Friday, October 12, 2012

Google Android News Android Forums

Google Android News Android Forums

32GB Nexus 7 appears on yet another retail site

Posted: 11 Oct 2012 04:53 PM PDT

By now, the 32GB Nexus 7 shouldn’t be a huge surprise. However, the more retail sites that we see this nice little device show up on the better. This time the device is popping up as a registration page on the Spanish version of UK the based Carphone Warehouse called Phone House. All signs are definitely pointing toward the 32GB version of the hot Nexus 7 making its way around the globe. What’s a little bit of a mystery is the price. Some think the 32GB version will replace the 16GB one in price, but the price shown in the picture is 30 Euros higher than the 16GB version. This is at least the third different price that we’ve come across. Hopefully we’ll find out soon enough. Or you could get lucky and order the 16GB version and Google will send you a 32GB model like that one guy. 

source:  Phone House

Samsung Officially Reveals the Mid-Range Galaxy S III Mini

Posted: 11 Oct 2012 01:50 PM PDT

We gave you a heads up yesterday that today would be the day Samsung reveals the Samsung Galaxy S III mini. Sure enough, the supposed mini version of Samsung’s flagship device is now official with Samsung making the announcement today in Germany. As a refresher from yesterday’s leak, the specs are now official for the pint-sized device. We’ll be looking at a 4-inch 800×480 Super AMOLED display, 5MP camera, 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and will run on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

Like some of you (based on yesterday’s comments), I’m guilty of setting my expectations too high initially for this device. When I first heard the name, I instantly assumed somewhere in the neighborhood of the Galaxy S III innards, only in a smaller package. I falsely assumed Samsung wanted to capture that market that isn’t crazy about the larger displays. However, it looks like all they’re doing is releasing a Galaxy device to compete in the mid-range market. I guess I can’t really blame them after all. I just wish they would’ve come up with a different name. Let’s face it; the only thing this device has in common with the Galaxy S III is the design and that “inspired by nature” moniker. There’s no word yet on pricing or an LTE version but keep checking here for details. Hit the break for the full press release.

Samsung Introduces GALAXY S III mini, a compact yet powerful smartphone

GALAXY S III's nature-inspired design and intuitive ease-of-use in one stylish, compact smartphone

SEOUL, Korea – October 12, 2012 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, today unveiled the GALAXY S III mini,

a compact version of the flagship smartphone GALAXY S III.
The GALAXY S III mini brings the high performance, intuitive ease-of-use and nature-inspired design of the GALAXY S III to an elegant,
compact smartphone with a 4.0-inch screen. It can be an optimal choice for consumers who are looking for more practical smartphones.

"The GALAXY S III introduced a new concept of smartphone that has proven hugely popular around the world.
We're now delighted to bring its revolutionary design, intuitive usability and intelligence to the GALAXY S III mini in a more compact form," said JK Shin, President and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics. "We continue to make every effort to provide extraordinary mobile experiences to meet a wide variety of user needs."

The GALAXY S III mini is powered by Android™ 4.1 (Jelly Bean), the latest version of the world's most popular smartphone operating system.
Jelly Bean has fast, fluid and smooth graphics along with a new Google Search™ experience featuring Google Now™, which brings you just the right information, before you even ask.

Stylish and compact, the GALAXY S III mini shares the GALAXY S III's breakthrough design and simple elegance.
Its ultra-minimal curved frame delivers a rich natural feel, which is also reflected on its nature-inspired home screen, wallpapers and ringtones.
Its beautiful 4.0-inch Super AMOLED display offers a generous viewing experience that lets you view multimedia and Web content in brilliant color and clarity.
Its compact size gives users a comfortable grip and allows a convenient one-hand operation.

The GALAXY S III mini is packed with intelligent technology designed to make interacting with the phone incredibly natural and intuitive.
S Voice, Samsung's advanced natural language recognition software, lets you use your voice to unlock the phone with
simple customized commands, or to play your favorite songs, turn the volume up or down, organize your schedule, or automatically launch the camera and start taking photos.

The GALAXY S III mini also understands your gestures to make using your phone easier and more natural: With Smart Stay,
the phone's camera tracks your eyes and keeps the screen lit as long as you are looking at it. When reading a text message from a friend,
Direct Call enables you to automatically dial a call simply by lifting the phone to your ear; and Smart Alert conveniently alerts you to missed calls or messages as soon as you pick up your phone.

Content sharing is easy and fast on the GALAXY S III mini: Its S Beam feature lets you share a 10MB music file in just two seconds
by simply tapping on another S Beam-enabled device including GALAXY S III or GALAXY Note II, even without a Wi-Fi or cellular signal.
The 'Buddy photo share' function also allows photos to be easily and simultaneously shared with all your friends pictured in an image directly from the camera or the photo gallery.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus injunction reversed by appeals court

Posted: 11 Oct 2012 01:01 PM PDT

Do you remember all the patches and workarounds that Samsung and Google had to push out to consumers last summer to remove unified search from Android devices, specifically the Samsung Galaxy Nexus? That work was due to an injunction awarded by Judge Lucy Koh to halt sales of the Galaxy Nexus which was the subject of a patent lawsuit Apple filed against Samsung. In granting the injunction halting sales, Koh determined Apple could suffer irreparable damage and loss of market share unless sales of the Galaxy Nexus were halted as long as they included a universal search function.

Reuters is now reporting that an appeals court has repealed that injunction. In their appeal, Samsung had argued that sales of the Galaxy Nexus would not harm Apple. It appears the appellate court agreed with that position and may have even gone a bit further in assessing Apple’s claims. According to the court’s document issued today, Apple failed to present evidence that tied sales of the Galaxy Nexus to this feature. The court also determined that there is no dispute that the Galaxy Nexus does not have a feature equivalent to Siri, which was a major part of the ’604 patent at issue as well as a selling point for Apple’s products, but not the Galaxy Nexus. Going even further, today’s decision indicates Apple must show people buy the Galaxy Nexus due to the presence of the claims included in the ’604 patent, which is more than just search in general or even unified search, if they want to eventually prevail.

In a bit of strong wording, the court also indicated that the district court had “abused its discretion” in issuing the preliminary injunction. The issue now goes back to the district court for reconsideration.

source: The Verge

Verizon sets release date for DROID RAZR HD and DROID RAZR MAXX HD as October 18

Posted: 11 Oct 2012 12:57 PM PDT

We heard they could be delayed, but it looks like everything is a go because Verizon just announced the DROID RAZR HD and the DROID RAZR HD MAXX will hit stores next Thursday, October 18. The DROID RAZR HD will cost $199 and the DROID RAZR HD MAXX will run you $299. The main difference between the two phones is the DROID RAZR MAXX HD sports the same 3300mAh battery that was in the DROID RAZR MAXX. It also makes it a little thicker; 9.3mm vs 8.4mm. The DROID RAZD HD is no slouch either with its 2530mAh battery so I’m thinking that at $199, it’s a really good buy. The only other difference is storage; The DROID RAZR HD has 16GB and the RAZR HD MAXX has 32GB.

The rest of the specs for both models include a 4.7-inch Super AMOLED HD display, 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 1GB of RAM, 8MP camera, microSD for expanded storage, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, and WiFi - 802.11a/b/g/n (2.4GHz/5GHz). The only real negative is Ice Cream Sandwich is onboard, but Motorola promises Jelly Bean by the end of the year. The DROID RAZR HD will be offered in black or white and the RAZR MAXX HD will be offered in black only.

Check out our hands on video from the launch event.

source: verizon

Google releases new Zagat app to help diners find good eats

Posted: 11 Oct 2012 10:50 AM PDT

Restaurant ratings guide Zagat has a new app available in the Google Play Store. Now owned by Google, the new Zagat app has been completely rebuilt from the ground up. Users can search for nearby restaurants based on different criteria like ratings, cuisine or other features. In some cases, users can even make reservations at participating restaurants. The selection is limited to U.S. cities, with Zagat claiming to have 30,000 establishments in the database. Also of note, the Zagat app uses Google+ for sign-in purposes, which you may want to do to submit your own restaurant reviews and ratings.

If you are interested in giving it a try, use one of the download links below. Be sure to check back in and let us know how the meal was and whether the reviews were accurate.

QR Code generator
Google Play Download Link

Japan’s NTT DoCoMo announces 2012 Winter Collection, includes several high-end devices

Posted: 11 Oct 2012 10:33 AM PDT

NTT DoCoMo, the large network operator in Japan, has released the line-up of devices that will be included in their 2012 Winter Collection. The list includes several high-end devices like the Samsung Galaxy S III in Titanium Gray, a red LG Optimus G model, a Samsung Galaxy Note II, the Sony Xperia AX, a Sharp AQUOS ZETA smartphone, and a Fujitsu Arrows Tab 10.1-inch device.

The AQUOS ZETA phone sports a 4.9-inch IGZO display running atop a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro chip with 2GB of RAM. Running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the device is water and dust proofed and will be available in red, white or blue models. Another device readers may not be familiar with is a 10.1-inch tablet from Fujitsu. The Arrows Tab is running an NVIDIA Tegra 3 1.7GHz quad-core processor with 2GB of RAM to drive a full HD 1920×1200 WUXGA display. Running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the device packs a huge 10,080 mAh battery.

source: PocketDroid

Samsung confirms October 24 event will be to unveil the US Galaxy Note II

Posted: 11 Oct 2012 10:12 AM PDT

 

 

October 24 has long been speculated as the day Samsung would show off the US version of the Galaxy Note II. We can now stop the speculation as Samsung made the October 24th launch date official. The Galaxy Note II World Tour will be stopping in New York City on October 24, where there will likely be a press event to announce the price and official release date. We know the Galaxy Note II will be released on T-Mobile, but it will be interesting to see if Samsung has any surprises up their sleeves for the US consumers. After the press conference there will be a “consumer celebration” to let the public in on the activities. Who is excited to finally get their hands on the Galaxy Note II?

Source: Engadget

Featured Play Store Review: Hands on with Robin, the Siri Challenger [Voice Assistant]

Posted: 11 Oct 2012 09:54 AM PDT

Ever since Siri launched on iOS, a lot of developers started introducing similar apps for Android. You will find some decent ones, but a newer one called Robin, the Siri Challenger from Magnifis looks very promising. The fact that it’s in Beta and it already works very well has me excited for what lies ahead. Now lets face it, Google really stepped up their game with Google Now, but I know a lot of users want something that is more of a virtual assistant, and that’s where Robin comes in.

Robin was created for drivers so they keep their hands on the wheel, but it’s useful anywhere because she’s so versatile. You can ask her some of the simple stuff like find the nearest coffee shop, directions, and where to park your car, but you can get more sophisticated information like the cheapest parking lot or the cheapest gas station nearby. Robin can also update your Facebook status, send a Tweet, set reminders, tell you the score in a game, or even get you movie showtimes. It will even tell you a corny joke if you so wish. You can even teach Robin a few things like your name, where your home or work is, and even your birthday for horoscopes. Do you want a male voice instead? You can change that as well.

When you want to ask Robin something, you can simply hit the “R” icon or wave your hand twice in front of your front-facing camera. The only negative I found was that sometimes I had to hit the “R” icon twice and you can’t easily open Robin when viewing other apps. The information page says that you can simply wave your hand twice even when you’ve launched other apps, but for me that only worked when Robin herself opened the other app. For example, if you ask her to “take a picture”, she will open your camera app, and if you want to ask her something else, you can simply wave your hand twice, but if you are simply playing a game, it won’t work. It’s not a huge issue and I expect they will work this out by the time it leaves Beta.

I have yet to see a flawless voice assistant app, and Robin is no exception, but if you check out my hands on video below, it’s pretty darn close. Again, let me remind you that this is in Beta so it’s only going to get better. Robin is Free so you have nothing to lose. I’ve included a couple of clever commercial spots below my video so check those out, and hit one of the download links to get started. As always, let me know what you think.

 

Robin_01 Robin_02 Robin_03 Robin_04 Robin_Splash_Banner

 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Commercial Spots

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

 

QR Code generator

Play Store Download Link

Leaked Samsung Galaxy Premier (GT-i9260) press shot shows it’s not a Nexus

Posted: 11 Oct 2012 08:35 AM PDT

We heard rumblings about a Samsung phone baring the model GT-i9260 for a couple of months now. It was referred to as the Galaxy Nexus Superior when it first leaked. From the leaked image above, we can clearly see it’s not a Nexus since it has TouchWiz on top of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Some even thought that it would be called the Galaxy Nexus Premier, but just take “Nexus” out of the name and we have the Galaxy Premier. It will sport a 4.65-inch 720P Super AMOLED display, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 8MP rear camera, 8 or 16GB of storage, and a microSD for expanded storage.

I had a hard time believing it was going to be a Nexus device because leaked documents did show that it would have a microSD slot, and we all know that Google is against those. However the model number of GT-i9260 did make it plausible since the Galaxy Nexus was the GT-i9250.   I’m happy to see this was finally cleared up, which means that the LG Nexus 4 still seems to be the only Nexus on the table this fall unless rumors of an HTC device based on the DROID Incredible X hold true.

cheers Justin!!

source: mobilegeeks

Google+ Updated To Version 3.2, Includes Google+ Pages Support

Posted: 11 Oct 2012 06:59 AM PDT

 

One of the best and fastest growing social networks has just gotten a major update. Google+ has been updated to version 3.2 and brings Google+ Pages support. That means if businesses— both small and large— can now post and comment, right from Android devices. In addition, the new update brings the ability to “find people” and a homescreen widget refresh. Every little bit to make apps is always welcome and appreciated, so kudos to Google for making the app better than it already was.

To take advantage of the new features found in the latest update, head on down to the Play Store below.

 

Play Store
Posted by at 5:46 AM

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