Apple launches countdown to 50B app downloads

Apple on Thursday posted a countdown to 50 billion app download from the App Store, promising to give away a $10,000 App Store Gift Card to the person who downloads the landmark app.

First spotted by Macstories, the official countdown ticker is viewable within iTunes under the App Store section. 

From the countdown page:

Apps have revolutionized the way we play video games, consume news, do business, education, communicate, create art, and so much more.

The performance of the App Store has been overwhelming, steadily growing in size and revenues since its launch in 2008. As an example of the store's explosive growth, Apple launched a similar countdown to 1 billion app downloads in April 2009, which was followed by a promotion for the 10 billionth app download in January 2011. Most recently, Apple started a countdown ticker to 25 billion downloads in February 2012, meaning download rates roughly doubled over the past year. 

In addition to the $10,000 gift card for the 50 billionth app download, Apple will also award a $500 App Store Gift Card to the next 50 customers following the momentous download. 

The iTunes page also has an updated list of the top all-time paid and free apps, with respective number ones being Angry Birds and Facebook.

As with any sweepstakes and giveaway in the U.S., no purchase is necessary, and Apple has setup an alternate entry webpage for those who don't wish to buy an app or download a free title. At the time of this writing, the page was still under construction.

Samsung on Galaxy S4 storage complaints: Go buy an SD card

Samsung has some advice for buyers of the 16-gigabyte model of its new Galaxy S4 stung by its low storage space: if that's not enough storage for you, that's why we put in a microSD card slot. 

The 16GB version of Samsung's newest flagship handset has only just over half of its listed memory available for owner use, according to CNet UK. The rest is taken up by the smartphone's operating system and built-in apps. 

"For the Galaxy S4 16GB model," Samsung said in a statement, "approximately 6.85GB occupies [the] system part of internal memory, which is 1GB bigger than that of the Galaxy S3, in order to provide [a] high resolution display and more powerful features to our consumers." 

For users unsatisfied with the 8.49GB or so of free space left to them on the 16GB model, Samsung has a solution:

"To offer the ultimate mobile experience to our users, Samsung provides [a] microSD slot on Galaxy S4 for the extension of memory."

Galaxy S4 owners are able to expand their devices' storage capacity via microSD up to an additional 64GB, bringing the potential total capacity of the device to 80GB — of which 73.15 would be available to the user. That additional space, though, couldn't be used to store apps, as Google removed that capability with Android 4.0. Users would, though, be able to store downloaded books, music, movies, and other files. 

The Galaxy S4 has only about 55 percent of its storage capacity available to the user, as noted byExtremeTech. An iPhone 5 running iOS 6.1, by comparison, will have about 77.5 percent of its capacity available for users. 

Sony Xperia L with 4.3-inch display, 1GB RAM now up for pre-orders at Rs. 18,990

Sony Xperia L is now available for pre-orders in India at Rs. 18,990 on online retailer Infibeam.

The listing suggests a MRP of Rs. 19,990 and a shipping date of May 8 for the device that is available in both Black and White colour options, and the Red variant is not to be seen.

Sony had unveiled the Xperia L back in March alongside the Xperia SP. Sony Xperia L features a 4.3-inch display with a resolution of 480x854 pixels, made of scratch resistant glass. It also sports an 8-megapixel Exmor RS front camera that supports 720p HD video recording and a VGA front facing shooter.

Xperia L is powered by a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8230 dual-core processor alongside 1GB RAM, and has 8GB of internal storage expandable by another 32GB via microSD card. The phone supports NFC functionality and comes with a 1750mAh battery. The company claims that the battery will enable the phone to offer a talk time of up to 8 hours and 30 minutes and standby time of up to 498 hours. Other connectivity options include Wi-Fi, DLNA, 3G, GPS and Micro-USB. The phone runs on Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean).

Sony Xperia L key specifications

• 4.3-inch 480x854 TFT display
• 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8230 dual-core processor
• 8GB internal storage expandable up to 32GB via microSD
• 8-megapixel Exmor RS autofocus camera with LED flash VGA front camera
• 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, EDGE, GPRS, GPS, LTE Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)
• 1,750mAh battery

Samsung Galaxy S Advance gets Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean update

Samsung has announced the roll out of the much-awaited Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean update for its Galaxy S Advance smartphones. Users of the device had a wait which was a bit longer than usual, but, nevertheless, the update is finally here.

The latest Android 4.1 I9070XXLQE brings all the goodness of Jelly Bean to the smartphone along with few improvements, fixes and performance enhancement. The update is currently live in Germany, Poland and Ukraine.

The software upgrade will not work on devices being used in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Unfortunately, there is no official confirmation on when the update will be available in other countries.

LG reportedly confirmed to build the Nexus 5 smartphone

The popular Google Nexus 4 was built by LG and, apart from the early manufacturing mishap, the Korean manufacturer seems to have done its job with the smartphone pretty well.Rumors of the next generation Nexus smartphone are already growing thick and fast and, according to a report from Korea Times, Google has given the task of building the Nexus 5 to LG.

The report claims that Google's CEO Larry Page has been visiting the South Korean company often to discuss the technical aspects. However, there is no official confirmation from Google or LG just yet.

BlackBerry R10 poses for the camera in red and white

A third member of the new BlackBerry family of smartphones has posed for the camera. The BlackBerry R10, as it's called, is going to join the already available Z10 and the Q10, which is soon hitting the market.

The BlackBerry R10 isn't yet announced by the Canadian phone manufacturer, so information is sparse at the moment. The source of the photo adds that it's a "mid tier" handset with a plastic build, which nevertheless feels "nice".

The R10 is destined to sit below the BlackBerry Q10, and is aimed at the BlackBerry OS user who wants a more affordable QWERTY device. According to the person behind the leak, the R10 is scheduled to come out in Q3 this year, but a more specific time slot hasn't been mentioned.

Judging from the photograph above, the R10 will be available in multiple color options. Red and white are among them, given that they appear on the photo. Specifications of the smartphone are yet to be known.

Nokia CEO talks hero device

Nokia CEO, Stephen Elop, and CFO, Timo Ihamuotila, talked to UK’s Mobile Magazine about an upcoming ‘hero’ device (presumably the Lumia 928), a phablet and Nokia’s entire range of devices.

The hero device should launch by the end of June and Nokia is looking for an exclusive partnership with a US carrier to launch it (the talk around town is that there will be an exclusive deal in the UK as well).