Well, this is quite a surprise. After the announcement given at the end of February, we were convinced that no other updated versions of WhatsApp for Nokia devices would be released. In fact, the Facebook-owned app announced that by the end of 2016 no more support will be given on some specific operating systems such as Nokia Asha and Symbian 40. So this week, when we found out that an updated version of WhatsApp for Nokia Asha devices was available, we were rather surprised.
Unfortunately, but predictably, this new 2.13.40 version of WhatsApp for Nokia Ashia doesn’t add any new feature and even the emojis introduced previously are not yet available. What changes is the jar (installation) file, which has been increased with 17KB. In addition, over 1400 files have been modified, and that’s quite remarkable considering that the application itself has a little less than 2066 files.
This latest version 2.12.40 of WhatsApp for Nokia Asha also brings the addition of 19 new files. It is rather difficult to understand the usage of these new files, since most of them have names such as “blc.class”. Now that we’ve seen what changes, let’s see how to install this 2.12.340 Beta version of WhatsApp on your Nokia Asha device.
As usual, first of all you have to open the browser and go to whatsapp.com/s40. From here you can download the .jar file to your Nokia device. Once you’ve completed the download, you need to go back to the location where you’ve saved the file. Now you simply have to tap on it to launch the installation of this latest Beta version of WhatsApp on your Nokia Asha device.
That WhatsApp is the most successful instant messaging app in the world is now an indisputable fact (one billion monthly active users, according to latest statistics), but this scenario doesn’t seem to scare some new competitors. Even if the market of instant messaging apps is nearly saturated (think about Viber, Telegram, and, obviously, Facebook), there are some new companies that want to add something new and different.
That’s the case of a British company named Tengi. This Sheffield-based startup, that is only one year-old, is trying to offer something more to its users: prizes. Tengi’s users can earn by chatting virtual tickets for a regular free prize draw. The top prize is quite high: £10,000, but there are also hundreds of smaller cash prizes.
Unlike WhatsApp, this new startup earns its revenue also from advertising within the app. But Tengi is not just a commercial product, since its founders encourage their users to make a small donation to the Heart of England Forest Trust. Could this kind of app be a real threat to WhatsApp? Probably not in the near future, but certainly there are many companies who are not throwing the towel.