Amazon launches first mobile game on Kindle Fire, Android and iOS

Amazon is stretching its gaming muscles as Amazon Game Studio launches its first mobile game.
Titled Air Patriots, the game combines elements of the popular mobile game, Flight Control, with strategic tower defense-style gameplay.
Players will draw the flight paths for their squadron of planes while defending their base from invading enemies on the ground.
On Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD, Air Patriots will make use of Amazon GameCircle to track more than 50 achievements. Users can also take advantage of WhisperSync to save game progress in the cloud to transfer between Kindle Fires.

Amazon's got game

Amazon has been growing its game development studios over the last year, starting with the launch of its first Facebook gameLiving Classics.
Amazon in entering the social game space during an interesting time. The once dominant EA and Zynga both shed much of their workforce as the latter also reports substantial third quarter losses.
The move to mobile games makes Amazon one of only two companies to make both a tablet and mobile games to play on it. The second is Microsoft, which has its first-party Microsoft Games Studio developing for Surface as well as Windows Phone.
Amazon launched its game simultaneously on Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD, as well as all Android devices, iPhone, and iPad.
It's a free download, which includes the first three levels, and users can get the remaining four levels with an in-app purchase of $2.99 (UK£1.85, AUD$2.87).

Android daily Facebook app use exceeds Apple iPhone

Daily use of the Facebook app on smartphones running Google Android has overtaken its iPhone counterpart for the first time ever.

Despite launching almost a year after the iPhone version, the Android Facebook app has fast been catching up in terms of usage.

According to data supplied by tracking service AppData, the Android app has 58.8 million daily active users, just ahead of the iPhone version's 57.6m.

The iPhone app has 99.5 million monthly active users compared with Android's 86.1m, but more onus is generally placed on how many users access the service every day.

Android is currently the most successful smartphone platform in the world, with handsets running the operating system making up more than 40% of global sales. Google recently announced that 550,000 Android devices are activated every day.

Perhaps crucially, Facebook opted to introduce its new Timeline profile format to Android devices worldwide last week rather than iPhone, suggesting the growing prominence of the operating system.

The world's largest social network released Facebook for iPhone version 4.1 yesterday that supports Timeline access on Apple mobile devices.

Apple 'to resist iPhone 5 screen size increase'

Apple will not increase the screen size of the forthcoming fifth iteration of the iPhone to compete with the next generation of Android devices, an analyst has claimed. 

 

The company is widely expected to be gearing up for an October launch for the iPhone 5, introducing a raft of new features including a redesigned shape, better camera and wireless charging. 

However, there have also been rumours that Apple will increase the size of the handset's screen in response to new smartphones running the latest version of Android Gingerbread OS.

Many new Android phones have screen sizes of around 4 inches, compared to just 3.5 inches for the iPhone 4, while some forthcoming Android handsets will boast screens of up to 4.5 inches.

Despite its massive success and huge sales, the launch of the latest iPhone comes as Apple is increasingly losing market share to phones running Google's Android OS. 

Sales of Android-supported devices surpassed their iOS counterparts during the first quarter of 2011, accounting for 36% of the market, compared with 18.8% for Apple. In the second quarter of this year, Android's share of smartphone sales rose to 46%, while Apple ranked in second with 20%. 

As a result, Apple was rumoured to be preparing to increase the screen size of the iPhone 5 from the previously planned 3.5 inches to around 4 inches. 

A leading Wall Street analyst confirmed that all indicators suggest an October launch for iPhone 5, but moved to play down the speculation about an increase in screen size. 

In a note to clients reported by the International Business Times, Pacific Crest Securities analyst Andy Hargreaves wrote: "iPhone 5 component orders increased for FQ4 (September) and FQ1 (December); timing of orders continues to suggest an October launch.

"FQ4 orders for iPhone 5 increased ~700k; timing continues to suggest an October launch. iPhone 5 screen size likely to be same as iPhone 4."

The iPhone 4, launched in June last year, features a "retina display" screen that delivers a 960×640 pixel resolution and offers a contrast ratio four times higher than its predecessor, the 3GS.

Apple's iPhone gets Japanese earthquake alert

Japanese iPhone users will get the option to receive earthquake alerts under the next version of Apple's iOS operating system.

9to5Mac reports that the feature will be added to the device's notification centre in iOS 5, which is expected to be released in September.

Japan has a sophisticated early warning system which collects readings from more than 1,000 seismic sensors.

More than 16,000 people died in the 2011 quake and subsequent tsunami.

Earthquake warnings are typically issued through radio, television and text message under the Area Mail Disaster Information Service.

For SMS, the system works by sending out a mass cell broadcast (SMS-CB) to all handsets in a designated area.

3G cellphones are compelled by Japanese law to include SMS-CB technology. However, many foreign-made phones do not currently support it.

iPhone Rumors Heat Up: iPhone 5 In September, Cheaper iPhone 4 Coming?

Two new iPhones will be coming in September: One, a less expensive version of the iPhone 4, the other, the iPhone 5, with a bigger touchscreen and a better rear-facing camera.

This is according to the latest Apple rumor, this time from the venerable Reuters, sourced from "two people with knowledge of the matter."
The meat of the rumor concerns the low-cost iPhone 4, the existence of which 9to5mac previously reported in July. Though Reuters' sources did not give a price point, they did note that the phone will come with an 8GB flash drive "manufactured by a Korean company."
Buried in the article is another rumor that the updated iPhone 4--either the iPhone 5 or the iPhone 4S, with the larger screen and the 8 megapixel rear-facing camera--will be released by the end of September. This contradicts the latest Apple intel from All Things Digital, which emphatically believes the newest iPhones won't be arriving until October, and tech blog Boy Genius Report, which gave the iPhone 5 a specific release date: October 5th.
Elsewhere in the Apple rumors world, TechCrunch talked to a source who said that the newest iPhone will be a so-called "world phone" supporting both CDMA and GSM networks (international travelers know how important this is) and leaked pictures out of MacRumors that show the purported iPhone 5 battery, which looks a whole lot like the iPhone 4 battery and has led to speculation that the battery life is going to essentially be the same.
Though Google's Android OS is the most widely used mobile platform in America, the top two cell phones are the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 3GS, according to a recent report by the NPD Group. For our weekly coverage of the latest in all things Apple, from iPhone release rumors to wacky patent applications, check out our series, This Week In Apple Rumors.