Google Android discussion - Page 31

A report out of The Information this morning suggests that Google’s revamped MADA (Mobile Application Distribution Agreement) for 2014 – the agreement that manufacturers like Samsung, HTC, or Lenovo sign in order to add Google’s suite of apps to their Android phones – has changed significantly, requiring more Google-iness than ever. Manufacturers aren’t mad or happy, but they have acknowledged that Google is tightening up the requirements and asking more from them in order to carry Google’s apps, more importantly, Google Play.

According to this report, Google is increasing the number of Google apps that must be pre-installed on a device by as many as 20, including placing them on the home screen with the Google Search bar at the top and a “Google” folder that houses many of their apps. If you bought an Android device in 2014, you have likely already experienced this setup.

The new MADA also reportedly requires manufacturers to implement “OK Google” as a hotword to wake the phone and complete a search, assuming the phone’s capabilities allow hotword detection. Well, Motorola’s new Moto X allows you to customize your hotword, so maybe they got out of this requirement thanks to their still-somewhat-close ties to Google or Google made an exception or they negotiated out of the requirement.

If you've wanted to shoot 13-megapixel selfies with your phone, you've usually had to get either a knock-off or a one-of-a-kind device like Oppo's N1. You might not have to look very hard if a handful of leaks are correct, however. Both HTCFamily.ru and @upleaks have posted pictures of what's reportedly the HTC Desire Eye, a relatively conventional upper mid-range Android phone that would pack 13-megapixel cameras on both the front and back. They'd even have flashes to help with those dimly-lit dance club snapshots.

The supposed HTC-made Nexus 9 tablet has been rumored relatively often over the last few months, with renders of the device leaking and the a supposed keyboard accessory for it passing through the NCC. Now, the alleged Nexus 9 itself has passed through FCC testing. The documents, first noticed by Blogofmobile, show the device as carrying the model number 0P82100, which matches what appeared in leaks earlier this year.

The documents show that the device will feature both BlueTooth and NFC connectivity. Although this specific FCC filing makes no specific mention of cellular connectivity, it is believed that the 0P82100 model of the Nexus 9 will be the WiFi-only variant, with a 4G model launching separately. Other alleged features of the device include an NVIDIA K1 processor, an aluminum design, 2GB of RAM, and front-facing speakers.

Taipei, Oct. 8 (CNA) The anticipated 8.9-inch Nexus tablet computer, co-developed by U.S. search engine Google Inc. and Taiwanese handset maker HTC Corp., is expected to go on sale in Taiwan by the end of this year, an HTC executive said Wednesday.

Jack Tong, president of HTC North Asia, told a press briefing in New York that the Nexus 9 tablet represents "HTC's commitment" to its return to the tablet market after three years of absence.

The new Nexus tablet, which reportedly will be unveiled Oct. 16, is likely to hit Taiwanese stores in the fourth quarter, Tong said.

According to Taiwan's communications regulator, the National Communications Commission (NCC), the Nexus 9 tablet received approval Oct. 6 for sale in the country.

HTC, which manufactured Google's first Nexus smartphone in 2010, has launched only two tablets of its own in the past, but they have proved unpopular due to their relatively high costs.

Google this month expects to release its largest smartphone, intensifying competition in the fast-growing market for super-sized mobile devices known as phablets, according to three people familiar with the situation.

The new phone — code-named Shamu after a killer whale — will have a 5.9-inch screen, a high-resolution display and be sold under the Nexus brand, two of the people said. Motorola Mobility, the phone maker that Google is selling to China’s Lenovo Group Ltd., is manufacturing the phone, the people added. A Google spokeswoman declined to comment.

Google’s conversational search is a great example of how well the company can handle natural language queries. It’s not just about the initial search (“How old is Barack Obama?”), though, but also about the follow-up, which means the service has to be able to understand pronouns and the keywords they relate to (“Where was he born?“).

Today, Google is updating its mobile apps with an even smarter version of conversational search that includes, among other things, support for making OpenTable reservations.

It’s pulling in more information about you now than ever before (in large parts thanks to Google Now), so you can now ask it things like “Ok Google, show me restaurants near my hotel” and the service will know — because it has seen your hotel confirmation pop up in Gmail — where exactly you are staying.

From there, you can now also ask it to show you the menu at a given restaurant and then make a reservation with a simple voice command: “Ok Google, reserve a table there at 7pm tonight.” Google will then pop up a pre-filled form for an OpenTable reservation (assuming the restaurant takes OpenTable and hasn’t blocked the 7 p.m. slot for patrons who make phone reservations) and off you go.

The Nexus 9 – codenamed the HTC Volantis – will launch tomorrow and it will be the first device to run Android L, a source close to Google confirmed with me yesterday.

The source explained to me that Google had planned to hold an official event for the new tablet, but because it was still fine tweaking Android L, it decided against a ‘big reveal’. Instead the new tablet, and a new smartphone made by Motorola, will be launched via a blog post tomorrow.

The phone features a 6" 2560 x 1440 pixel display, which gives it a pixel density of 496ppi. The premium display is backed up by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 chipset with a 2.65GHz quad-core Krait 450 CPU inside and 3GB of RAM. At the back, there's a 13MP f/2.0 camera with dual-LED flash.

At the front, there are two stereo speakers and a 2MP front-facing camera.

The battery is a 3,220mAh unit, which isn't user replaceable. However, it sports Turbo Charging, which allows you to get up to 6 hours of use from the Nexus 6 with only 15 minutes of charging. Google promises the phone can make it through 24 hours of usage without problems.

You can buy the 32GB, SIM-free version of the phone from the Google Play Store for $649.

On October 16 2014 01:27 skyR wrote:
Lollipop and Nexus 6 is official: http://www.gsmarena.com/google_nexus_6_is_official_with_6inch_qhd_and_snapdragon_805-news-9937.php



This might as well be part of Motorola's lineup tbh.

Google has just announced the Nexus 9, an Android 5.0 tablet that the company designed in collaboration with HTC. Pre-orders will begin on October 17th and you can expect the tablet to start showing up in stores on November 3rd. Nexus 9 is available in either black or white and comes in three configurations: 16GB for $399, 32GB for $479, and an LTE-enabled 32GB model for $599. Sadly, you can't expand that storage through microSD, so we'd recommend opting for the 32GB SKU. (The LTE version and a "sand" color won't be released until "later this year.")

Google's planning to launch Nexus 9 in 29 countries over the coming weeks. In the US, it'll be sold through Amazon, Best Buy, Gamestop, Google Play, Office Depot, Office Max, QVC/HSN, Radio Shack, Staples, and Walmart. US wireless carriers including T-Mobile will also carry it directly; the Uncarrier will kick off sales November 12th according to this tweet.

As with most HTC-manufactured products, the Nexus 9 features a premium metal build (at least on the sides) and an 8.9-inch QVGA (2048x1536) display. That screen has a ratio of 4:3 as opposed to 16: 9, and HTC has also brought its BoomSound speaker technology to this tablet. Google is also emphasizing what's powering the hardware here: a 64-bit processor — the first for a Nexus product. More specifically, it's Nvidia's Tegra K1 chipset. The device also features 2GB of RAM and, on average, around 9 hours of battery life.

Google says this form factor is "small enough to easily carry around in one hand, yet big enough to work on." And there's a real focus on productivity here: Google is also releasing a keyboard attachment that "magnetically attaches to the Nexus 9, folds into two different angles and rests securely on your lap like a laptop." So all at once, Google and HTC are going after both the Microsoft Surface and the huge number of consumers who seek aftermarket keyboards for Apple's iPad line. The Nexus 9 certainly isn't cheap — especially compared to Amazon's cutthroat pricing — but seems like a solid piece of hardware meant to fully showcase Android L's work and play capabilities.

On October 16 2014 01:45 skyR wrote:
I think you are confused.

SIM free simply means that it doesn't require the purchase of a SIM. You just buy the phone by itself off Google Play and then insert your carrier SIM into the phone.