Nexus Tablet? Eric Schmidt teases official Google-branded slate

The Nexus line of smartphones has been coveted by Android fans for its “pure Google” experience, eschewing carrier and manufacturer customization in favor of the latest clean build on Android. But if you want a pure version of Android in the tablet form factor, you’re largely limited to the original Motorola XOOM. Speaking with an Italian newspaper, Google chairman Eric Schmidt said that the company is planning to release a tablet within the next six months to directly compete against the iPad.

Schmidt’s precise words were, “In the next six months we plan to market a tablet of the highest quality.” Note, dear reader, that this is not a confirmation on a Nexus Tablet, but Google has specifically promoted devices which stayed within the pure Google experience before. The Nexus One, Nexus S and the Galaxy Nexus have all been given web advertising campaigns spearheaded by Google, and the Motorola XOOM (the developer device for Android Honeycomb) continues to receive timely updates, Nexus-style. Whether a new Ice Cream Sandwich tablet would join the Nexus ranks as a developer device, or simply enjoy more informal Google support like the original DROID, is up in the air.

Read more »

Verizon-bound Galaxy Tab 7.7 Passes the FCC

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 looked ready for a Verizon release after an appearance in the carrier’s inventory system, and looks even more primed for an LTE launch after a trip to the FCC. The Honeycomb-laden tablet was spotted getting its 4G radio and CDMA bands checked out by the federal entity, clearing the slimline slate for a US release. The Galaxy Tab 7.7 features a 1280 x 800 Super AMOLED display, dual-core 1.4GHz processor, and measures in at a mere 7.89mm thick. It could gain a few millimeters thanks to the addition of LTE, but the difference should be marginal at best. There is no indication of when we could actually see the Galaxy Tab 7.7 launch on Verizon.
[via The Verge]

Read more »

Google gives out customised Galaxy Nexus handsets to employees for Christmas

It appears that Google employees are going to enjoy the latest and greatest Android smartphone that the search giant and Samsung have to offer after it emerged the company is giving its staff customised handsets as a Christmas thank you.
The handset itself isn’t an ordinary Galaxy Nexus either; the device has been outfitted with a customised back cover, one that sports various Google+ and Android icons (which are one and the same) — a nice touch considering they are being specifically given to Google employees.
The rear of the device:

We have confirmed that both Google’s London and Zurich offices are giving out free devices to Google employees, requiring staff to line up and claim their free handset, as shown in the photo below (posted by Edu Pereda, a Software Engineer at Google’s Swiss offices):

We have contacted Google to enquire whether all Google employees will receive a free device — we assume that will be the case. We will update the article should we receive a response.

Read more »

Samsung, Huawei And Nokia Beat Apple In China Mobile Phone Manufacturing

Big news out of China as Huawei has beat out Apple as is now the third largest manufacturer of mobile phones in China.
Reuters reported the news Friday saying that Apple wasn’t as nimble or flexible as Samsung and Huawei. Despite just now breaking back into the U.S. market, Nokia still holds a huge position in Asian and European markets.
Apple has started a major expansion in China as far as their retail efforts go. According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, Apple has six retail stores with plans to open dozens more. They also have 200 mono branded stores and over 7,000 points of sale.
What’s hurting Apple in the iPhone department is the fact that they didn’t build a TD-SCDMA iPhone version for China Mobile. China Mobile is the world’s largest cell phone carrier with over 600 million users. To put that in perspective for US readers, China Mobile’s market is 3 times the size of Verizon Wireless and AT&T combined.
Aside from not having an iPhone on their countries largest carrier, Chinese customers are echoing the rest of the world when it comes to smartphones. Android is winning by a lot in China, even with Google’s rocky relationship with their government.
source: Fortune/CNN

Read more »

Samsung expands patent row with Apple in Germany

Samsung Electronics continued the patent dispute against Apple in Germany, filing new claims in the process. The South Korean consumer electronics behemoth has added a quartet of patents to its current infringement case that is related to the telecommunications standard technology WCDMA where 3G mobile handsets are concerned. The four new complaints will comprise of the use of emoticons, where according to Samsung’s spokesperson, “(Samsung) made four more claims; two are standard-related patents and the other two are utility patents. And a court said it would make these claims separate from the April lawsuit.”
Last Friday, a regional German court in Mannheim did hold a hearing on the April case, touting that a ruling would be announced in early March next year. It would be interesting to see how the new patent claims will develop, and what kind of repercussions there would be worldwide. Just recently, Samsung landed a left hook on Apple’s jaw by winning their suit in Australia as the court Down Under removed a ban on the sale of Samsung’s Galaxy tablet just earlier this month.

Read more »

Sprint’s Nexus S 4G gets Android 4.0.3 ROM Ported from T-Mobile’s Nexus S OTA

Android Central forum member beezy has whipped up an Ice Cream Sandwich treat for you folks on Sprint with a Nexus S 4G. The Android 4.0.3 OTA for T-mobile’s Nexus S has been ported to Sprint’s Nexus 4G. You won’t see any wimax (4G), but 3G data, camera, WiFi, and bluetooth are confirmed working. You’ll need to be rooted and you can flash this ROM via Clockwork. You will also need to head over to the AC forums and be registered to download the file and you can do so from the source link below. Happy flashing, but do so at your own risk.

Read more »

Get the Google Wallet APK for your LTE Galaxy Nexus – No Root Required [Courtesy XDA]

Yesterday we posted a guide on how to get Google Wallet on your new Galaxy Nexus phone. Trying out the method myself, I ran into some strange behavior as we mentioned in that former post. Other’s never got it working at all. The process was in short, not much fun. Well you can put the past behind you because devs after Google Wallet are diligent. Diligent enough to finally bring you a simple APK that you can install, without even needing root! It took mere seconds for me to set up and redeem my free $10 from Google, but as it is currently early morning as I write this, I’ve yet to journey out and blow some poor cashier’s mind. Definitely, something to look forward to tomorrow. Before you get ahead of yourself please pay attention here:
If you previously flashed the .zip file from Friday, you may have to return to a backup, pre-Wallet, or this .apk will not work.
Otherwise, proceed to the download.

Read more »

Want to Manually Update Your Nexus S To 4.0.3, Here’s How

So maybe your like me and your impatient. Who has time to wait for an update to come to them, when you can go get it yourself. Worry not my friends, we have the download file for you. As well as the walk through. Go on, you know the suspense is killing you.
This is only for the GSM version, And the T-Mobile version. If that’s not your phone, don’t follow through with these instructions, this isn’t an update for your phone. For all the rest of you that it does cover, read on:

• Grab the OTA package here
• Rename it to something you will remember, like update.zip, or sweet.zip, whatever works best for you.
• Copy it over to the internal storage on your Nexus S.
• Power off, then hold volume up and power to reboot to the bootloader.
• Using the volume key to navigate, select recovery, then use the power button to confirm
• When you see the warning triangle and arrow, hold the power button and tap volume up. You’ll see a menu.
• From the menu, select “apply update from /sdcard”, and choose the file you named from the list.
• Let it do its thing and update your system, radio, and other partitions. When finished, choose “reboot system now”
• As long as you did everything correctly your phone should reboot, and you should be enjoying that sweet goodness called Ice Cream Sandwich.

Source Android Central

Read more »

LG Marquee and Samsung Replenish Leaked For Boost Mobile

Looks like Boost Mobile is about to get a few new very adequate Android devices in the coming months. The LG Marquee (Optimus Black) and Samsung Replenish will be joining their Android lineup of which the LG device is the most interesting. Both devices have been made available for months now on Sprint and were leaked for Boost Mobile in the promo images you see above. Still no word on pricing or availability just yet but as soon as we learn more we’ll let you know.
[Via Pocketnow]

Read more »

Browser Face-Off: iPhone 4S, Galaxy Nexus, Rezound, Razr and Galaxy S II Compared [Videos]

As a long time Android user since the G1 days, I have to say having a choppy browser has been one of the areas that has really irked me about Android devices. Watching all those smug iPhone users with their super fluid browser, scrolling up and down, in and out, I have to admit — I was jealous. Now, with this new generation of dual-core superphones, you would expect all the browsers, across all devices to be nice, smooth and silky, right? Wrong.
If you’re sitting on an upgrade, on the fence about which new device to get, maybe this collection of videos from our very own Android Forums member, Medion, will help push you over the edge. Who comes out on top? Who’s cuisine reigns supreme? As a reference, we’re including the iPhone 4S because… c’mon — it’s damn smooth.
Apple iPhone 4S


Galaxy Nexus


Samsung Galaxy S II


Motorola Droid RAZR


HTC Rezound

After watching these videos, have they possibly changed your mind at all on a future purchase? Granted, there are other factors that influence value like camera and manufacturer UI’s. But when it comes to browsers, I can tell you I’m seeing things in a whole new light. I’m talking to you, Rezound. Get your choppiness together.
[Via AndroidForums]

Read more »

Verizon Galaxy Nexus: Significant signal issues arise

Many of us, including myself, have been waiting months for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus to finally hit the US. And now that it finally has on Verizon Wireless, my experience has been less than perfect. The signal has continued to drop since purchase, and my previous 4G phone on Big Red had great signal strength.

When the signal doesn’t drop – it just hangs in 3G and an “Airplane Mode” toggle is required to get 4G back up and running. But here’s the catch, the signal was excellent for the 4 hours I used it before installing the 4.0.2 update. I thought it may have just been my device or even area, but many others are experiencing these issues over in a thread at XDA Developers.
Now one user, mastibeta, spent time on the phone with Verizon tech support and they seemed to not only fix the 4G lock on his device, but also double his data speeds. Lets hope it’s a software issue and not hardware; the Nexus S 4G had its share of signal issues and hopefully the Galaxy Nexus doesn’t follow suit. All of us here at Android Community using Verizon’s Galaxy Nexus are having similar signal problems – so we know there is an issue at hand.
Are any of you having signal issues? If so, please let us know in the comments below.

Read more »

Samsung Nexus S Android 4.0 update officially rolling out today

We heard a rumor about this last week that never went very far but today it’s officially official. Google has started the update to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich for the Google Samsung Nexus S. We are assuming this will be Android 4.0.3 that was detailed earlier today — This was confirmed by Google over on Twitter this afternoon.

A few weeks ago a couple Google employee’s received the OTA update and were commenting on Google+ but those were all quickly removed. It looks like the testing phase has been completed as Google themselves have confirmed to be started today and rolling out over the next few weeks.

Google has also put together a neat set of tips for those moving from Gingerbread to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The update should start hitting both the T-Mobile and the non GSM versions of the Nexus S soon. I’m sure it will be plastered on XDA any minute now so be sure and start checking your favorite developer forums. I’d be hitting menu > settings > about phone > check for updates right about now. Enjoy that Ice Cream Sandwich and feel free to look over our ICS hands-on and more below from the Timeline.

Read more »

Here’s what the Verizon Galaxy Nexus looks like on the inside

These days it’s a rite of passage for every new and high-profile gadget: the moment when its tender casing is torn from its frame and all its silicon guts are spilled for the world to see. That time has already come for the HSPA+ version of the Galaxy Nexus, and ZD Net has given Verizon’s LTE version the teardown treatment as well. If you’re wondering what the inside of the very first Ice Cream Sandwich phone looks like, well, here it is.

There are no real surprises in the teardown. The micro SIM card (as opposed to a mini SIM card) is still slightly novel, but hardly unique. Samsung phones are pretty slim, but hardly impossible to crack as smartphones go; the DROID RAZR, with its armored construction and teeny tiny seams, is a lot harder. A couple of non-standard screwdrivers is all it takes to separate pretty much every bit of plastic, metal and circuit board.

Read more »

What Mods Have You Applied to Your Verizon Galaxy Nexus

So with the device being out in the United States for just over 24 hours now, we’re wondering what you new and even existing Galaxy Nexus owners have been doing to your phones? Personally, I’ve already unlocked the bootloader, applied Paul’s superboot script for one-click root, installed a custom recovery and even installed a custom ROM (though I did roll back to my stock rooted build after a few hours).

More than ROMs, there are a few little things you can apply to your device to make your experience that much better. We’ve got the search button embedded into the navigation bar, constant menu buttons in the navigation bar, a mod that lets you get rid of the constant Google Search bar on the homescreen, custom kernels and a whole lot more. Let’s hear what you’ve done in the comments section below!

Read more »

Samsung Galaxy Note for AT&T Said to be On Its Way With LTE, Without Exynos

Rumor has it that AT&T’s gearing up to offer the Samsung Galaxy Note early next year and, as you might expect, 4G LTE will be in tow. One thing we didn’t imagine, however, is the lack of Samsung’s dual-core Exynos processor. 1Instead there’ll apparently be a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor inside. Apparently Exynos might not support LTE radios yet. It’s not unlike the reason why T-Mobile’s Galaxy S II didn’t get Exynos – it didn’t support HSPA+ 42. In any case, a CES announcement is expected so be sure to check back in about a month’s time. [PocketNow]

Read more »

Samsung drops 3G lawsuit against Apple in favor of a different strategy

Both Apple and Samsung have been busy attempting to sue each other into oblivion, with the former claiming that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 infringed upon their designs while the latter claimed that 3G-capable iOS devices infringed upon their 3G technology patents, but now it looks like Samsung may be rethinking their strategy.
According to FOSS Patents’ Florian Mueller, Samsung appears to have given up their attacks on Apple via the 3G patent route. It seems that the South Korean company has finally acknowledged that the 3G license was covered by Apple’s payment for the Qualcomm chips found in devices like the iPhone 4S, but this doesn’t mean that Samsung has decided to throw in the towel.
Samsung claims that the dropping of the Qualcomm challenge was mainly to streamline a case, and have instead decided to sue Apple over four different patents, although the exact nature of these patents remain unknown for now. Will Samsung succeed this time round? We guess we will have to wait and find out.

Read more »

AT&T’s Galaxy S II Gets Maintenance Upgrade to Android 2.3.6

AT&T is issuing an upgrade to Android 2.3.6 for owners of the Galaxy S II (not the Skyrocket, the original). There’s not much more to add than that since this was simple bug-fixing upgrade so be sure to grab it with no delay and, as always, don’t panic if you don’t get it right away. Get to Settings > Software update > Check for updates to get started. [Samsung via AC]

Read more »

Tips and tricks for your new Galaxy Nexus

After a longer wait than anyone anticipated, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus has landed on US shores under the auspices of Verizon Wireless. This is a totally different kind of Android phone running completely new software. Despite Google’s attempt to make Android more user-friendly, some of the most interesting features are still not exposed to the average user. With that in mind, let’s go over the three things that you should do as soon as you unbox your brand new Galaxy Nexus.

Set up Data Usage

One of the new features in Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) is a very robust Data Usage meter. For users that have capped mobile data plans, this can be a real money saver. The data monitor is available in the main settings page under Data Usage. This interface has a toggle for disabling mobile data at the top, and a large graph below it.

Tap on the graph and drag up or down to move the orange Warning line to just short of your monthly data cap. When the phone has reached this volume of data, a notification will appear in the status bar. This is nice, but if a user doesn’t see the notification, the data cap could still be blown. Luckily, Android 4.0 is smart enough to actually shut you down if things get out of hand.

Tap the check box next to “Set mobile data limit” to set a hard stop for your data guzzling ways. This option produces a second red line on the graph. Just drag this one to someplace above the orange one. To avoid overages completely, leave it just below the data cap. Alternatively, set it at a level over the cap that you would still be comfortable paying.

Down below the graph, Android also aggregates data usage by app so you can figure out what is hogging all the data. Tapping on any of these will bring up a detailed report of its activity.

Turn on GPU acceleration

Ice Cream Sandwich supports hardware accelerated drawing of 2D surfaces just like Honeycomb did, but now that power is at the user’s control. Developers are being encouraged by Google to enable this feature in apps, but we need not wait for them. Hardware acceleration can be forced on with minimal risk.

In the main settings screen, scroll down the the bottom and find “Developer options.” About two-thirds of the way down is the listing we need and it’s called “Force GPU rendering.” Enabling this will speed up the interface drawing of all the apps on the phone. Activities like scrolling and swiping will be more responsive and just plain nicer-looking.

Be aware that some apps might tolerate this better than others. The user interface could be broken in small, or more significant ways in these apps. If something seems broken, try toggling GPU rendering off.

Get used to real folders

As part of the home screen redesign, Google has added a new way of making folders. Android has always had folders, but in the past they were clunky and unattractive. ICS folders are so easy that there’s no reason not to base your experience around them.

To make a folder, drag any app icon on top of another, and let go. The result is a folder with both the apps in it. Anyone that’s used an iPhone recently will recognize this as almost the same system Apple uses. When opened, the apps in a folder can still be dragged around for better organization within the folder. Dragging an icon out of the folder returns it to the home screen.

Folders in ICS work on any home screen panel, and even in the dock area next to the app drawer icon. By making folders usable, Google has probably changed the way people will use the Android home screen.

There is, of course, much more to do with Android 4.0 on the Galaxy Nexus, but these are three easy steps that will get any user off on the right foot. ICS will reveal all its secrets in time, but hopefully not too long.

Read more »

New Galaxy Note gets Snapdragon processor, hints at US launch

Not too long ago Michael was bummed that the Samsung Galaxy note hybrid tablet/smartphone wasn’t offered in the US. The tablet had crossed the FCC in the past, but as Michael pointed out that doesn’t always mean the tablet is headed to the States. Another new model of the Galaxy note has now been spied. This time it looks like the tablet may actually be bound for the US.

On the Galaxy S II smartphones that are for international use, the phone uses the Enxyos processor. However, when the S II came to the States Samsung changed to the Snapdragon chip. This is apparently because the Snapdragons work better with the HSPA+ networks that AT&T and T-Mobile operate in the US.
The new Galaxy Note with part number SGH-I171 that has been spied is packing that Snapdragon processor so it would seemingly be bound for the US. The tablet also has 4G LTE as well. This is an interesting device with a 5-inch display and 1280 x 800 resolution that skirts the gap between tablets and smartphones. Gottabemobile expects the Note to hit AT&T in early 2012.
[via SlashGear]

Read more »

And Just Like That – Google Wallet Has Been Successfully Installed On The Verizon Galaxy Nexus

Not sure if this is more of a “Booyah!” or “In your face!” moment but despite Verizon’s greatest efforts, Google Wallet has successfully been installed on the Verizon Galaxy Nexus. You can even take advantage of Google’s bonus $10 of spending cash to get you started on your new NFC journey. As usual, all the fun stuff comes after rooting your device and this is no different with the Galaxy Nexus. Google Wallet can be found and flashed using the ROM Manager app found in the Android Market.
Thanks to @myz06vette and @dl_evans!
[Market Link]

Read more »