According to a recent report released on Wednesday by Distimo, Apple’s App Store for iPhone has generated four times as much revenue than Google’s Android Market. Interestingly, there are more Android smartphone users than there are iPhone smartphone users. This perhaps highlights the higher quality of apps or rather a more powerful distribution channel that Apple possesses. Helping this growth however, is largely contributed by in-app purchases – users wanting to add that extra power-up or possess that oh-so special weapon are pushing revenue growth. Read more for colorful graphs.

All you have to do this Saturday is walk into a retail store, bust out that lovable smart phone and use Amazon’s Price Check app on any unsuspecting in-store item. In exchange for your scanning services, Amazon will offer you a discount of five percent (or up to $5) on select items in its music, toys, electronics and other product divisions – you’ll have a maximum number of three scans. This program represents Amazon’s latest attempt to sneak into the brick and mortar space, while scavenging data on its competitor’s prices. All in all, a clever little way from Amazon in entering our mobile hearts. The campaign will begin on 9:00 PM (PST) Friday and will come to a close midnight on Saturday. See the source for more details.

Amazon Price Check app

Pros	Cons
Unique RTS gameplay	Crashes may occur
Levels can be more challenging than expected	Short campaign mode
Three different gameplay modes

Strategy games outside the realm of tower defenses are a rare find – real time strategy (RTS) games even more so.  RTS games usually require the use of a mouse and keyboard in a large scrollable map. From these requirements there’s no doubt that finding an RTS game on any phone would be difficult.  The developers at Chillingo aren’t scared of the challenge though, and have come up with an intriguing game called Swords and Soldiers that aims to blend the elements of an RTS game into a screen a hundred times smaller than your average computer monitor.

The first natural instinct almost anyone has when they first get their brand new iphone or android phone is to massively download more apps than they can wrap their brain around. After a few weeks, or months even, of app happiness, some apps typically begin to wane in interest. How long do people really use their apps for? And what kind of factors matter? A new internet study by Pew sheds some light. Read more for pretty graphs.

We’re getting a lot of interesting news regarding the iOS 5 App Store app that’ll pique any Apple fan’s interest.

As the title says, it seems that the App Store is currently allowing some users running the iOS betas to update their apps from the update tab without leaving the App Store. Basically, you’ll no longer be yanked out of the App Store screen and into your home screen to watch your apps update. Now you can continue scouring the App Store while your apps update in the background. This make perfect sense as most users usually go to the App Store to search and download apps, and not primarily to update their existing ones.

This new feature may suggest that Apple is finally planning to let users download multiple apps at once, without ever leaving the App Store. Presently, after you select the app you want to download, you are redirected out of the App Store and to the home screen where your app is being downloaded. This is great for downloading one app, but when you want to go all out and download a bunch (like we usually do) you have to re-enter the app store each time. The ability to queue app downloads would make the overall downloading experience much more streamlined too.

Hopefully, we’ll see more updates soon – in the meantime we’re all just as slow as snails when downloading apps. 

Pros	Cons
Over 460 icons	Icons can only be viewed by Apple device users
Simple and easy interface	Verizon iPhone to At&t iPhone issues
Free

The Emoji Free! app, by Awesomest Inc., adds a twist and hint of creativity to your text messages, notes, or emails. Instead of the typical punctuation and letters, this application makes your responses more unique and interesting. You’re able to express a greater degree of emotion with emoticons deeply portraying your feelings of fear, disgust, frustration, or embarrassment! Interestingly, there’s also icons that depict animals, places, and things. So if you’re going to throw a joke and call someone a cow, Emoji has made it easy – just type in the cow icon.

For those lucky enough to have received a Google+ invite, Google has just released the Google+ app. Now you can manage all your circles of friends via iPhone. This rests right next to our facebook, twitter, and tumblr apps – maybe one day we won’t need so many different social media apps. But for now, this is a welcome addition. +1 us!

iTunes

You somehow just got an iPhone and can’t wait to download a billion apps that’ll make your life better than your neighbor who’s still stuck in java, flip-phone hell. Yet sadly you realize your pockets are empty and you’re strapped for cash. The only alternative you have is to start by downloading some free apps before you stack some doe. We’ve got five apps here that are a must have and most importantly, free.

Pros	Cons
Great responsive controls	Sound would sometimes disappear in survival
No lag no matter how many zombies on screen	Story mode beatable in less than 2-3 hours
One-liners by Barry Steakfries – Enough said

BRAIIINNNSSSSSS.  Professor Brains has made a time machine and sent zombies to different eras to take over the world! The world is doomed… but wait, Barry Steakfries and his one-liners to the rescue!  In Age of Zombies you play as Mr. Steakfries as he travels through time in order to stop Professor Brains with your collection of SMGs, shotguns, flamethrowers, buzz saws, bazookas, land mines, and more!

Pros	Cons
Challenging	Not a complete or genuine golf game
Variety of beautiful courses and replay value	Multiplayer would be nice
Simple controls

To many people out there, golf is a relaxing and peaceful sport with 9 or 18 holes in a course – to the developers at Full Fat it’s simply an all out driving range. Flick Golf! is described as a golf game, but is a little different from what most people would refer to as a full 18 hole game. Yet, Flick Golf! delivers addicting game play in a way that is perfect for a mobile device. Can Flick Golf! capture a golfer’s heart? Better yet, can it even capture ours?