10 Best Alternatives To Google's Android App Store

The number of apps in Google Play is to cross 1,00,00,00 milestone, but even then most of the users want to explore new avenues for apps. The reason could be the search for novelty, more fun or for the apps that stand for specific purpose. And so many other app stores and websites have mushroomed in mammoth numbers to cater this want, but the trustworthiness of most of these is questioned. Read on to know 10 best of them as compiled by Economic Times.

#10 Android Pit

Androidpit.com lets you discover and download apps either directly to your phone or on your PC. In addition to the apk apps, the site also provides a dedicated ‘Test’ area with app reviews, screenshots and ratings. About more than 50 percent of the apps can be downloaded directly from this site and for others, it redirects to Google Play store.

There is also an Android Pit app in Google Play which acts as substitute to the main website. Try it now.

#9 1Mobile Market

1mobile.com is the easy way to find and download the best free Android apps and games. The site also recommends apps under specific categories like games, app starter kit, photo editing, music apps are ease of discovery and download.

The website says that it has the collection of more than 3,00,000 free android apps. There is also an android app for 1Mobile which inculcates the features of main website.

#8 SlideMe

Slideme.org is an Android client for managing the discovery and download of Android applications. The site has similar UI as that of Google Play, where you have to create a free account first to download the apps. The interface is fluid and you have the option of limiting apps displayed per page and the number of screenshots to save data costs. There is also an option to select the country to display the local apps and you can lock the app with a PIN. You can also download SlideMe android app from the Google Store.

#7 Amazon Appstore

You can download Amazon Appstore from Amazon.com/getappstore. This android app store was opened on March 22, 2011 and now available in more than nearly 200 countries. The app store has big collections of both the free and paid apps. Amazon’s Kindle tablet has altogether has omitted the Google Play and it relies on company’s app store. 

The Amazon Appstore includes a "free app a day" feature. Every day, an application, frequently a game, is offered for free. On the launch day, this game was Angry Birds Rio (Ad-Free), in itself a promotional game.

#6 Mobo Market

Moborobo.com has apps, games, dedicated section for wallpapers, themes, latest news, reviews and a discussion forum. You also get a built-in download manager where you can monitor the downloads in progress and it also helps in installing and uninstalling the downloaded apps.

#5 AAOMarket

AAOMarket is the Android client of AndAppOnline.com application store. Almost all apps on this marketplace are free. The site claims that they have limited apps because they want to feature only quality apps. However one drawback is that there is progress indicator while downloading the apps, and so you might not know the download time.

#4 F-droid

The F-Droid Repository is an easily-installable catalogue of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) applications for the Android platform. The server contains the details of multiple versions of each application like Froyo, Honeycomb, Gingerbread, Ice Cream sandwich, and Jelly Bean, so that you can install the correct one. You can get the F-droid app from F-droid.

#3 Good E-reader App Store

Apps.goodreader.com provides a very basic UI that lists hot and popular apps along with categories to browse through. The plus side is that, the website provides user ratings right next to the app name in the main interface. It also acts as aggregator of other app stores from where you can download the apps too.

APKs FROM THE WEB

#2 AppBrain

AppBrain is a trusted source for Android apps. You have to visit appbrain.com from your device's browser and create an account. Then you need to download and install AppBrain's app from the Play Store.  With AppBrain you can Discover the best Android apps via search, rankings and categories; Easily install and manage your apps directly from the web browser and on the phone with our free Android app; Share the apps installed on; your phone with your friends; New and hot apps of the day; Find top Android apps with a price drop and many other features.

#1 Opera App Store

The Opera Mobile Store is a platform-independent browser-based application store for mobile-phone owners and a digital application distribution platform for developers, owned and maintained by Opera Software ASA. Launched and powered by a third-party provider in March, 2011 the Opera Mobile Store was relaunched on a new platform, after acquisition of Handster, a mobile application store platform company, in January 2012. The Opera App Store has surpassed 100,000 apps as per reports in June.

The service allows users to browse and download applications for over 3000 different mobile phone models on Android, Java, BlackBerry OS, Symbian, iOS, and Windows Mobile. To access the store, just open the web browser on your Android device and type apps.opera.com. The service will auto-detect your device and you can download APKs directly to the device. About 70 percent of the apps are free on this store.

Bonus:

Manufacturer App Stores

Many top manufacturers provide their own app stores. Samsung's Galaxy series of phones have Samsung App Store and Google's Play Store. Similarly, LG phones have LG Smart World, Micromax phones have the Micromax Apps Store and HCL has the SlideME store to name a few.

Sony takes on Microsoft by pricing PlayStation 4 $100 less than Xbox One

Sony Computer Entertainment will sell its forthcoming PlayStation 4 at $399 - $100 less that Microsoft's Xbox One.

At the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the gaming industry's annual US trade show, the company also announced that it would not try to restrict used game sales. The PS4 would also not require a persistent online connection.

"PlayStation 4 disc-based games don't need to be connected online to play or any type of authentication," Sony Computer Entertainment America President and CEO Jack Tretton said. "If you enjoy playing single-player games offline, PS4 won't require to you check in online period and it won't stop working if you haven't authenticated in 24 hours."

Competitor Microsoft has been Microsoft has been criticised for not divulging any details on whether it will allow buyers of its Xbox One to play second-hand software or not. Also, its new console, the Xbox One, has to be connected to the Internet at least once every 24 hours.

"The gaming landscape is changing with new business models and new ways to play," Sony Computer Entertainment President and CEO Andrew House said at the event.

The company also gave potential PS4 buyers plenty of games to look forward to later this year.

The company's Santa Monica Studios, the developer of the "God of War" franchise, introduced the steampunk thriller "The Order: 1866". Quantic Dream, the French studio behind "Heavy Rain" and the upcoming "Beyond: Two Souls", provided a comical glimpse at the fantasy "The Dark Sorcerer".

Shu Yoshida, president of Sony Worldwide Studios, said the company's studios have more than 30 PS4 games in development, including 12 brand new intellectual properties.

Sony also showed new footage from previously announced PS4 games like the superhero adventure "InFamous: Second Son," the auto racing simulator "Drive Club" and the sci-fi shooter "Killzone: Shadow Fall".

Like Microsoft, Sony is also betting big on social networking features.

The new version of its DualShock controller includes a "share" button that allows you to post gameplay footage and screenshots. Friends can watch as you play a game, and you'll even be able to let a pal take control of your game from afar if you can't get past a tough battle. The controller also includes a touchpad and a Move motion sensor that works with a camera placed near the TV set.

Smartphone brands get aggressive in their selling

Buying a smartphone has never been easier than it is today. The option of paying for them through EMIs (via credit card) had been there for long, but suddenly smartphone brands are tying up with the banks and pushing the scheme aggressively.

In addition, there are the buy back and cash back offers introduced by Apple and Samsung that provide an instant smartphone upgrade.

In April this year, Apple introduced a buyback offer where handing over any old smartphone could fetch a customer a discount of Rs 7,000 on the purchase of the new iPhone 4. While the company has stopped advertising this offer now, stores confirm that it is valid till June 30.

For students, Apple has launched another offer where they get a minimum discount, or buyback, of Rs 7,777. This offer is valid till June 9.

Following Apple, Samsung too on Friday (June 7) announced a smart upgrade offer on the Galaxy Note II.

A user can get a discount of Rs 10,000 on purchase of the Note II in exchange for an old smartphone. The offer is valid only on selected smartphones that are in the working condition, though the complete list of which handsets are eligible has not been announced yet. But stores confirmed they are accepting all BlackBerry, HTC, Nokia Lumia and Apple smartphones along with the Canvas series smartphones from Micromax and the Karbonn A10.

One has to bring along the smartphone with the charger and fill in a form, submitting it along with a self attested photocopy of a government issued ID proof. Samsung calls it a 'smart upgrade' offer.

Samsung is also giving a discount of Rs 10,000 off on the purchase of the Galaxy Note II. Thereafter it will be available for Rs 27,500. It can also be bought by paying EMIs of Rs 4,584 for six months. The down payment is zero, without any interest or processing fees either. The offer is valid till June 30 or till stocks last.

This could be Samsung's way of getting rid of its Galaxy Note II inventory as the Galaxy Note III could be in the market soon. Both the phablets, Note II and Note III, were announced during the IFA in Berlin last September. Rumours claim the Note III could be launched in July or August.

Thus today, if you have a BlackBerry 8520 in good working condition, it can fetch you a discount of Rs 10,000 on the Samsung Galaxy Note II. This  is much higher than the market price of  new BlackBerry Curve 8520 and even the resale market value of the BlackBerry 8520.

Some retailers revealed that for every Note II sold under this new scheme, Samsung is giving them a margin of Rs 6,500. It is also up to them to evaluate how much they will be able to sell the old smartphone for. The final exchange value is quoted to the customer on the basis of this.

Sony isn't far behind. On purchase of its Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia ion, Xeria P, Xperia SL and Xperia SP, buyers can avail of a six month EMI offer with zero down payment, and zero interest it they route the payments through Citibank, HDFC bank, ICICI bank and American Express credit cards in selected locations.

Late last month, even BlackBerry rolled out EMI schemes for the purchase of BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Curve 9220 with zero down payment, processing fees and interest. Valid on credit cards of Axis Bank, Citibank, HDFC bank, HSBC, ICICI Bank, Kotak, SBI Card and Standard Chartered, the Z10 can be purchased by paying an EMI of Rs 4,799 per month for nine months. The BlackBerry Curve is available on an EMI of Rs 799 for 12 months.

Considering the overwhelming response to the EMI schemes launched by its competitors, even HTC is planning to launch one in a month's time.

India will lead in internet protocol traffic growth

At a compound annual growth rate of 44 per cent, India will lead the world in Internet Protocol (IP) traffic growth in the next five years, predicts the annual Cisco Visual Networking Index Forecast, released on Tuesday.

At the rate at which it is expanding, India's IP traffic will grow six-fold to 33.5 exabytes by 2017.

The report also predicts that by this time global traffic will be around 1.4 zettabytes. In comparison, a total of around 1.2 zettabytes traversed global networks through all the 'Internet years' between 1984 and 2012. (One zettabyte equals 1,024 exabytes.)

The report also adds that while global broadband speeds will increase 3.5-fold from 11.3 Mbps in 2012 to 39 Mbps in 2017, average speed in India will rise only to 7 Mbps from the 1.9 Mbps now.

Releasing the report, Robert Pepper, Cisco's vice-president for global technology policy, said this burst in the demand for data would put a lot of pressure on networks, requiring more investment in infrastructure.

Another startling projection of the report is that there will be around 3.6 billion internet users in 2017. This is about 48 per cent of the world's population.

In India, there will be 348 million users, up from the 138 million in 2012. This is a conservative estimate when compared to the 600 million users being projected by some studies.

At present, there are 2.3 billion Internet users globally - about 32 per cent of the population.

Despite the growth in adoption of smartphones, feature phones will account of 62 per cent of all connected devices in 2017. However, smartphones will be consuming more data that these 2G phones. By then India would have two billion networked devices at 1.4 networked devices per capita.

"Feature phones are being leapfrogged by smartphones which are becoming increasingly cheap. The prices of 3G devices are coming down very fast and there might not be any point in buying a feature phone any longer," Pepper told Business Today.

No doubt 'affordability' means being able to buy the device as well as to pay for its usage every month. India has been driving the market in both spheres.

A driver for growth of data traffic across the world will be video with three trillion Internet video minutes being generated per month in 2017. In India, there will be 113 million Internet video users (excluding mobile-only) in 2017, up from 16 million in 2012, says the report.

Listing the challenges for countries like India , Pepper said peak hour traffic, which will be considerably more that average traffic, will start putting more pressure on the infrastructure.

In India, busy hour Internet traffic will reach 23 Tbps in 2017, the equivalent of 19,540,000 people streaming Internet HD video simultaneously. In fact, the report ushers in the concept for Internet Prime Time, between 9 pm to 1 am, just as television has.

Bose launches new products for mobile use

Shock and awe has been a strategy that Bose Corporation deploys time and again with product demos. So when the audio company organised a set of demos before the global launch of their new series of products, there was, as expected, a good share of black veils and closed rooms.

Having mastered the art of high-end audio delivery, Bose, like many of its rivals, is now banking big on mobile. Its latest slew of products has the smartphone or tablet as the core source for content. They have also been designed for the use cases being thrown up our ever-increasing dependence on smart devices.

Bose QuietComfort 20i Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones

For instance, Bose's popular AE2 on-ear headphones now come in a Bluetooth avatar optimised for the iPad. The wireless headphone, which has a control pod behind one of the ears, lets you take calls even as you are listening to songs or watching a movie on the tablet. The AE2w is lightweight and has a comfortable fit. The controls are intuitive and easy to manage. The sound quality will at no instance make you feel that you are using a wireless device.

But the biggest leap forward for Bose seems to be in the technology-intensive QuietComfort 20 in-ear noise cancelling headphones. The company claims this single headphone has more patents than any of its rivals. And it won't take you long to understand why. Put these in your ears and you could be in the middle of Chandni Chowk being lulled to sleep by a Jagjit Singh ghazal. The noise cancelling, powered by a controller at the end of the chord, is without doubt best in class. But it can be a bit too powerful if you are in certain surroundings and do want to hear a bit of what is happening around you. So, Bose has introduced a new 'Aware' mode that lets you hear some types of sounds like flight announcements or someone talking to you without pulling out the earphones.

Bose QuietComfort 20i Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones

Except for some models from Sony, noise cancelling has traditionally been an on-ear, power-hogging affair. With this new in-ear model Bose promises about 16 hours of noise-cancelling on a single charge. And when the battery is drained you can use this as a regular earphone - a feature no other company offers at the moment. The device has two tiny microphones in each ear bud, one sensing the sound approaching and the other measuring the sound inside. An electronic chip in the controller uses these measurements to create the opposite noise cancellation signals before you realise a lag.

Bose SoundLink Mini Bluetooth Mobile Speaker

The other big launch from Bose is the fit-in-your-palm SoundLink Mini speaker that undoubtedly produces the best sound you would hear in a speaker of this size. While there has been a spate of mini boomboxes in recent months, none offer a full-range of sound. Weighing almost as much as a tablet at 680 grams, the SoundLink Mini speaker uses two new passive radiators and custom designed high-efficiency transducers to reproduce the entire range of frequencies. The sound reproduction has an unprecedented wow factor that has to be heard to be believed.

Though launched globally, only the AE2w will be available in India next week at Rs 19,013. The SoundLink Mini will become available in August at a price point of Rs 16,200. The QuietComfort 20 and 20i (with remote for Apple devices) will be sold for Rs 22,388 from September.

India's Average Internet Speed Likely To Jump To 1.8Mbps In A Year; Currently It Ranks 105

The average Internet speed in India is likely to jump by over 40 percent to 1.8 Mbps in the next 12 months on the back of investments in high-speed fibre network and affordable data plans, cloud computing firm Akamai Technologies said in a report.

In the first quarter of 2013, India saw an average connection speed of 1.3 Mbps, which places the country at 105th place with respect to world’s top peak speed average of 10.6 Mbps. That means India is among the countries with slowest average internet speed.

"Based on current industry growth trends, we expect a 40 percent to 50 percent increase in connection speed over the next 12 months. This translates to anything between 1.7 to 1.8 Mbps," Akamai Technologies Director of Products for Asia Pacific and Japan Bruno Goveas said.

The country witnessed an average speed 1.0 Mbps in the first quarter of 2012. "Thus, there has been a 0.3 Mbps increase over the last one year," Goveas added.

The global average connection speed continued to grow in the first quarter of 2013, increasing 4 per cent to 3.1 Mbps, said Akamai Technologies' State of the Internet report.

Goveas said connection speeds to the last mile (at home) have increased in the recent months, given the investments by telcos, cable operators and service providers in laying high-speed fiber direct to homes and apartments and offering high connection speed data plans, especially in urban areas.

"Many users now get online via mobile phones. High speed data plans are very affordable with some innovative data plan offerings from service providers. Hence, we expect to see a rise is high speed connections," Goveas added.

Corporates are upgrading their bandwidth speeds to keep up with their growth and demand and it also helps that bandwidth is getting cheaper, it added.

"We expect growth in speeds from users in Tier II and Tier III cities as well, and not just Tier I, given the investments from telcos, and with users accessing the Internet from mobile phones," Goveas said.

How Samsung is beating Apple in China

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook believes that "over the arc of time" China is a huge opportunity for his pathbreaking company. But time looks to be on the side of rival Samsung, which has been around far longer and penetrated much deeper into the world's most populous country.

Apple Inc this week said its revenue in Greater China, which also includes Hong Kong and Taiwan, slumped 43 percent to $4.65 billion from the previous quarter. That was also 14 percent lower from the year-ago quarter. Sales were weighed down by a sharp drop in revenues from Hong Kong. "It's not totally clear why that occurred," Cook said on a conference call with analysts. Neither is it totally clear what Apple's strategy is to deal with Samsung - not to mention a host of smaller, nimbler Chinese challengers.

Samsung going from strength to strength in China

Today, in the war for what both sides acknowledge is the 21st century's most important market, Samsung is whipping its American rival. The South Korean giant now has a 19 percent share of the $80 billion smartphone market in China, a market expected to surge to $117 billion by 2017, according to International Data Corp (IDC). That's 10 percentage points ahead of Apple, which has fallen to 5th in terms of China market share.

Cook said Apple planned to double the number of its retail stores over the next two years - it currently has 8 flagship stores in China and 3 in Hong Kong. But, he added, Apple will invest in distribution "very cautiously because we want to do it with great quality."

Samsung, with a longer history in China, now has three times the number of retail stores as Apple, and has been more aggressive in courting consumers and creating partnerships with phone operators. It also appears to be in better position, over an arc of time, to fend off the growing assault of homegrown competitors such as Lenovo, Huawei and ZTE, former company executives, analysts and industry sources say.

Samsung's history and corporate culture could hardly be more different than Apple's, the iconic Silicon Valley start-up founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976. Lee Byung-Chull started Samsung in 1938 as a noodle and sugar maker. It grew over the decades into an industrial powerhouse, or chaebol as Koreans call the family owned conglomerates that dominate the nation's economy and are run with military-like discipline.

Apple, by contrast, became the epitome of Californian cool, an image the company revels in. That hip image translates in China - its stores are routinely packed - but hasn't been enough to overcome the more entrenched Samsung.

A stuffy electronics bazaar in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen illustrates part of the reason why. Samsung Galaxys and Apple iPhones of different generations sit side by side, glinting under bright display lights as vendors call out to get customers' attention. With its varied models, Samsung smartphones outnumber iPhones at least four to one.

Not catering to Chinese needs (Image credit: Reuters)

While Apple releases only one smartphone a year, priced at the premium end of the market, Samsung brings out multiple models annually with different specifications and at different price points in China. And those models, analysts say, are loaded with features tailored specifically for the local market: apps such POCO.cn, the most popular photo sharing site in China, or the two slots for SIM cards (Apple offers one), which allows service from multiple cell carriers, either at home or abroad.

"The Chinese just love features. They want their phone to have 50 different things that they're never going to use," said Michael Clendenin, managing director of technology consultancy RedTech Advisors. "Apple just doesn't play that game. Unfortunately, if you want to hit the mainstream market in China, and you want a lot of market share percentage points, you have to offer the Swiss army knife of cellphones."

Analysts believe Samsung's increasing strength in China is a critical reason behind its rival's possible intention to introduce globally a new and cheaper iPhone model, as well as one with bigger screens - a staple of Samsung's offerings. Said a Samsung executive with experience in China: "We definitely think we're setting the pace there. They are having to respond to us."

Most audaciously, Samsung has gone after Apple not simply by offering lower priced smartphones, but by attacking its rival directly in the pricier end of the market. "We put a lot of emphasis on the high end market in China," co-CEO JK Shin told Reuters in an interview.

Samsung launched a China-only luxury smartphone together with China Telecom marketed by actor Jackie Chan that retails for about 12,000 yuan. The flip phone, named "heart to the world," is encased in a slim black and rose gold metal body. The sleek look - called "da qi" (elegantly grand) - is coveted by the Chinese when they shop for cars, sofas or phones. "There are a lot of 'VVIP's' in China, and for them we launched luxury phones promoted by Jackie Chan. This helps target niche customers and build brand equity," said Lee Young-hee, executive vice president of Samsung's mobile business.

While Samsung won't sell millions of these smartphones, the creation of the phone in conjunction with a carrier reinforces Samsung's willingness to go local - and tap into niche markets. "The key point is that Samsung consistently adapts to the local market," said TZ Wong, a Singapore-based technology analyst with IDC.

Apple's latest mobile operating system offers links to popular Chinese applications like Sina's microblogging platform Weibo, but the application itself must be downloaded onto the phone. On all of Samsung's entries, it's already there. "People know intellectually that Samsung is from Korea, but when it comes to the messaging there is always a local face," Wong said.

The latest Galaxy

Samsung opened its first office in China in 1985 in Beijing - an era in which it was all but inconceivable that Apple and Samsung would end up in one of the world's most intense corporate grudge matches. Like other South Korean chaebols, Samsung was a first mover in China, using the market primarily as a base to produce electronics for the world. In contrast, Apple's big push in China came only recently, with the advent of the smartphone age roughly five years ago.

The early entry gave Samsung an undeniable edge, and it adapted fast to a rapidly changing environment. By the mid-1990s, with the economy booming, Samsung made the strategic decision to treat the Chinese market not just as a production base, but to start marketing to China higher-priced electronics, said Nomura researcher Choi Chang-hee, who wrote a history of Samsung's experience in China.

That shift has meant Samsung's retail presence in China far outstrips Apple's. Aside from selling via the distribution outlets of the three major telecom carriers, Samsung also has a strong retail presence through its partners Gome Electrical Appliances and Suning Commerce Group, as well as its own "Experience" stores and small retailers all over the country.

Apple works through the same channels, but its relatively late entry means it has a significantly smaller presence. Samsung, for example, has more than 200 official distributors and resellers in Guangzhou province, while Apple lists 95. Over the last two decades, Samsung has also taken pains to build relationships with Chinese government officials and, perhaps more critically, the three major telecom carriers.

The notion of the importance of connections - or "guanxi" - in China is occasionally overrated in business. Not, according to Samsung's Shin, in this case. "It's our core policy to keep friendly relationships with the operators," he said. In China, each carrier uses a different technology and that requires Samsung "to tweak our smartphones to their request."

"It's not easy," Shin said, "but we do this to be more operator friendly."

Contrast that with the ongoing negotiations Apple has had with China Mobile, the largest cellphone operator. For years the two sides have been unable to come to an agreement on revenue sharing, effectively precluding Apple from hundreds of millions of potential customers.

Samsung's reach extends higher than just the CEOs of the top state-owned telecom companies. Top executives have met each of the last several Chinese leaders, most recently Xi Jinping, who spent time in April with vice chairman Jay Y. Lee, son of K.H. Lee, Samsung Electronics chairman. "What surprised me most," said Lee later, "was that they (Chinese leadership) know very well about Samsung. They even have a group studying us."

The Chinese government has also made clear it's well aware of Apple - though not always in a good way. In April, state media bashed Apple for its "arrogance," protesting among other things that its current 1-year service warranty was insufficient. Apple initially dismissed those criticisms, but Cook later apologized to Chinese consumers.

Wobbly in China (Image credit: Reuters)

Samsung's success in China has it roots, one former executive said, in a previous obsession for the company: its desire not to replicate the mistakes made by Japanese rivals.

"Samsung spent a lot of time benchmarking Sony, Toshiba and Panasonic," said Mark Newman, who spent six years in Samsung's global strategy group and is now an industry analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein in Hong Kong. "One of the things that came out of that is the realization that the insular approach has its drawbacks, and so Samsung has made an effort over the last 10 years to be much more global."

This strategy of decentralization is plainly evident in China, he said, home now to more Samsung employees than any country outside South Korea. Samsung now leads in both low-end and high-end segments in China, according to IDC, and its logic of going after both ends of the market is straightforward. In China, where the average wage is roughly $640 per month, many users looking to upgrade from feature phones to smartphones cannot afford Apple.

By bracketing the market with multiple models, Samsung can breed deep relationships with customers, many of whom, market research shows, trade up to more expensive models as they get older. Playing high and low also positions Samsung to fend off the intensifying competition from Chinese firms such as Lenovo and Huawei and literally hundreds of smaller local players.

"That's where the next battle for Samsung will be fought," said Newman. "We'll have to see if Apple does introduce a new, cheaper model for China - and the world."

Google planning to launch crazy 'universal translator' in near future

Cellphones definitely keep most of the world connected, but the language barrier is still a colossus that remains undefeated. Google is all set to change that, though, with plans to introduce phones that will work as “universal translators” of sorts, according to The Times. One example of how the device will work is letting callers speak into the device in any language, while the person they are talking to will be able to hear the conversation in their native tongue.

The company has said that the prototype devices, once created, will allow people to travel the globe without having to worry about communication. For all those who have read the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, there will be many parallels found with the “Babel Fish” seen in the novel.

While talking about this device, Hugo Barra, a vice-president of Android services, said that the plans to create “real time” translation have been stuck in the early stages. But the executive is clear that the plans are still active, saying, “That is where we’re headed. We’ve got tons of prototypes of that sort of interaction, and I’ve played with it every other week to see how much progress we’ve made.”

Google has plans to introduce a "universal translator" in the near future.(Image credit: tested)

While the technology may take years to perfect, Barra is positive that Google’s system is near-perfect for certain language pairs, like between English and Portuguese. The main problem faced is speech recognition. The company says in controlled environments, like rooms which don’t have background noise, the system registered close to 100 percent accuracy. The problems start when the device is put to use in uncontrolled environments, like places with heavy traffic, or when the user has a phone which has a poor quality microphone.

Google already has an expansive text translation system available. Google Translate does a billion translations a day and supports 71 languages with more being added every few weeks. The company has recently expanded its repertoire to include Bosnian, Cebuano (used in the Philippines), Hmong (used in South East Asia), Javanese (Indonesia) and Marathi (India).

The new device is part of the company’s Google Now project, which aims to engineer devices that will be able to pre-empt a user’s needs. However, there are critics who believe that products that can literally “read your mind” might be invasive by their very nature. A simple example given is the updates that users get for weather and traffic details. This data is customised based on the location of the user, details that smartphones are constantly updating the search giant with.

All this is a result of constant data collection and storage of user details. While the invasive nature of the project is undeniable, Barra has defended the company’s stance, saying that users are free to switch the system off whenever they choose.

India launches advanced weather satellite

India's advanced weather satellite Insat-3D was launched early Friday onboard Ariane-5 rocket from Kourou in French Guiana off the Pacific coast. "After a perfect lift-off at 01:24 a.m. from the European Arianespace spaceport at Kourou, the two-tonne advanced weather satellite was placed in the geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) 32 minutes later, about 36,000 km above from earth," the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement.

India launches weather satellite

The sophisticated spacecraft is orbiting at perigee (closer to earth) 249.9 km and apogee of 35,880 km in the orbit. "The satellite's solar panel was automatically deployed soon after it was separated from the rocket's upper cryogenic stage and our master control facility at Hassan took over its control for further manoeuvres,"  the statement disclosed.

Hassan is about 200km from Bangalore. Preliminary checks of the subsystems showed the health of the spacecraft was satisfactory. "The MCT will perform the orbit-raising manoeuvres over the next few days using the satellite's propulsion system to place it in the intended geostationary orbit," the statement pointed out.

The satellite's observational instruments will be switched on during the second week of August after it reaches the orbital slot at 82 degrees east to the equatorial plane for extensive tests by the MCF. The four instruments onboard the spacecraft are Imager, Sounder, Data Relay Transponder and Satellite Aided Search & Rescue. The six channel imager can take weather pictures of the earth and has improved features compared to the instrument in (Kalpana-1) and Insat-3A, the two Indian geostationary satellites, which have been providing weather services over the past decade. "The 19-channel sounder payload adds a new dimension to monitor weather through its atmospheric sounding system, and provides vertical profiles of temperature, humidity and integrated ozone," the statement noted.

Data relay transponder receives meteorological, hydrological, oceanographic parameters sent by the automatic data collection platforms located at remote uninhabited places and relays them to a processing centre for generating accurate weather forecasts. The search and rescue instrument picks up and relays alert signals originating from the distress beacons of maritime, aviation and land-based users and relays them to the mission control centre to facilitate speedy search and rescue operations.

The state-run space agency will process the satellite's data and the derivation of meteorological parameters with the Indian meteorological department in New Delhi. An indigenously designed and developed meteorological data processing system has been commissioned at IMD, with a mirror site at the space agency's space applications centre at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh and Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame out now on iOS and Android

If, like all of us, you’ve been waiting for a new proper Prince of Persia game, here’s something to keep you occupied till Ubisoft finally gets around to making a real game in the franchise. The game, dubbed Prince of Persia: The Shadow and the Flame, is out now for iOS and Android devices and costs Rs 200 on Google Play and Rs 170 on the iTunes App Store.

The game is essentially a remake of the classic Brøderbund game from 1993—Prince of Persia 2. It features completely redone graphics and controls optimised for touchscreen devices. The core gameplay is still the same; gamers have to jump, fight and solve puzzles as they navigate through the treacherous city skyline and castle in their quest to rescue the princess. However, Ubisoft has stated that the game features a completely new combat system. Ubisoft has released a trailer for the game. Check it out:

Prince of Persia 2 picks up the story right where the first game left off, with the prince awaiting his marriage to the princess, but being betrayed and forced to run for his life. Much like the remake of the original Prince of Persia, the remake has a 2.5-dimensional art style, but the gameplay is still a 2D sidescroller. It also features the character design of the fondly-remembered Prince of Persia: Sands of Time series, albeit without any of the time-related gameplay mechanics.

The next game in the series would be Prince of Persia 3D, but we hope that no one actually remakes that.

Narendra Modi fans planning Android smartphone called Smart Namo

Gujarat CM Narendra Modi is clearly among the more popular political figures in India today. So much so, a bunch of Gujarati businessmen have decided to launch a Narendra Modi-branded smartphone called Smart Namo. In addition to this Android handset, the independent body of businessmen, also called Smart Namo, will be launching a “signature edition” smartphone too. The word "Namo" stands for Narendra Modi as well as Next Generation Android Mobile Odyssey, the group’s official website reveals.

A screenshot of the Smart Namo site

The smartphone in question runs on the 1.5 GHz MT6589 Turbo chipset, and will have an unspecified version of Android for the operating system. The Smart Namo will sport a 13-megapixel camera at the rear and sport a 5-inch display protected by Gorilla Glass 2. Going by the information on the website the phone will also be available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions.

The minds behind the Smart Namo project are businessmen who hail from Gujarat and run a phone business in China. While speaking to The Wall Street Journal, spokesperson Anmeet Desai said that the project was inspired by products in China being named after Chinese leaders.

Desai also said the initial version of this smartphone would cost less than Rs 16,000. He revealed that it would have apps and videos related to Modi. The group also plans to bring cheaper phones to the market, including a phone costing just Rs 1,000.

Desai told the WSJ that the members of the Smart Namo project will design the phone and take it to Modi for approval sometime next month.

Smart Namo is on Facebook too, and going by the number of likes, it seems that the project is gaining interest.

Fake FBI warning tricks man into surrendering himself for possession of child porn

Here’s a weird one. We’ve heard of viruses and malware bringing harm to computers but in a rare instance, a “ransomware” has brought a positive outcome. A man in the US turned himself in to the police after a pop-up caused by a ransomware informed him that child porn had been identified on his machine.

Jay Matthew Riley, a 21-year-old from Virginia was browsing the Internet, when a pop-up containing an “FBI warning” informed him that it had detected child pornography on his machine. The message went on to tell Riley to pay up a fine online or face the consequences.

It was only a ransomware

Now, we guess fear paralyses your brain a little too much, since Riley ended up doing the unexpected and took his computer to the Garfield District police station in Woodbridge to ask if there were any warrants out for him in a child pornography case. The Special Victims Bureau then began an investigation into the case and examined his computer, finding several inappropriate messages and photos of underage girls.

The Prince William Daily Monitor said that detectives identified one of the girls in data found from Riley’s computer as a 13-year-old from Minnesota. Following the discovery, a search warrant was issued for Riley and his computers and other electronic devices were seized. He was arrested on July 23 and charged with three counts of possession of child pornography, one count of using a communication device to solicit certain offenses involving children and one count of indecent liberties with a minor. Riley is currently being held without a bond.

Ransomwares, a type of malware, are known to lock down a computer till a ransom amount for an alleged crime is paid up online. It’s a kind of scare tactic that is used to extort money by locking down the user’s system till he has given the money. Such malware are also known to sometimes plant data like images and documents onto a system. It is hard to, therefore, say whether or not Riley actually had these images on his computer beforehand. The investigation is still underway and details are sketchy.

Sony announces 4.3 Jelly Bean will come to Xperia Z devices

Android version 4.3 Jelly Bean may have only been revealed by Google a day ago, but Sony isn’t wasting any time at all. The company has released a software roadmap for Xperia devices that will be taken into the 4.3 Jelly Bean fold.

Sony has confirmed that the latest version of Jelly Bean will be coming to the Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia ZR, Xperia SP and Xperia Z Ultra. For now, the only tablet that is confirmed to be getting Android version 4.3 Jelly Bean is Xperia Tablet Z.

Xperia devices to get Android version 4.3 Jelly Bean

The company is currently working on making Android version Jelly Bean 4.2 available for Xperia Z and Xperia ZL. Starting early August, Sony will be rolling out the update for the Xperia ZR and Xperia Tablet Z. The company has some more good news – Sony will be looking at pushing some of its other devices running Android version 4.1 Jelly Bean to version 4.3 directly.

The smartphone manufacturer has admitted that the Jelly Bean 4.1 rollout for Xperia 2012 products had not been “as succinct or as timely” as the customers might have expected. Sony has written quite a lengthy, informative piece about how it tries to improve and refine its efforts to bring users new Android versions in a blog post.

The rollout of Android version 4.3 for Sony phones will depend on the carrier and market you are in, but the Japanese company says that it is keen on bringing the latest iteration of Android to customers as quickly as possible.

Zynga announces $15.8 million dollar loss, 45 percent drop in daily users

Social game service provider Zynga, which is best known for coming up with Farmville and a slew of other Facebook games, has now announced a $15.8 million loss in the second quarter of 2013, according to Gamespot. The loss has been attributed to a mammoth drop in the daily users of its social games, which has fallen by 45 percent over the last twelve months.

According to the data, around 39 million users now play Zynga titles on a daily basis, as opposed to the 72 million users who were registered in the same period last year. Apart from the drop in daily usage, there has also been a drop in the number of people who play a Zynga game at least once a month. There is a registered 39 percent drop year-on-year in that number, which is now down to 187 million, as opposed to the 306 million users who were seen playing at least once a month in the second quarter of 2012.

Overall, the social gaming giant has registered revenues of $231 million for the three month period this year, which ended on June 30, which is low when compared to the $332 million revenue that Zynga saw in the same period the year before.

Farmville maker Zynga registered $15.8 million loss due to dropping user number

Some of the new titles that Zynga released in the last quarter include Hidden Shadows, War of the Fallen, Draw Something 2, Battlestone, Solstice Arena, and Running With Friends. Earlier reports have indicated that the social gaming giant has been facing rough times for a while now, and has been forced to restructure its company, which will result in 520 jobs being removed from the company. The company had previously registered a profit of $4.1 million for the first quarter of the year.

While talking about this, former Xbox and now Zynga head honcho Don Mattrick said, "The next few years will be a time of phenomenal growth in our space and Zynga has incredible assets to take advantage of the market opportunity. To do that, we need to get back to basics and take a longer term view on our products and business, develop more efficient processes and tighten up execution all across the company. We have a lot of hard work in front of us and as we reset, we expect to see more volatility in our business than we would like over the next two to four quarters. I'm privileged to lead Zynga and I look forward to spending more time with our players, employees and shareholders."

HP shakes hands with Android, finally

The HP SlateBook X2 is a 10.1 HD hybrid device powered by a NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor and running the latest Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2. With 64GB storage the device will be available for Rs 39,990.

Hewlett-Packard seems to have taken a sudden liking to Android, the most popular mobile operating system in the world. Two of the six devices the company launched in India on Wednesday run this operating system.

Among them the HP SlateBook X2 is an Android version of their Envy X2 Windows 8 hybrid, while the HP Slate All-in-one is among the most affordable touch computing devices available in India at the moment.

Ketan Patel, director, consumer product category, PPS, HP India said they wanted to offer all choices to customers and hence the decision to provide Android products. "We have studied the market over the past couple of years and seen the growing acceptance of Android. We want to offer products in multiple form factors, architectures and operating systems," he told Business Today. He said it is just a corollary to this that the devices become more affordable on Android.

The HP SlateBook X2 is a 10.1 HD hybrid device powered by a NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor and running the latest Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2. With 64GB storage the device will be available for Rs 39,990.

The HP Split X2 is a larger 13-inch detachable hybrid running the Windows 8 operating system and powered by Intel Core processors. Aimed at people who need to use a larger screen. This device is priced at Rs 64,990.

The HP Pavillion 11 Touchsmart notebook will again be among the cheapest touch notebooks available at the moment. With Asus and Dell already offering affordable touch devices in this segment, HP seems to have finally woken up to the potential. Priced at Rs 31,990, this notebook will have an 11.6-inch screen.

Having pioneered the touch all-in-one, HP has now introduced one with Android Jelly Bean. With its 21.5-inch Full HD screen NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor, the HP Slate can prove to be a good value for money purchase for first time computer buyers. For those looking for a high-end all-in-one, the HP Envy Rove gives 20-inch diagonal IPS screen and Intel Haswell processors for Rs 69,990.

The company also launched the Touchsmart Ultrabook for Rs 64,990.

76% Indians use multiple devices for travel planning: Google study

With the mobile phone having become an integral part of our lives, about 76 per cent Indians are using two devices - usually, a personal computer and a smartphone - while planning  a trip. Around 32 per cent of the queries relating to travel come from mobiles and tablets. The advent of this 'multi-screen traveller' has been noted in a study conducted by IPSOS for Google India.

India has over 150 million internet users, of whom 93 million are now accessing the web using mobile devices. According to Google, 49 million of these mobile devices are smartphones.

In-depth interviews with over 1,500 respondents in the 20 to 45 age group across cities in India showed that over 60 per cent of travel bookings were influenced by something seen on the mobile. Vikas Agnihotri, director of Travel & BFSI (Banking, Financial Services and Insurance) at Google India, explained the five stages of travel as dreaming, researching, booking, experience and travel.

Interestingly, the study discovered that while there were an average of 5.1 triggers for travel online, there were just two offline. As many as 88 per cent started dreaming of a holiday after seeing a picture online.

A startling discovery was the fact that despite the increasing influence of the mobile, about 60 per cent of respondents chose to go back to a computer to make the actual booking.

More and more Indians are shifting their research for flights, hotels, rail travel and cabs online, though the computer still holds the sway here with at least 4.2 elements being researched here in comparison with just 3.5 on mobile and 3.6 on the tablets. As many as 72 per cent searched online for exploratory elements like places of interest and restaurants in places they were planning to go to.

As expected, in the entire travel experience, it is flights which are the most booked online, 79 per cent of all reservations, a conversion rate of 92 per cent from research. Accommodation is next at 49 per cent, with a conversion rate of 88 per cent. While more than two elements are booked on the computer, the smartphone is used only for booking one element at the moment. Up to 79 per cent said this was because they were put off by security issues and 54 per cent found it inconvenient.

So while nine per cent respondents researched only on mobile, just 58 per cent of them made their booking using this device. In comparison, all the seven per cent respondents who researched on the tablet made their bookings also using the tablet. This could be attributed to the larger screen of the tablet which makes its use more convenient.

Experiencing the tour is one area where the bulky computer has no role and the mobile pips the tablet as the chosen device for 89 per cent of the respondents. As many as 74 per cent of the respondents used the mobile to share their experiences on social networks while on holiday. About 47 per cent did so using the tablet. However, all the three devices are used almost equally when it comes to sharing these experiences after the trip.

In the not so distant future, the study estimates that apps will make life easier for the multi-screen traveler. Even now, 67 per cent of mobile and 70 per cent of tablet users prefer apps because they save details making the purchase easier.

One interesting takeaway of the survey is that a tenth of the travellers queried started planning their next trip just after the one they took.

Truecaller confirms database was hacked, says investigation on

Truecaller, a collaborative global phone directory, was hacked into by the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA).

The hacker group claimed on its Twitter account and its website that it has managed to get access into the databases of the largest "telephone directory" in the world.

Founded in 2009, Truecaller is a service that collects contact information stored in the users' phones or on their social networking profiles. It is available on the web and as an app for the iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Symbian and Windows phones.

SEA's website also declared that the over 600GB of hacked data had been sent to the Syrian government.

Truecaller in a blog post on Thursday confirmed the unauthorised access and said a detailed probe has been ordered into the "cyber attack".

It also denied that the attackers were able to access users' Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media passwords as suggested by SEA.

SEA made news recently for hacking the Associated Press news agency's account. On April 23, the group had tweeted from the wire service's account that the White House had been attacked and that President Barack Obama had been injured.

Tactical strategy game Space Hulk now up for pre-order

Tactical strategy game Space Hulk is now up for pre-order on digital distribution platform Steam. The game costs $29.99 (Rs 1,770 approx) and will be available on August 15. Pre-ordering also gets gamers some bonuses; unnamed exclusive content along with a free Genestealer skin. There is also an exclusive banner pole that gamers can use to show off in multiplayer matches.

Space Hulk is set in the isolated corridors and tomb-like chambers of an ancient vessel lost in the graveyard of space. Players lead a small army of Space Marine Terminators in a fight for survival against hordes of predatory alien Genestealers.

We are the vanguard of honour. The cutting edge of the Blood Angels. We bring death.

Based on the "Sin of Damnation" campaign from the 3rd-edition of the board game, Space Hulk includes a 12-mission single-player and co-operative campaign. Multiplayer mode will allow players to go head-to-head as the Space Marines and the Genestealers in a fight for domination.

The game will have a cross-platform multiplayer mode that will allow players to compete against friends whether they play on PC, Mac or mobile. The Space Hulk level editor will enable players to design their own levels, share them and explore other players' creations in a central hub.

While Space Hulk is set in Warhammer 40,000's sci-fi universe, games based on the fantasy world of Warhammer are also in development. RTS developer Creative Assembly had earlier acquired the rights to make games in the Warhammer universe, one of which would be the first Warhammer game based in the fantasy universe that's not an MMORPG. Creative Assembly now has five projects in the works, including its upcoming Total War: Rome 2 and Aliens.

Facebook's 'simple' mobile phone app users cross 100 million

US social networking giant Facebook said over 100 million people are accessing its website every month through its app for feature phones, aiding the firm in expanding in developing markets like India.

The "Facebook For Every Phone" app enables people to connect "no matter what kind of mobile device they use," the company said in a statement.

"We are excited to announce that there are now more than 100 million people using Facebook For Every Phone each month," the California-based company's Growth Manager Ran Makavy said in a post.

Facebook for Every Phone is a fast and easy-to-use native app that works on more than 3,000 different types of feature phones from almost every handset manufacturer. These devices can cost as little as 20 US dollars, he added.

"Today, millions of people in developing markets like India, Indonesia and the Philippines are relying on this technology to connect with Facebook, without having to purchase a smartphone," Makavy said.

The app is powered by technology created by Snaptu, an Israel-based mobile platform that was co-founded in 2007 by Makavy.

"Our small team relaunched Snaptu as Facebook For Every Phone in July of that same year, and grew the user base to where it is today. Snaptu's platform uses the power of servers to accelerate and optimise the way mobile apps work, and is the key to providing a great user experience on low-end devices," he added.

Google to unveil new Nexus tablets at July 24 event?

The tech world is abuzz with speculation that Google Inc could introduce the next generation of its Nexus tablets on July 24.

The Internet search giant sent out invites to the San Francisco event last week.

Android, the world's leading mobile operating system, powers Google's line-up of Nexus tablets. The devices have emerged as a popular alternative to Apple Inc's iPad since Google released the first Nexus tablet with a 7-inch display screen in July 2012.

It has become customary for top-selling devices to be upgraded at least once a year, fueling speculation that is what Google is about to do with the Nexus on Wednesday.

Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google's Android and Chrome operating systems, will be hosting the event.

Line messaging app claims 5 million Indian users in three weeks

Ushering in a new rat race among messaging apps, Japan-based Line Corporation on Tuesday announced that it garnered over five million registered users in India within three weeks of its launch. The messaging app is among the most popular globally with over 200 million users out of which 80 per cent are monthly average users.

Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer Jun Masuda told Business Today that the company will be focusing on increasing its base in India and was also looking at opening a local office soon. It will be adding local languages as well as stickers with Indian themes in the near future, he added.

Giving users access to stickers, themes and games, Line is among the most monetized messaging apps globally. It allows creation of brand IDs and stickers.

Masuda said Line is one of the fastest growing apps worldwide. It reached 100 million users in 19 months, compared to 49 months for Twitter and 54 for Facebook. It is also among the 12 apps to have crossed 100 million users on Google Play store.

In India, the company will face competition from WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, BlackBerry Messenger and WeChat. Incidentally, Facebook has just announced that its phone app now has over 100 million users. However, Masuda says only Line provides a rich experience as well as variety of options to users by offering over 8,000 stickers and 30 games.

Nokia Launches 4.7-inch Lumia 625

Nokia on Tuesday announced the launch of Lumia 625, its largest phone of the Lumia series. Lumia 625 has a 4.7-inch screen and is powered by the latest version of Windows Phone 8.

"With our largest smartphone screen to date, the Nokia Lumia 625 is a perfect example of how Nokia is delivering leading smartphone innovation and experiences at every price point," said Jo Harlow, executive vice president, Nokia Smart Devices.

With access to more than 165,000 apps including Vimeo, Temple Run and WhatsApp, the Nokia Lumia 625 offers surfing with Internet Explorer 10. The Nokia Lumia 625 also offers SD memory card support, allowing up to 64GB of additional content storage.

The Nokia Lumia 625 will be available in a range of colours including orange, yellow, bright green, white and black with an array of changeable shells enabling easy personalisation. With an estimated retail price of 220 euros before taxes and subsidies, the Nokia Lumia 625 is planned to begin selling in China, Europe, Asia Pacific, India, Middle East, Africa and Latin America in Q3 2013.

Apple's smartphone market share at 4-year low

A new report shows that Apple's share of the global smartphone market fell during the second quarter to its lowest level in four years.

Apple had 13.1 per cent of the worldwide market, ABI Research said on Friday, down from 16.6 per cent a year ago. That's the lowest level since the third quarter of 2009, two years after the launch of the first iPhone.

Apple sold 31.2 million iPhones in the April-to-June period, according to ABI, up from 26 million in the same period a year ago. But the company's sales growth isn't keeping pace with the overall smartphone market, which grew 52 per cent from last year.

Samsung, the world's largest maker of smartphones, also saw a drop in market share.

Unofficial Android 4.3 Jelly Bean Spotted on Galaxy S4 Google Edition

Android 4.3 Jelly build JWR66V has been spotted running on the Galaxy S4 Google Edition, despite the fact that it is not officially announced by Google yet. The latest update brings many improvements including wireless charging capabilities even when the device is turned off, battery improvement, higher fps, Dash clock widgets working properly, and more. Furthermore, Google Wallet also appears to be working for non-rooted devices.

The complete guide on how to install this build has already been posted on XDA-Developers forum but let me warn you, everything you do is at your own risk. It’s the unofficial build and we cannot be held responsible if anything happens to your device during the process. There are also a few bugs that have been reported including issues with a few apps such as Apex launcher and Titanium backup.

It is expected that Google will announce the much awaited Android 4.3 Jelly Bean on 24^th July along with the second generation Nexus 7 at the press event. It’s just a few days away, so if you are using the Google Edition Samsung Galaxy S4, I will recommend you to wait for the official release. It will most probably hit the Google Edition phones at first. I think it would also hit Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Edition on time along with other Google devices.

3 Key Features Every Business Website Design Package Should Offer

Author Bio: Tanya Williams is a freelance writer and blogger. She loves to travel and write topics about business website design, alternative energy, healthy living, home design, career advancement, travel, SEO marketing and website content.

Having a website for your business is very important in today’s world. A website is another way to effectively communicate with your customers and get potential customers or traffic to come to your website.

If you are a business owner wanting to get a website designed for your business, it is important to find the best package for your business. Since you probably don’t have the time to design your own website from scratch, there are companies that offer services to specifically design your website for you.

Some website design companies only offer a website but others offer complete packages. Many websites offer drag and drop website building methods to help you design a website for your business. When choosing the right website design package, make sure you know what each company offers in the way of services and rates for your website. Not only will you need to consider your business needs, but you will also need to consider what your customers’ needs are too.

Website design process

The process should work smoothly. If you are designing the site, you don’t have time to sit and figure out a complicated system. You want to be able to efficiently build a website in a reasonable amount of time. You should be able to design, build and launch the website without much of a hassle. The website should also offer consistent support.

The website design package should provide the ability to edit content easily. The editing feature should be available not just when the website is designed original but in the future when changes need to be made. If products are discontinued or sold out, you want to be able to remove them from the site. If certain information is no longer accurate or valid, you should be able to edit the website and make the appropriate changes.

Pages

The website design package should offer enough pages for your website to provide enough information to the customers and traffic that visits your site. If you need 10 pages to effectively convey what your business offers or if you need 100 pages, the website package should be able to provide that for you.

eCommerce

This is vital if you are running an online retail business or will be taking orders from your customers. An ecommerce feature is one that provides a shopping cart and the ability for you to sell items. You should be able to list items, a brief description, and the ability for the customer to select or buy the item of their choice. It should provide the customer the ability to delete or add items to the shopping cart. The order page should include the total number of items and the total cost, along with any shipping and handling or tax cost added to it. The order page should be secured since the customer’s personal information will be provided.

Mail me for Guest Posts in dilipstechnoblog.com (dilipgeoffrey@gmail.com)