WhatsApp introduces one-press voice 

texting, to be rolled out on all operating

systems in 24 hours.

Instant messaging service WhatsApp has rolled out an update that lets you

now send voice texts by just pressing one button.

The company announced the availability of this new feature while announcing

that it has now hit the 300 million monthly active users mark.They garnered a 

whopping 50 million new active users in just 2 months.

With this new feature, you can record and send voice clips with one press of

 the mic icon.According to a report in AllThingsD, WhatsApp users now send 

11 billion messages and receive 20 billion messages per day - up from 27 billion

 total in June.

WhatsApp has began rolling out voice messaging for all of its apps, on iPhone, 

BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone and Nokia.

Simple and easyWhat's interesting about this feature is that it is simple with less taps on the screen

to get the job done.You just press the record button to record your message and let 

go of the mic icon once ur done to send the message.If you decide not to send the

message then you just swipe to the left to delete the recording.

There is no time length limit when recording a message therefore users can get as 

creative as they want.Another interesting feature is that the playback of a voice text

will automatically switch from handset's speakers to its earpiece when the device is

held to your ear.The mic icon also turns blue when recipients have listened to the

message .

Feature available in 24 hours
In the report it is also mentioned that WhatsApp with its strength of just 45 employees 

will push the new voice feature simultaneously on all its platforms and will make it 

available to all users within 24 hours.Facebook and WeChat already have the voice 

texting feature but what's interestingabout Whatsapp is its one press voice text feature.

Siddhartha Bhavsaar, a businessman and an active user of WhatsApp from Mumbai

is quite happy with the update, " I hate typing. Voice messaging will be so much 

easier and fun!"

One of the last useful update rolled out by WhatsApp was to allow its users to send 

batches of photos in one go.Divya Saboo, a mass media graduate from UPG College 

of Management in Mumbai feels that the realms of conversation has increased ten-folds. 

" With family, you normally conversate in your regional language. With voice text now 

on WhatsApp I can easily communicate with my mother who does not know English 

effectively."Rahil Shaikh, a design proffessional does not really think it makes much 

of a difference. "To voice chat, I will call the person. Why would I voice text and then 

wait for a reply on WhatsApp. The app is great for free texting and group chats, but 

there is no need for voice text."

This feature does not need the app updated and will automatically appear on your 

device once it is rolled out.Wonder if 'instant video' is the next update from WhatsApp. 

We can only wait and hope......

Datawind Ubislate 3G7: New tablet 

of Aakash makers spotted.

As per the listing the Datawind Ubislate 3G7 has quad band GPRS and tri-band HSPA 
connectivity Couple of days after the Government of India promised to launch Aakash 4 tablet,            

a new tablet of Datawind - which ironically made the previous versions of Aakash
tablet - has been spotted.

Technology focused website, Engadget, claimed to have spotted the tablet - called

Datawind Ubislate 3G7 - on the FCC’s (Federal Communication Commission) website.

As per the listing the Datawind Ubislate 3G7 has quad band GPRS and tri-band HSPA+">HSPAconnectivity. Besides, it has WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, micro SD card

slot and a 2 megapixel front camera. Not much information about the tablet is

available as of now.

Notably, last week Kapil Sibal, the Communication and Information Technology

 Minister of Government of India, told that Aakash 4 is all set to be launched 

January next. He also went on to say that 12 manufacturers have showed 

interest in the tablet whose specifications have been freezed.

Aakash is first in a series of Android-based tablet computers promoted by

 Government of India as part of an initiative to link 25,000 colleges and 

400 universities in an e-learning program. The first three versions, which 

were heavily criticised for non-availability and quality, were made by DataWind.

In view of the uproar, the Government of India in July this year came out with a 

proposed list of minimum features for the upcoming Aakash 4 and as per analysts,

if the tablet indeed comes with the set of proposed features then it would be an 

attractive low cost tablet. You can check the proposed specifications of  

Aakash 4 here.

So it would be interesting to see if government launches this purported Ubislate 3G7 

as Aakash 4 or bring a whole new product from a different manufacturer.

Android 4.3's New 'Always-On' Wi-Fi  Feature Buried in Settings. It might be a bit much to say that one of the new features  packed into Android's 4.3 upgrade is controversial, but it's  definitely one worth knowing a little bit more about. As those  who have taken a spin around the Android 4.3 ROM have  noticed, Google has made a change to devices' Wi-Fi settings  in Android 4.3. "To improve location accuracy and for other purposes, Google and other apps may scan for nearby networks, even when Wi-Fi is off," describes Google. Android Police's Ron Amadeo notes that the move is actually  probably designed to save one's battery life instead of wasting it, given that the only other way for one's smartphone  to discern one's location is to kick on the battery-draining  GPS. However, he also calls out Google's interesting use of  language in its disclaimer – specifically, the "other purposes"  bit. "Those 'other purposes' probably (that means this is the speculation part) involves shipping that Wi-Fi location  data back to Google, which is how the Wi-Fi location  service currently functions. The way to use Wi-Fi hotspots  for location data is to build a map of  SSID (hotspot name)  locations. You do that by running around with a GPS and  Wi-Fi chip and virtually stick Wi-Fi pins on a map,"  Amadeo writes. To check and see whether your phone has this feature enabled  by default (a number do not), you'll have to navigate through to the very bowels of your Android operating system's settings  — Google doesn't exactly make this feature all that easy to flick on and off. Here's how: Fire up the Settings app and tap your finger on the Wireless and Networks option. Tap on the Wi-Fi option, and then tap on the Menu button on your phone's lower-right-hand corner (the triple-dots icon). When the submenu pops up, tap your  finger on the Advanced option. From there, you'll want to  make sure to check the "Scanning always available" option  if you want to participate in the new Android 4.3 feature.  Otherwise, if it's checked, you need merely to uncheck it to  ensure that "Wi-Fi off"really means "Wi-Fi off." It's important to reiterate that numerous reports have come in  from Nexus 4, Nexus 7, and Galaxy Nexus owners – to name a few – who all indicate that this feature remains off by default when they've updated their devices to Android 4.3. Which is to  say, it's more important that you know about this potentially  useful setting than to freak out about it, but it's also worth checking this, and many of Android's other "Advanced" wireless  configuration options, when you've upgraded your mobile OS!

Google Releases 4.3 OTA for HTC One and Galaxy S4 Google Play Editions.

It's been a busy week in the Android space, and this evening Google appears to have hit the button on the Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean MR2) update for the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play edition phones. I just got the 4.3 OTA notification on both of my Google-suppled GPe phones. The update is around 150 MB for the SGS4 and 180 MB for the HTC One, and comes as build JWR66V. This comes immediately after both HTC and Samsung released their Android 4.3 kernel sources online. Seems as though Google made good on its promise for speedy updates to the Google Play edition phones, as this comes about a week after the official Nexus program 4.3 OTA started. I'll be digging around inside to see if anything major sticks out beyond what's expected from 4.3

HTC One Dual SIM Coming Soon to India, Spotted on Company’s Official Site

HTC one is the hottest looking Android smartphone available in India. It can easily beat Samsung Galaxy S4 or even iPhone 5 for that matter. Now the Taiwanese giant is prepping to announce a Dual SIM variant of HTC One in India. This can be said as the HTC One Dual SIM handset has now got listed on the company's official site. Currently the device tagged as "Coming Soon." We are in touch with HTC India to get exact release details about Dual SIM version of HTC One. Originally, HTC One Dual SIM was launched in the Chinese market earlier this year. Since then, it was speculated that HTC might announce the dual SIM version of famed HTC One in the Indian market. The HTC One Dual SIM is slightly modified in comparison to single SIM version. The latter version comes with fixed internal storage - 32GB/64GB. With HTC One Dual SIM users can expand the internal storage via microSD card up to 64GB. Rest features are pretty much same.

Android 4.x Jelly Bean is now 

on 40.5 percent of Android 

SOFTWARE DEVELOPER Google's Android 4.x Jelly Bean mobile operating system is now on over 40 percent of Android devices after overtaking Android 2.3 Gingerbread for the first time last month.

Google's latest Android developer statistics, which it releases based on visits to the Google Play store over a two-week period, show that not only is Android 4.x Jelly Bean now the most popular, it's now on 40.5 percent of Android devices.

However, the majority of these devices are running the first iteration of Jelly Bean, Android 4.1.x, with just 6.5 percent of Android phones and tablets running Android 4.2.x. There's no word yet as to how many devices are running Google's latest Android 4.3 Jelly Bean operating system, and we're guessing that's because it hasn't been rolled out to many devices so far.

Google's latest figures also show that Android 2.3.x Gingerbread's share is finally starting to slow. Android 2.3.x Gingerbread is now on 33.1 percent of devices, down from 34.1 percent in July and 36.5 percent in June. The popularity of Android 4.0.x Ice Cream Sandwich is also starting to dwindle, down from 23.3 percent at the beginning of July to 22.5 percent in the two-week period running up until 1 August.

Android 3.0 Honeycomb is just as unpopular as it was last month with a 0.1 percent share, while Android 2.2.x Froyo, Android 2.x Eclair and Android 1.6 Donut are little more than memories with 2.5 percent, 1.2 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively.

Google's statistics might highlight the present state of Android fragmentation, but that hasn't stopped the Android mobile operating system from nearly taking over the smartphone market. Strategy Analytics revealed today that Android has an overwhelming 80 percent share of the global smartphone market, compared to Apple's and Microsoft's 13.6 percent and 3.9 percent market shares, respectively. 

Facebook lets users showcase posts on other websites

Facebook began letting people share social network posts at blogs or other spots on the Internet.

 An Embedded Posts feature being tested out at CNN, Huffington Post, Bleacher Report, PEOPLE and Mashable websites lets Facebook members broadcast posts in real-time to broader online audiences.
    
"We are beginning to roll out Embedded Posts to make it possible for people to bring the most compelling, timely public posts from Facebook to the rest of the Web," Facebook software engineers Dave Capra and Ray He said in a blog post.
    
"When embedded, posts can include pictures, videos, hashtags and other content," they continued. "People can also like and share the post directly from the embed."
    
Facebook posts that people allow to be shared publicly can be fired off to blogs or selected outside websites, with the list of venues to grow quickly, according to the engineers.
    
Examples given by Facebook included an official British Monarchy Page publishing a picture of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with their newborn son.
    
"Every day, public figures, journalists and millions of regular people share their thoughts on what's happening around the world on Facebook publicly," Capra and He said.
    
"Many journalists post detailed commentary about world events from their Facebook timeline."
    
The Twitter-style feature is being added as California-based Facebook works to expand its presence on the Internet and its appeal to members increasingly accessing the Internet on the go with smartphones or tablets.