apps

Google Hires Bouncer For Android Market Party

by Paul Joseph February 3, 2012 Featured

Google’s Android ecosystem has been getting a lot of flak since malicious apps were discovered in the Android Market last year. Google had to remotely swipe off these entire app from every user’s phone. Besides the fact that kind of access into my personal phone is a little creepy, this ‘remote swiping’ did not actually offer a solution since Google would find out about these apps only after they had infected user’s phone. Now, Google has announced that they may have finally have the solution to this problem it’s called the ‘Bouncer’. The Bouncer is a server side application which scours the apps that have been submitted to the Market to find out about any malicious activity. This service will not only check for new applications but will also scan pre-existing apps. “Device activations grew 250% year-on-year, and the total number of app downloads from Android Market topped 11 billion,” Hiroshi Lockheimer, VP of engineering, posted on the Google Mobile Blog . “As the platform continues to grow, we’re focused on bringing you the best new features and innovations — including in security.” “ Here’s how it works: once an application is uploaded, the service immediately starts analyzing it for known malware, spyware and trojans. It also looks for behaviors that indicate an application might be misbehaving, and compares it against previously analyzed apps to detect possible red flags. We also analyze new developer accounts to help prevent malicious and repeat-offending developers from coming back.” Google is basically simulating all the new and old apps on its Cloud infrastructure and seeing if the app is malicious or does anything out of the ordinary. Google is best known for automating things and processes. They have always placed a heavy emphasis on  machine learning and this is quite evident in their search engine. Android also features something called as ‘ sandboxing ’ which does not allow one instance of a running app to interact with other other apps or components on your phone. This same technology is present in their Chrome OS . Here’s a excerpt from the blog which talks about Android’s security features: In addition to using new services to help prevent malware, we designed Android from the beginning to make mobile malware less disruptive. In the PC model, malware has more potential to misuse your information. We learned from this approach, designing Android for Internet-connected devices. Some of Android’s core security features are: Sandboxing : The Android platform uses a technique called “sandboxing” to put virtual walls between applications and other software on the device. So, if you download a malicious application, it can’t access data on other parts of your phone and its potential harm is drastically limited. Permissions : Android provides a permission system to help you understand the capabilities of the apps you install, and manage your own preferences. That way, if you see a game unnecessarily requests permission to send SMS, for example, you don’t need to install it. Malware removal : Android is designed to prevent malware from modifying the platform or hiding from you, so it can be easily removed if your device is affected. Android Market also has the capability of remotely removing malware from your phone or tablet, if required. No security approach is foolproof, and added scrutiny can often lead to important improvements. Our systems are getting better at detecting and eliminating malware every day, and we continue to invite the community to work with us to keep Android safe. Android, as a mobile operating system was considered less safe when compared to Apple’s stringent process of App approval. With Bouncer, Google seems to have killed that fear.  This has been hailed by many as a welcome move for Android and the community of users especially with the Android usage and app consumption rising high in India. Let us see how hackers and malicious coders get around this new security measure. Tell us why in the comments box. Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency Related Posts If Mobile Apps Shape Who We Are..Indians Mean Business Google Unveils Faster Chrome, Web Store and Chrome OS Pilot Google Looking At India, China For Android Growth Facebook Finally Acknowledges That It Faces Competition: But Who Has Better Advantage Of Them All? BlackBerry Losing Its Grip On The Market Share?

Tagged as: apps, bouncer, international, malicious apps, mobile, news, security, technology, web

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The Booming Indian App Market: Will The Future Remain Stable?

by Paul Joseph January 17, 2012 Featured

India is progressing by leaps and bounds in the mobile app business according to BBC News report . The scale of the mobile business is still small but it is surely growing big. The BBC speculates that industry might be worth some $4 billion in a few years. Recently, we showed you how leading Indian Telecom Companies have a posted a rise on their subscriber’s list. We have now had  nearly 900 million mobile subscribers which is huge amount of people. Of course, as a country we have been slow to adapt to mobile technology but given the volume of the market, this is an excellent time for entrepreneurs and marketers to capitalize on the fact that more and more people in India are using their mobile phones in their day to day affairs. A growing faction in this list of mobile subscribers is the smart phone users who may total nearly 12 million people according this  article  in Trak.in. Android smartphones have continued their stellar growth worldwide this year and our country has a significant contribution to that. Combined with iOS, Symbian and the Blackberry platforms this represents a lot of people shifting over to apps. Smartphones platforms have driven the increased downloads and consumption of apps in India. Social Networking is a huge part of that app consumption when you realize that more and more people are using Facebook and Twitter on the go. Hence, these companies have put more focus on mobile apps which shows in the recent updates to both social network’s mobile experience. Social networking aside it is now mandatory for most Indian businesses to have an ‘app’. With the introduction of the low-cost Aakash tablet, the concept of apps will be even more widespread in the country. Now we still have to wait for better internet infrastructure since 3G has still not permeated very deep in the India. Mobile apps in India are still in their infancy and have still not achieved the seriousness and creativity of apps made internationally, but we are improving by the day. With the launch of apps like Mumbai on the go , m-indicator , Zomato etc. we are getting there fast. Which apps are you using? Do let us know in the comments. Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency Related Posts Now Count Your Calories With Sugar Free’s New Mobile App If Mobile Apps Shape Who We Are..Indians Mean Business Google Looking At India, China For Android Growth Announcing The Shortlisted Nominees For WAT Awards 2012! UTV Indiagames Crosses 50 Million Game Downloads: Nokia Getting Stronger?

Tagged as: apps, india, mobile, mobile-apps, news, technology, web

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Innovative Apps Bridging The Technology Gap Of Rural India Recognizing Its Needs

by Paul Joseph September 19, 2011 Featured

“ Going Rural ” is fast becoming the buzzword for App developers, and the only way to succeed is by giving the rural demographic a differentiated product which caters to their need instead of just palming off the usual “urban” apps. Assisting farmers to control their motors, teaching new languages, etc. are some of the ideas which have been conceptualized. Around 850 million active subscribers provide a ready market waiting for something more local . Nokia has started a contest which encourages developers to design such indigenous applications, with the added bonus of a chance to work with the company’s app developers for the winners. Samsung has started Innovation Quotient , an annual event which will eventually bring resourceful technology to its customers. The “Kisan Raja” Designed by Bangalore-based Vinfinet Technologies, Kisan Raja is a GSM-based controller which helps farmers to control irrigation pumps using mobile and even landline phones. This was the first runner-up in Samsung’s Innovation Quotient. “The biggest challenges for farmers are timely and adequate water supply, irregular power supply or load shedding. The solution addresses such problems by using a mobile phone and an IVR system in-built into Kisan Raja,” says Vijay Bhaskar Reddy, CEO and MD of Vinfinet Technologies. The Kisan Raja box sits between the supply mains and the starter of water pumps. A mobile SIM is used, which can be controlled through a mobile phone. The box also has a built-in interactive voice response (IVR) system that helps farmers choose options like remote power on/off and checking power availability. At a reasonable Rs 5,000 per unit, there have been around 100-150 buyers in southern India. The “Pitara” At Nokia’s Bhasha 2011, a group of Bangalore-based students came up with an application-cum-service called ‘Pitara’, which encourages the use of vernacular languages and will prove to be a huge hit among the older generations. Pitara is designed to allow users to record and upload their stories through a mobile phone. It would then be available for users to navigate through it, with a bilingual dictionary for further clarification . The story is available in audio-cum-text format. “Niche” Apps are also on the way We previously described niche social networking sites as a growing means of meeting people with common interests and 28-year-old Karan Pahwa from Hissar, Delhi has used this strategy by starting his CarTalk community on RockeTalk; a mobile social networking platform. The talk show is held every Tuesday, and has people participating from across India to discuss everything under the sun with regards to Automobiles. We are loving these new innovations, as they are bringing the benefits of advances in technology to a bunch of people who really require modernized gadgetry to drag them into the e-Revolution . It’s good to see companies recognizing differentiated needs for rural India, and it is safe to say these innovative Apps will be finally be able to be resourceful , instead of just another pointless means of entertainment.   Which type  of Innovative Apps would you like to see benefit the rural population? Tell us.

Tagged as: apps, author, ideas, kisan-raja, mobile, news, niche social networking, rural 3g, rural telephony scheme, rural-india, samsung, technology

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Mobile App Download Reaches 5Million In Asia-Pacific, Says Analyst Firm Ovum

by Paul Joseph September 12, 2011 Featured

We all love apps and there are apps for almost everything no matter which platform you use you can always use an app for getting on to Facebook , Twitter,  to manage your notes or even just see weather forecasts. According to analyst firm Ovum predicts that mobile app download in Asia Pacific region will hit 5 billion by the end of year 2011 compared to just 1.6 billion in 2010. Moreover, the firm predicts that by 2016 this number will reach all the way to 14 billion downloads . To add to this paid mobile app download will be around $871 million by the end of 2011 , which looks to reach $2.2 billion in 2016. Another big shifts is seen in the platform wise segregation of downloads for the first time ever drive by penetration in low price segment and increasing popularity Android is all set to topple iOS (Apple) for the numero-uno spot.  Android numbers will be 1.8 billion downloads by the end of year while iOS will be left 1.5 billion while till last year both were 244 million and 424 million respectively. To add to this Android will have around 6.07 billion downloads as opposed to just 3.4 billion by 2016.  Recently, many app are brought out by Skype , IMImobile , Google , Samsung , etc. While the battle for top two spots is decided Ovum predicts that number 3 spot might be taken over by Windows phone platform, which as of now is where Blackberry is placed. Hence, for the consumer these numbers and position shifting means companies will put greater efforts which will lead to better apps and better services. Let the battle begin! By: Mitesh

Tagged as: analyst-firm, apps, asia pacific, consumer, mobile, news, ovum, social-media, technology

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Career Connection Timeline From The Hub Of LinkedIn Developers

by Paul Joseph May 31, 2011 Featured

Grapevine has it that developers at LinkedIn went on a Hackday and have created a ‘career connection timeline’ feature. Have you ever wondered where is your career path traversing to? LinkedIn solves that now. Now you can view your career path with your own connections. This LinkedIn connection timeline is a great boon to let you know where you stand with your connections. LinkedIn has used the social graph technique to draw a career road map for you. This will exhibit to the world all that you have achieved so far and in short will be your online resume summing up all your professional accomplishments . The timeline comes in form of an interesting graphic with a three dimensional time component . So now you will know what others are concluding when they put on their thinking cap. Your long wished employers could now see your detailed history and see with whom you worked earlier. So even if you are running short of recommendations, do not hit your head on the wall anymore! Now you have the timeline connection to get you where you want to be. Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency Related Posts Microsoft Unveils Windows Phone 7.1 Mango; Packs In 500 New Features Indian Security Expert Exposes Vulnerability In LinkedIn Social Media Allowing Recruiters To Find Candidates For Jobs Reliance Communication Introduces Music Mania And Full2Music On Mobile Phones LinkedIn Releases New Platform And Plugins For Developers

Tagged as: apps, developers, expert-exposes, indian-security, international, mobile, music-mania, news, social-media, technology

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TOI launches apps for iPad, iPhone, Android and BlackBerry

by Paul Joseph April 4, 2011 Featured

The Times of India, India’s most-read newspaper and most-visited news site, has launched apps for iPad, iPhone, Android and BlackBerry. According to TOI, these apps use the latest advances in technology to give users the best browsing and reading experience on their devices. Announcing the launch of the apps, Mr Rishi Khiani, CEO of Times Internet Ltd, said: “The future belongs to mobile devices, especially smartphones and tablets. Our apps aim to deliver our premium offerings to our readers who belong to the highest strata of society and are quick to adopt these devices.” The apps provide news, feature stories, editorials, movie reviews, etc. to the users. They also have photo galleries and videos from a range of categories including news, sports and entertainment. The apps come with live scorecard for the sports buffs. All TOI apps come with social media integration. They let users share articles or photos on Facebook and Twitter , and also via email. They also let users save articles for offline reading. The apps help readers stay connected to their hometowns – wherever they are in India or abroad – by providing local news from 30 Indian cities. Times Internet Limited runs websites like indiatimes.com , timesofindia.com and economictimes.com Showcase Your Digital Work Here! Win An Award! Log onto WATAwards Related Posts Now Count Your Calories With Sugar Free’s New Mobile App If Mobile Apps Shape Who We Are..Indians Mean Business Apple’s iPad And What It Is Doing For Healthcare Google Unveils Faster Chrome, Web Store and Chrome OS Pilot Indian Company Onward Mobility Has An Offline App Store

Tagged as: apps, black, business, calories, digital, google-unveils, Indian, indians-mean, mobile, mobile-apps, news, onward-mobility, sports, sugar-free, toi

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Now Count Your Calories With Sugar Free’s New Mobile App

by Paul Joseph February 18, 2011 Featured

For those of you who are health conscious and very strict on daily calories intake, here is a mobile app that could do away with any daunting method of counting the calories burnt in your body. Sugar Free, owned by Zydus Wellness, has launched a mobile app that will help smartphone users do that in a simple way. In an exclusive report by AFAQS , apart from calculating the calories burnt, the app will also enable the users to calculate the number of steps taken, average speed and distance travelled by the user as they go for a walk or use the stairs instead of the lift. The working of the app is also quite simple. The app uses the accelerometer function of smartphones. It is programmed with information of the user including age, height, weight and gender so as to output the “calories burnt” details. The app also has a social element in it as it allows users to submit or share their details on Facebook and Twitter. Conceptualized by WHO! (Rediffusion Y&R), Step-o-meter is free of cost and will be available soon in Android Marketplace and iTunes. Moreover, it will also be available on Symbian based smartphones. Healthcare sector is certainly changing its face with the rapid evolution of smart phones and tablets. In a report by research2guidance entitled “ Global Mobile Health Market Report 2010-2015 ”, Healthcare Apps Will Serve 500 Million Smartphone Users By 2015. This will be out of 1.4 billion smartphone users. It also mentions that 43% of the applications are primarily designed for healthcare professionals and as many as 17,000 mobile health apps are available across various app stores. This sea rise in the space can certainly be attributed to the present ecosystem of smartphones and readiness amongst users and practitioners to finally use technology. For instance, companies are now developing apps to help people monitor their BP and diabetes via their smartphones. The data can be stored in the user’s account and kept for future reference/ monitor either by the doctor or himself. Even Apple’s iPad has become a revolutionary tool in the healthcare space. In another report by Pyramid Research entitled “ Health Check: Key Players in Mobile Healthcare ” there are more than 200 million mHealth apps in use today and the figure is expected to increase three fold by the year 2012. That literally is 600 million, which means by around that time one of every 17 people on Earth will be using an mHealth app. To be more precise, the mHealth sector is going for a big boom with developers mushrooming up everywhere. In india, Philips Innovation Campus (PIC) in Bangalore, a division of Philips Electronics India Ltd, is all set to centre dedicated to creating mobile applications spanning lighting, healthcare and consumer lifestyle products, leading the company’s global efforts, reports LiveMint . Let us watch how the trend picks up over time. The app from Sugar Free has also come at an opportune time. For those of you who have not tried it out yet, here is the link to download it. The upcoming packages of Sugar Free Natura will also carry the address to download this app. So far, 5000 downloads have been registered on the website. What do you think of the status of mHealthcare in India? Let us know! REGISTER FOR WATSUMMIT – INDIA’S FLAGSHIP SUMMIT ON DIGITAL MEDIA REGISTER NOW! Related Posts If Mobile Apps Shape Who We Are..Indians Mean Business NewsHunt Claims To Be Most Downloaded Indian Mobile News App Apple iPad Debut Stats: 3L Units Sold, 1M Apps Downloaded! Apple Launching iPhone 4 With BSNL In India? Virtual Wallets On Smartphones Soon To Become A Reality?

Tagged as: apps, ipad, mobile-phones

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If Mobile Apps Shape Who We Are..Indians Mean Business

by Paul Joseph February 10, 2011 Featured

Indians have adopted some typical habits and they all relate to smartphones. Cornell University’s Professor Trevor Pinch and Nokia conducted a study, in which 5022 smartphone users were surveyed. These users are from 10 different countries across Asia, Europe, UK and USA. The motive of the study was to learn the smartphone behaviour of the typical consumers of these countries. Mobile apps have become a way of life. All major mobile operating systems have their very own app stores. Android has over 200,000 apps in the Android Market, iOS has over 300,000 apps in the App Store. Nokia’s app directory, OVI Store is growing everyday. We have also heard that Accenture and BSNL will be launching their very own mobile app stores. There are thousands of developers working at this. The reason being, we the consumer want better apps everyday to make our life a bit easier. ( Image Credit ) The study revealed that 58% Indian smartphone users think mobile application programs are for benefiting them. While at home consumers use 31% apps and at the time of travelling and at work they use 24% and 10% apps respectively. The research also shows that consumers are up to quality, not quantity. The number of mobile apps available isn’t the most important thing for them, which the quality and user-friendliness are. Amongst the surveyed users, 70% said they have around 30 apps in their smartphones, most of which are redundant. They said they are looking for a better app to show up, then they will hastily delete the extra ones. Karl Marx once said that man will one day bend down on his knees before his creation. Professor Trevor Pinch echoed this by saying; “Our relationship with them has turned from occasional use into a real dependency. It is because of this that our personal apps ‘collections’ represent our unique needs, personality and interests. We can learn much about a person’s behaviour via a mix of their choice of apps, personality variables, use variables and competence variables.” The study revealed few other details about consumers and they are quite interesting. Entertainment and social networking prevail over business as the percentages of music and social networking apps downloaded are higher than the percentage of business apps downloaded. Utilities are as important as games since both share the same percentage (21%) of downloads. Indian girls had reputation of being overly chatty, they proved it right as the percentage of women who are up for social networking (43%) is higher than that of men (38%). Not to mention that the teenagers download social networking apps most, because they have huge lists of friends, unlike adults. Country wise, the behaviors pertaining to using apps differ. For example, Indians want to get their grips on cutting edge technologies and prefer business-focused apps like email and expense managers, while 17% of them prefer downloading free apps. Brazilian users like downloading music apps while Germans prefer workable applications like flashlights, alarm clocks etc. Consumers from Singapore like playing online games and download gaming apps most and a large number of Italians rely find their mobile apps substitutes for travel guides. Apps have become so dominant in our lives that we decide whether a phone or OS is good, not by its specifications but by the inventory of apps it provides. This is the reason behind Symbian, BlackBerry and WP7 losing out to the likes of Android and iOS. The galore of apps the two have provided has changed the future of mobile communication. Based on the findings of the study, George Linardos, VP of media at Nokia said, “Apps are the way in which we bring our devices to life and empower them to be like our own personal magic wands.” And he was right in saying this. We don’t notice it, but apps shape us. REGISTER FOR WATSUMMIT – INDIA’S FLAGSHIP SUMMIT ON DIGITAL MEDIA REGISTER NOW! Related Posts Android To Become Asia’s Most Popular Mobile OS? Nokia Announcing New Partnership And Headquarters On Friday? Android, iOS Race Heats Up: Nielsen More Than 300,000 Android Phones Activated Daily, Reports Google Yahoo Axes About 600 Jobs! Nokia To Follow Suit?

Tagged as: apple, apps, black, media, nokia, smartphones

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Google Unveils Faster Chrome, Web Store and Chrome OS Pilot

by Paul Joseph December 8, 2010 Featured

Google held its Chrome Event late last night (IST) which, expectedly, focussed on 3 things – Google Chrome , Chrome Webstore and Chrome OS . The Chrome team once again stressed on their obsession with making the web faster and computing more fun. Google Chrome Google Chrome’s shiny new toys were demoed. But not before they highlighted that Chrome’s user base had ballooned from 40 million in January to 120 million. Google Instant came to the Omnibox as they had announced when it was unveiled for the first time. And it was more or less a given after it came to the mobile . The Javascript V8 engine received an overhaul and as well, it is supposed to process complex javascript code twice as fast now. This is essentially because the engine got a new crankshaft . According to Google, the engine in its present form is 50x faster than IE 2 years ago. That factor will double after the update. These features will be rolled out to mainstream users in the near future. Google also demoed Chrome’s integrated PDF reader which opened a 1,990 page document – images et al – instantly. They showed off Chrome’s hardware acceleration abilities. ( Image Credit ) Chrome Web Store Exciting enough by itself, but sadly had its thunder stolen by the buzz around Chrome OS. Nevertheless, it didn’t fail to impress. US only launch for now (but like the ebook store , we can all access the free stuff for now). While (re)introducing the concept of the Web Store, Sundar Pichai spoke about the growing tendency of users to identify with apps rather than anonymous websites – especially from a monetization perspective. He also added that the main idea behind the web store was discovery – to connect the user with the developer. It went live shortly after the event with around 500 applications. Among the apps they demoed were – The New York Times and a game called Poppit. Amazon also debuted its Window’s Shop and Kindle for the Web(thats right – Amazon used a Google event to strike a big blow at Google’s eBookStore, just a day after it launched – Ouch!) All the apps were made in HTML5 and looked very good. I could easily see myself using some of these apps – paying is a different matter . But, does this mark somewhat of a transition from the free web days? Only time will tell. You should have access to the Web Store(after you update Chrome) on the new tab pane. Or you can access it from : https://chrome.google.com/webstore . Chrome OS Well, as expected, it was not the final product that Google revealed (a bit disappointing to be honest). But they did announce a Pilot Program directed at early adopters. The demo featured the first Chrome Notebook – CR-48 – a non branded netbook powered by an intel atom processor. Chrome’s YouTube channel has a dedicated Chome OS playlist from yesterday’s event. Definitely worth watching if you’re interested. They focussed on Speed, ease of setup, synchronization of all data, ubiquitous connectivity, security and apps. Setup – All you have to do setup a new chrome notebook is enter your google account credentials, take a photo and voila! No hassle with updates either, everything happens automatically. Sync – All your data is synchronized on the cloud. So even if you cant access your chrome notebook – or you lose it – all your data is safe and you can pick up where you left off on another machine. Guests can use the OS in Guest mode – which is essentially Chrome’s Incognito Mode. Connectivity – The Cr-48 has a built in 3G connection and WiFi as well. It also announced a partnership with Verizon and all Chrome Notebook users will bet 200 MB of free data transfer every month. Not a lot! But enough for some basic on the move browsing. You can even work without internet connectivity and all your data will by synced once you’re connected again. Apps and Security – All Apps run in different tabs, while things like chat, calendar notifications are widgetized and appear as panels across all tabs. Security is ensured by the sandbox concept. Which is an extension of the same concept used in Chrome(the browser). Google said that it was unlikely that most chrome devices would support dual boot machines. You can also sign up for the  Pilot Program if you have a US address. So What do you think of – A faster Chrome? A Web Store? Chrome OS? Let us know! Looking For A Social Media Agency?? TRY US! Related Posts Government Gives RIM, Skype the Two-Weeks Notice.. Google Gets A Warning! Google Chrome OS Download Could Be Just A Week Away! Google And Samsung Unveil Nexus S Running Android 2.3 Google Chrome OS Coming On December 7? Nokia Installs Server In India,Will Blackberry Face More Pressure?

Tagged as: apps, browser, google-chrome, security, user, web

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Dropbox App on Android Platform – Initial Screenshots!

by Paul Joseph March 25, 2010 Featured

Few days back, Dropbox team announced that they are soon launching a Dropbox app on the Android Platform. This app will sport various features like accessing your files on the go, uploading/downloading files from your dropbox, editing the files present in the dropbox etc. Full features of the Android app will be: Accessing your Dropbox on the go – All the contents of your Dropbox are available for viewing. You can even stream music and movies in your Dropbox straight to your Android device. Make edits to your files and sync them back to Dropbox – Any changes you make to your files will sync back up to your Dropbox. Download files for offline viewing – Add files to ‘Favorites’ and they’ll be accessible at any time. Upload files and sync them to your Dropbox – Take a photo, shoot a video, or upload some audio from your Android phone and email its public link to a friend in less than a minute. Share links to files in your Dropbox – Yes, you can share any file in your Dropbox. Here are some screenshots of the upcoming Dropbox Android application. Similar Posts: None Found

Tagged as: apps, news, similar, similar-posts, upcoming

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