Planet M, a music retail store which also sells mobile phones and other electronics, will soon start selling mobile phone applications through its stores. The launch of the service is planned for August.

Sources aware of the development in the company said to ‘The Mobile Indian, “The retail store will sell both free and paid App for all the major smartphone platforms, which users can even try before the actual buying.”

The source further revealed, “This will be a first of its kind store and has a huge potential in terms of user education and reaching out to not so tech savvy (who are not comfortable with online purchases) or those who do not have access to credit cards. The stores will also provide help to users in understanding how the applications work.”

Though the spokesperson of the company confirmed that the launch is planned for August, he said the details are still being worked out. More details are likely to emerge soon.

With applications market booming with millions of app downloads every day, it looks like the right move especially in India where operator billing option is not available for most online application stores, thereby making credit card or debit card mandatory for application purchases.

Planet M, with more than 200 stores in 32 cities across India, has the resources to reach out to potential customers in a big way. This move will also appeal to college going kids who know all about applications but might not have credit cards to make the purchase.

Many of us want to extend our Android smartphone’s battery life but are not comfortable going into the details. For such users, an App has been launched, named PowerMax which is created by a startup – Volt Up.

“Smartphones that carry the Google Android platform can rest assured their phones will not fail them when they need them most,” said Joseph Yossi Weihs, an embedded devices engineer and head of Volt Up.

“Of course we can’t make the battery last forever, but in most cases we can double battery life, which can make all the difference, especially during emergencies,” Joseph added.

The technology developed by Volt Up monitors and manages the radios of Android handsets including 2G/3G/4G, WiFi, FM, GPS and Bluetooth. The app puts these radios to sleep according to the needs of the users.

The app analyses the usage patterns of the Android handset, and keeps an eye on the device if the battery is being drained faster. The user is also informed about how much battery power is being saved and used.

Google is definitely aware the Android phones are facing some battery problems. When Google co-founder Larry Page was asked about the weak battery life of Android handsets, he said ideally the users should get one day’s battery life and if they were not getting it, something was wrong. He suggested it was probably due to third party apps and the way the users used them.

When there are software programs running in the background and the users are not aware of it, the process sucks away battery life.

In simpler terms, the users should simply turn off applications such as the GPS whenever they can. Similarly the background sync, or Twitter app, RSS apps should not be active all the time. The problem is, these are the features which bring people to Android in the first place, so they may not want to disable these apps for more battery life, they would rather charge their battery.

Microsoft will integrate two popular social networks, Twitter and LinkedIn, into the Windows Phone 7 Mango.

Stuart Bottom, program manager/developer for the social notifications and filtering for Windows Phone, stated that the Twitter and LinkedIn social networks would be deeply integrated with the Me Tiles on the Windows Phone home screen. The Windows Mango update is expected to be rolled out by September this year.

With the Windows Phone 7.5 Mango update, Microsoft has promised to roll out several new features for the platform. a website has reported over the social notifications and filtering in the Windows Phone clearly indicates how Microsoft wants to stay head to head with rival Apple.

At the Worldwide Developers Conference last month, Apple demonstrated new notifications system along with deeper integration of Twitter social network. Following that suite, Microsoft went a step ahead and also integrated LinkedIn to impress the business class folks as well. The integration goes beyond fetching feeds to filtering specific feeds and updating the Me Tile at the home screen.

Deeper integration of Twitter and LinkedIn would save the Windows Phone owners from the headache to agitate for an official App or hunt for a third party version that supports such social networks. This also indicates the popularity and prominence of three social networks &#151 Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and of course Windows Live.

Microsoft is also working to bring the Facebook Chat with the Mango update. But there’s no clarity on whether the users would be able to engage into a video chat with their Facebook contacts since Microsoft has already bought Skype.

From social network integration in operating system to Facebook button bearing HTC ChaCha/Salsa handsets, these services have become part of a mobile phone.

In September, Apple is expected to roll out the iOS 5 update with loads of new features for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Around same time, Windows Phone 7.5 Mango update will be released for existing devices and we can expect to see new handsets with Mango update preloaded. This year, in September or October, is going to be pretty competitive and interesting for mobile phone owners.