Google+ for iPhone

After little more than 2 weeks of wait, the Apple App Store crew has finally approved the Google+ app for iOS.

Sadly for many users it does seem that the app only runs on the iPhone, and not on iPod touches (even not latest generation). So far no iPad specific app has been released either and the app does not run on iPads. Rumors around the internet confirm that the Google+ app for iPhone only runs on iPhone 3, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4.

If you can not find the app in the app store, via a search, try this link to the iTunes Store.

Where very often the iOS apps the more polished ones are, Foursquare being the best example, the Google+ app for iPhone does not belong in that category and it seems that the app was developed by developers without any eye to particular design. While both apps are very similar, the Android Google+ app is the clear winner when it comes to polish, design and interface. The iPhone app just doesn’t feel as finished.

At least WordPress fans will love the design of user profiles in Google+ for iPhone. read more

Twitter for Android

After several months of waiting the Twitter Android app has finally received a much needed update and more even: features similar to the iPhone Twitter app.

The new and improved app for Android users finally has Multiple account management, push notifications and improved home screen widgets, as well as numerous bug fixes.

Fans of Push notifications: Open your account settings and select Automatic refresh. After doing so you can select whether you want Push notifications for Direct messages, Mentions and/or Tweets.

While the Twitter Android app seems to finally catch up with other Twitter clients for Android, especially by adding multiple accounts management, it would be nice to see a visual refresh of the app as well. Most Android apps still severely lack when it comes to visual design , and Twitter is no exception here. Twitter’s design has seen massive improvements over the last 12 months but we hope that Douglas Bowman, Twitter’s Creative Director, would start using an Android phone and subsequently improve the design of the Twitter Android app.

Google is partnering with credit processing heavyweights such as MasterCard and Citigoup, Inc to create a mobile payment system for Android powered devices according to the Wall Street Journal.

The new payment system would use NFC for transactions and surprisingly, Google won’t take a cut of the money being sent. Instead the search engine giant will be tapping customer information, data that has been largely neglected by most mobile payment processors. What Google intends to do with customer and mobile payment data remains unknown but it could be integrated into its shopping services to give buyers a more accurate reading of how popular a product is based on number of purchases.
read more

The drama between UberMedia and Twitter is coming to an end, as the former has agreed to follow Twitter’s TOS, but also change the name of a prominent app upon Blackberry in order to avoid violating Twitter’s trademark.

We were immediately in touch with Twitter, and the changes they asked us to make were very small.  As a result, we have completed the changes, and new apps are currently being posted to their respective stores.  Twitter has assured us that as soon as those changes were complete, they would reactivate our applications.

Twitter also asked us to modify the name of UberTwitter.  We began a process of changing the name three weeks ago by polling our users, and we’ve decided based on their input to change the product name to UberSocial, which we completed today. (Official UberMedia News) read more

Blackberry and Android fans unfortunately have two less tweet apps to use as Twitter has banished two prominent apps for violating their TOS (among other things).

We have suspended UberTwitter and twidroyd for violating our policies.

Every day, we suspend hundreds of applications that are in violation of our policies. Generally, these apps are used by a small number of users. We are taking the unusual step of sharing this with you because today’s suspension may affect a larger number of users. (Twitter Help Center)

According to a memo sent TechCrunch, Twitter banned UberTwitter and TwiDroyd for not only violating the social network’s trademark, but for also altering tweets sent out by users in order to generate more profit via ads.

Twitter has also suspended a third app from UberMedia (UberCurrent), although it’s unclear whether they will consider expanding the ban towards Echofon and TweetDeck (both prominent tweet apps upon iOS).

UberMedia has yet to publicly respond to their apps being blocked by Twitter (as they have been very silent upon their official blogs and twitter accounts), although hopefully they will provide an explanation soon in order to regain the trust of not only Twitter, but their users as well.

The Tumblr team has recently revamped the mobile layout for their micro blogging social network which should please users boasting one of two smartphones.

The new layout makes it easier for users viewing their Tumblr blog upon an iOS or Android device to not only create content, but also easily alter settings within their dashboards.

While Tumblr is also planning on making their blogs viewable for Blackberry fans, the company doesn’t seem to have an immediate interest in making their sites mobile friendly for users carrying Windows Phone 7, Nokia or even webOS devices.

The lack of interest beyond Blackberry, iOS and Android could also signal that the startup has no immediate plans to introduce native apps upon other smartphones, leaving the task to third party developers to fill in the gap (often at a premium).

Although its understandable why Tumblr isn’t committing to other platforms (as they are busy trying to keep their servers up in response to their tremendous growth), hopefully the company will in the future consider taking an agnostic approach to smartphones, something their rival WordPress has done.

Once again it looks like my Android friends will have yet another reason to boast about their DROID, Evo or Samsung Galaxy smartphones after WordPress recently updated the app with a feature that is perfect for both smartphones and feature phones.

A big thanks to contributor Christof Dorner, who added support for QuickPress shortcuts on the Android home screen. Just long press on the home screen, select ‘Shortcuts->QuickPress’ and then select the blog that you would like to use. You will then have an icon on your home screen that takes you directly to the new post screen to start blogging straight away! (WordPress for Android)

For those of you unfamiliar with WordPress, QuickPress is a feature that allows a blogger to quickly jot down thoughts without being distracted by other post settings (i.e. formatting, categories, image/video layout).

Although the feature is now baked into every WordPress install, QuickPress is not yet available upon WordPress for Blackberry, iOS, Nokia or even Windows Phone 7.

Even though users can easily get by without utilizing QuickPress (as WordPress for iOS’s layout is very basic compared to its WP brethren), it would be a great feature to have for those of us who enjoy blogging on the go.

In a move that will bring them up to par with their WP.com rival, Blogger (aka blog*spot) is beta testing mobile layouts which should help the platform appeal more to those sporting a smartphone.

[W]e are excited to announce our first launch of mobile templates! Initially available as opt-in functionality on Blogger in Draft, mobile templates will re-format your blogs for smartphones to enhance your readers’ viewing experience. In order to activate mobile templates, simply go to Dashboard > Settings > Email & Mobile tab, enable the mobile template option and then save settings. [...]

We are initially supporting 6 variants of the Simple template and 6 variants of the Awesome template. If you have used one of these 12 templates through our Template Designer, your mobile view will be rendered in the same style as your desktop view (other template variants will be rendered as Simple). (Blogger In Draft Blog) read more

Apparently Twitter is talking tough to a third party app on Android who apparently is violating Twitter’s trademarked name.

At first glance it may seem a little overboard for Twitter to be going after Touiteur (as the spellings are completely different last I checked), but upon closer examination it looks like Twitter may actually have legal grounds regarding this case.

Touiteur (pronounced as “Twitter” but with a french accent), is a new Twitter client for the Android platform. Developed by LevelUp Studio, responsible of the top application Beautiful Widgets and the Android Developer Challenge 2 winner FoxyRing, Touiteur will revolutionize the twitter usage on your mobile. (Touiteur Product Page).

Ironically this isn’t the first mobile app with a name to offend Twitter, as there has been at least three iOS apps sporting the Twitter name in the past (all who either became extinct or changed their name).

While this author appreciates the humor of LevelUp Stuido (the company behind Touiteur) naming of the app, Twitter apparently is not laughing about the matter which probably explains why  is asking fans for suggestions on a new name.

Thus far Plume (which means feather) is winning the vote, although hopefully Touiteur is able to secure the tweet account of the winning name (as thus far @plume is already taken).

(Hat Tip: Android Central)

Fans of Google’s green robot can now rejoice as the long awaited official Posterous Android app is now live upon Android Market.

Posterous for Android makes posting and sharing your life as simple as a few taps. Now you can send in photos, a video or a couple of paragraphs directly from your Android device. [...]

Android 1.0 is a big step for Posterous, but it’s only our first. We’ll continue to add to our supported device list over time.  Stay tuned for new releases that leverage the full power of the Android platform including Taskbar notifications and Android Live Folders.  We’ll also be adding additional file type support, an improved reading experience and full commenting. (Official Posterous Blog)

Believe it or not this is Posterous’s third mobile app, as the company has previously created two official iPhone apps (PicPosterous and Posterous, the latter which is similar to its Android brother).

The company is also planning on releasing a Blackberry app as well in order to compete against WordPress and Tumblr (who both have apps across all three major mobile OS’s).

While it’s great to see Posterous embracing Android, unfortunately the app only officially supports nine Android smartphones which means that a few of my friends and family will (in theory) be unable to use the device (although I’m sure they’ll figure away around the issue).

There is no word on whether the startup will consider embracing Nokia or Windows Phone 7 in the future, although Androids embrace does place the startup ahead of rivals like Typepad and Squarespace (the latter who is still working on their Android app).