Jean-Baptiste Queru the technical lead for the Android Open Source project has announced the source for the newest version of the OS, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean will be available today. Currently, binaries are available for the Nexus 7 and Galaxy Nexus, with Nexus S and Motorola Xoom versions promised soon.
[quote]We’re releasing Android 4.1 in AOSP today. The name of the tagged release is android-4.1.1_r1. The name of the development branch is jb-dev. We recommend that you create new clients, even if you’re working in the master branch. It’ll make your clients smaller and faster to sync. Proprietary binaries are available for Nexus 7 and Galaxy Nexus. Nexus S and Xoom will follow.
-Jean-Baptiste Queru[/quote]
With the code now available developers will be able to flash their devices much faster, and create custom ROMs etc for rooted phones and tablets.
Google’s Nexus 7 is fast, slick, and cheap, but Nokia claims it also infringes some of its patents in the process.
Nokia has announced that the tablet infringes a number of its patents connected with the IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi standard. In fact, most mobile device manufacturers license the patents from Nokia; currently, neither Google nor Asus is on the list of licensees.
A Nokia spokesperson told The Inquirer that “companies who are not yet licensed under our standard essential patents should simply approach us and sign up for a license.” Hence, Google and Asus can almost certainly approach them to get their paperwork in order—if they think they need to.
Asus replied by saying “at the moment, Asus will not be providing any response/comment related.”
Google Indoor maps was launched in the US last year mapping all the insides of malls, hotels, etc. But now Google has started to expand the reach of indoor maps, extending to more than 40 indoor venues in the UK including a mix of museums, stations, malls and airports in the main mostly in London. With building owners being able to upload their own maps, however, this should / could expand quickly. Hit the Google Lat-Lon blog for more info.
Google’s Nexus 7 Tab joins the iFixit list of tear downs, with the tablet being torn apart by the experts. Several discoveries were made during the teardown, including the fact that the display is permanently attached to the gorilla glass front. The 7-inch, 1280×800 HD display is manufactured by Hydis and designated model HV070WX2.
Chrome for iOS features tab-syncing and incognito mode.
Within days of it being announced for Apple’s iOS, Google Chrome rocketed to the top by becoming the no. 1 free app on the iTunes app store.
It’s getting decent reviews from users who so far have cumulatively ranked it at 4.5 stars, although the biggest complaint they seem to have is the browser is slow compared with Apple’s Safari which is due to the fact that Apple restricts the use of its Nitro JavaScript engine to Safari and other apps don’t have access to it.
We will be coming out with the Chrome’s review soon, stay tuned.
Google at the I/O Conference has announced that the usage of their web browser Chrome has almost doubled since last year and now tops 310 Million users. 1 TB of data is downloaded daily by these users, and according to Google the speedy browser has saved users 13 years of total browsing time.
While the whole world was skeptical, Google just went ahead and put Chrome mobile on iOS. Both iPad and iPhone users will get the app, either with incognito browsing, syncing and that unique tabbed browsing interface intact.
With the restrictions on the Apple App Store the Chrome webkit will not be allowed on iOS, but either way the download is now live!
Google has launched their first media player along with their new OS and Tablet at the I/O conference. Powered by an OMAP 4460 CPU. the Nexus Q is Google’s small, sphere-shaped device that will work with the Nexus 7 tablet and other Android devices to stream media from the cloud. The Player has 1 GB of Ram and 16GB Flash Storage.
Nexus Q streams your favorite entertainment directly from the cloud to your living room. Just use the Google Play and YouTube apps on your Android phone or tablet to surf an ocean of music, TV, movies and videos, and Nexus Q will play it all on the biggest speakers and screen in the house. The Nexus Q will stream your music from the cloud or your device, It will also playback YouTube content and movies directly on a Large Screen TV connected to it.
Multiple users can access and change the streaming media at a party, all they need is an Android Device, and a connection to the same WiFi Network. Get ready to fight over what music plays at the party.
Nexus Q has a audiophile-grade amplifier built in so you can hook your speakers right up, or use an optical or HDMI cable to connect Nexus Q to your AV receiver or HDTV. Once you’re playing, you can control the volume from your phone or tablet, or simply by turning the top half of Nexus Q. Just touch the top LED to mute the sound completely, Ingenious.
The 32 LEDs that ring Nexus Q shift and change color in time to your music. Choose your favorite effect and put your Nexus Q where it can be seen, and touched. You can connect multiple Nexus Qs to fill your house with sound. Select the devices you want to play on from within the Google Play apps or YouTube.
Google has launched their first official Tablet dubbed the “Nexus 7”. Priced aptly or in-fact cheaply at US $ 199 the Tablet will ship with Jelly Bean Android 4.1 out of the Box . The Nexus 7 is made by ASUS and has a 7” 1280×800 HD display (216 ppi), which is a Back-lit IPS display, and has Corning Gorilla Glass front.
The Nexus 7 is powered by a Quad-core Tegra 3 processor and has a 4325 mAh battery, it has a 1.2MP front-facing camera and weighs only 340 grams.
You get two storage options 8 or 16 GB internal storage and Nexus 7 comes standard with 1 GB of RAM. At just 10.4 mm thick the Tablet is pretty slim and has the standard features like, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth. Apart from that the Nexus 7 also has Microphone, NFC (Android Beam), an Accelerometer, GPS, Magnetometer and a Gyroscope.
Dimensions of the Nexus 7 are 198.5 x 120 x 10.45mm and there is a micro USB for charging + Data Sync.
With the Music Manager, you can easily import your entire iTunes music library* into Google Play. Once your music is imported it automatically becomes available on Nexus 7. Take your music anywhere with Nexus 7. When you upload your existing music library to Google Play (up to 20,000 songs for free ) you can stream all your tracks and playlists from the cloud.
Google Now will also come to the Nexus 7, it tells you today’s weather before you start your day, how much traffic to expect before you leave for work, when the next train will arrive as you’re standing on the platform, or your favorite team’s score while they’re playing. The Knowledge database build around your likes and wants and build your phone to become more and more personal over time.
Your Standard Google Apps come preloaded on the Nexus 7, and the Chrome Browser finally exits Beta to come into final release. Everything is designed to work seamlessly on the Nexus 7. Excited Yet? We Are!
Google has officially taken the curtain down from what is the next big mobile OS for the company. Android 4.1 Jelly Bean brings to Android what ICS missed out on. The biggest change according to Google is something they like to call “project butter” which now allows the the whole interface to run at 60fps. While the difference in speed is a few milliseconds, you will notice the difference when a Jelly Bean device is placed next to a ICS device.
The home screen has been tweaked, adding features like dynamically resizing widgets,that resize and move unwanted apps and icons out of the way. The camera app, which was already a highlight of ICS, has gotten even better in 4.1. Now, the gallery is slickly integrated, allowing you to quickly pull up the photo you just took with a swipe to the left. Something like what you would see in the Windows Phone Camera app.
Deleting images is as simple as swiping a pic off the screen. The unique undo button allows you to recover a photo you might have accidentally deleted. Google Android Jelly Bean 4.1 brings something that most smartphone users have asked for in the past year, voice to text without data. The language model in Jelly Bean adapts over time, and the keyboard even guesses what the next word will be before you’ve started typing it. With improved text-to-speech capabilities, voice typing on Android is even better; it works even when you don’t have a data connection, so you can type with your voice everywhere you go.
Jelly Bean also bring advanced Accessibility to the mix, With Jelly Bean, blind users can use ‘Gesture Mode’ to reliably navigate the UI using touch and swipe gestures in combination with speech output. Jelly Bean also adds support for accessibility plugins to enable external Braille input and output devices via USB and Bluetooth.
Taking note from the Galaxy S3 the new Jelly Bean OS for Android brings Android Beam to every smartphone running it, with just a simple tap, in addition to sharing contacts, web pages, YouTube videos, directions, and apps. Just touch two NFC-enabled Android devices back-to-back, then tap to beam whatever’s on the screen to your friend. Instantly pair your Android phone or tablet to Bluetooth devices like headsets or speakers that support the Simple Secure Pairing standard by just tapping them together – no more syncing or searching required.
Android 4.1 Jelly Bean also Improves Google Search on the phone OS, it has a new look-and-feel, and has faster and more natural Voice Search.Predictive input lets you select your search criteria, before you even ask. The new Knowledge Graph is used to show you search results in a richer way. It’s easier to quickly get answers and explore and browse search results.
With JB 4.1 and the new “Google Now” tells you today’s weather before you start your day, how much traffic to expect before you leave for work, when the next train will arrive as you’re standing on the platform, or your favorite team’s score while they’re playing. The Knowledge database build around your likes and wants and build your phone to become more and more personal over time.
Google’s long rumored Nexus tablet has been rendered and now has a price, $199 to be precise. Specs of this upcoming tablet are expected to be a 7-inch, quad-core Tegra 3 slate with a front 1.2-megapixel camera, NFC, 8GB to 16GB of storage and a 1280 x 800 IPS-based LCD.
Google’s I/O conference should reveal more information about this elusive device, especially wen it is finally showcased.
Several reports came to light when images of supposed Siri like voice assistant from the Taiwanese manufacturer came into being. The image shows a very Siri like interface on the HTC One X. Recently, LG introduced Quick Voice after Samsung announced the S-Voice feature with the Galaxy S III. All these voice commands driven personal virtual assistant services are set to compete with the Apple Siri.
Speculations of HTC-branded voice recognition software were triggered after the company put a strange image on their official Twitter and Facebook pages. HTC has apparently taken a hit at the rival companies, which are extensively promoting their voice-recognition applications. Apple initiated the war in the voice control segment with Siri, which is due to launch for iPad tablets and remaining countries, including India, very soon, along with iOS 6.
Interestingly the Google version of Siri Substitute which was slated for late 2012 release might be announced with Android Jelly Bean at the Google I/O this week.
A U.S. judge on Friday ruled that Apple Inc. cannot pursue an injunction against Google’s Motorola Mobility unit, effectively ending a key case for the iPhone maker in the smartphone patent wars.
Judge Richard Posner, of the U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois in Chicago, has also dismissed a counterclaim that Apple was infringing on Motorola’s patent in iPhones. Posner ruled out any damages for either company and said, that neither party is entitled to an injunction as the parties have failed to present enough evidence to create triable issues. In the ruling filed, Posner also said neither side could refile their claims.
[quote]During the legal proceedings, the judge also pointed to serious problems with the U.S. patent system and questioned the worth of many software patents, saying, Reuters reported, You can’t just assume that because someone has a patent, he has some deep moral right to exclude everyone else[/quote].
When the Android Jelly Bean name came out, it was rumored to be given to Android build 5.0 and beyond. But a recent slip on the Google Wallet, while someone was purchasing the Galaxy Nexus reveals that in-fact the Jelly Bean Moniker will go to Android 4.1.
This information might get confirmed at the Google I/O next week. However the slip up has been corrected and does not show on the checkout page anymore.
[quote]While the Galaxy Nexus is still available through Google Play, it no longer makes mention of Android 4.1. A shot of the Galaxy Nexus sporting a new pink and green wallpaper and what looks like a new search box still shows up (as seen above) on Google Play when the Galaxy Nexus is in a user’s shopping cart.Google declined to comment on the Google Play mishap, or on the Jelly Bean nickname. One bit of detail not disclosed on Google Play or by Google is when the next iteration of Android will arrive. A good time for such a launch would, of course, be Google I/O, the company’s massive developer conference taking place June 27-29 in San Francisco.[/quote]
Ever been to a party where you start showing friends your favorite YouTube videos? Well YouTube and Google+ think you have. If you are in a Google+ Hangout and as long as everyone has the web app running, they can share individual videos or whole playlists that run in sync. Voice chat, flips to a push-to-talk requirement to prevent friends from talking over your favorite clip or creating a fish market of the situation.
Everyone can add videos in the Hangout through a search tool in the app, or remove the videos you don’t like. All your friends in the Hangout can drag and drop videos to sort the order in the playlist, or skip forward or backward to play the next one.
If you like a video that’s playing, you can share the video with your Google+ circles at any time. Since great playlists are works of art, you can also save the playlist that you and your friends created to your YouTube account as public or private to enjoy later.
Jean-Baptiste Queru the technical lead for the Android Open Source project has announced the source for the newest version of the OS, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean will be available today. Currently, binaries are available for the Nexus 7 and Galaxy Nexus, with Nexus S and Motorola Xoom versions promised soon.
