Apples iMessage messaging service just got spotted on Google Play Store and its available for download for Android devices.

Like the name suggest, it allows you to send iMessages to not only Apple devices but also to other Android users that have the app installed.

This is actually surprising seeing that the app had been in the store since September 12th according to the information on Google Play Store. Not only that, there are reviews being written which suggests that the app is performing as intended.

Jay Freeman, creator of Cydia, a popular Hacker and Developer on the iOS platform has this to say

"as far as I can tell the way it works is that the client does directly connect to Apple, but the data is all processed on the developers server in China. This not only means that Apple cant just block them by IP address, but also that they get to keep the "secret sauce" on their servers (and potentially just run Apple code: there are some parts of the process in Apples client code that is highly obfuscated).

Every packet from Apple is forwarded to 222.77.191.206, which then sends back exactly what data to send to Apple (along with extra packets that I presume tell the client whats happening so it can update its UI). Likewise, if the client wants to send a message, it first talks to the third-party server, which returns what needs to be sent to Apple. The data is re-encrypted as part of this process, but its size is deterministically unaffected"

For now, some iPhone users are pissed and are wondering if there would be any law suit from Apple to the developer of the said app for using not only the name "iMessage" but the logo or to Google for permitting such app in the Play Store.

Like our Facebook page and follow on Twitter for more tech, smartphones news and guides

Read More..

The folks over at Myce , have come across a new build of Android 4.4.2 in the Chromium issue tracker. This build is running on the Hammerhead, which is the Nexus 5. And according to the reporting user, it’s another Android 4.4.2 build. The same build number can also be found on websites that are tracking user agents. For those wondering, the user agent is a string which identifies the used browser and OS and is sent with all page requests.

Back when Cupcake was the latest version of Android (I know, a long time ago), Google has given each build a unique build number. And it’s easy to decode it. The first letter stands for the version of Android, so in this case, the K is for KitKat. The second letter represents the branch. The next three characters are for the date. So in this case, the T49 means November 18, 2013. The letter stands for the quarter (starting with Q1 2009 as A) and the 49 stands for the 49th day in that quarter, which is obviously November 18th. Finally the last letter represents how many builds were made that day. So this is the eleventh build done on November 18th.

So we don’t really know what’s new with this build, but since it’s still supposedly Android 4.4.2, I’d expect it to be a really small upgrade, since it’s not being bumped up to Android 4.4.3. We may see it start rolling out to devices soon, as I’m sure Google is close to being done with testing this build, unless they found some issues, then we may never see this build. But that’s the joy of having a Nexus device, getting all these updates, I know Nexus users aren’t going to mind…right?

How many of you are still having issues with your Nexus 4, 5, 7 (2012), 7 (2013), or Nexus 10? Perhaps this build is to rectify those issues. Let us know in the comments below.

The post New Android 4.4.2 – KitKat Build Surfaces in the Wild – Build KJT49K appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.

via AndroidHeadlines.com | http://www.androidheadlines.com/2014/01/new-android-4-4-2-kitkat-build-surfaces-wild-build-kjt49k.html

Read More..