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Google’s Android Update Alliance not living up to expectations
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Google, Software,
At the Google I/O conference in May, many Android phone vendors and U.S. wireless carriers made a long-awaited promise: From then on, any new Android phone would receive timely OS updates for at least 18 months following launch, as part of the then newly christened Google Update Alliance.
The back story: If you own an Android phone, you may have watched with frustration as a new version of the OS hit the market. It's almost never clear if your phone will ever get that upgrade—unlike with iOS or Windows Phones, which always get all upgrades (providing they meet the right hardware requirements). With Android, it seems to depend on the phone vendor, the specific model, the wireless carrier, the Android version itself, and whether Google sent the carrier an inflatable plastic food product as a token of its appreciation that week. Worse—and much to our chagrin—sometimes vendors make promises to customers before the sale that they don't keep once you own the phone.
Many factors contribute to this. But custom versions of Android are the key culprit, either thanks to vendor-specific enhancements (like HTC Sense, Motorola MotoBlur, and Samsung's TouchWiz, though LG, Pantech, Casio, and other vendors do it too), or carrier-specific enhancements of a more dubious nature (such as unnecessary preloaded bloatware and changes to default apps). These changes require many programming hours not just to make in the first place, but to also support and upgrade down the road—resources the carrier would rather throw at making new phones to sell you.
So the Google Update Alliance was a breath of fresh air. It sounded like everyone would finally come together, streamline their OS update timelines, and stop jerking around their customers. The thing is, while the Google Update Alliance ended up being one of the biggest stories to come out of Google I/O, we've heard almost nothing about it since then. You can bet we weren't just going to forget about it and pretend it never happened—especially after the release of Google Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), which is a huge leap in UI design and overall performance.
Click to continue reading Google’s Android Update Alliance not living up to expectations
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Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime review
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Google, Handhelds, Product Reviews,
The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime feels like the first laptop-class Android tablet, with its quad-core 1.4GHz processor, clever add-on keyboard dock, and its support for USB storage and console gamepads. This is easily the most impressive Android tablet ever. But with such startling specs, it's outstripping the weak app selection available for Google's Android Honeycomb OS. Although there are a few standout apps for the platform, the lack of a thriving Android tablet app community makes the Transformer Prime a less sure choice than it should be. Read on for our full review of the Transformer Prime to see if it's worth your attention (or money.)
Click to continue reading Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime review
Samsung Galaxy Nexus rumored to launch on December 8
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Google, Handhelds, Rumors,
Had we a nickel every time someone projected a U.S. launch date for Samsung's much-anticipated Galaxy Nexus smartphone. We've all seen it. We've read about it. We've watched the phone's international release come and go. We've even posted our Galaxy Nexus review. So when's the big U.S. release, anyway?
Rumors have suggested everything from Black Friday, to Cyber Monday, to just about any November date under the sun for the launch of Samsung's first big Ice Cream Sandwich device (that's Android 4.0, the latest iteration of Google's mobile operating system). The Android website Droid Life is the latest gossiper to jump into the fray, only it's coming armed with evidence that suggests the Galaxy Nexus launch isn't arriving in November after all: Rather, December 8.
The source of the info is unknown, but the allegedly internal documents list a "Launch / End date" for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus as December 8. Although an accompanying description seems to indicate that the date could be reserved for a marking campaign for the device, instead of the smartphone's actual release date, Droid Life has corroborated its first leaked image with a second.
Click to continue reading Samsung Galaxy Nexus rumored to launch on December 8
Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich first impression review
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Features, Google, Handhelds, Product Reviews, Software,
This is a huge deal. Ice Cream Sandwich is the biggest upgrade to Google's Android OS since Android 2.2 hit in May 2010, and possibly the most important update ever. From what I've seen so far in a day with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone, Android users should be demanding their share of Ice Cream—and it should absolutely make a difference in your phone purchases.
Google lent me an international developer unit of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the first ICS phone. This isn't the LTE device that Verizon Wireless will be selling in the U.S., but it's roughly the same size and shape with very similar capabilities, so it's a good way to judge what ICS will be like when it hits the USA.
Google releases Android 4.0 ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ source code
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Corporate News, Google, Software,
Yesterday Google finally released the source code for Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich.
But on the Google Forums, Jean-Baptiste M. "JBQ" Queru, a software engineer on the Android Open-Source Project, warned that "this is a large push," so developers should expect that "it will take some time to complete".
"If you sync before it's done, you'll get an incomplete copy that you won't be able to use, so please wait for us to give the all-clear before you sync," Queru wrote.
The source code is Android 4.0.1, which is the version that will be released on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.
The release also includes the source code for Honeycomb, but "since Honeycomb was a little incomplete, we want everyone to focus on Ice Cream Sandwich," Queru wrote. "So, we haven't created any tags that correspond to the Honeycomb releases (even though the changes are present in the history.)"
Click to continue reading Google releases Android 4.0 ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ source code
Asus Transformer Prime: Tegra 3 tablet, $499
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Google, Handhelds,
The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is ready for its close-up and under the hood it sports Nvidia's next-generation Tegra 3 mobile processor. That makes the Transformer Prime the first tablet to feature the quad-core System-on-a-Chip (SoC), which Nvida says provides three times the graphics performance of its current Tegra 2 chip while soaking up 61 percent less power.
The 10.1-inch Transformer Prime is nice and thin at 0.33 inches and weighs in at 1.29 pounds, Asus said Tuesday on a conference call with reporters. Thanks to the Tegra 3's improved power consumption, the tablet's battery life is rated for up to 18 hours, although that's when you combine it with the optional mobile dock and keyboard which Asus is also offering, naturally, as part of the Transformer Prime package.
Without the accessory, you're still getting up to 12 hours of battery life, which Asus was happy to point out is enough for "a trans-ocean flight, all-night game session, viewing several movies on a long road trip, or even video recording, editing, and then playing back your child's school play."
The Tegra 3 chip, the first quad-core ARM Cortex A9 CPU, significantly boosts 3D gaming and Internet browsing on tablets like the Transformer Prime, thanks to a 12-core GeForce GPU that's also part of the next-gen SoC, according to Nvidia.
Click to continue reading Asus Transformer Prime: Tegra 3 tablet, $499
HTC Rezound, first Beats Audio smartphone, headed to Verizon
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Google, Handhelds, Music,
Verizon Wireless and HTC on Thursday unveiled the first Beats Audio-paired smartphone, the HTC Rezound. It will hit Verizon stores and Best Buy on November 14 for $299.99.
The HTC Rezound is a 4G LTE device featuring a 4.3-inch 720p HD display, a 1.5-GHz dual-core processor, 32GB of storage, 1GB of RAM, and the latest version of HTC Sense. It also sports an 8-megapixel camera that comes with an F2.2 lens and records video in 1080p.
It will ship with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, though HTC promised to update it to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich "early next year."
Click to continue reading HTC Rezound, first Beats Audio smartphone, headed to Verizon
6 awesome Android 4.0 features you should be excited about
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Google, Software,
Google has finally unveiled Ice Cream Sandwich to the world, and we thought we'd compile the stuff that made us sit up and take notice. The Android update sports a myriad of updates, but we've distilled that down to six that we thought really stuck out. Here's a breakdown of what's new with Android 4.0 (and remember, the first Android 4.0 device wil be the Samsung Galaxy Nexus):
A new lockscreen. Ice Cream Sandwich is ditching passwords for facial recognition technology to unlock phones. Unfortunately for Google, this particular feature failed badly during Tuesday's Hong Kong demo. The new Face Unlock feature did manage to lock out a non-owner of the demo phone, but somewhat comically, it wouldn't let the legitimate owner in either.
Google has done a couple of other things with its lockscreen and homepage with Android 4.0. You can now swipe a locked phone directly to the camera function and begin taking pictures from your smartphone immediately. Android 4.0 also features some pretty cool screensaver art for the homepage and a new San Serif typeface built just for Ice Cream Sandwich called Roboto.
Click to continue reading 6 awesome Android 4.0 features you should be excited about
Samsung Galaxy Nexus: 4.65-inch HD display, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Google, Handhelds,
Google's next iteration of its mobile operating system has officially been dubbed Android 4.0 and it will be available for the first time on Samsung's new Galaxy Nexus smartphone.
The two companies lifted the curtain on the OS affectionately known as Ice Cream Sandwich and the Galaxy Nexus smartphone that will be the first to run it in Hong Kong late Tuesday evening (promotional video after the break.) Google said Android 4.0 would be immediately available to developers. Samsung will begin shipping the Galaxy Nexus worldwide in November.
And here's what you need to know about Samsung's Galaxy Nexus:
A slim and curvy design. The Galaxy Nexus is 8.94 millimeters thin with a 4.29-millimeter bezel and a wider screen than on earlier Samsung smartphones that's achieved "without the phone feeling any thicker in your hand," according to the company. The next-gen handset has a curved back that's contoured for a "softer, more natural look and feel," while the buttonless design and slip-resistant hyperskin backing are also highlights.
Click to continue reading Samsung Galaxy Nexus: 4.65-inch HD display, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Android 4.0 set to launch October 19
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Google, Rumors, Software,
Android fans, set forward your alarm clocks next Monday: the rumored Nexus Prime (or, Galaxy Nexus) is rumored to be launching on October 19!
According to Engadget, Google and Samsung will unveil the so-called Nexus Prime on Oct. 19 during All Things Digital's first Asia conference in Hong Kong. Android VP Andry Rubin and Samsung EVP of product marketing Won-Pyo Hong will be in attendance.
Rumors about the Nexus Prime (or Galaxy Nexus?), Google's third Nexus smartphone, have been circulating all year long. According to the latest rumors, it'll come with a curved glass touch-screen display, Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich," a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, an 8-megapixel camera, and support for 4G LTE networks.
Click to continue reading Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Android 4.0 set to launch October 19
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