Androidlib collects data about the Android Marketplace and recently indicated that the total number of available apps was to reach 100,000 this month. This number is actually an overestimate as Google [GOOG] has officially announced in their Q2 earnings call that the number is actually 70,000.

Although the estimates were 30,000 over the actual 70K is still quite an achievement and puts the numbers just a month or two behind if the growth rate shown on Androidlib is correct.

70,000 apps is still quite a way behind the 225,000 apps that Apple [AAPL] has in the app store. [Read more…]

Yesterday Apple [AAPL] pushed out a new update for iPhone owners that takes iOS 4 to iOS 4.0.1. The small update includes the fix for the formula to show the correct amount of bars which were previously misrepresented.

This is the only update listed in the update text which reads…

Improves the formula to determine how many bars of signal strength to display

It is important to note here that the update does not fix the antenna issues and if you lost signal before by holding your iPhone 4, you’ll still lose it now. [Read more…]

The iPhone 4 antenna problem is expected to be addressed tomorrow at the Apple [AAPL] press meeting tomorrow. This hasn’t stopped a US senator from sending a letter to Steve Jobs asking for more transparency with the issue as well as a free fix rather than putting the emphasis on the users to hold the phone different or buy an iPhone 4 case.

The full letter is below and according to Gizmodo who posted it, it has been verified as real and should be publicly made available shortly. [Read more…]

Road SMS is an app built for the Samsung Galaxy S that has an augmented reality feel to make you a little safer whilst texting on the move.

The application makes use of the rear facing camera and feeds live video to the screen and superimposes a keyboard on the top of that. The result is an application that you can use to walk and text at the same time without fear of bumping in to someone.

The Road SMS app is available through the Samsung Apps download store on the Galaxy S. [Read more…]

Vlingo is launching a new app for Android based devices. The new app is called SuperDialer which is being described as an infinite address book in the cloud.

The SuperDialer is voice activated. When enabled you simply say what you want to find and Vlingo finds it for you and displays the contact details you need. The service is location based meaning that you can just say to it “Pizza” for example and it will list all the pizza places near your location. [Read more…]

Bloomberg is reporting that a top engineer at Apple [AAPL] warned of potential antenna problems early on in the iPhone 4 development phase.

The top engineer called Ruben Caballero is an antenna expert who informed management at Apple about the design’s potential to cause issues.

As well as Ruben raising the voice of warning to Apple management it is also believe at least one carrier partner also raised concerns about the new design before the June 24 release date.

Although we’ll never know for sure if Ruben mentioned this or not, it’s certainly difficult to imagine that Apple didn’t spot the problem whilst testing the device. It is also surprising that their press release about a few weeks back also didn’t accept there was an issue. [Read more…]

As well as changing the formula that calculates the signal strength and bars on the iPhone 4, iOS 4.1 also includes ACRCP stereo Bluetooth controls.

What that allows you to do is pair your iPhone iOS 4 device with headphones or a car stereo and control it from the said devices.

Previously you could play and pause tracks, but now you can use the rest of the controls such as the volume and skip track controls. [Read more…]

Androidlib track Google Android apps and growth rate of the Android Market Place. Recently their estimates indicated that over 1 Billion apps have been downloaded since launch which is a very impressive number.

Hitting 1 Billion downloads is a huge milestone to reach. This number arrives just as the Market Place is to get it’s 100,000th app approved which is expected any time now.

The download numbers are estimates though, so it isn’t clear how the numbers are calculated and how accurate they are. Either way, if it hasn’t officially passed the 1 billion mark, it cant be far away now. [Read more…]

CultofMac have looked in to what new is coming with the iOS 4.1 update that launched in beta to developers just last night. We already know that the signal bar is being redone with the lower 3 bars being raised slightly and a whole new and accurate formula to represent what signal users have.

Also included in the iOS 4.1 update are changed and a revamp of the Games Center application as well as FaceTime favourites and a camera app update that sees auto-rotate being added to the application. Currently the layout stays the same with the icons rotating.

As expected, there isn’t really much added to the new iOS 4.1 and that’s to be expected on an update that arrives so soon after the initial launch of iOS 4.0. [Read more…]

Last week we heard rumours that T-Mobile could be launching the Samsung Vibrant Galaxy S class smartphone on July 15. It turns out the rumour was correct and for those in the US, you can now go ahead and buy the T-Mobile Samsung Vibrant.

The Vibrant costs $199.99 (same as the DROID X that also launches today) and also comes with a two year agreement that needs to be signed. Off contract the Samsung Vibrant costs $499.99.

The Samsung Vibrant is a branded Galaxy S class phone that has a 4 inch Super AMOLED screen that is very Vibrant, hence the name. It comes with Android pre-installed. [Read more…]

Today is July 15 which means that the Motorola DROID X is now available to purchase.

You can log on now to the Verizon Wireless site and order it now. The DROID X costs $199.99 which includes a two year service agreement.

If you prefer to get a DROID X on a 1 year contract then the price goes up to $269.99 which isn’t bad at all. If you prefer to get the smartphone off contract then the full price of the smartphone is $569.99. [Read more…]

Apple [AAPL] has pushed out iOS 4.1 to developers. The new update includes the fix for the signal reporting problems that the iPhone 4 has. Something to note here is that it doesn’t fix the antenna problems, but instead just fixes the signal bars so that they represent the actual signal better.

We are not part of the developer program, so do not have the download yet to install, but Mobile Crunch does and has made a video showing that the signal still drops when touching the bottom left of the iPhone 4’s antennae as seen below.

Gizmodo has put together a quick image showing the old vs new bar size as Apple has increased the size of the smaller of the 5 signal bars to make them easier to see. Image also below. Again, this is just a cosmetic type fix to help you see how good or bad your signal is and doesn’t actually fix the signal issues (that is assuming you get problems with the antenna which not all people do). [Read more…]