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Months of waiting, teased and previewed, have paid off for impatient Minuum backers, as the one-dimensional keyboard replacement for Android is finally here.

The upside is simple: this keyboard is small, more so than SwiftKey, Swype or Fleksy. By default, Minuum takes up a paltry 240 pixels, though that can be adjusted down to 160 pixels if you’re so inclined. Minuum is also incredibly accurate, but not because you’re placing your fingers in the right spots on the keyboard. No, that would be impossible. It’s Whirlscape’s — the creator of Minuum, lead by Toronto’s Will Walmsley — autocorrect algorithm that predicts what you were trying to say with eery accuracy.

A new avenue to get your social fix has arrived. Montreal-based Bunch have released what they’re calling a “home for online communities around your passions.” The idea behind Bunch, which is currently available on the web and and iPhone, is to engage in conversations with like-minded people.

Bunch says that “online conversations suck and we started Bunch to change that.” They are backed by $1 million in funding from Real Ventures, 500 Startups, BDC Venture Capital, and Round13 Capital. The company originally launched a closed beta of over 20,000 in 2012, but is now live and looking to become the “mainstream platform for discussion.”

Facebook is holding a media event tomorrow and the rumours around the web are that we’ll see them bring video to Instagram, or possibly a new news reader. If you want to see Zuck’s team dish out all the goods on this mysterious event, Facebook will be livestreaming the experience starting at 1PM EST (10:00AM PST). The invite stated that “A small team has been working on a big idea.”

Bookmark this page here.

If you’re not sure exactly what Rockmelt is, worry not: I don’t either. What used to be a social-focused web browser for desktop has shifted to a mishmash of Flipboard and Stumbleupon, while retaining some of that browser DNA it began to shed in the mobile age.

Rockmelt for Android purports to “discover and share the best stuff on the web” by asking you about your favourite topics — music, movies, tech, arts, travel, food, etc. — and establishing a list of content catered to you. Much like Vu, which we covered in a previous post, Rockmelt improves as you use it, providing more accurate recommendations based on what you like and dislike.

The app has a floating “R” button which appears like magic when you want it, usually when you’ve stopped scrolling up or down a page. Unlike a traditional browser like Chrome or Firefox, there is no text input box; all the discovery is made through search, topic-based recommendations and how you interact with specific posts. Like Vu, you can affix little notations to each post, “aww”, “want”, “lol”, “hmm”, “wtf”, “like” etc., and shared content will be revealed by connecting the app to Facebook and Twitter. You can also follow active users of Rockmelt, who individually curate lists of content.

It’s an interesting approach to content discovery, though I prefer the aforementioned StumbleUpon, or even Flipboard’s new magazine feature, to Rockmelt. You may disagree: that’s what makes mobile such an interesting platform.

Rockmelt is available for Android phones, 7-inch and 10-inch tablets, and works on Android 4.0 and above.

Download Rockmelt for Android.

Aviary bills itself as one of Android’s most popular photo editing tools, and rightfully so: the company is approaching 50 million downloads on Google Play, and is constantly at the top of the store’s Photography category.

Though Android is the company’s fastest-growing segment, increasing from 30% of its user base to 50% in just six months (January to June), its entire consumer apps portfolio has climbed to 11 million users, and use of the Aviary SDK — meant to integrate photo editing into third-party apps — has increased 100% in the past year. Aviary’s SDK is used in many popular mobile apps, including Twitter and Flickr.

Version 3.0 of Aviary for Android introduces a brand new interface, similar to the one recently released on iOS, and adds a number of new one-tap touch-up effects like Hi Def, Illuminate and Colour Fix. Aviary is also keen to sell its 5.5 million Android users stickers, something that has seen rapid growth across all mobile platforms in recent months.

Of note in version 3.0 are improved Focus tools and a new Colour Splash effect that strips photos of colour and intelligently adds it back based on a light touch of the finger.

Download Aviary for Android.

Via: Aviary Blog

The pictures have all but revealed Nokia’s next flagship Lumia smartphone. Nokia’s July 11th media event is titled “Zoom Reinvented” and is rumoured to officially unveil the Lumia EOS which has similar specs to the PureView 808, but runs Windows Phone 8.

As we’ve stated before, the EOS is expected to sport a 41MP camera with Xenon flash, 4.5-inch OLED display (1280×768 resolution), wireless charging and 32GB of internal storage. A massive hint of truth to these specs arrived on Nokia’s ‘conversations’ blog today that stated “41 million reasons to zoom in to Nokia Conversations on July 11th,” indicating that the EOS will in fact have a 41MP camera.

We’ll bring you all the details on July 11, but if you can’t make the event Nokia says they’ll be live streaming it on their site. The fun will start at 11:00am EST.

Source: Nokia
(Thanks Mike O!)

LG demoed their “unbreakable and flexible” 5-inch and 7-inch display last month at the SID Display conference in Vancouver. Reports indicated that the 5-inch display will have a “1.0mm bezel allowing production of borderless smartphones,” plus the 7-inch display would be for tablets and has a HD resolution “that exceeds 300 pixels per inch (PPI).”

LG was rumoured to launch a smartphone with a flexible display sometime in Q4, but plans of this were reportedly halted due to a manufacturing issues. Recently, Dr. Sang-Deok Yeo, CTO and Executive Vice President of LG Display, said “with the resulting rapid need for new display advancements, LG Display, at the forefront of these trends, is well positioned to lead the market with its differentiated and cutting-edge technologies.”

An overseas report today surprisingly reveals that LG is heading into production of its flexible displays. LG spokesperson Frank Lee, who was once leading the Canadian communications arm of LG, stated “We have completed the development of our first flexible displays. We will mass produce flexible displays from the fourth quarter of this year.” The flexible display that will be used in mobile devices will be OLED (organic light-emitting diode) supporting ultra-high definition (UHD).

Unfortunately there’s no indication of specific details of the smartphone, only that it’ll be released “later this year” and that LG might be “selling the screens to other major mobile producers.”

Source: Korea Times
Via: PhoneArena

Rogers is on the cusp of releasing a couple more devices targeted to the seniors market – or to those “customers who want an easy to use experience.” The Doro PhoneEasy 520x and the PhoneEasy 620 are both priced at a respectable $100 off contract, or $19.99 on a 2-year term. As for specs, the 520 x is a typical candy bar style phone with big buttons, 1.9-inch display and a 3MP camera. The PhoneEasy 620 is a classic flip that sports a 2MP camera.

These should be arriving in-stores soon.
(Thanks tipster!)

Dolphin Browser has been updated to version 10.0 today, bringing a new interface and expanded support for HTML5-based services via what owner MoboTap refers to as its Web App Store.

For millions of users — MoboTap says there are 80 million across iOS and Android — Dolphin is still the best alternative to Chrome, and since it supports Android versions 2.0.1 and above. With version 10, Dolphin is far more customizable than before, with the ability to search directly from services like Amazon, eBay, Wikipedia and YouTube.

The Web App Store, which offers free HTML5-based applications like clocks and minimalist notetaking services, is a direct challenge to Google’s inevitable integration with its own Chrome App Store, which is expected to come to Android in a future version. The web apps can be integrated onto the new Speed Dial, which now supports up to 60 destinations.

Dolphin also offers voice- and gesture-based searching, and the new Dolphin button integrates both features together into one swipe action. And, like always, the browser integrates Flash support, so users can interface with the “old” web if desired.

The browser is unlikely to unseat the mainstays such as Chrome, Firefox and Opera from their virtual thrones, but 80 million users can’t be wrong — it’s fast, lightweight and feature-filled. What more can you ask for?

Download Dolphin for Android.

Via: TheNextWeb

Feedly has finally launched its web-based Feedly Cloud service today, migrating thousands of users from Google Reader, which is closing in 10 days, to its own backend infrastructure. The company says it now reaches 12 million people across all platforms.

At the same time, it has announced full integration of its API with third-party apps, one of which is the excellent Press for Android. Press was updated to version 1.3.2, bringing support for Feedly — which requires a Google Reader account for now — in addition to the previously-added Feed Wrangler and Feedbin.

Feedly Cloud is a web- and app-based solution, with apps for iOS and Android. The company announced that it would be supporting other platforms like Windows Phone 8 with specific partners, one of which is Nextgen Reader, which should also receive an accompanying update in the coming days. BlackBerry 10 users will also gain Feedly API support from app gNewsReader.

Feedly has steadily grown into the most viable Google Reader replacement, and should accommodate casual news readers in addition to virulent supporters of the traditional RSS standard.

Download Press for Android.
Via: TechCrunch