7 Free SMS Apps For Android

Not too long ago, most of us who use messaging services to stay connected with family, friends and other contacts would buy an sms pack which allowed us to end lots of messages for a very nominal price.

As more and more people are moving on to messaging apps like WhatsApp, WeChat, Hike, etc, we do not use the sms services as frequently as we used to earlier. Let us not forget that there are still   lots of people around us who are either happy with their featured phones or can’t afford to buy the expensive devices available in the market.

Now to connect with any such contacts, you must be able to send sms messages without worrying about the extra bill.

If you need to sms regularly, you need not worry about getting an sms pack anymore. Android, once again, is here to help. You can easily send and receive text messages anywhere within India without any extra cost and without enabling Mobile data on your phone, if you have an android based phone.

While your phone is connected to wif-fi, install any of these 5 free text messaging apps for android and send any number of messages without worrying about the costs incurred on the same.

Here is how you can save money and send free SMS with these Android apps that you can download on your phone.

Way2SMS

Way2SMS is one of the oldest services of its kind in India, and also one of the best which is why it is mentioned at the top of my list.

Way2SMS is now available in the form of an android app, and can be easily installed from the Google play store

Just create your account and add contacts (phone number and name). Once you’re done with these two initial steps, you will be able to send free SMS/text to any mobile number in India for free.

After installing the way2SMS app, you simply need to create a new account or login with existing one, if you are an old user. Its simple user interface is another attraction which makes it better than any other messaging app in the list.

Download Wa2SMS App

JustSMS

Another app which has a simple user interface and allows users to send unlimited text/SMS to any mobile phone number in India for free is JustSMS. Users just need to register for a new account and then start adding contacts easily.

An additional feature of this app is that it comes with lots of SMS templates which you can use when you are in a hurry or, maybe, just too lazy to type.

Download JustSMS

Textra SMS

Developed by a genuine and known developer (Delicious Inc), you can find Textra SMS app under Communication category of Google play store.

TextraSMS has one of the most elegant user interfaces which is also simple to use but when I used it to send out test messages, I did not like this app too much because messages failed to get delivered on time. While the previous two apps delivered my sms instantly, there was a considerable time lag when I used this service.  I am not sure if others face the same problem while using this app.

Download Textra SMS

SMS Text Messaging Texting SMS

Now, that does not look like a very professional name for an app but if you use this service, you will love it for its functionality and the ability to send out an unlimited number of text messages anywhere across the country.

The unique feature of this app is that it can be used on Android tablet and even on PC. You just need to login with your single account everywhere and your account become accessible from any end. Thus you can send text SMS easily either from Android phone or tablet or even from PC.

Download Texty

GO SMS Pro

Go SMS Pro is featured at the bottom of this list of 5 free sms apps for android because its existing users are not too satisfied with this service. There have been problems with its functionality of sending out text SMS which weren’t delivered on time, requiring users need to resend. I still listed it here as it was working in my case and I was able to send any number of messages from my Nexus 7. Its clutter free user interface was another benefit.

Download Go SMS Pro

Free SMS to India

Free SMS to India is an Android app that allows users to send free and unlimited text messages to any mobile in India directly from an Android phone. This app gives you the advantage to use multiple gateways like Way2SMS, FullonSMS, Site2SMS, 160by2 and YouMint. The developer is also open to being contacted to add more gateways.

The interface is simple and Free SMS also allows you to choose from the huge library of sample texts for different occasions that you may be sending messages for. What seems like icing on the cake is the developer’s claim that this app saves battery life and RAM as it transfers the processing and operations to external servers.

Download Free SMS to India Now

JaxtrSMS

Launched in November 2011, JaxtrSMS allows users to send unlimited and free text messages to any phone anywhere in the world. The SMS recipients are not required to install the app before using it. This makes it the world’s first mobile based SMS app which is completely open, claims Sabeer Bhatia who is the CEO and Co-Founder of Jaxtr, TOI reported. Amongst a host of free SMS services, this ‘open’ feature of JaxtrSMS gives it an edge over other SMS apps. According to Bhatia, this ad supported multi-platform app will make traditional texting redundant.

Download Jaxtr SMS Now

Hope you like our list of 5 free sms apps for android users in India. If you are using any other apps than those mentioned here, do share their names and your experiences with those apps with our readers by writing to us.

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Flipkart Vs Amazon Vs Snapdeal: Revenues & Losses Comparison

We all know online shopping in India is growing at a very fast clip. At the same time, there is an intense competition in ecommerce space, especially among the top 3 players. Another aspect that everyone is probably aware about is, all this aggressive pricing and discounts are being paid by Venture Capitalists’ pockets.

Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal, all of them have raised investments or have commitments of $1 Billion or more. This money is being burned to acquire new customers, offer discounts and pump up products on offer.

While we are all aware that these sites are losing money, you will be amazed to know the quantum of loss these ecommerce players have incurred.

Check out these 2 graphs below and be stunned.

[Data Source: Techcircle] Note: All figures are in INR Crore

Please note that the revenue figures above are not the price of products sold (GMV), as these are all marketplaces, and their revenues come from commissions they get from sellers or listing fees that they charge to list the products on their site.

GMV or Gross Merchandize Value represents the price of products sold and net revenues is just a fraction of that!

Flipkart leads the race with net revenue of 179 crore followed by Amazon at 168.9 crore and Snapdeal at 154.11 crore.

However, when it comes to losses, Flipkart leads by a much bigger margin and their loss for 2013-14 stands at Rs. 400 Crore. Comparatively, Amazon losses are pegged at Rs. 321.3 crore and Snapdeal had least losses of 3 with 264.6 crore

See  the graph below to understand how much loss each player incurs for every rupee in net revenues.

Flipkart leads the race here to losing 2.23 rupees for every 1 rupee of revenue. Amazon loses 1.90 and Snapdeal has least amount of losses at Rs. 1.72.

The question is, how long can this sustain – In my view not very long.

What do you think?

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Yahoo India Launches Shopping Powered By Flipkart

Yahoo India Homepage today shows up a new section called “Shopping” and if you click on it, you will be led to Flipkart’s site, albeit with a purple-blue header which says – Flipkart.com in association with Yahoo India.

The site has a separate sub-domain on Flipkart – http://yahoo.store.flipkart.com

We are not really sure whether it was Flipkart who approached Yahoo or the other way around. But from what we can say it seems that, Flipkart wanted to tap on millions of Indian users who visit Yahoo site on regular basis.

Yahoo India Homepage is one of the most popular pages visited by Indians – Over 115 million visitors come to Yahoo India homepage every month (as per Similarweb) and most of them are direct visitors. From Flipkart’s perspective this becomes a great doorway for them to attract new visitors on their site.

On the other hand, in our view, Yahoo too stands to benefit quite a lot from this association. While we are not aware of the terms between Flipkart and Yahoo, every visitor that Yahoo sends to this co-branded marketplace, they will make revenue either through commission on sales or via number of impressions.

Interestingly, shoppers can use their existing Flipkart credentials to login to their site.

Whatever the deal between the two, both stand to benefit from this association. Flipkart adds new users and increases sales, while Yahoo makes additional revenue!

Gurmit Singh, managing director, Yahoo India, said “With easy access to Flipkart directly from the Yahoo homepage, we believe that the millions of users who visit the Yahoo network daily will now enjoy not only premium content, but also an exciting shopping experience.”

Mausam Bhatt, senior director, online marketing at Flipkart said, “We are always looking for innovative ways of engaging with the customer. Flipkart and Yahoo are both market leaders in their own space – and in a market where people are increasingly consuming content on digital platforms, a partnership like this helps bridge content and commerce to enhance the product discovery and purchase cycle for online shoppers,”

If you remember, Yebhi has exactly a similar sort of setup with IRCTC, however, that did not seemed to have worked too well, as IRCTC broke-off less than a year into the partnership.  IRCTC is right now looking for a new partner and has floated a new tenderfor the same purpose.

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Facebook Soon launching “Facebook At Work” Targeted At Enterprise Usage

In 2012, a research conducted in USA had estimated that Facebook.com, world’s most popular social network has resulted in loss of 80 billion hours of productive work in a year, which turns out to be $1.4 trillion or 1.5% of overall GDP of USA. More than 400 million images are shared on Facebook every 24 hours; 48 hours of videos are uploaded every minute which receives 3 billion views on Facebook, every 24 hours.

Of course, productivity is hampered and this is the reason Facebook is not allowed in most of the offices now. But considering that everyone has a smartphone and/or tablet these days, blocking a site is hardly the solution.

Considering these factors, and taking into account that enterprise usage is on the rise, Facebook has decided to launch an entirely new platform: Facebook at Work, exclusive for enterprise usage.

Hence, this platform will enable colleagues to interact with each other, share office documents and files without mixing them with personal photos and posts. Although Facebook group works on the same premise, but the needs for enterprise users are ever expanding.

TechCrunch had reported in 2012 that Facebook is now working on something which will cater only to professionals. An unnamed source inside Facebook had said, “We are making work more fun and efficient by building an at-work version of Facebook. We will touch code throughout the stack and on all platforms (web, iOS, Android, etc). Reportedly, the team which is working on this new platform is based in London.

Fresh reports suggest that the development phase is now almost over, and the platform can be launched within few months.

By venturing into the enterprise social network niche, Facebook would be directly competing against LinkedIn, which is right now the most preferred destination for professionals. It is being rumored that Facebook@Work will work on a similar model, providing a space for office colleagues and team members to collaborate, share messages, documents and files. Facebook@Work may even have a messaging option for chat.

The personal and professional aspects – friends, posts, images, videos etc would be segregated, things won’t mix up for the user while using this new platform.

Another report suggests that Facebook may have asked their 8000+ employees to use & test this secret project and testing is most probably on the way. Considering that this new Facebook platform would be for professionals and enterprise usage, it is highly possible that they have been using the same as well.

Existing Platforms for Office Collaboration & Networking

Right now, there are a host of tools and social networking platforms which have exclusively developed for professionals. Besides LinkedIn, Google, Microsoft, Box, SalesForce has similar platforms for official usage.

SalesForce.com’s tool Chatter is gaining in popularity, so is Microsoft’s Yammer. A new messaging tool: Slack is also gaining momentum, and Facebook@Work will need to compete against these if they want to have a stronghold.

But the none the less, Facebook is definitely upto something which they should have done earlier. Usage of Facebook at work place, if done productively, can reap in huge profits for the company. And the process has started.

We will keep you updated as more news come in.

[Comments from Arun Prabhudesai: While this is good news, what I would really like to see with this enterprise Facebook platform is more than just being a collaborative tool. It should be more of an all-in-one intranet for enterprises – It should be more focused on the organization requirements, rather than enterprise user requirements. While similar platforms are available, I think that is the space where Facebook can make a real difference, by bringing in a free platform that is easy to use and secure)

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Google and LG begin Android 5.0 Lollipop rollout for Nexus 4 in India

Google’s latest Android Lollipop update has begun rolling out for the Nexus 4 in India. To download the OTA update, users need to go to “Settings > About device > System updates > Check now”.

Google prompts users to ensure their handset has more than 50 percent battery life and 500MB space space before they download the 394.4MB Android 5.0 Lollipop update.

While OTA updates are the safest way to upgrade your devices, Google had also released factory images for the Nexus 4 last week. In fact, Google has released factory images for most of the Nexus devices including Nexus 5 and Nexus 7. The new devices – Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 – will run Android Lollipop out of the box.

Motorola has also commenced its soak test for the Android 5.0 Lollipop in India. Motorola has posted the release notes for both the Moto X and Moto G devices on its website and some lucky owners have already got the update. However, the public rollout is expected to begin anytime soon.

We are yet to see if the Nexus 4 also faces bugs like the Nexus 5 upon the download. So far, it has been working pretty smooth. Earlier, some Nexus 5 users have been complaining about battery and Wi-Fi issues after using Lollipop.

Watch out the space for our Android 5.0 Lollipop first look.

Android 5.0 Lollipop, 

#Android Lollipop, #Android Lollipop India, #Android Lollipop update, #Nexus 4, #Nexus 5

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