With all of the rumors and leaks just days before the announcement, Google’s 3rd Nexus phone is finally here! Introducing the Galaxy Nexus, formally known as Nexus Prime. Samsung gets another chance to redeem itself from its lackluster Nexus S showing. Questions are already popping up on whether the Galaxy Nexus will have a removable battery cover and if the 5MP camera be sufficient? What’s new in the Android 4.0? Battery life? HDMI output? The answers are coming, so stay tuned! In the meantime, check out the tech specs below and check out the official Galaxy Nexus page here.
Samsung Galaxy Nexus Specifications
Network: HSPA+ 21Mbps/HSUPA 5.76Mbps 850/900/1900/1700/2100, EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900
Specifications above may differ on the LTE version
On screen buttons – Home, Back, Switching Apps (multi-tasking button) are now part of the screen
Multi-tasking – Swipe left/right to close apps and notifications. Similar to WebOS closing apps by swiping cards up
Data usage control- New feature in Settings to monitor data usage and place data caps. This is very much needed in a very unfriendly cell phone environment
Face Unlock – Use your face to unlock your phone. Already used in laptops and now being brought to phones
Android Beam – Use NFC to share links, contacts, photos, YouTube videos, maps, directions with other NFC enabled phones
Voice Typing – Type text messages, emails using your voice
Google+ – Video chat with up to 9 friends
Single-Motion Panoramic Camera – easy to create panoramic pictures
Gmail – New “action bar” to access most used functions, swipe left/right for next/previous message, offline use
Calendar – Multi-touch navigation, pinch to zoom in/out from agenda to year
Gallery – Photo editing, “magazine UI” replacing 3D Gallery app, filter effects, instant social media sharing
Contacts – “People” app replacing Contacts, high res photos for contacts, swipe left/right to dialer/call log, visual voice mail now integrated in call log, reject incoming calls with a text message
Google started pushing out an update for the Nexus S that brings the firmware up to 2.3.2. The file is only about 600 KB big and the build number goes from GRH78 to GRH78C, so all signs point to this being a minor update. Samsung tweeted that it fixes the SMS bug that has received a lot of attention lately and that’s about all we know. There is no word on if it fixes the random reboot bug, but we will be testing it out and report on our findings.
You can wait for the update to hit your phone over-the-air, or you can download it from Google and manually install it now at your own risk.
-=Please install at your own risk=-
To install the latest Nexus S build GRH78C, follow these steps:
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Posted by AJ on Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Google started pushing out an update for the Nexus One that brings the firmware up to 2.2.2. The file is only about 550 KB big and the build number goes from FRG83D to FRG83G, so all signs point to this being a minor update. I haven’t seen the release notes yet, but the update is said to fix the SMS bug that has received a lot of attention lately.
You can wait for the update to hit your phone OTA, or you can download it from Google and manually install it at your own risk.
-=PLEASE TRY AT YOUR OWN RISK=-
To manually install Android 2.2.2 on the Nexus One, perform the following steps:
Copy the file to the root directory (aka not inside any folder) of your microSD card and name it update.zip Tip: Be careful not to name it update.zip.zip
Power off your phone.
Hold down the VOLUME DOWN button and power it back on.
Wait for your phone to load the skating Androids screen. Scroll down to recovery and press the POWER button.
When you see the “/!\” symbol, press the POWER button and the VOLUME UP button at the same time. You should be presented with a menu and one of the options should be “apply sdcard:update.zip”.
Use the trackball to navigate to “apply sdcard:update.zip” and select it.
When you see “Install from sdcard complete”, select “reboot system now”.
Google just opened up their official site for Google I/O 2011, the largest developer conference for those working with Android and Google’s other platforms. Registration has yet to open, but make sure you bookmark the site and follow @GoogleIO if you plan on attending. This show always sells out fast, so don’t delay when registration finally begins.
The site already has a sessions track which hints at some of the topics which will be discussed. Romain Guy will be discussing the highlights of Honeycomb, Eric Chu will cover the improvements to the Android Market, and Jason Bayer will teach us how to build Android apps for Google TV.
Early bird pricing will start at $450 and bumps up to $550 on April 17. Students will be able to register for $150 and this year’s BootCamp will cost you $100.
We attended Google I/O the last two years and it is by far my favorite Android-related event. I’ve already heard that this year’s event will be special and you don’t want to miss it, but we have no idea what surprises Google has up their sleeve yet.
From Google: Google I/O brings together thousands of developers for two days of deep technical content, focused on building the next generation of web, mobile, and enterprise applications with Google and open web technologies such as Android, Google Chrome, Google APIs, Google Web Toolkit, App Engine, and more.
Less than 3 years after its celebrated opening, despite pointed punditry and challenging growing pains, Apple’s App Store is about to claim 10 billion App downloads. To celebrate, as they did when iTunes reached 10 billion downloads, Apple is giving away a $10,000 iTunes gift card to the person that purchases the 10 billionth download.
“As of today, nearly 10 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store worldwide. Which is almost as amazing as the apps themselves. So we want to say thanks. Download the 10 billionth app, and you could win a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card. Just visit the App Store, and download what could be your best app yet.”
Historians will note that the iTunes Store took about 8 years to achieve the 10 billion downloads milestone. Considering the plethora of iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch) it is easy to see how the App Store has achieved such great success in such a small amount of time.
As I write this article, the App Store is getting about 1,000 downloads every couple seconds, according to Apple’s counter (currently running at about 9.77 billion). If you’re a mathematical genius, you might be able to calculate when you should start scooping up every free App in the App Store.
Looking back on your contribution to 10 billion Apps in 3 years, what’s your favorite iOS App? Let me know in the comments and good luck!
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Posted by AJ on Tuesday, January 11, 2011
The long wait is finally over! It’s the moment most of us have been waiting for, including me. Year after year we kept hearing about Verizon iPhone rumors and now its finally here. Starting next month February 10th. Fore more details you can check out Verizon’s official iPhone website.
Should you buy Verizon’s iPhone? It depends, if you don’t care about Verizon’s new LTE 4G upgrade then I recommend you get your hands on one. If think you can wait a little longer then I suggest you wait a while before you get one, just because we know that the LTE model iPhone will be coming soon. As we all know never to buy 1st gen Apple products, better upgrade will be here sometimes in June.
If you’re planning on investing in a new phone and don’t mind sticking to it for two years then get on.
If your planning on signing a new contract or your current contract is coming to an end then go for it. VZW is more prepared than at&t ever was for the iPhone.
If you’re someone who’s on the at&t networking and has a phone don’t be so quick to jump the bandwagon yet. Wait and see what happens when some traffic heads to VZW, perhaps your iPhones will start working better once the network gets some of the load off.
I hope this helps you in making your decision better.
The growth of Android is undeniable. Everywhere you look at CES, some company is announcing some type of Android something. Whether phone, tablet, hybrid or something else- Android is penetrating every end of the tech market. And more importantly, consumers are buying into it as well.
Moving from October 2010 to November 2010, Android overtook iPhone in total US Subscribers according to ComScore. Of the 61.5 million smartphone subscribers, 26% were Android and 25% were Apple in November. Meanwhile, 33% were still on telegram BlackBerry phones.
Think of what happened this holiday season and where this momentum of CES is taking Android… up, up, up , up, up… and above the competition. I think 2011 is going to be another amazingly fun and successful year for Android.
I was shocked to hear this morning that Skype acquired Qik for $100 Million. I’m a huge fan of both, Skype and Qik since they are the game changers of allowing users to host two-way live video calling.
Skype has acquired video streaming service Qik, the company announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
Skype CEO Tony Bates confirmed the announcement on the company blog: “I’m happy to announce that we’ve entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Qik,” he wrote.
The news was first leaked by Business Insider Thursday morning. The source who revealed the news claims that the deal cost Skype approximately $100 million.
Qik allows users to host two-way live video calls on a range of smartphones, as well as record and share video via e-mail, SMS, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and a number of other platforms.
Qik’s userbase catapulted to 5 million users in 2010, up from 600,000 at the beginning of the year, thanks in part to partnerships with major telecom providers like T-Mobile.
“Skype and Qik share a common purpose of enriching communications with video, and the acquisition of Qik will help to accelerate our leadership in video by adding recording, sharing and storing capabilities to our product portfolio,” Bates wrote. “Through this acquisition, we’ll also be able to take advantage of the engineering expertise that is behind Qik’s Smart Streaming technology, which optimizes video transmission over wireless networks,” he added.
Skype and Qik have two important board members in common: Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, who could have helped facilitate the deal.
Formspring Android App Hits The Market, Lets You Ask And Answer Ridiculous Questions From The Comfort Of Your Phone http://t.co/eLo6UBA7 tweeted 4 minutes ago
SwitchMe Dual Boots Your Android with Multiple Profiles for Better Battery Life, Extra Privacy, and More (Androi... http://t.co/G7pZJLQa tweeted 8 minutes ago
Google started pushing out an update for the Nexus S that brings the firmware up to 2.3.2. The file is only about 600 KB big and the build number goes from GRH78 to GRH78C, so all signs point to this being a minor update. Samsung 
Google started pushing out an update for the Nexus One that brings the firmware up to 2.2.2. The file is only about 550 KB big and the build number goes from FRG83D to FRG83G, so all signs point to this being a minor update. I haven’t seen the release notes yet, but the update is said to fix the 
