An updated version of Swype, which was launched in the USA last week, will now be available for all Android handsets soon, reported a website.

Swype, the virtual keyboard software for Android smartphones, was updated last week with an attractive black skin with new gesture controls for Google Nexus S 4G.

The updated app, after the USA launch, was made available to users worldwide by some websites for rooted Android phones. However, the websites soon removed the link of the extracted App after the app creators protested.

The registered testers of the app will get it within a week, though there are rumours the black skin will be missing. There’s another possibility the app will soon have custom skin options.

The updated Swype will have better capitalisation, personal dictionary, and gesture support to launch Facebook and Twitter, and of course for select all, cut, copy, and paste. In a related news, Swype Beta for Android is also open currently for all the users.

BrightKite, the first company which entered the location based social network apps, has developed an App which recommends users places where they can satiate their taste buds.
The app, named Forkly, offers news feed, widgets for food bloggers. The app also offers analytics for the restaurant owners, loyalty programs for the users through restaurants and customisable menus as well.

The app gives users some options for feedback about the food, including “like”, “love”, “okay” and “not for me”. The app uses this information provided by the users to build a “taste graph” and comes up with suggestions for the users. Users also have the option to become “influencers” by recommending food and drink items to their friends.

A similar app, FoodSpotting, is already out there in the market, which has already seen about a million downloads.

Vodafone has entered into an operator billing agreement with Google for Android apps. It will enable Vodafone subscribers to purchase applications without the need to pay through credit card. The cost of the apps purchased will be deducted from the prepaid balance or will be added to the postpaid bill.

“We have done a deal that covers the global footprint,” Tobin Ireland, Vodafone’s commercial development director, said in an interview to Bloomberg.
The company also held talks with Microsoft for a similar deal for Windows Phone 7, he said.

We had earlier carried a news that Vodafone is in talks with Nokia for Ovi store billing, which was denied by both the companies. However, now it’s seems that they have been in talks with not just Nokia but all other players like Android and Windows.

Operator billing not just helps consumer buy applications without much hassle but also encourages impulsive buying, increasing the consumption of paid applications. The operators benefit by getting a cut (a part apps’ price) and also by offering a unique service they can retain subscribers.

Vodafone India spokesperson was non committal on the issue saying they have not got any directions so far about the development.

Currently, only Reliance offers operator billing for the Ovi Store of Nokia. Most service providers including Reliance Communication, Airtel, Aircel and Idea have their own application stores for which the operator billing is available. However, these application stores are much smaller in comparison to the like of Android Market or Ovi store and will give a huge advantage to Vodafone when it starts offering the billing service as currently the Android platform is the fastest growing operating system in the country.
Though Android users mostly download free applications, with the addition of in-app purchase feature there will definitely be a surge in paid users category as well.

Nokia has announced the launch of its local search application, targeted mainly at emerging markets like India.

With Nokia Nearby you can discover places and listings like restaurants, movie theatres and malls; get details about the places that interest you and contact them from within the app.
One can search for listings through keywords or by sharing the location. Once the search is completed, users can also seek for more information on the listings nearby them.

This application allows the user to share information about the listing or the place they are in via SMS or even if the friend is in vicinity. The whole application can also be shared with anyone using a Nokia phone over Bluetooth.

This application works on both Series40 and S60 devices; but it is targeted primarily towards emerging markets with a high emphasis on Series40 devices (as communicated via beta labs blog), including those that don’t have Nokia Maps or GPS on them.

The aim of this application is to add more functionality to devices that do not feature GPS and are not able to access maps or any such location based services.

The Nokia Nearby application requires a Nokia phone with S40 or Symbian S60 operating system. Users can download the App on their Nokia device manually or from the Beta Labs. Alternatively, you could follow this link.

Shoot the Birds, a popular game on iOS, is now available on the Android platform. The game has been developed by Infinite Dreams.

The game play of this game is simple and all you need to do is kill the birds with the crossbow in a most unique way. You will achieve combos if you hit two or more birds with one arrow and gain some extra points.

The ‘Shoot the Birds’ game will only be able to run on phones which have dedicated imaging processors, which means that it would not be compatible with low end Android devices. While the online playability is not available in this game but with the inclusion of Open feint in this, users will be able to share their scores online and tally them against players from around the globe.

The developers have decided that there will be no free version of this application, for now at least, as the advertisements and distraction during game play can totally take away the game pleasure. There is a single application that is available and is compatible for both smartphones and tablets. Users will have to pay a small amount or Rs 52 to get this game on their android device.

The application can be downloaded directly on the Android 2.0.1 and above devices from the Android Marketplace or alternatively user can also follow the link to download it also.

Affle, a mobile media company, has launched the upgraded version of Pinchmobile Messaging platform.

The application will now allow users to chat with friends, find new friends, access locations services and participate in social contests, using their existing data plan or WiFi network without incurring any local or international SMS/MMS charges.

The Pinch upgrade, dubbed version 2.0, also sports a completely new brand identity and a sleeker and unified UI (user interface).

“The latest version of Pinch further strengthens our offerings on the messaging platform and complements our existing product SMS2.0 Live, which has already got us over 20 million downloads in Asia alone,” said Anuj Kumar, chief executive officer of Affle.

Through this, Pinch users will now be able to send SMSs and receive messages back in the Pinch environment thus bringing the reach, reliability and robustness of the SMS platform to smartphone messaging. “We are confident that this upgrade will change messaging as it exists today by making cross platform data messaging on phones very popular.” Kumar added.

Pinch version 2.0 is available for iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) Android, Symbian (Nokia), Blackberry, Windows Phone and J2ME – which means that it will work on both feature phones as well as smartphones.

It can also be used through mobile Internet and SMS, which has been done through partnership with operators.