Phonescoop points out that the updated Foursquare Android app will tie into the Android Beam service by letting you share the places you’ve visiting by tapping your phone with another NFC-enabled Android device. This also includes NFC support for Venue, Lists and Me pages.

This appears to be one of the first high-profile apps to tap into the Android Beam functionality and I hope it’s not the last. Sure, only 1 percent of Android users have ICS and the Android Beam capability but you’d hope that this will soon be the baseline for Android and there could be a lot of interesting use cases for this technology once you let app developers hook into it.

As for Foursquare, it’s good to see it pushing innovation on multiple platforms. I’m actually finding it to grow more and more useful as it gets older. We’ve finally created a Foursquare account for IntoMobile – you can follow us here – so be on the lookout for our check-ins from Mobile World Congress, CTIA and more.

You can download the latest version of Foursquare for Android here.

For more information on Android Beam, check out our demonstration video:

[Via Phonescoop]

The Chumkee app is a social network built around sharing your videos and photos with others. What I really liked about the app before was the flashy user interface which relied heavily on gestures and motions. Luckily, that’s still here in the 2.0 version and the new features make it an even more impressive app.

The Chumkee 2.0 version will do real-time translation of more than 30 languages for the videos that people post and the comments they write. This is really useful because this app seems to have a strong user base in Korea and Brazil – two languages which I’m not familiar with. The translation feature could be very powerful because it enables global connections through this app, even if it’s based around silly pictures.

Like many apps out there, the Chumkee 2.0 version is filled with really good ideas and technology but it won’t become great until it has a larger user base. I suggest checking it out at the link below.

You can download the Chumkee iOS app here (iTunes link).

Like Skype, users who have the Vongage Mobile app installed can make free calls or texts to each other around the globe (data rates apply). You can also get free calls to Vonage home users around the world and you get low rates to handsets and landlines around the world. There’s also a limited-time promotion where you can get up to 3,000 free minutes to call any mobile or landline in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

Vonage is also promising that this includes a high-definition Codec to ensure a good voice quality. I’m very happy to hear this because many of us have had the experience or poor voice quality over VoIP (particularly over 3G/4G), so it’s nice to see Vonage Mobile addressing this problem head on. The iPhone and Android calling app also appears to be well-thought out, as you can use your existing mobile number as your caller ID and even view your credits and international rates before you make the call.

Vonage specifically highlights why its apps are better than its Microsoft-owned rival by saying that its per-minute rates are roughly 30 percent lower than Skype’s rates. Additionally, you don’t have to create a new address book, as the Vonage Mobile app will scan your address book and let you make calls to your existing contacts. This is neat because it will also let you assign your number to your app if you use an iPad or a tablet. You can also look forward to in-app purchases, background notifications and a rather pleasant design.

We’re going to have a full review of the free calling app for you soon and we’ll let you know how this new app stacks up to the competition, which also includes upstarts like Tango. You can download the new Vonage Mobile app for iOS here and the Android version can be found here.

[Via Vonage]

– This post is sponsored by Vonage, and you can download the apps here. For more information about Vonage Mobile, please visit Vonage’s site and you can see it in action on YouTube. Please note that sponsorship will not impact the review.

Dubbed Dell Voice, the new service is powered by Fongo, providing users with a Canadian phone number and the ability to make free calls to numbers in 30 large metropolitan areas, including Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, as well as hundreds of smaller cities. Incoming calls from Canada are free as well, while international calls are competitively priced — i.e. cheaper than Skype. For instance, calls to the U.S. and U.K. cost just 2 c/min.

Aside from the basic phone calls, Dell Voice also offers call display, call waiting, voicemail and even the 911 emergency service. Moreover, users have the option to port their existing phone number over to Fongo for $25.

The free to download application is available for Android, iPhone, Windows desktop and, soon for BlackBerry. It works both over 3G/4G and Wi-Fi networks.

Finally, it’s worth adding that we’re pretty confident Dell is using Canada as a testbed market, and will soon launch its service in the U.S.

[Via: MobileSyrup]

These super-hot deals for 3-star and 4-star hotel rooms are available in cities around the country, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Ft. Lauderdale, Honolulu, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Phoenix, Portland, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Fe and Washington DC. The inventory is updated at 11:00 a.m. local time, while room reservations can be instantly booked up until 11:00 p.m.

In order to be able to access them, all you need to do is update your existing priceline Hotel Negotiator app and then find hotels in the same-night stay listings. And if you still don’t have Priceline.com’s app installed on your smartphone, simply hit the appropriate link below and take it from there.

priceline Hotel Negotiator (FREE) [iTunes link] [Android Market]

Click on the image above to enlarge it.

With the Gameloft LIVE! app for Android, users will be able to connect with the over seven million Gameloft LIVE! users by making friends, sending & receiving game invites, sending messages and chatting in real-time within the app itself and without the need to fire up a Gameloft title. The app delivers a 3D interface and allows users to create their own customizable avatar which they can further customize with new items that can be unlocked from playing Gameloft titles. Users will also be able to gain direct access to Gameloft’s catalog of games, which of course I’m sure you would already guess would have been possible in this app.

The Gameloft LIVE! app should seem quite familiar with anyone who has used Xbox Live’s service as you can perform many of that service’s functions within this app. Although, one could easily debate that Microsoft stole the idea of avatars from Nintendo, but who hasn’t stolen the idea from another company in this crazy, mixed-up world? Either way, if you’re an Android gamer who has been looking for an Xbox Live-esque service, you can’t go wrong with Gameloft LIVE!

Gameloft LIVE! (FREE) – [Android Marketplace]

The mobile app grew 112 percent from 2010, while the website grew 70 percent — a lesser amount, but still substantial. Urbanspoon.com gets roughly 28 million visits per month. Urbanspoon, both mobile web and native apps, collectively get 10 million monthly visits. The growth is most likely due to influx of new features such as reservation management and Dineline, a way to keep track of visited restaurants and publish them to Facebook Timeline.

Urbanspoon may face troubled waters ahead though. Just like Urbanspoon, Foursquare is evolving too. Once a check-in service, the new Explore feature for finding nearby venues on the website and mobile apps signal that Foursquare wants to expand its capabilities to compete with other location apps. I’m sure Urbanspoon will still thrive but Foursquare has the power and resources to lure some of its foodies away.

[via TechCrunch]

Unfortunately, tablet users won’t get special treatment and Google+ still leaves a ton of white space on Honeycomb devices. Yeah that’s a poor use of the larger screen real estate and we hope that’s something Google will address in some future app update. We’ll see…

Google+ (FREE) [Android Market link]

Tablet users on their end will notice a few differences on the surface such as a Click-to-Call button added to the main interface and integration into the People/Contacts app…

And that’s about it. Nothing major, though still worth installing… at least for the benefit of having your phone look like it’s running Android 4.0 apps.

Google Voice (FREE) [Android Market link]

[Via: phandroid]

Through the app, users will encounter women from every corner of the globe and witness their fighting spirit in the face of human, political, and religious events.

Among the images you will be able to see are a bride at her wedding in Singapore, a woman whose daughter had just been saved from malaria, women minesweeping the fields of Cambodia, nuns in the convents in France, girl-soldiers in Mozambique and many others. Professional photographer Olivier Martel took all of them during his journeys to more than 75 countries.

In addition to the default set of images, Fotopedia wowed to further update the app with weekly Visual Stories that provide insight into the lives of women from cultures spanning the globe.

Women of the World (FREE) [iTunes link]