Are patent wars defining Android’s future? INQ has enjoyed modest success in the mobile phone market, firstly as the manufacturer of the early ‘Skype phones’ and more recently the Android-powered INQ Cloud Touch . The latter smartphone featured an innovative UI on top of the normal Android OS, and was considered the main selling point of the device – but last month INQ took the curious step of releasing its interface to the Android market for free. The interface basically takes the normal Facebook app for Android, splits it into separate parts (such as People, Events and Notifications) and also comes with a full screen widget to show you pictures and statuses together in a constantly updating scrolling window.
Twitter has recently added the ability to post images to the social network via MMS. For a long time, fans of the micro-blogging social network have been able to post status updates via SMS, by sending a message to a preset number that corresponds to their country. Now, users can upload images to the service in exactly the same way – just attach an image to your message, and send it to the same number. The image will appear in your Twitter feed in seconds, just as if you’d uploaded it using an iPhone app
Angry Birds is one of the hottest downloads in the App Store; Rovio has experienced over 350 million downloads of this popular game. The silly slingshot bird game is moving into other areas of pop culture such as stuffed toys, Halloween costumes , clothing and now possibly Starbucks? Bloomberg recently reported that Angry Birds creator, Rovio Entertainment, is in conversation with Starbucks and other retailers. The goal is to bring the virtual world of Angry Birds into the real world by providing their gear, making a movie and partnering with retailers
The Google Books iOS app ( which was removed from the App Store due to in-app purchasing issues , and then reappeared soon after ) has recently received an update. Now, the e-book reading application allows users to manage the contents of their digital library, and the formatting of e-books is much improved. Furthermore, the latest version of Google Books also boasts new accessibility features
Fifteen months after its debut, the iPad’s dominance of the tablet market has never been tested, despite a steady onslaught of would-be competitors. That could soon change with the arrival of the Amazon Tablet. This assessment isn’t ours, but rather that of TechCrunch ’s MG Siegler