Leaked LG teaser pic shows new Optimus, could it be the Nexus 3?

A new LG teaser pic shows a mysterious Optimus device - the same as the recently leaked photo of the next Google Nexus. The best part is this info reportedly comes from a source within LG and should be reliable.

Remember the leaked Nexus 3 picture? As the rumor has it, it is supposed to be either LG or HTC built. Today's Optimus leak suggests it will be LG's.

New LG Optimus and possibly the next Google Nexus

There is nothing beside those leaked pictures, but we think it's a good start. HTC is manufacturer behind the Nexus One, Samsung made the Nexus S and it seems now is LG's turn to bring us the Nexus 3.

The Nexus 3 leaked image

Reportedly, the picture is posted on a forum by an LG employee, so this sounds quite reliable. So, LG, it's your turn. Let's hope you won’t let Google down on this job.

Thanks, AdrianPWT

Next Google Nexus will be either HTC, or LG built

The Nexus line is the true and original Google phone and we've seen two already. And now we came across a photo of a third Nexus phone in its testing stage. The phone looks HTC-made and lacks the menu/home/back/search keys. It will probably run Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest Android version.

The photo doesn't show much, except a generic phone design, but the information, given to TechHog.com is pretty juicy and intriguing. It seems a Google developer sent this in and reportedly said that the next Google phone will feature some amazing specs. It will most definitely feature the latest (yet unseen) Android version, which integrates with Honeycomb (hence the lack of additional keys under the display), has a HDPA+ and Sprint CDMA (which would mean an early or exclusive appearance at US telecom Sprint), front-facing camera and a rumored first appearance in December this year, along with Ice Cream Sandwich itself.

That's about it for specs and as for the name, it's not given yet but it may not be Nexus 3. It's still undecided. The Nexus phone line isn't a mainstream gadget on its own. It's made to carry the latest software version, in order for it to be a platform for dev testing. And in the case of the original Nexus One it had an HTC twin brother in the face of the Desire. The Nexus S had one in the Galaxy S so we're hoping this yet unannounced 3rd Nexus to have a global market brother as well.

We'll keep track of the matter and update as soon as news becomes available. Rumors so far suggest that either HTC or LG will make the phone.

Google announces Wallet and Offers, aims to reinvent the wallet

Today Google pulled the wraps off its two new services set to change the way we shop. Google Wallet and Google Offers are said to be the next big thing in commerce, making your ordinary wallet obsolete in a few years time as the programs gain the needed momentum.

As we told you yesterday, Google Wallet is an Android app and is going to operate thanks to the NFC chip found in some of the currently existing and many of the upcoming smartphones. For now the new mobile-payment method is supported only in the USA, thanks to Sprint and the Samsung Nexus S 4G, with other major partners being Citi Bank, MasterCard and First Data.

The first merchants and stores to accept mobile payment through Google Wallet are Subway, American Eagle, Macy's and American Outfitters along many others.

Google Offers is tightly connected with the Wallet app. After you make a purchase, depending on the store you are in, you will be able to receive special coupons or loyalty points, which you can use at a later point in time.

Undoubtedly, Google Offers is taking aim at Groupon, the current leader in discount offers and deals. Currently, only a couple of major cities in the United States are able to get deals from Google Offers, but the smart money is on many more following, including some in countries outside North America.

Google is certain the Wallet application will be used not only for purchasing consumer goods, but also for getting tickets, boarding passes, storing IDs, keys and basically everything your ordinary wallet can hold.

Google I/O brings 3.1 Honeycomb, Ice Cream sandwich and more

The Google I/O went off to a flying start with the keynote speech bringing several important announcements to Android fans. We got an updated version of the tablet-friendly Honeycomb release that’s already being seeded to Verizon subscribers and a sneak peak of the upcoming Ice Cream Sandwich version that should bring the comb of both current branches of the Android evolution together.

The numbers: 400K droids activated daily, total number exceeds 100M

Of course, it all started with some well-deserved pats on the back for the growth accomplished over the past year. In that time the total number of activated Android devices around the globe surpassed 100 million – no mean feat considering that the OS has only been around for a few years now. What’s more the number of daily activations is already over 400,000, which suggests that we’ll need less than a year to get to double that number.

The Android market has also been enjoying some explosive growth recently – there are over 200,000 apps available there already and the total downloads have exceeded 4.5 billion. Recently the Android market managed to surpass the behemoth that is the App Store in terms of free apps and analysts predict that it will be overtaking it in number of total apps later this year.

Android 3.1 Honeycomb

The Google guys then moved on to the more important stuff and announced the first update to the tablet-friendly version of Android. The 3.1 release is again called Honeycomb as it only represents a minor upgrade over 3.0.

It’s mostly tweaks and optimizations actually but there are a few new features, too. You get resizable widgets for those homescreens, and support for the USB host mode. USB host will allow you to easily transfer images from your memory card or digital camera to your tablet or you can make use of some cool USB accessories.

There was even a brief demo of playing games on an Android 3.1 Honeycomb-running tablet, using an Xbox 360 controller.

The Android 3.1 Honeycomb is being seeded to the Verizon-bound 3G version of the Motorola XOOM already and other devices should follow soon. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 should be getting it before it even hits the shelves.

The full Android 3.1 changelog can be found here.

Ice cream sandwich

And while Honeycomb is where Google will probably be focusing most of its attention this year, Ice cream sandwich represents the company’s view of the future. The upcoming Android release doesn’t have a version number just yet, but that should be announced sometime before its release in Q4 this year.

Android Ice cream sandwich will be Google’s attempt of one OS to rule them all – it should combine the best of Honeycomb and Gingerbread and it should be able to run on everything – from smartphones through tablets to Google TV.

The Ice cream sandwich will bring a new holographic UI that Google described as state of the art, richer widgets and an advanced application framework. And it will remain open-source, which depending on your beliefs might be a good or a bad thing.

New Android Update policy

Google understands that updates are an important part of Android and because of that they announced the forming of a founding team, which will adopt guidelines for how quickly devices are updated after an Android update and also for how long they will continue to be updated.

The partners in question are Verizon, HTC, Sprint, LG, T-Mobile, Vodafone, Motorola, AT&T, Sony Ericsson and Samsung. Google invites every manufacturer and carrier to join this team. So, as a result, new devices from all the members of this alliance will receive the latest Android updates for 18 months after the device has been released, if the hardware allows it.

Others

Finally, Google announced Android@Home and Android Open Accessory. The latter enables and helps developers build hardware accessories to work with Android devices, thanks to the Open Accessory API. It's going to be available for Gingerbread 2.3.4 and Honeycomb 3.1.

As a part of this program, Google will release an ADK kit, which will enable developers get into developing interesting geeky accessories for Android phones, such as this real-life Teeter-like game.

As for Android@Home, it’s an interesting concept which allows Android apps to connect and communicate with home appliances and devices. You could control your lights, alarms and even your music once the application library grows and home appliance manufacturers figure what would be cool doing with this capability.

Nexus S soon to get Android 2.3.4, get yours updated even now

Google announced the Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread update for the Google Nexus S, which will become available over the next few weeks. The biggest new feature is the addition of video chat to Google Talk.

The v2.3.4 update will be available for both the Nexus One and the Google Nexus S will roll out officially during the following weeks as an Over The Air update. The more impatient Nexus owners can grab the update file right now – you can read how to do that here.

Anyway, the updated Google Talk app can do video calls – you just need a friend with a compatible phone or tablet or even someone using Gmail with Google Talk on their computer.

Google Talk works over Wi-Fi networks and over 3G/4G networks too, if your carrier supports it. You can watch a video how it works over here.

Other Android 2.3+ devices will get the new Google Talk in the future. You’ll of course need a phone with a secondary camera – here’s a list of the most popular droids (both phones and tablets) that run Gingerbread and have a secondary camera.

The guys over at AndroidCentral.com have already managed to record how videocalling works on the update Nexus. Here it is, it seems to works just fine:

Google Talk update brings video chat to your Android device

Google talk has been a fixture on Android devices since the birth of the OS. Now, Google finally took the messenger functionality to the next level with the announcement of an update which will bring video calling capability to it much like Apple's FaceTime for iOS.

Any compatible Android device will be able to enjoy the new Google Talk feature over 3G, 4G, or Wi-Fi connection. It is important to note that by compatible, Google means that your device needs to run on Gingebread 2.3+ (the new feature of the messenger will first roll out to Nexus S owners as an OTA update in the coming weeks as part of the Gingerbread 2.3.4 package).

Owners of other Android devices running Gingerbread will get the new functionality at a later date, though Google didn't specify when exactly. Unfortunately those of you that are still stuck with Froyo or an earlier Android version will have to make do without the Google Talk video chat.

Google sued over Android data location collection

Two Michigan women are suing Google over location data collected by Android devices, a week after Apple was named in a lawsuit citing privacy violations with the iPhone logging similar data.

The $50 million lawsuit against Google seeks to stop Google from selling phones with software that can track a user's location, the Detroit News reported today.

The lawsuit was filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Detroit on behalf of plaintiffs Julie Brown and Kayla Molaski, who are seeking class action status for the suit. Their lawyer, Steven Budaj, argues in the complaint that the tracking of Android owners' location "puts users at serious risk of privacy invasions, including stalking."

Google acknowledged last week that it collects location information--including GPS current location, timestamps, nearby Wi-Fi network addresses, and device IDs--from Android devices but said it was not traceable to a specific individual. Users can disable the GPS feature, but then they won't get as much function out of maps and other location-based services.

Google representatives did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment on the lawsuit this afternoon.

The lawsuit against Apple filed in Florida last week also seeks class action status and accuses Apple of violating privacy laws, as well as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by keeping a log of user locations without offering users a way to disable that.

The matter first came to light last week when two researchers said they had discovered that the iPhone collects and logs current and historical location information without user permission or warning, and stores it unencrypted on the device.

In addition to the lawsuits, the controversy has prompted lawmakers to seek an FTC probe of the issue and questions from attorneys general in Connecticut and Illinois.

After a week of silence, Apple finally spoke up about the matter, explaining in an FAQ that it was collecting the data to get more accurate location data for eventual use in a traffic database and blamed a software bug for storing an excess amount of it on the devices.

Google Nexus S Review

Samsung had a very good 2010 when it came to Android phones. Samsung rolled out Galaxy S under various editions that set a hardware benchmark for other Android devices but was blemished by one thing – software. The untimely software updates allegedly attributed to Samsung’s TouchWiz UI infuriated many customers who longed for a vanilla Android flavor of the Galaxy S.

Enter the Google fairy! Android OS maker decided to use Samsung’s hardware expertise with their software and thus, Nexus S was born. Using similar innards as Galaxy S, Nexus S not only boasts the vanilla Google OS but also runs Android 2.3 or famously known as the Gingerbread OS.

However, is the developer phone worth the upgrade? We take a look.

Package Contents:

The package contains the main unit with its battery, a USB cable, earphones, travel AC adapter, user manual and warranty. Since this unit belonged to the US, the phone came with a T-Mobile SIM card.

Design:

The Google Nexus S may look similar to Samsung’s Galaxy S but is different in many ways. The 4-inch Super AMOLED screen occupies much of the real estate. It does not have any physical buttons on the front, rather there are four touch-sensitive buttons placed at the bottom starting with the Back, Menu, Search and Home along with a VGA camera and proximity sensor visible at the top. As for other placements, the volume rocker is located on the left side, power button on the right, microUSB port and 3.5mm audio jack at the bottom and a loudspeaker and 5MP camera with LED flash at the back.

Nexus S weighs just 129grams which is due to its plastic body. Samsung’s decision to go with the plastic might have been to keep the phone light but in no way the plastic feels cheap.

Overall, the phone looks good and feels nice in the hands.

Display:

Nexus S has a 4-inch Super AMOLED screen supporting WVGA resolution (800×480) with a display what is coined as a contour display. The display is slightly curved, which in person does not seem much but is said to have an ergonomic advantage when the phone is placed alongside the ears. To be clear, the glass on the front is a curved one and not the Super AMOLED panel.

As you’d expect, colours on the Super AMOLED look vibrant along with deeper black level. However, with the recent Android 2.3.3 update, Google updated the colour temperature to accurately show darker colours but in retrospect, the colours look a bit washed out at the lowest brightness setting. You won’t find much difference if you use the device at higher brightness level.

Software and User Interface:

Nexus S is the first phone to come with Gingerbread OS (Android 2.3) pre-installed out of the box. With the new OS, Nexus S really seems fast and intuitive. Although, Google faced few problems with the initial updates of Android 2.3 like the random reboot, data loss etc., the latest Android 2.3.3 build seems by far the stable one.

Some of the new features you’ll find in Android 2.3 are the Downloads app that shows all the downloaded files under one page, new battery usage menu that can plot the usage graphically, VoIP/SIP support and NFC (more on that later).

On the interface front, if you’ve used an Android 2.2 device before, you’ll feel very much at home since there isn’t any drastic change. It’s a pure Google phone, meaning no skins or customised UI installed by manufacturer, the phone gives an unadulterated Google experience out of the box. The new interface does have some noticeable features like the notification area, which is now black with green icon that is easier to read. The new text selection tool also finds its way in the Gingerbread that makes it easy to select and edit the text, the newly designed keyboard that is more accurate than other on-screen default keyboard and a unique CRT TV-like switching off effect when you lock the device.

Call Quality:
Call quality on the Nexus S is really good. With the help of a software-based noise-cancellation, the voice quality from the earpiece is crisp and clear. Speakerphone and earphone quality are also at par with the earpiece.

Performance:

Nexus S is powered by 1GHz Hummingbird CPU with PowerVR SGX540 GPU. Here are some of the tests took on the Nexus S.

Camera:

Nexus S sports two cameras – one 5 megapixel at the back and VGA camera in the front. Expectedly, the VGA camera is not worth the pain whereas the autofocus 5 megapixel at the back does its job well. The quality is decent (although grainy in some situations) for a 5MP shooter which is complemented with an LED flash at the back. One thing lacking for still camera shooting is a digital zoom. Of course, the quality of the image gets compromised when zoomed digitally but can prove in handy sometimes.

Another bummer is the video recording quality. Nexus S supports a maximum resolution of 720×480 pixels which is disappointing considering other phones in the same range come with 720p HD video recording support.

Click for full resolution

Multimedia:

Nexus S has a decent image and audio support with good audio playback but underwhelms when it comes to video. Unlike Galaxy S, Nexus S does not support native playback of DivX/Xvid and .mkv files. All Nexus S supports is 3GP or an MP4 file. However, it does play a 720p video if you encode it in MP4 format.

Other features:
One of the interesting inclusions in the phone is the NFC (Near Field Communication) chip. NFC is at a very nascent stage but holds a lot of potential that allows users to exchange data or even make a payment via their phone within a short range. Users can use NFC via the Tags app to scan NFC tags or even share a contact, URL or random text to share with other NFC-equipped devices. However, if you’re not a fan of this NFC, Google has given an option to deactivate the NFC radio, which will also help to save some battery life.

Nexus S has an assisted GPS along with a digital compass. Finding a GPS fix takes a lot of time (and patience) since Nexus S’ GPS failed to give a lock while moving in a vehicle. Trying to get a lock while stationary took about 5-10 minutes.

Battery:
Nexus S has a battery rated at 1500mAh. Although the battery is at par with other smartphones, I would’ve preferred if Google and Samsung had gone with a higher capacity one to give some extra juice. Anyways, Nexus S’ battery should be good for a day’s use with some light to moderate usage including web surfing, phone calls, multimedia playback and GPS.

Conclusion:
Now comes the most obvious question. Is Nexus S worth it? Well, if you’re a Galaxy S user, you’re not missing much. In fact Nexus S is the one missing like 720p HD video recording support, TV-Out, no DivX/Xvid, MKV playback, limited storage and Bluetooth 2.1 compared to Galaxy S’ Bluetooth 3.0. However, there is one thing that will compel users to buy is the assurance to get latest Android updates first (until another Nexus device is launched) and a pure Google experience.

If you’re upgrading from an Android 2.x device and don’t really feel the need of dual-core equipped phones, Nexus S is the phone to look out for.

There are two variants available of the Nexus S – I9020, which is reviewed here and I9023. The only difference between both variants is I9020 comes with a Super AMOLED screen whereas I9023 has a Super Clear LCD.

The phone sells in US for about $530 and is expected in India soon for a price of around Rs.28,000.

Google Nexus S with AT&T bands available in black or white, $600

AT&T users can grab a Google Nexus S with the proper 3G bands – sure, not from AT&T itself but there are other retailers that offer it. Even better, you have a choice between a black and a white color version – it was just black before.

Google’s second droid, the Google Nexus S, first launched with T-Mobile, which meant that users on other networks couldn’t get in on the fun. Now the Samsung I9020A, which is the model name of the AT&T’s Nexus S, is officially on sale.

As a consolation for the wait, users can get the phone in white (well, just the back anyway) – and T-Mobile users can’t (for now anyway). Negri Electronics carries both the black and white Google Nexus S for AT&T – both at the same price of $598.5 (for comparison, that’s €416). AT&T don't offer it (for now), so there's no option to get it on a contract.

Some lucky guy already bought the white Nexus S (just a day after the launch) and did what anyone else would have done – he took some unboxing photos. Here they come:

White Google Nexus S with AT&T 3G bands

As you can see, the white version comes with Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread, which is still very new and fairly rare.

The white Nexus S is running Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread

Sprint’s Google Nexus S 4G (with CDMA and WiMAX connectivity) is coming soon too. The Canadian launch of the Nexus S is nearing as well – several operators will reportedly carry the phone there, with Fido pricing the phone at $500 (Canadian) for pre-paid or $100 (again, Canadian) with a 3-year contract

Google phone Nexus one is a reality

After over whelming success of Google Android which is Mobile Operating system , Google Inc has now decided to produce and sell Mobile device known as ’Nexus one’. Yes! Yet another service to be launched shortly by Internet Giant which will surely affect sales of competitor in mobile industry.

Nexus 1 hardware has been made in corporation with HTC and whole user experience is designed by Google. Google will use full VOIP service which means that no voice/sms plans needed at any carrier and voice calls will go through Google Voice on Data SIM cards and will provide unlimited free voice calling. Key features of Nexus 1:

Specifications

Android 2.1
3G/HSDPA
Wi-Fi
A-GPS with Google Maps
Enhanced Voice to text feature
Quad Band GSM
QualComm Snapdragon Processor (1 GHz)
Large OLED Full Touchscreen
Expandable Memory
Dual mics

Price in India :
As such there is no official news regarding price of Google phone but Internet rumor about expected price is around 200$ which means around Rs 9200.

Release date
Nexus 1 is set to release on 5th of January 2010, currently Google has asked their employees to test these products for quick feedback and suggestions for improvements

Try Google Android on Computer

If you are curious about What’s happening in the world of mobiles and existence of Android. Android is a mobile operating system developed by Google. But you can try it on your Desktop.

Currently there are few phones that use it, but it is expected that future is very used. If you’re thinking of trying something new but don’t want to change platform which is not known then you can try it on computer using Live CD.

The LiveCD does not occupy much, just two hundred 200 megabytes, so it is ideal for quickly downloading and have a look to learn a little more of this before going Android.

Google Android on Desktop

Unfortunately it is not fully functional, but the basic things work well and allow us to get an idea of how it all works. Obviously, this system is useless- it is merely a curiosity for the curious and as I said, you can get an idea of the topic.

It is completely free and runs on x86 platforms. You can burn a CD and try it on your computer but I recommend to have a look for any virtualization software, as I have done, since it does not require a powerful machine.