Coca-Cola brings Spotify to the Philippines (updated)

UPDATE: An earlier version of this article stated that Spotify Premium costs P129 a month. We got that information from Spotify’s website, but we were told that it is apparently just a placeholder. The pricing for Spotify Premium hasn’t been announced as of yet. We regret the error.

After years of waiting, Spotify is finally expanding into the Philippines today by letting people preview the service thru a partnership with Coca-Cola. That brings the Sweden-based company’s music streaming service to a total of 56 countries globally.

In the country, Spotify will have two plans for its users: a free plan that lets you stream an unlimited amount of music with audio ads inserted every few songs or so, and a premium account that gets rid of the ads in addition to allowing you to download and store music offline.

Spotify’s first foray in Asia began with their launch in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. The company has around 24 million monthly active users, 6 million of those are paying users. They currently have more than 20 million songs in their catalogue and that number are continuing to grow by 20,000 every day. They have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and more.

To get a Spotify invite, click here.

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Ride-hailing service Uber is now in Manila, Philippines, rates start at P40

Uber, an app which lets you request a private car with only a few taps and pay via credit or debit cards, has silently announced that it is now testing the service in Metro Manila. The company says on its blog that a limited number of Uber Black cars are available in Makati and Bonifacio Global City in Taguig for the duration of testing.

The app, which is available for iPhone and Android, works in the same way as other taxi-hailing apps — you launch the app, search for cars available around your current location, and enter your booking details. For an Uber Black car, which could be a Toyota Altis, a Ford Focus, or a Hyundai Sonata, the rates start at P90, and goes up by P12.92 for every kilometer plus P2.10 for every minute of your trip.

An error in Uber's app and website showed that the rates are in US dollar, and is still not fixed as of posting. A PR person from Uber told Mister Jonjon that "all our rides are priced in the Philippine Peso."

UPDATE: The pricing error has been already fixed.

Other cars include the low-cost UberX, the Uber SUV which seats up to 6, and the Uber LUX which lets you arrive at your destination in a high-end vehicle. On some cities, an Uber Taxi is also available.

BONUS: Get P300 credits on Uber when you use promo code 'uberloaded' when you sign up. Click this link to sign up now.

With the arrival of Uber, other taxi-booking apps like GrabTaxi and EasyTaxi now face more competition. Having its own rates, and seemingly higher at that, can Uber compete head to head with other services? Let's find out in the sample calculation below.

Uber vs. GrabTaxi / EasyTaxi vs. Ordinary Taxi

The normal rates for an ordinary taxi in the metro start at. P40, which includes the first 500 meters. You are then charged P3.50 for every 300 meters (P1.167 for 100 meters), and P3.50 for every 2 minutes (P1.75 per minute) the car is idle. A 20-kilometer ride on a taxi will cost you P267.565, and that's without any stops. If you're stuck in heavy traffic for a total of 10 minutes, it will be P285.065.

Now, both GrabTaxi and EasyTaxi charge a P70 booking fee on top of the normal taxi rates. A 20-kilometer ride with no stops will be P337.565. It becomes P355.065 if you slowed down or stopped for 10 minutes. Both apps use vehicles of their partner taxi companies.

Again, Uber charges P90 for booking, P12.92 for every kilometer (P1.292 for 100 meters), and P2.10 for ever minute when the vehicle is traveling at 18 kilometers an hour and below. So a 20-kilometer trip using Uber will cost you P348.40 — or P369.40 if you dip below the minimum speed limit for a total of 10 minutes.

That makes Uber's rates only a little more expensive than GrabTaxi and EasyTaxi. So, what do you think?

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Start your Christmas countdown with these 12 apps for Nokia Lumia smartphones

The holidays are always filled with celebrations – feasts with family, parties with friends, and an endless string of other social gatherings. It is the time of the year when everyone deserves to kickback, relax, and spend time with the people they care most about.

With the rapidly growing number of apps available on the Windows Phone Apps+Games Store, you can find the perfect app that will make even the usual  ‘partridge in a pear tree’ more alive and festive.

Holiday Photos & Selfies
To capture precious holiday moments, download Christmas 2013; a free photography app that helps create personalized Christmas cards for sharing on your preferred social network. Nokia Cinemagraph, a magical blend of photo and movie-like animation, creates pictures that seem almost alive. It animates an area of your picture with enchanting results. The popular Instagram is now also available for Windows Phone 8 users in BETA version. Customize your favorite Christmas photo with the custom built filter effects to transform your special moments into works of art.

Food & Fit
The holidays have also become a reason for a lot of us to indulge a little more; an excuse to help ourselves to another slice of cake, another glass of wine, or an extra hour of sleep. However, it is good to have a treat once in awhile. With these apps, you can worry less about getting off track with your goals and enjoy the holiday festivities.

Spice up your Christmas menu and learn new food preparation tips through Allrecipes. It delivers thousands of top rated quick and easy recipes that will definitely be a hit among friends and family. Alcometer lets you determine your blood alcohol level easily. It helps you revel responsibly throughout the holidays with the alcohol content, the glass size, and the time of taking drinks being completely customizable. Keep the extra pounds from all the delectable dishes off with the help of MyFitnessPal. It is Windows Phone 8’s fastest and easiest way to count calories.

Gifts & Games
In this time of giving, browse through the largest selection of gifts and purchase your dream Nokia Lumia device, the new and affordable Nokia Asha phones or other nice presents through Amazon Mobile. AE City Jump – Christmas is an adventure game set across the city. Various bonus levels, bright graphics, and smooth gameplay make it challenging and fun for everyone. Among kids, Christmas Hunt is a favorite. It is a simple game in which users help Santa and his reindeer find Christmas items across twelve different Christmas hunt pages.

Staying Connected
Show loved ones here and abroad that you care by staying connected with them. Download Skype and make free Skype to Skype video and voice calls as well as send instant messages to friends and family around the world. Send free messages, pictures, audio notes, and video messages to loved ones through WhatsApp. Explore new places and make new memories with friends and family with HERE Maps, which shows the smartest way across town even without going online.

Make your Christmas merrier and download these free apps now from the Windows Phone Store.

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Instagram app for Windows Phone now available

The highly anticipated release of Instagram — an image-sharing app — for Windows Phone devices has finally come. Earlier today, Instagram announced that the app is now available in the Windows Phone Store for all devices running, well, Windows Phone 8.

The app, which users on iOS and Android has embraced for years, packs most of the features in the initial release. All the original Instagram filters such as XPro-II, Rise, Amaro, and more  are included, as well as the ability to add blur effects on your photos. It supports taking and uploading photos using the front and back camera (though not in a straightforward way) and sharing it to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, and Foursquare. Shooting and uploading videos, however, is currently not supported at this release.

Aside from that limitation, this is pretty much what you’ll expect from an official app. Instagram says that they are not yet done in developing the app, so expect more features to be added in future updates. We’re happy that Windows Phone users now get to join the other 150 million Instagram users.

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Instagram officially comes to Windows Phone

The next big thing for Windows Phone has arrived, and it’s Instagram. At the Nokia World event in Abu Dhabi, the Finnish company revealed that the hotly-anticipated app is coming to Nokia Lumia devices in the coming weeks.

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Camera360 adds support for Sony QX10/QX100 in latest update

Got one of those new attachable Sony QX10/QX100 camera lens? If you think that the first-party Play Memories app is a little lacking in features, well check this out. The makers of Camera360 recently added support for the QX10 and QX100 in their newest update last October 15.

With the new update, QX10 and QX100 users can now take advantage of Camera360’s live imaging filters such as Magic Skin, Enhance, Lomo, HDR, Retro, Black and White, Ghost and more. It also adds fill-in light feature to self-shoot mode to enhance portrait photos. Pairing Camera360 with Sony QX10 and QX100 only takes a couple of taps within the app.

You can get the updated Camera360 app on the Google Play Store. As of now, there is no support just yet for the iOS and Windows Phone versions of the app.

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Sun Cellular offers unlimited browsing thru Opera Mini at just P15

Sun Cellular and browser maker Opera has announced a partnership to offer affordable unlimited browsing plans to its prepaid customers.

The newly-announced BrowseOn Opera packages, which only works with Opera Mini, offers unlimited browsing at very affordable rates. The daily package only costs P15, while the 7-day package costs P80, the 15-day package P160, and the monthly package just P299. The packages should be beneficial to those who are still using feature phones that can’t take advantage of full-fledged browser as Opera Mini compresses webpages to load them faster.

To prevent users from abusing the cheap packages, Sun has put a per-file download and upload limit of 15MB. What this means is basically, you can still download and upload as many files as you want as long as each file’s size is no more than 15MB. For instance, you can upload 30 2MB photos, or you can save let’s say 20 5MB songs.

To avail of the packages, simply text OPERA15 (1 day), OPERA80 (7 days), OPERA 160 (15 days), or OPERA299 (30 days) to 247. You can download the Opera Mini browser designed for Sun at wap.suncellular.com.ph. Opera Mini works with most of all mobile platforms (Nokia S40, Symbian, Android, iOS, BlackBerry, etc.).

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BlackBerry’s BBM arriving on Android and iOS on September 21

Good news to Android and iOS (and former BlackBerry) users! The ever familiar BBM is set to arrive on Android on September 21 and on iOS on September 22. This is the first time the popular messaging service goes cross-platform.

BBM for Android and iOS features BBM Chat where you can, well, chat with other people on BBM. You can also send files such as photos and videos instantly. It also lets you know when your message is delivered and if your friend has read it. BBM Group lets you start group chats and can accommodate up to 30 users.

Want to send a message to all your contacts in an instant? There’s Broadcast Message for that. Also, you can post status messages and update your profile picture in the Updates section of your profile. And, last but not the least, you get your own BBM PIN that you give out to others so they can add you while maintaining your personal information like email and phone number.

Moreover, BlackBerry plans to add BBM Video Calling and BBM Voice to its Android and iOS apps in a future update.

You will be able to download BBM for Android starting 7PM on September 21 from the Google Play Store. The iOS version will be release at 12:01AM on September 22 in the App Store.

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Globe bundles seven OTT messaging apps like KakaoTalk in the new GoUNLI30

It’s no brainer that the SMS (short message service aka text) is slowly dying with the deluge of many free messaging apps like Viber, KakaoTalk, and many others. This means that mobile network operators will eventually find a way on how to increase revenues thru other means. So what do they do? Sell data plans? No. Consumers still find them expensive. But Globe has found a way.

Instead of selling full data plans, Globe has retained the usual unlimited calls to Globe/TM and texts to all networks in their new promo, the GoUNLI30, and bundled free usage of seven messaging apps. The list include Viber, Facebook Messenger, KakaoTalk, WeChat, Line, WhatsApp, and GMessage — all for just P30 a day. The main takeaway here is that subscribers won’t have to buy expensive data plans or find a Wi-Fi connection just to use those messaging apps which are so trendy right now.

This is really much better than having just unlimited calls and texts because with the inclusion of those apps, you can do more things like making video calls, send photos, participate in group chats, send voice messages, and more.

So how does it work? Well, you first have to download your favorite app using Wi-Fi or mobile data (charges apply of course) from your device’s respective application store. You then need to subscribe to GoUNLI30 by dialing *143# and choose option 1 which is GoSAKTO or by texting GOUNLI30 to 8888. And you’re all set! Keep in mind that if you are using a smartphone with other apps installed, it may do background data pulling and thus charge you. I suggest that you turn this setting off first.

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Google announces Android Device Manager, lets you find your lost phone

It’s been a long time coming, but up until today, Android devices didn’t have a built-in feature that allows device owners to remotely locate their lost or stolen Android devices. That will finally change as Google has just announced the Android Device Manager, an official tool that lets you do just that.

Android Device Manager only comes with a basic set of features. It has the option for you to remotely ring your device such as when it’s stuck in the sofa or somewhere else, even if it’s in silent mode. If you can’t still find your device after ringing it, you can view its current location on a map. If you really still didn’t manage to retrieve it, you can choose to wipe the device remotely so your data will not be accessible to anyone holding it. All those features obviously requires your phone to be connected to the internet either via mobile data or Wi-Fi.

Android Device Manager will be available this month on devices running Android 2.2 or above through a Google Play Services update. Google says that an Android app is also coming to allow you to find and manage your devices on the go.

P.S. I still recommend the more advanced Cerberus, which has higher chances of helping you retrieve your lost or stolen device. In fact, I got my HTC Butterfly back five days after it was stolen.

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Samsung showcases SideSync, bridges the gap between ATIV and GALAXY

You are busy working on a document on your laptop and suddenly, a text message arrives. What do you do? Of course you grab your phone, view the message and type your reply if needed. And then your focus is taken out from what you’re working on.

Now, imagine if you can just do all the things that you need to do on your phone right on your PC. In an intimate event recently, Samsung demonstrated SideSync, which does exactly just that. It has three main features namely Keyboard and Mouse Sharing, Phone Screen Sharing, and Automatic Backup.

In the Keyboard and Mouse Sharing mode, users are able to make their phones an extension of their PC. You can use your phone using the mouse or track pad just by moving the mouse pointer to the phone screen. Aside from that, you can also take advantage of the full-fledged keyboard to send text messages and even highlight and copy texts from the phone to PC and vice-versa. Your phone basically becomes an ‘extension monitor’ in Keyboard and Mouse Sharing mode.

The Phone Screen Sharing mode, on the other hand, mirrors your phone display on a window on your PC. Everything that’s taking place on your phone can now be seen and means that you can remotely control your phone from your PC.

Now let’s say you’re doing your work on your PC and need to send a quick text message, you don’t have to take your hands off the keyboard and interrupt your work anymore. You just switch from whatever window is active to the virtual phone on your PC and do it from there.

You can also copy files to the phone just by dragging a file to the the phone screen. Files are then automatically saved to a designated SideSync folder on the phone for easy retrieval. The data on your phone are automatically backed up on your PC every time you use SideSync.

For now, SideSync utilizes USB connection which means you will still have to have your phone and a cable beside you to use of all the features above, which kinds of defeats the purpose of the software. But don’t fret, Samsung said that they are already working on an update to make SideSync work with Wi-Fi connections.

SideSync is available for all Samsung Galaxy phones and tablets running on Android Jelly Bean and above. The PC software is exclusive to ATIV devices.

You can try SideSync for yourself by visiting any of the following Samsung Stores: SM Dasmariñas, SM Lanang, SM Bacoor, SM Gensan, SM North Annex, Ayala Mall Centrio CDO, SM Cebu, and Festival Mall.

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Google Now starts taking searches in Filipino

UPDATE: Voice Search only understands Filipino for now. An earlier version of this story stated that it recognizes Filipino and other local dialects. We’re sorry for the confusion.

A magic has taken place on your Android phone today without your knowledge, well, until now. Google Philippines has announced starting today, you can now do a voice search using Google Now in Filipino.

Google Philippines’ Gail Tan shared that they are “delighted to launch these new Search tools for the Filipino language today,” and that the development highlights their commitment in providing superb search experience to the locals.

To make voice search work with our language, Google has teamed up with volunteers from the University of the Philippines to collect voice samples from them and their family and build an acoustical and language models to help computers understand Filipino.

But no one (except for a few) speaks Filipino straight without mentioning any English words and not everyone in the country speaks Tagalog in one accent. Google knows it and that is why they made sure that the machines’ vocabulary will handle ‘taglish’ as well as those who speak in different accents (e.g. ‘mapote’ instead of ‘maputi’) without any problems by widening sample collection. The company says that while it isn’t perfect, it will continue to improve as more people use Voice Search.

I’ve tried it and it works pretty well. I can now talk to my phone (not that it’s a cool thing) without trying hard to do English with ‘murrican’ accent. Conyos would love it as well.

Voice Search in Filipino is available on Android 2.0 Éclair and newer devices. An update is coming soon to the Google app for iPhone and the Chrome browser for desktop too.

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Viber inks partnership with Globe Telecom

Do you always avail of Globe’s GoUNLI 25 with unlimited calls and texts? Yes? Well, it just got better.

Globe Telecom and Viber announced yesterday an exclusive partnership to offer unlimited chat along with the usual unlimited calls and texts. Peter Bithos, Senior Advisor for Consumer Business at Globe Telecom, said that “the partnership is in line with [their] strategy to explore more revenue streams beyond call and text services.”

Available at the same old price, GoUNLI25 lets people communicate with their friends thru calling and texting on the network. In addition, they can chat with anyone in the world and send fun and rich messages with stickers, photos, videos, and more. Viber also allows you to create group chats and talk with as many people as you like.

The new GoUNLI is also available in other variants with longer validity: 3-day for P67, 7-day for P150, and 30-day for P600. Those who just want Viber’s services can choose between Viber10 for 1 day or Viber30 for 5 days of unlimited chats, and Viber20 for 1 day of unlimited calls and chats. Registration is easy and is done thru *143#.

Talmon Marco, Viber CEO, who was present at the press briefing, said that with Globe’s innovative prepaid plans, Filipinos will now have a chance to experience Viber with their friends without the need to buy a data plan or look for a Wi-Fi connection.

Marco shared that the Philippines has around 6,000,000 Viber users, which accounts for 3% of the global user-base of the app. The app is available across many platforms such as iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Windows, and Mac. The company is still looking further to expand to other platforms like Windows 8.

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Apple celebrates 5th anniversary of the App Store with free top apps and games

The biggest application store on earth will have its 5th birthday tomorrow. And to compliment the celebration, Apple is offering the top ‘landmark’ apps and games in the App Store for free.

Let’s do a little bit of history first. The App Store opened in July 10, 2008 with an update to iTunes on Mac and Windows. It had 500 apps available on the launch day. Five years later, it now has a mind-boggling 900,000 apps accessible within your fingertips. It has been definitely a remarkable five years for the App Store.

Anyway, on to the free apps and games. The links are available below. Just open them right from your iOS devices or on iTunes if you’re on your Mac or PC.

Barefoot World Atlas
Learn about the world, its nations and its wonders through this dazzling interactive globe
https://itunes.apple.com/app/barefoot-world-atlas/id489221652?mt=8

Day One (Journal / Diary)
Record movements every day using photos, places and words with this intuitive journal
https://itunes.apple.com/app/day-one-journal-diary/id421706526?mt=8

How to Cook Everything
Learn to cook more than 2,000 gourmet recipes using this robust kitchen companion
https://itunes.apple.com/app/how-to-cook-everything/id409936319?mt=8

Over
Help your photos stand out by adding custom captions, logos and stylish doodles
https://itunes.apple.com/app/over/id535811906?mt=8

Traktor DJ for iPhone
Mix like a pro with a DJ app that puts industry-leading features right at your fingertips
https://itunes.apple.com/app/traktor-dj-for-iphone/id625335999?mt=8

BADLAND
An Apple Design Award winner, Badland is an incredible action game with stunning graphics
https://itunes.apple.com/app/badland/id535176909?mt=8

Infinity Blade II
With smart gameplay and gorgeous graphics, this action-packed epic absolutely shines
https://itunes.apple.com/app/infinity-blade-ii/id447689011?mt=8

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP
This elegant 8-bit adventure uses touch-based puzzles to deliver a poignant story
https://itunes.apple.com/app/superbrothers-sword-sworcery/id424912055?mt=8

Tiny Wings
This endearing classic features charming style and thrilling momentum-based gameplay
https://itunes.apple.com/app/tiny-wings/id417817520?mt=8

Where's My Water?
A simple and challenging puzzle game that features intuitive controls and a lovable mascot
https://itunes.apple.com/app/wheres-my-water/id449735650?mt=8

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Viber releases app for Windows and Mac, updates its Android and iPhone apps

If you always fancy free call and text apps, take a good seat and look at this. Viber, a very popular app which lets people send text messages and make calls for free on their phones, has just released the Windows and Mac versions of their app!

Viber for Windows and Mac allows its users to do the basic Viber features such as making calls, send text messages, send photos, and engage in group conversations — all without any cost on your part. In addition, the Windows and Mac versions adds support for video calling, although the app notes the feature is still in beta. It also supports transferring of calls between your PC or Mac and your phone, even while the call is active.

Setting up Viber for Windows or Mac only requires two steps; first is entering your phone number and then typing the verification code sent to the Viber app on your phone. After that, all your contacts who use Viber will be synced to your PC or Mac immediately.

  

Viber also release updates to its Android and iOS apps. Viber 3.0 for Android and iOS brings support for the Windows and Mac versions, transferring of calls, online status indicator, video messages, auto-download of photos, photo captions, and more stickers.

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Facebook for Windows Phone gets major redesign, now more functional and intuitive

Long-time Windows Phone users know how unpleasant using the current version (4.2.1) of the Facebook app. It’s clunky, confusing, slow, and just has too much wasted screen space. Luckily, Microsoft and Facebook has not forgotten to make the app better.

Today, Microsoft announced the newly updated app coming soon which includes a new design now in line with the iOS and Android aps as well as several much-requested features like Timeline support, post sharing, high-resolution photos, and the sliding menus for easy navigation.

  

As for me, I like the new layout and design of the Facebook app. Going in and around it is now a more pleasing experience which actually makes me want to use Facebook on Windows Phone. Previously, I have always resorted to using the mobile web version and not the app. Kudos Microsoft for the job well done!

That being said, the app still bears the beta label and is set to undergo improvements as feedbacks are sent to Microsoft. So if you’re the type of person who like to use pre-release software and help improve the app, head on to this link and get it.

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Redesigned Google Play Store 4.0 rolling out right now

The Google Play Store has been leaked a few times before which was said to be featuring a new look and today, Google has officially acknowledged the new redesigned storefront for Android.

The Play Store now displays images more prominently, which should help get what a content is about to users easily. In some ways, it’s kind of similar to the new App Store on iOS now. The checkout process for paid contents has been also simplified which should result in faster transactions.

 

The new Google Play Store 4.0 is now rolling out to all Android phones and tablets running 2.2 (Froyo) or later. Don’t expect to get it anytime soon though, Google says the roll-out could last a few weeks.

UPDATE: You can download the Google Play Store 4.0.25 APK here.

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Facebook Messenger now allows you to make free calls to your friends

If you’re an avid Facebook user with a lot of people on your friends list, then take a quick read at this. Facebook, in the past couple of days (or has it been weeks already?) lifted the geographical restriction on VoIP calls on its Messenger app for Android and iOS. That easily means you can now call your anyone as long as you are ‘friends’ with them on the website and that they have the app installed on their phones or tablets.

 

To start a call with someone, simply tap on their name on the friends list on the Messenger app and hit that little ‘I’ icon on the top-right corner of the screen. If they have the app installed and have an active connection, the ‘Free Call’ button will be shown in white, tap it to initiate the free call. Otherwise, it will be shown in grey.

The advantage of this over other VoIP apps? Everyone’s on Facebook.

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Instagram coming to Windows Phone 8?

Rumors broke out a few days ago suggesting that Instagram might really launch on Windows Phone. It started when the Instagram icon was spotted plastered on the screen on a carrier promotion banner at Portugal. The icon could just be erroneously Photoshopped on the render, as with many other cases.

But today, another news surfaced from Chinese website WPDang, which has been somewhat accurate in the past, which claims that they have been tipped by an anonymous source that says Instagram for Windows Phone is currently under development and is indeed ‘landing shortly’. Perhaps to spice it up, there will be an extra filter than the iOS and Android versions that will be exclusive to the Windows Phone version.

Lastly, the site further says that Instagram will be initially exclusive to Nokia Lumia devices and will be only available to Windows Phone 8.

Sources: WPCentral, WPDang

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Twitter announces an updated Windows Phone app

Twitter recently announced an update to their official app for Windows Phone. This is a good news since the previous versions of the app were slow and ugly.

The new version 2.0 update brings the app’s user interface in line with Twitter’s other mobile apps on iOS and Android. That includes a new navigation bar at the top which has the Home, Connect, Discover, and me tabs. Switching between tabs is just a swipe away, or you can just at the tabs themselves.

The Compose tweet and Search buttons are now always in place at the Application Bar on the bottom for easy access anywhere within the app. The app now also supports live tiles where you can pin accounts, lists, or searches on your Start screen. Multiple accounts functionality is still supported as well.

You can grab the new Twitter app for Windows Phone now at the Windows Phone Store

Source: Twitter

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