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Google is said to be launching a revised Nexus 7 tablet by July, according to a report. The new tablet will apparently replace the Nvidia Tegra 3 inside the current generation with a Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm, citing a reduction in power consumption, as well as having a higher resolution screen and thinner bezel, and may also cut the price down to $150.
So you see a great deal on some Nexus hardware on Google Play, what could possibly go wrong? Well, quite a lot it seems, if my recent Google customer experience is one by which its customer support can be judged. I have been trying to return my second faulty Google Nexus 7 and I still haven't managed to get it back to Google since first initiating the returns process in January…
The first purported leak of the Google Nexus 5 has surfaced courtesy of Androidandme. Google is reportedly evaluating a number of prototype devices from several manufacturers, although the details of a model submitted by LG, codenamed ‘Megalodon,’ has been the first to leak out. If accurate, the LG’s would-be Nexus 5 promises to continue the trend towards ever-larger displays packing a 5.2-inch 1080p OLED display.
The long-absent Nexus 7 docking station has finally surfaced on Google Play for purchase. The dock charges the tablet by way of the device's pogo pins, and also has a 3.5mm audio-out jack. It does not, however, synchronize through the microUSB plug. The dock is available only in black, and sells for $30 on the Google Play store and other online retailers in the US, Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, and the UK. Google has established a limit of two docks per customer.
Google has posted the factory image of Android 4.2.2 for Nexus devices. The availability of the factory ROM for download follows the arrival of the patch over-the-air for Nexus users last week. Although the update has not reached all users with the staggered global rollout of the patch, users with sufficient experience can manually flash the new ROM with the availability of the download.
Google has started pushing an update to Android 4.2.2 to Nexus 4 devices, after starting the roll out with the Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 two days ago. The biggest fix implemented with the update is a fix to Bluetooth implementation to limit audio stream stuttering, and a codebase change to limit random rebooting. A workaround that enabled LTE connectivity on very specific markets and networks has been disabled by the patch.
Google has started to sell the 3G-enabled version of the Nexus 7 in Japan, alongside the existing Wi-Fi models. The Wi-Fi + 3G Android tablet, with 32GB of storage and support for W-CDMA and HSPA+, has gone on sale a few days after it's 10-inch counterpart, the Nexus 10, reached the same regional Google Play store.
The iPad maintained an overwhelming control of US and Canadian tablet web usage during the holiday season, according to new tracking data from online ad network Chitika. The iPad started at nearly 90 percent in early December, but only slid to roughly 81 percent by the end of January, in spite of increased competition from Android tablets. The biggest shift is said to have happened around Christmas, when Apple briefly dipped to 79 percent while other tablets gained ground.
Users of the Google Nexus 4 may have worked out how many devices have shipped, with initial estimates bordering around 400,000 by the end of last year. Owners of the LG smartphone have used IMEI and serial numbers supplied with each handset to work out how many were produced, as well as other production details, in lieu of officially-released sales numbers.
The LG-built Nexus 4 smartphone debuted to a quick sell-out this week, and reportedly some customers have begun receiving word that shipments of their devices will be delayed. Google has been sending out email notifications to some Nexus 4 customers informing them that, due to "overwhelming demand," their Nexus 4 units are on backorder. The units are expected to ship within three weeks.
Google has put the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 on sale in Europe and Australia through the Play Store, with the US version expected to go live later today. As well as the new mobile devices, Google has also listed a Nexus 4 Bumper for £16 ($25), which as an edge-protecting case that does not provide protection for the back, echoing the design of the Apple iPhone 4 bumpers.
Google will be releasing the 32-gigabyte version of its Nexus 7 tablet either today or tomorrow. The 7-inch tablet will be launched despite the cancellation of the press event in New York, caused by Hurricane Sandy, and has been confirmed to take place in both the UK and the US, as well as a price-drop for the 16GB version. The same cannot be said for the expected 10-inch version, which is more likely to be a future release.
An Executive from Google has put photographs taken by the Nexus 10 online. Appearing on the Google+ page of Vic Gundotra, Senior Vice President of Engineering, the images have reportedly been taken using the onboard camera, and uploaded before the "Playground is Open" event on October 29th.
A newly-spotted FCC listing is hinting that a version of the Nexus 7 tablet with a 3G radio onboard will soon hit the market. With this, it's expected that the Google event scheduled for Monday, October 29 will see this tablet officially introduced.
In the span of seven days, Apple is holding an event widely speculated to be the launch of the iPad mini, Microsoft's Windows 8 is launching Windows 8 accompanied with the Surface RT tablet, and today Google sent out invitations for an event in New York City on October 29 on the same day that Windows Phone is released. Rumored to be at the event are new Nexus hardware items, possibly both a tablet and a phone. Also speculated is an update to Android, version 4.2, bringing security updates amongst other features.
Updated with Bloomberg supporting report An LG-manufactured Nexus smartphone has been rumored since February of this year, and now a steady trickle of details on the device has developed, resulting in new pictures of the LG Nexus emerging today, as well as benchmarks showing off the device's capabilities. The pictures were posted to an xda-developers forum, and they show the device in greater detail than has previously been seen in leaked images. The benchmarks were posted to the same forum, and show the pre-release hardware running behind devices such as HTC's One X.
Images of the rumored LG-made Nexus smartphone have appeared online. Initially shown within a dummy case to obscure the physical appearance of the phone, the LG-E960 Mako has been stripped of its shell and photographed, with the results caught by Droid Life after being shown on a Russian forum.
The next entry in Google's line of Nexus phones may come from South Korean manufacturer LG, according to rumors. Last week, tech blog MoDaCo claimed insider information that had an LG-made Nexus device slated for a mid-November release. Now, more details are emerging from CNet, which claims that the Nexus phone -- the latest in a line of devices running Google's Android operating system without any additional manufacturer customization -- will be unveiled later this month.
Today in the MacNN forums users debate which is better, the iPad 3 or the Nexus 7, in this thread started by Professional Poster freudling who believes there is no contest. PeterParker is concerned about compatibility issues with third party hardware if he updates to Mountain Lion, read more here.
Google has confirmed it is now shipping the Nexus 7 tablet. Customers who pre-ordered through Google Play will be getting the seven-inch tablet delivered in the near future, after a poetic tweet from the search giant's Nexus Twitter account claimed the pre-orders were on the way. Some stores were a bit too eager to sell before its official release, handing over the tablets to paying customers earlier than Google intended.
Nokia has attacked the recently revealed Google Nexus 7, alleging that it infringes on several wireless patents. A spokesperson for Nokia speaking to The Inquirer claimed that Neither Google nor Asus is licensed under the patent portfolio, and that the companies involved should approach Nokia and establish a license agreement.
As expected, Google has unveiled the Nexus 7 tablet at its I/O developer conference in San Francisco. As the first Nexus-branded tablet, it will represent the first device to be powered by the upcoming Android 4.1 release, referred to as Jelly Bean. Users will be able to experience the latest Android features without any third-party UI overlays, following the same concept as the Nexus phones.
Rumors of an Asus-produced Google Nexus tablet were confirmed today, Android Authority is claiming, as a company representative is said to have verified that a seven-inch model would be arriving at the end of June. The Nexus tablet was previously outed in benchmarking tests and is expected to be powered by Nvidia's Kai platform.
Rumors of a Nexus-branded, low-cost tablet date back to mid-March, and now some purported images of the device have been shared online by PhoneArena. According to the photos, the ASUS-made device will have a white-faced front panel and a two-tone back, along with an ear speaker slit, suggesting the tablet will have phone functionality as well. The 7-inch device may also sport a front-facing camera, rear camera and all the usual sensors.
Google today announced that it has acquired Quickoffice, maker of a number of apps for viewing and editing Office documents. Twin announcements on both companies' blogs confirmed the deal. The acquisition is likely meant to advance Google's ambitions in the office productivity sector, and may play a role in the forthcoming collection of Nexus tablets.
Rumors of a forthcoming Nexus tablet received a bit more support today, as the device has shown up in a benchmark test conducted on Rightware's Power Board. The benchmark test appears to confirm a number of features expected for the device, including its screen size, resolution, processor, and operating system.
The IMM76K Android 4.0.4 upgrade for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus on Verizon is slowly becoming officially available. The Google-provided update fixes a number of bugs, while cleaning up in-call audio quality. A manual upgrade is possible on rooted devices, but a signed push upgrade will be available to users shortly.
In a move that signals a greater commitment to hardware design and manufacture, Google has purchased industrial design firm Mike and Maaike. Mike and Maaike is a studio that worked on the first Google Nexus phone, and the purchase seems to indicate a greater focus for Google on hardware design in the wake of its acquisition of Motorola Mobility.
Google is reportedly preparing to shift its Android strategy away from exclusive partnerships that have resulted in the existing Nexus-branded devices. The search giant is said to be embracing multiple hardware makers that will simultaneously develop different devices powered by the next major Android release, referred to as Jelly Bean, unnamed sources have told The Wall Street Journal (sub. required).
Google chief Larry Page hinted at a shift in his company's Android tablet strategy during his company's quarterly results call on Thursday. When asked about what Google would do to improve Android's poor showing on tablets, he believed that most success would come at the lower end of the market. Google was "quite focused" on the category, he said, without saying what that meant.
Rumors percolating for a Google reference Android tablet were supplemented by a brief tip late Thursday. A Google staffer claimed to the New York Times that the hardware would be available later in the year. Details were scarce in the tip, although the newspaper supported the idea that it was aimed as much at the Kindle Fire as at the iPad and other, regular tablets.
NVIDIA's CEO Jen-Hsun Huang in an interview mid-week has predicted that Android tablets will hit $199 by the summer. Speaking to the New York Times, he predicted that the presumably Tegra-based hardware would shave about $150 in costs. Some of this would come from reducing flash storage, although he also implied that quality might take a drop through reductions in "build materials."
Google as anticipated started taking registrations for Google I/O 2012. The tickets to the developer event, which cost $900 for regular developers and $300 for education, sold out in less than one hour. In an unusual step meant to drive adoption, anyone who signed up had to do so both as a Google+ member and by using Google Wallet, neither of which was a deterrent.
ASUS' global vice president Xu Youjia, while speaking at conference in China earlier this week, revealed the company aims to be the top tablet maker, behind only Apple and its iPad. In order to do so, Youjia indicated the company will innovate rather than follow others, though any specifics, technical or otherwise, weren't shared by the China Times. The company's current flagship tablet is the quad-core Transformer Prime, which uses NVIDIA's Tegra 3 processor.
(Update: extra rumors) Google's repeatedly rumored reference Android tablet, informally thought of as a Nexus tablet, may be focused on cost even more than thought. A senior staffer at an American supply chain firm claimed to Android and Me that the price window had been dropped by $50 to $149 to $199. However, any chance at a quad-core Tegra 3 might be dashed, as it would use an unnamed chip to save money.
Google's rumored Nexus-like Android tablet has once more been attached to ASUS by a leak late Thursday. The seven-inch tablet was now thought by Digitimes' contacts to be coming as soon as May for between $199 to $249. ASUS had been picked because it could manufacture the devices itself and had "good product quality."
Isis, which is due to kick off this summer, has now secured cash register and payment hardware makers VeriFone, Ingenico, ViVOtech, and Equinox Payments as partners. They have vowed to integrate the Isis Mobile Commerce Application wireless payments technology into their future products. Isis will use NFC technology for payments, digital couponing, location-based social media offers, and more. It's a competitor for Google's Wallet offering.
Just days after rumors suggested LG is involved in talks with Google to produce the next Nexus handset, a fresh report suggests HTC may be vying for the same position. HTC's Jeff Gordon told Tech Radar that Google "hasn't chosen its Nexus partner," however he also noted that "all the manufacturers are crossing their fingers."
LG has reportedly confirmed that it is involved in ongoing discussions with Google in an attempt to be considered as the next manufacturer behind a Nexus device. LG's smartphone division head, Ramchan Woo, told CNET that the companies are "heavily in discussions," though he cautioned that a final commitment has yet to be sealed.
Google's rumored self-designed tablet got unusual anecdotal support from NPD's DisplaySearch analyst Richard Shim. He still saw it as a seven-inch tablet, with a 1280x800 display, but told CNET that he understood production would start in April. As many as 1.5 million to two million would be made, Shim claimed.
Motorola was unusually critical of its likely future acquirer Google late Wednesday in an interview. Senior enterprise business VP Christy Wyatt claimed to PCMag that Google made timely Android OS updates difficult because of its tendency to target each major release against a reference phone like the Galaxy Nexus. Since the initial release only supported that hardware, no other Android partner could get started on drivers and other code they needed to get moving.
Motorola on Sunday night briefly teased (now pulled) a special Developer Edition of the modern RAZR. The new version will make the promised unlocked bootloader readily available so that users can easily load custom firmware or otherwise go beyond what carriers and Motorola allow. It should ship this week in Europe, and a "developer device" that may or may not be the RAZR should come to the US in "coming months."
A pair of sources claimed Friday that Google was partnering with LG to develop a refernece Google TV set. Much like the Galaxy Nexus or the Nexus One before it, the display outlined to Bloomberg would run the latest version of the Android-based interface, possibly before anyone else, and would go without any customizations. The set would be running the next major version, which Google has already said should arrive before the end of the year.
A contentious rumor late Wednesday had Google's self-made tablet focusing on a very different segment of the market. Part suppliers alleged to Digitimes that the Android 4.0 device would compete with the Kindle Fire, not the iPad. Accordingly, they suspected it would have a seven-inch screen but cost $199 or less when it shipped in March or April.
There's a moment at the end of the movie 1900 (one of Robert De Niro's great early roles) where the peasants think they've finally won the revolution as Italy's fascists are overthrown. We're free, our harsh rulers are dead or gone! Then, however, the "revolutionary committee" comes and says they must give up their guns. After they do, they realize that they have just as little power as they did before; they just handed the power to another master, and now they don't have the righteous energy to fight back.
Google's Android 4.0 update for the Nexus S stalled out Tuesday. The company posted on its forums that it was holding the update to "monitor feedback" after users reported unusually high battery drain. Possibly triggered by a processor use spike, the problem wasn't enough to stop updates worldwide, but the upgrade wouldn't return until Google was satisfied there wasn't an issue.
Google chairman Eric Schmidt in an interview with Italy's Corriere Della Sera raised the prospect of a Nexus tablet. The search firm planned to sell a tablet of the "highest quality" within six months' time. He didn't mention the Nexus label by name, but Google usually hasn't marketed anyone else's tablet itself, even for the reference Xoom.
Google confirmed Friday that it was rolling out Android 4.0 to the Nexus S, making it the first device outside of the Galaxy Nexus to get a finished version. GSM versions of the earlier reference phone will start getting the update over-the-air now and finish within a month. They get all the features of the update save for the on-screen navigation buttons they don't need.
Largely unknown company Garnet Digital hoped to profit from the work of the US cellphone field with a lawsuit quietly filed late last week. It accuses those who make the OS, device makers who sell in the US, and most major US carriers and distributors of violating one patent for a generic "Interactive Terminal For The Access Of Remote Database Information." Among those named are Apple, Google, and RIM, pure hardware makers like HTC, LG, and Samsung, stores like Radio Shack, as well as carriers such as AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon.
Samsung late on Monday brought out a new NFC (near-field communications) chip that promised a tougher level of security for paying through a smartphone even as it became more elegant. The Secu-NFC, known also as the SENHRN1, borrows technology from smart cards and "advanced" encryption to keep payments, such as tapping the phone at a subway turnstile, safe. As a system-in-package, though, it doesn't need to consume as much space as a completely separate NFC chip, improving the footprint in the tight spaces of a smartphone.
