They say that the best things in life are free. That applies to using your smartphone, don’t you agree? Just think about it, free calls and free texting – that sounds pretty darn sweet.

We have told you about Viber before – it is one of the many VoIP clients out there, and it allows you to talk with other Viber users at no charge using only your smartphone’s internet connection. What you probably do not know yet is that it is not limited to iOS only anymore. After being downloaded more than 10 million times on any iDevice that it supports, an Android version of Viber has already reached its beta stage and it is available for download.

The Viber for Android beta version is still absolutely free of charge, just the way we like it. It supports everything that we are used to seeing it do – free calling and texting between Viber clients, but its Android beta release should come equipped with some platform-specific features. Besides that, another cool thing that Viber does is that it integrates with your smartphone’s contact list, which makes searching for buddies pretty straightforward. (Note that, Skype.)

If you want to give Viber for Android a try, do not look for it in the Android Market because you will not find it there yet. Instead, click on the link that we have provided for you below. BlackBerry and Symbian users – hold on tight because a Viber version for you is on the way too.

If you want to be a Viber for Android beta tester, apply here.

Thanks, Jonah!

Want to know why we have already highlighted May 12 in our calendars? It is rumored that Verizon is getting ready to launch not one, not two, but three new smartphones on that very day. According to some leaked information coming straight from a Verizon insider, May 12 is allegedly the release date for the Motorola DROID X 2, the LG Revolution, and the HTC Trophy.

With its qHD 4.3-inch display and its snappy 1.2 GHz Tegra 2 processor, we are not expecting to see the DROID X 2 landing anywhere else but on Verzion’s top shelves with the rest of the carrier’s hottest devices keeping it company. In case you’ve missed them, feel free to check out the DROID X 2’s first press shots, which we wrote about not long ago. On the other hand, the LG Revolution may not pack that much processing power, but it will stand out with its 4G LTE connectivity. You can see our hands-on of the LG Revolution to get a clearer picture as of what the smartphone will look like. Finally, the HTC Trophy will become Verizon’s first smart device to run the Windows Phone 7 platform. Yes, we may be living in a world dominated by Android and iOS, but Microsoft’s mobile OS does have its fans out there.

Every single one of these three devices has been expected for quite a while and their supposed release dates have been only a matter of speculation so far. We are crossing our fingers that a concrete confirmation from Verizon makes headlines pretty soon, and once it does we will make sure to let you know.

source: Droid Life via Electronista

A Samsung phone with model name SPH-D600 is rumored to be a Sprint 4G handset with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

Some of its specs sound quite good to us, as it’s said to pack a 1GHz Snapdragon MSM8655 processor (the same one that is to power the LG Revolution), Gingerbread and WiMAX 4G connectivity, but, on the other hand, it’s rumored to offer an HVGA resolution and a 3.1MP rear camera, which hints that this handset won’t be billed as a high-end device.

Its QWERTY is said to be similar to the one we saw with the newly-announced eco-friendly Samsung Replenish (hands-on). A front-facing camera is also on board.

The lads at Blog of Mobile say this phone passed its FCC test on April 29 (and have a pic to prove it), but its FCC ID returns no results on the feds’ site.

source: Blog of Mobile (translated) and pocketnow

The HTC Sensation is one of the hottest phones scheduled to grace the mobile scene in the coming months, but now it has moved one step closer to its actual release in some parts of the world, as Vodafone already accepts pre-orders for it.

The carrier offers it for free if you pick a data plan that costs $58 (£35) or more per month. The aimed shipping date is stated as May 19.

As we told you, Voda will enjoy a month-long exclusive period with this handset, but once it is over, Orange, T-Mobile and Three will join Vodafone in offering this sensationally powerful phone in the UK. The HTC Sensation 4G, which is the US version of this beast, will be available for T-Mo customers “this summer” – the exact launch date is still unannounced, but the rumor mill claims it will be released on June 8.

source: Vodafone

Remember analytical firm iSuppli? They were bought out by a company called IHS which recently issued a report about the future of the Apple App Store, Google’s Android Market, Nokia’s Ovi Store and RIM’s BlackBerry App World. The report noted that back in 2008, trhe App Store was the only viable online applications store in a market with $260.01 million in sales. By 2009, the value of the sales was $830.6 million which grew to $2.1 billion last year.

Back in February, IHS said that Apple controlled 82.7% of the global mobile app revenue and forecast that the Cupertino based firm would control just a little more than half of all the market by 2014. Approximately 2 months later, the forecast has improved a bit for Apple with the company expected to have 76% of the app market by the end of 2011 and by 2014 will still hold a commanding 60% share of the global app market.

Still, the growth of the App Store will cool down going forward. Last year, App Store sales increased at a torrid 131.9% rate, that will slow down this year to a 63.4% increase. Growth in the Android Market is expected to slow from the unsustainable 861.5% seen in 2010 to a still sizzling increase of 295.4% this year.

The Top 5 global application stores last year were the Apple App Store with an 82.7% global share, followed by the BlackBerry App World with a 7.75% piece of the pie. Third and fourth are the Nokia Ovi Store and the Android Market with shares of 4.9% and 4.7% respectively.

During this year, there will have been 18.1 billion apps downloaded across all platforms, nearly double from the 9.5 billion downloaded last year. By 2014 that number will grow to 33 billion apps. Apple will lead the way this year with 10.3 billion apps installed, followed by 5.8 billion apps installed for Android devices.

source: iSuppli

For the better part of the last 2 months, some Motorola ATRIX 4G owners have been baffled to find some less than stellar “4G” speeds with their handsets, but unknown to some of them, the handset is not enabled for HSUPA – the component that’s needed to get those so-called 4G speeds.

Spreading like wildfire, owners quickly voiced their disdain about the whole thing, especially when it’s sporting the “4G” moniker in its name. Thankfully, AT&T has been receptive to their pleas and allowed a few select owners the opportunity of beta testing the OTA update.

Well, the day is finally here as the v4.1.83 software update is finally available for the taking – thus giving owners that much needed boost in speed performance. Aside from turning on HSUPA for the ATRIX 4G, there are other device improvements packed along, but we’d imagine that some will find it negligible since they’re probably more focused about HSUPA.

Naturally, you can sit prettily and wait for that notification to pop up on your handset, but if you’re simply impatient, you can always go into the settings menu and initiate that manual update yourself. Let us know what kind of speeds you’re getting once you’ve installed it!

source: Motorola via BGR

Have you ever recharged your HTC ThunderBolt or DROID Incredible 2 for hours and noticed that once you unplugged the charger, the battery life was down to 90% immediately? There is a reason for that. While either phone does fully recharge, it does not maintain a full charge; instead it keeps the battery at 90-95% full. In order to capture that lost 5-10% of cell power, you can “bump charge” your phone.

To “bump charge” your device, follow these simple rules. First, plug in your phone to recharge the battery. The led light will show a solid orange. Wait until the phone is charged as indicated by the solid green led light. Once that happens, unplug the phone and hold down the power button and select “power off”. Once the phone turns off, plug the power cord into the outlet again, causing the led light to be a solid orange which shows that the phone is charging. Once the light is green, unplug the phone and use the power button to turn it back on. Once HTC Sense has loaded, plug the phone in to the outlet once again. The light will be orange. Keep repeating the cycle until the light starts out green as soon as you plug it in. That will indicate that you have 100% battery life.

If you try this, let us know if you are able to “bump charge” your ThunderBolt or DROID Incredible 2. If you are, drop us a comment in the box below if you notice any difference in battery life.

source: AndroidCentralForums

There are some aspects of the ViewSonic ViewPad 10 that we adore, namely its truly affordable cost as a decent Windows 7 tablet, but what makes the experience sour is the fact that it sports the super outdated Android 1.6 experience. Adding to the misery is the fact that the Android experience is truly marred by a bunch of things, like its confusing set of Android buttons, but thankfully it’s getting its fair share of love.

Specifically, the dual-boot tablet is getting its tasting of Android 2.2 Froyo, which provides plenty of new and recent features that should make it a more tolerable Android tablet. However, there’s no mention if it’ll be getting any official Flash 10.2 support, but then again, Internet Explorer on the Windows 7 side is a true desktop web browser.

Unfortunately, getting Froyo onto the tablet isn’t as easy as you’d expect, especially when most things nowadays go through the usual over-the-air process. Instead, you’ll have to read the instructions provided in the PDF file, then load an image of the Android 2.2 install on some sort of flash media, and finally get access to the BIOS to install the new firmware.

Once all of that is squared away, you can breathe a sigh of relief that it’s no longer sporting an aged Android experience.

source:  ViewSonic via Electronista

Whether or not you can make it to the Google I/O conference next week in San Francisco, the official conference app can be downloaded for free from the Android Market and will give you all the information you need to make it feel as though you are there. And if you are there, the app will give you schedules of keynote speeches, times of presentations, late changes in the schedule, a map of Moscone West and more. With the real time Twitter feed, you can keep up to date on the reaction to news from inside and outside the conference.

The Google I/O Developer’s Conference runs May 10-11 at the Moscone West Center in San Francisco. To show you how popular this annual event has become, the show sold out this year, in less than a hour.

source: AndroidCentral

Whether you will be attending the show or not, you will find the Google I/O app to be a helpful tool

Deals on T-Mobile devices have been abundant of late, especially after yesterday when RadioShack slashed the price of the T-Mobile G2x in half to $100 on-contract for one day only, but the savings on Big Magenta’s devices aren’t stopping any time soon.

This time around though, T-Mobile is going at it by giving new and & add-a-line customers something that’s mind numbingly spectacular on so many levels. Right now, those set of customers can pick up the still relevant T-Mobile myTouch 4G for free with a 2-year contract through their web site only. There’s no denying that the offer is eye catching indeed, even when it’s still a respectable high-powered smartphone, but the lure of it being free on-contract makes it even sweeter.

Naturally, it’s really difficult to try and pass up an opportunity like this, but you’ll have only until the end of May 5th to grab yourself one before the promotion is set to expire.

source: T-Mobile via TmoNews