Category: Google

Google Answers Questions Regarding the Nexus Devices on Reddit

Just a couple of days ago, Google officially launched the Nexus 5X and the Nexus 6P devices. The initial response to the devices have been mixed, to say the least. There have been some strong criticism directed towards the Nexus 5X, in particular. Google has come out with a few answers to questions posed by Redditors.

Some of the main issues revolved around the lack of a Qi wireless charging support (a first since the Nexus 4) and a limited 2 GB RAM and 16 GB internal storage as the baseline. Google answered the former by stating that they felt the USB Type-C charge was good enough and a wireless charge seemed unnecessary, and would have also added to the thickness of the device. “With this year’s Nexii, we support USB Type-C which has a reversible connector so there’s no more guessing. AND it charges incredibly swiftly: 1% to 100% in 97 mins on the 6P for example (the first ~45 mins of charging is especially fast). Meanwhile, wireless charging adds z (thickness),” the Nexus team said in an AMA on Reddit.

As for the latter question regarding the 2 GB RAM and 16 GB storage, which was offered two years ago with the Nexus range, the company stated that what they wanted to offer with the Nexus 5X is good value for money. “We like to think we’re striking a strong balance between premium features/experiences and affordability,” said Krishna Kumar, the product manager Google put in charge of the Nexus 5X team.

The team also answered a frequently asked question on the site as to whether the cameras on the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P were identical. Kumar replied saying yes.

Both devices have the same camera – a 12.3MP camera, with large 1.55um pixels, which works great in all conditions – especially low light. And both have LDAF for fast auto-focus.” Dave Burke later adds, “[they have the] same sensor (IMX377) and F/2.0 optics. But 6P has more CPU/GPU horsepower so has a few additional features like 240fps slomo (vs 120fps on 5X), Smartburst, and EIS.”

And finally, regarding the naming of the devices as X and P, the Nexus team stated, “X for the core of the Nexus brand (plus it sounds cool!), P for premium.”

October 1, 2015
Customer Match by Google Will Target Ads Using Your Email Address

Google is letting advertisers in on your email address so that they can get you exactly what you’re looking for. And yes, this is a new feature by Google. The company is rolling out a new tool called Customer Match, which allows advertisers to use a list of email addresses to target specific users across Google. So now you can be tracked online by your Gmail address.

When you buy a smartphone, for example, from an online retailer and provide your email address, the retailer will feed your email id along with your recent purchase to the Google server. So the next time you’re surfing the net while logged in to your Gmail account, Google will be able to send you a whole bunch of ads related to you recent smartphone purchases such as phone covers, earphones, and other accessories.

“Let’s say you’re a travel brand. You can now reach people who have joined your rewards program as they plan their next trip. For example, when these rewards members search for “non-stop flights to new york, on Google.com, you can show relevant ads at the top of their search results on any device right when they’re looking to fly to New York. And when those members are watching their favorite videos on YouTube or catching up on Gmail, you can show ads that inspire them to plan their next trip.” Sridhar Ramaswamy, Google’s ads and commerce veep explained in a blog.

Google is perhaps trying to catch up with Facebook and Twitter who also use your respective email addresses to provide targeted ads within their site. Google calls Customer Match a “privacy-safe” product, but it is still a matter of concern for users who feel that advertisers are getting even more specific with their ad targeting, which calls into question just how much ‘they’ know about you. .

Google, however, has stated that companies will not be able to create personalized profiles of individuals and the tool mainly allows them to compile a list of the user’s habits on YouTube, Google search, and other Google related services. Customer Match will be available to advertise in the coming weeks and you can soon expect to see more specific advertisements pop up in your Gmail account, YouTube, and Google search.

September 30, 2015
Exclusive : India Pricing of the Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X Revealed

Last night Google threw the curtain off its new smartphones – the LG Nexus 5X ad the Huawei Nexus 6P.

Although we had all the information, thanks to previous leaks, the company officially confirmed that the Nexus 6P features a 5.7-inch QHD touchscreen, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 chipset, with 3 GB RAM, and a USB Type-C port. The camera sports a 12.3MP sensor at the rear and a rather impressive 8MP on the front.

The Nexus 5X on the other hand, comes with a 5.2-inch FHD display, USB Type-C and is available in three colours – Carbon Black, Sports White and Ice Blue. Pre-orders for the smartphones began last night in US, UK, Ireland, Canada, and Japan.

We now have information that the smartphone will go up for preorder in India in the 3rd week of October.

The 16GB Variant of the LG Nexus 5X will be priced at Rs. 31,900, and the 32GB variant will be priced at Rs. 35,900. Meanwhile the Huawei Nexus 6P (32GB) will cost Rs. 39,999, the 64GB variant will cost Rs. 42,999 and the 128GB will cost Rs. 47,999.

We also have information that the company will be bringing in a range of covers to India, along with the handsets, priced at Rs. 2,800.

We did an article earlier giving detailed specs of the new Google smartphones. Check it out here. Stay tuned; we’ll be bring you the hands on review of the two devices, shortly.

September 30, 2015
A Chromecast Upgrade, a New App and Much More

Google has announced a bunch of new devices at it’s event tonight, from the Nexus 6P to the Android Marshmallow. Among these, they have also announced a new Chromecast and another Chromecast Audio along with a Chromecast App.

So let’s have a look at all of them one by one.

The Chromecast: has been one of Google’s most successful ventures and it has decided to bring in a second option, an upgrade. The new Chromecast comes in a circular shape instead of a dongle shape. It also comes with an HDMI cable and various colours such as – lemonade, coral and black.

The new device comes with a new adaptive antenna system which allows it to stream higher resolution videos and can also support up to 5GHz Wi-Fi now. As mentioned earlier, there were speculations that it might come with a ‘fast play’ feature – well it does. This feature gives it the ability to establish a connection with the TV set much faster than the original version.

Google has also announced that you will now be able to use Spotify on your TV and Google Photos too. The Chromecast will go on sale starting today in 17 countries on Google Store, Best Buy or Wal-Mart. Obviously, you’ll get the best deal on Google Store.

The Chromecast Audio : is an extension that Google has created, for a higher audio experience. It looks almost like the new Chromecast except with a 3.5mm audio port instead of an HDMI. This audio port will conveniently plug directly into the back of your speaker, allowing you to stream audio over Wi-Fi from all your existing apps.

The Chromecast Audio will also support and cast music from Spotify, Play Music or Pandora and is expected to come with a multi-room audio streaming soon.

The Chromecast App: This app is pronounced as being “completely redesigned”. How? Well firstly, it shows you the popular activities on their ‘partner’ apps like – Twitch, ESPN, YouTube, Hulu, Netflix. Then, it also shows you content from apps you have installed on your smartphone. The company also announced that most of the apps would be cast-enabled, along with this, they’ve also added some playback controls on the app which should make accessing it much easier. You can also use voice search to access things within the Chromecast app and is universal across all services. The ‘Fast Play’ feature will allow you to pre-fetch video streams on the Chromecast app.

As if this wasn’t enough, the new app can also guess what you might want to watch as soon as you open an app, and will start caching the stream in the background. How cool is that? Oh, and did we mention that the app also supports Netflix (for those of you who have access to it). However, they have mentioned that some of the content prediction features will roll out next year. The new app will be rolling out on the Android and iOS devices soon.

September 30, 2015
Google Brings Out the Android-Powered Pixel C Tablet

Pixel C is the newest Android tablet on the block released at the official Google event today. The device is the result of an attempt to put together something where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, claims the company.

The device is a 10.2-inch tablet that has a display and resolution of 2560×1800 (308) ppi. The screen is capable of sensing when to employ the physical keyboard and when to opt for touch. The GPU is Maxwell with an NVIDIA X1 quad-core processor. It operates on Android 6.0 Marshmallow and boasts of far-field voice recognition with the help of four microphones in the device.

Battery life can be checked with the double tap light bar in the gadget. Google promises regular updates on the device’s software and apps post its release.

Yes, it all sounds lovely, too lovely to be palatable, and therefore it’s time to mention the price. The tab is priced at $499 for the 32 GB version and $599 for the 64 GB version. The keyboard is an additional accessory costing $149. Looks like Google too has gone the Apple way and has refused any relief of a lower price to the buyers.

September 29, 2015
Google Announces All New features For the Marshmallow

By now, we’re all mostly aware of the Android Marshmallow and how it’s different from the previous versions. However, at its mega event, Google has announced a couple of new features to its already new Marshmallow version, and here they are.

Firstly, they’ve announced that you can voice stream from the lock screen itself. Basically you have to swipe from a corner to launch it and it’s up and running.

Google also detailed its charging abilities, so now, the Marshmallow can tell you whether you are on the fast-charging mode and also tells you how long until your phone is fully charged.

Google also talked about the app drawer and revealed that the new app drawer will help us look for apps much faster, because it will arrange the apps according to our usage of it. Bringing the most used apps at the top of the app drawer, making them much faster to access.

The company also announced something exciting – the new Nexus devices which come with the Android marshmallow will not have as many ‘pre-loaded’ app. Which means, that since they’re going to be “post-set up”, you can eventually uninstall them, if necessary.

Next, they elaborated further about the ‘Now On Tap’ feature, which basically allows you to search Google automatically from any app, if you press the home button for long enough. They’ve added voice interactions to this, so now you can control apps with your voice. Google also mentioned that the “Okay Google” detection will now work when the screen is switched off too.

Here’s something new about the battery too. The Android Marshmallow will also come with a new “doze” mode that informs apps to sleep (for lack of a better word), when the phone hasn’t been used for awhile. So, when the screen is switched off, the battery life will be 30 percent longer than in previous versions.

The Android marshmallow will roll out on the new Nexus 6P and 5X next week. Till then if you want to brush up on your Android Marshmallow history then look no further and click here.

September 29, 2015
Nexus Owners Get Ready! Android 6.0 Releases Next Week

Google has announced that the release of Android 6.0 Marshmallow will take place next week. The news was given to international press and audience at the official event. The exact date has not been confirmed but according to speculations, it should be the 5th of the month. As expected, Google line-up of Nexus devices will be receiving the update first. However, if you own any other Android device other than Nexus you might have to wait longer before being able to use Marshmallow.

One of the highlights of the new OS is Doze, the power saving mode which prompts the phone to shut itself down if the device has not been moved or touched for a while. Other features include finger print sensors which make using Android Pay very convenient and an updated version of Google Play called Google Play on Tap As for the rest, we’ll have to wait and see what more Marshmallow has to offer. Watch this space for all the latest updates from the event.

September 29, 2015

LG Nexus 5X: Price, Specs and Everything Else

The much awaited Google Nexus event is finally here with the launch of its two new Nexus phones as well as updates on Android Marshmallow. We have brought to you news of all the recent developments, and now that LG Nexus 5X has been launched let’s take a closer look at everything that it has to offer.

Dave Burke took to stage, following Google CEO Sundar Pichai and introduced the two highlights to the audience.The one we’re concerned with is LG Nexus 5X. As leaked had already showed, the main camera is a protruding structure and is marked at 13 MP.

The phone also boasts of finger print scanners, keeping itself abreast of touch-related technology. Burke attributes to this feature an “incredibly low” false recognition, and calls it very convenient while using Android Pay.

The device comes with USB Type-C and is available in three colours – Carbon Black, Sports White and Ice Blue. It will be available for shipping in late October.

The specs of LG Nexus 5X are as follows:

Specification	LG Nexus 5X
Display	5.2-inch Full HD IPS (1920 x 1080 / 423ppi)
Resolution	1080 x 1920 pixels (~424 ppi pixel density)
Chipset	1.8 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 808
CPU	Quad-core 1.44 GHz Cortex-A53 & dual-core 1.82 GHz Cortex-A57
GPU	Adreno 418
RAM	2 GB LPDDR3 RAM
Front Camera	5 MP with F2.0 Aperture
Rear Camera	Up to 12.3 MP with F2.0 Aperture
Storage	16 or 32 GB eMMC ROM
Expandability	NA
Battery	2,700 mAh (embedded)
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11 a, b, g, n, ac / Bluetooth 4.2 / NFC / Type-C USB
Operating System	Android OS, v6.0 (Marshmallow)
Price	Rs. 31,900/ Rs. 35,900

September 29, 2015

Everything You Need To Know About The Nexus 6P

The Huawei Nexus 6P is finally out in the open and everything we have learnt so far from the leaks have been confirmed. The Nexus 6P phablet is in the high-end range priced at $499 (Rs. 33,000 approximately) for the 32 GB model. Another report that suggested that the 6P will be available in 32 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB storage options has also been confirmed.

The design of the Nexus 6P is what you have come to expect after seeing the leaked images. The phone indeed has a black bar on the rear that houses the camera. This does give the smartphone an odd look and we’re not sure how many will take to that. The phablets sports a new design with a rectangular frame with curved edges and a full metal body, with dual front-facing speakers for crisp, clear sound and a finger print scanner on the back. The phone will come in four colour variants of silver, black, white and gold.

The Nexus 6P features a 5.7-inch QHD touchscreen, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 chipset, with 3 GB RAM, and a USB Type-C port. The camera sports a 12.3MP sensor at the rear and a rather impressive 8MP on the front. Pre-orders will be available starting Tuesday in US, UK, Ireland, Canada, and Japan. We do not yet know when the device will come to India.

The main highlights of the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P is the Nexus Imprint, the fingerprint sensor which boasts of fast, fluid fingerprint accessibility, and the rear camera which features a 1.55 micron pixels which is greater than the iPhone 6s Plus.

Here’s a detailed look at the official specs of the Huawei Nexus 6P (GPU yet to be announced). Tell us what you think about Google’s latest offering in the comments below.

Specs	Nexus 6P
Display	5.7-inch QHD Corning Gorilla Glass 4
Resolution	2560 x 1440 pixels, 518 ppi
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon octa-core 810 v2.1
GPU	Adreno 430
RAM	3 GB
Storage	32 GB/ 64 GB/ 128 GB
Rear Camera	12.3 MP, laser autofocus, dual-LED flash
Front Camera	8 MP, 720p@30fps
Expandability	N/A
Battery	3450mAh battery
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac; Wi-Fi MIMO support; Bluetooth 4.0 LE; GSM bands 850/1900; 3G bands; GPS with AGPS; NFC, USB Type-C
OS	Android 6.0 Marshmallow
Price	$499/549/649

September 29, 2015

Google to Bring High Speed Internet to Indian Railways

As part of the Digital India campaign, Google is all set to bring high-speed wi-fi to 100 of India’s most crowded railway stations by the end of 2016. A country which has about 13 million people spread across 7000 stations would definitely do well with better internet connections serving about 10 million people every day.

Woes of bad internet while travelling is something all Indians are familiar with. This move to high-speed internet even on railway stations would be a big relief if materialised. These plans would be executed by Indian Railways and RailTel working together in collaboration. The announcement was made yesterday at Google’s Mountain View campus in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Google promises to ensure a speed decent enough to stream HD videos. Additionally, the company plans to extend its services to 400 stations over time. Who knows if the reality of high speed internet for the entire country is just around the corner?

September 28, 2015
Leak Confirms Huawei Nexus 6P Will Be the First All-Metal Nexus Flagship

With only a day to go before the reveal of Google’s Nexus smartphones, the leaks continue. We just did a roundup of everything we know of the Google event so far with some rumored specs for each of the flagship phones. Now we have more to tell. Imgur recently leaked images of a Nexus 6P presentation which basically confirms everything we know and a little bit more.

The slides discuss everything from design to specs, and one of the specs that caught our eyes in particular is the massive battery that’s fit into the Nexus 6P. The smartphone will come with a 3450mAh battery that should last you a pretty long time. Clearly, Google has been focusing on battery life this time around. For a little perspective we would also like to point out that the other recent phablets such as the Samsung Note 5 and the iPhone 6s Plus come with a battery of 3,000mAh and 2,750mAh, respectively. Other slides focus on camera, features of Android Marshmallow, and fingerprint sensor.

Other features that are revealed show that the phone will feature a rear-mounted fingerprint reader, a 2560 x 1440 display, a Snapdragon 810 processor, and USB-C. The phone has an all metal body and a large 5.7-inch screen. As earlier reported, the phone will come in four colours – black, white, silver, and gold.

The launch of the Nexus smartphones will take place on the 29th of September in San Francisco.

Source: [tw-button size=”medium” background=”#07ABE2″ color=”” target=”_self” link=”http://imgur.com/a/YGUzM”]Imgur[/tw-button]

September 28, 2015
Everything You Can Expect Google’s Upcoming Nexus Event

Here’s some exciting news for today – Google has an event on the 29th of September 2015 where they will be releasing the new Nexus phones along with revealing more details about Android Marshmallow. Google will reportedly reveal the new Chromecast and a partnership with Spotify.

Here are a few details about what we know about the upcoming products so far via public reports and rumours.

Nexus 5X

Firstly, the LG Nexus 5X is expected to come with a bigger 5.2 inch display and a 1080p resolution. The second feature that has been suggested by leaked images, is a support for fingerprint scanners. On the camera front, the Nexus 5X seems to provide a protruding camera, however it is one that will have an increased 13MP sensor. Apart from that, there could also be a 5MP front camera. This handset is rumoured to be powered by the Snapdragon 808 processor with a 2 or 3 GB RAM along with storage options that are expected to be 16GB and 32GB. The smartphone might also come with a USB Type-C.

Nexus 6P

The next device which is the Huawei Nexus 6P will come with a new design, if reports are to be believed. The leaked images show a rectangular frame with curved edges and a flat metal pack, and is expected to come in four colour variants of silver, black, white and gold. The phone will also come with a new fingerprint scanner but a smaller display of an estimate 5.7 inches. The Nexus 6P could be powered by Snapdragon 810 and can come with a 3GB RAM. The storage of this device is expected to start at 32GB and go all the way up to 128GB. However, the camera seems to be lower in quality with an 11MP sensor at the rear but a rather impressive 7MP on the front.

Android Marshmallow

The other exciting thing that is going to be announced at the event is the launching of Android Marshmallow. Google is expected to give us a date for the release of this version. Let’s see whether Google has anything else to add apart from what we know.

Chromecast Second Gen & Audio

Google is also expected to release two new chromecast devices – the second gen chromecast and the chromecast audio. The new Chromecast second gen is expected to come with a new rounder looking design, thereby doing away with the whole ‘dongle’ look. Other upgrades include faster WiFi and something called Fast Play. The Chromecast Audio, on the other hand, supports every feature that a music lover might need, like podcasts, radio, and a multi-room audio. This device is also rumoured to partner with Spotify and thereby enhancing its features.

That is all that we know till now. So stay tuned and we’ll bring you all the latest updates from the Google evnt on the 29th of September 2015.

September 27, 2015
Android 6.0 Marshmallow Will Release on October 5

According to latest leaks, Google’s most recent Nexus smartphones – Nexus 5 and Nexus 6 – will get an Android 6.0 Marshmallow upgrade on the 5th of October. Which means those of you who own either of the devices will be updated to the new software on that date. The information was spotted by MobileSyrup in a release schedule posted by Canadian wireless carrier, Telus.

This may also suggest that Android 6.0 Marshmallow will soon be available for other Android devices as well, however, the latest Nexus smartphones will be the first to get the upgrade since they run pure Android and don’t have any carrier bloatware that needs updating along with the basic software.

Android 6.0 promises improved performances and new features such as ‘Now on Tap’ that provides more information by pressing and holding the Home button on whichever screen you’re on, native fingerprint support, and individual app permissions, to name a few.

We know that Google is planning to launch two new Nexus devices on September 29 – the LG Nexus 5X and Huawei Nexus 6P – and will also run on the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow in addition to the last two Nexus phones. Nothing is known yet as to when the latest Android software will start rolling out for other Android devices.

Source : [tw-button size=”small” background=”#07ABE2″ color=”” target=”_blank” link=”http://mobilesyrup.com/2015/09/24/android-6-0-marshmallow-rollout-october-5/”]Mobile Syrup[/tw-button]

September 25, 2015
Design Details About LG’s Nexus 5X Revealed

Leaks ruin the element of surprise. With leaks you get to know mostly everything about a device that is yet to be launched. We have been bringing you rumours of the upcoming Nexus smartphones for a while now with the last one being the design of Huawei’s Nexus 6P. So, continuing with the trend, we now have images released by Android Police that reveal the design of LG’s Nexus 5X.

LG’s smartphone looks a lot more appealing than Huawei’s. While the Nexus 6P appears to have a big black bar casing for the camera, the smaller 5X has gone with a simpler look for the back with a fingerprint scanner just below the rounded camera bump. The camera and fingerprint scanner appear to be of the same size which provides a nice balance. The front of the Nexus 5X looks similar to the 6P phablet with two grilles on the front for speakers.

The 5X is expected to have a 5.2-inch 1080p screen with 423 ppi pixel density and a 1.8GHz Quallcomm Snapdragon 808 hexa-core processor, with 2 GB of RAM. According to the Amazon listing the smartphone will also come with a 12.3MP primary camera and a 5MP front-facing camera and is expected to be priced at Rs. 23,940. Amazon also revealed that the smartphone will be available in three colour variants – Charcoal Black, Quartz White and Ice Blue.

With the Google event less than a week away, we pretty much have everything we need to know about both the Nexus smartphones. Now we just have to wait for the official release of the devices on the 29th of September in San Francisco.

September 24, 2015
This is the Best Look We’ve Got So Far at Huawei’s Nexus 6P

Just yesterday, we brought you news of leaked images confirming the names of the new Nexus devices as shown on the retail boxes. As we approach the big Google launch on the 29^th of September, the leaks are pouring out profusely. We had also mentioned that the only leak perhaps remaining is the actual look of the phones, and well, that’s exactly what the latest leak by Android Police has revealed.

Two leaked press renders of the Huawei Nexus 6P show what the phone will look like. While the first image shows the white version’s front and back, the second shows four colours the phone is expected to be available in – silver, black, white, and gold. The rendered images pretty much confirm what we’ve seen in the past leaks.

The design shows the front-facing stereo speakers with the fingerprint scanner on the back. Not much can be said on the thickness of the phone, though there is a pretty clear hump housing the camera on the top. Google and Huawei have decided to keep a whole bar rather than just having the camera module sticking out. The black bar is a bit odd-looking, but the image seems to suggest that the bar is on the same level as the rest of the casing. However, without a 3D image we cannot be certain.

Huawei Nexus 6P is expected to feature a 5.7-inch QHD touchscreen, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 chipset, with 3 GB RAM, and will be available in 32 GB/ 64 GB /128 GB internal storage, and a USB Type-C port. The phone will run on the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

We are only a few days away from the Google event and the only thing left now are leaked images of the LG Nexus 5X, which can also be expected very soon.

Image Source: [tw-button size=”medium” background=”#07ABE2″ color=”” target=”_blank” link=”http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/09/22/exclusive-here-is-the-nexus-6p-in-all-its-glory-front-and-back/”]Android Police[/tw-button]

September 24, 2015