Let me explain. Part of the trouble with having hundreds of thousands of apps available to you is that you’re bound to come across a lot of garbage apps. Even if we cast those “low quality” apps aside, you’re also bound to come across some that might contain malware or some that may violate the terms of service. Both Google and Apple are supposed to stay on top of that sort of thing, but some “bad” apps will always slip through the cracks.

In this way, it’s quite possible that the app count dropping by 60,000 has something to do with a culling of bad apps. More specifically, many of the “missing” apps are coming from the MP3/ringtone category and they might have to do with some copyright infringement issues. Google removes them, the app count goes down, but we’re left with a “cleaner” list of apps. Of course, this is still speculation.

Don’t get me wrong. We still want lots of apps to choose from and that’s going to be one of the biggest hurdles facing second-tier platforms like Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10. When they’re able to get numbers closer to iOS and Android, we might finally see a race with more than two ponies again.

[Source]

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Want a chance to get your hands on the LG Nexus 4 from Google Play? Now is your chance! The phone is going back in stock at 12 noon, PST. Don’t expect it to last long.

We can’t say how many handsets will be ready and waiting, but if you are at all interested, I would start hoovering around the Google Play site as close to 12 noon PST as you can. Don’t expect these to last long, though hopefully the site will be less wonky this time around. From what we are hearing, US Nexus 4 would-be owners can get the device in both the 8GB and 16GB models. The bad news is that it seems the Google Play store is leaving out the rest of the world. So this is a bit of a bittersweet announcement.

Are you planning attempt to snag an LG Nexus 4 today? If so, let us know how it goes later on. Hopefully stock will manage to stay in place for more than twenty minutes this time around.

Update: Not too surprising,  but the LG Nexus 4 is already sold out. Didn’t take long, once again. If you are still waiting patiently for the LG Nexus 4 all we can say is keep your chin up, the time will come eventually. Did you manage to snag a Nexus 4 today or not?

Update 2: It turns out that Google is NOT out of stock. They simply weren’t putting too much up at once in order to prevent their site servers from becoming too bogged down. At least at the time of this update (Nov. 28th at 7:38 U.S. Central Timing) both Nexus 4 models are in stock.

Update 3: Shipments dates for the 16GB version are being pushed back dramatically and the 8GB version is listed as “Out of Stock” once more.

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Remember how you could get a free $25 credit toward the Google Play store when you bought a Google Nexus 7 tablet? Now, it’s even better if you decided to pick up a Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone, because you’ll be getting a free $50 Google Play credit to spend as you see fit. Buy apps, buy games, buy movies… it’s up to you.

This promotion, according to RadioShack PR guy Adam Lee, will be starting this Sunday, November 18. The catch is that you only get the complimentary Google Play credit when you sign up for a qualifying two-year plan with the corresponding wireless carrier. You can do this in-store with AT&T, Sprint or Verizon. Alternatively, an online purchase can be done with Sprint and Verizon only. You might remember that you also get two years of a 50GB Dropbox account upgrade with the S3 too. That’s a lot of bonus action.

The Samsung Galaxy S III is $99.99 on contract for new and upgrading customers for AT&T and Verizon, while new Sprint customers can get the special promotional price of $49.99; existing Sprint customers pay the same $99.99 contract price. All of this money-spending also qualifies for RadioShack’s holiday bonus of $10 back for every $50 spent in-store or online.

From what I can gather the free $50 Google Play credit only applies if you buy the S3 from RadioShack, but if you’re in the market for this awesome Android smartphone anyway, you might as well get the bonus.

The post Buy a Samsung Galaxy S III, Get a Free $50 Google Play Credit appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Rumors about a so-called Nexus tablet from Google have been flying around for a while. What you see above comes to us from Pocketnow and the pictured device is purported to be the search giant’s upcoming tablet. Could it be the cheap stock Android Nexus tablet meant to compete against the new iPad?

As we reported earlier, the Nexus tablet (or whatever it will be called, if it’s coming that is) is expected to have a 7-inch display and will be coming from Asus sometime this summer. If this is indeed the Nexus tablet that we are looking at, it looks more like a ten-inch slate.

It looks like it has some qualities of an upcoming Google tablet. The generic Ice Cream Sandwich OS is displaying only official ICS and Google apps; there are no third party apps or widgets visible.

But, anyone who is an expert in Photoshop can create such an image very accurately, and also we are suspicious about the presence of the Android Market icon instead of the Google Play Store (yes, it could mean that it’s an older render too). The folks over at Pocketnow are also not talking about a source. That does not mean that the image is a fake, but the image does not provide us with any good evidence to prove that it is real.

There are no hints about specs, price or the release date, but previous rumors point towards a device with a quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor and a $199 price tag.

Just to let you know, Android Community is saying that the above device looks similar to the 7.7-inch Tegra 3 tablet from Toshiba which was shown off at CES.

The post Rumored Google Nexus Tablet Could Be A Ten-Inch Device appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

It may not be coming jam-packed with features as the new iPad which becomes available today for the cost of an arm and leg, and it may not be as thin as the teased stainless steel Archos slate, but it certainly is unbeatable when it comes to its price tag. The ridiculously cheap Aakash 2 tablet, which is the successor to the $35 Aakash tablet designed for the students in India, will be launched in the country in the coming month with a price tag of just $40.

Yes, you heard that right, the device will cost only that much. And although it can never be placed alongside all the high-end tablets out there, it features some better components when compared to its predecessor and is expected to come with improved performance (and don’t forget the $40 price).

The new Aakash will come equipped with a 700MHz Cortex A8 processor, a 3200 mAh battery (promises 3 hours of use), 512 MB of RAM and a 7-inch capacitive touchscreen display (replaces the resistive one). That may not look too great, but the previous Aakash lasts just around 2 hours and its performance was not that awesome either.

Although some are saying that the device will run Android 2.2 Froyo, it might arrive with Gingerbread on board. In case you are new to the OS, ICS is never going to arrive. And support for Android Market, now called the Google Play Store, is also a possibility.

The Indian government wants to see a tablet in the hands of every student in the country within the next five to six years. That’s a mighty big task in a country which is home to over 1.2 billion people. Makers DataWind have promised to bring out 100,000 units, although that’s not going to be nearly enough.

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