Facebook update brings app tray to Home launcher

Poor Facebook seems to be going in the wrong direction with its Home launcher, adding a much-needed Favorites tray while breaking support for two of the hottest Android smartphones around.

Android Community reported Thursday that the latest update to Facebook for Android appears to be off to a rocky start, at least for owners of certain high-profile handsets.

First the good news: The latest Facebook update released to Google Play yesterday adds welcome new features such as changing the audience for existing posts and sending multiple photos in a single message.

The social network also added bug fixes for Facebook Home users, along with the ability to "customize your app launcher by dragging the apps you use most to a new favorites tray."

Supported no more

While the Facebook Home launcher itself wasn't actually updated, the official Facebook app introduces the ability to add Android apps to a Favorites tray, complete with a row at the bottom available for one-tap use.

Or at least that's the idea: The report claims the update breaks Facebook Home support on the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One, two of the most popular Android smartphones around.

Both handsets received official Facebook Home support in May, suggesting the sudden lack of support is a bug which will soon to be rectified by another update, either to Home itself or the official Facebook app.

On the brighter side, the Facebook update also introduces new privacy settings for what can be shared with Facebook Home, along with always welcome "stability and memory improvements."

Is Instagram finally coming to Windows Phone later this month?

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Is Instagram finally coming to Windows Phone later this month?

Instagram could finally arrive on Windows Phone 8 handsets this month, but it will come with some caveats, a new rumor claims.

Chinese site WPDang - the same site that yesterday leaked previously unseen photos of the Nokia EOS - claimed today that Facebook-owned Instagram will come to WP8 on June 26. Rumor has it the app will even have a photo exclusive filter for Microsoft's OS.

The catch: It will only be available on Nokia phones like the recent Lumia 928, the site says.

That's not surprising, considering the Windows Phone powerhouse that Nokia is, not to mention the fact that it may prove to have been the driving force behind Instagram's arrival on the entire OS. But it will come as a blow to anyone using a non-Nokia WP8 handset like HTC's Windows Phone 8X.

Windows Phone 8 woes

Windows Phone 8 is a fine mobile operating system, but it hasn't been embraced to anywhere near the degree that Apple's iOS and Google's Android have.

Granted, those two have had a head start, but with only 5.6 percent of the U.S. market compared to Android's 51.7 percent and iOS's 41.4 percent, Windows Phone 8 has some catching up to do.

Part of the blame certainly lies with some key apps missing from the WP8 ecosystem - not least of which is Instagram.

Instagram's appearance on Windows Phone 8 would be a major boon to Microsoft if it does come to pass. After that all the OS will need is Vine - which finally arrived on Android this week - for avid social media users to start taking it more seriously.

Meanwhile, a native Instagram app may never make it to BlackBerry 10 - another struggling mobile OS - at all.

Swype-like Google Keyboard app graduates from Nexus to Play Store

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Swype-like Google Keyboard app graduates from Nexus to Play Store

Popular, gesture-based Android keyboard apps Swype and SwiftKey now have a competitor in the form of Google's homemade Google Keyboard app, which arrived on the Play Store this week.

The free app, which had previously been the stock keyboard on the company's Nexus smartphones and tablets, is now available to all Android devices carrying Ice Cream Sandwich or Jelly Bean.

Like the aforementioned third-party apps, Google's solution relies on using swiping between letters to form words rather than tapping a single key at a time.

The app also brings automatic error correction, next word prediction and, for those for those who would rather not use their fingers at all, there's voice typing using the phone's microphone.

Coming to Key Lime Pie?

It is somewhat surprising that the launch of the app has taken until now, but nonetheless, it will come as a blow to the developers of Swype and SwiftKey, who have established the swipe-to-type feature with their own popular apps.

It'll be interesting to see whether there's now a mass adoption of Google's own solution following its somewhat limited availability on Nexus devices.

It now also seems likely that this will be the stock option whenever Google launches the long awaited new version of its Android OS dubbed Key Lime Pie. Stay tuned.

  • Have you heard about the stock Android HTC One? If it sounds oh so vanilla (in a good way), check out the details.
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