Enjoying the success of dual sim phones, Sony has shown off the new Xperia M and Xperia M Dual. Both the Xperia M and the Xperia M dual carry a 4.0-inch TFT display of FWVGA resolution. The M and M dual run on a 1GHz dual-core processor along with Adreno 305 graphics, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage of which 2.8GB is user-accessible. A 32 GB microSD can expand the end-user storage.
Both phones have a 5-megapixel rear camera with auto-focus and a 0.3-megapixel front snapper along with a 1,750mAh battery and Wi-Fi, 3G with HSPA, Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC. Sony has built in NFC connectivity and dedicated sharing apps, and the company is pegging Xperia M and Xperia M dual to be phones with “magical one-touch functions”. The Xperia M runs on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) while the dual will come with Android 4.2.2 out of the box and both flavors will run Sony’s own Timescape skin.
The Sony Xperia M will be available in four colour options – Black, White, Purple and Lime. While the dual will be available in Black, White and Purple colours. While no pricing information has been shared for the two phones, it is expected that the phones will go on sale in Q3 2013.
Sony Xperia M and Xperia M dual key specifications
4-inch display with FWVGA resolution
1 GHz dual-core processor
1GB RAM
4GB internal storage, expandable by up to 32GB via microSD
5-megapixel rear camera with auto-focus
VGA front-facing camera
Dual-SIM (GSM+GSM) only for Xperia M dual
Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth, aGPS, NFC
1,750mAh
Android 4.1 for Xperia M, Android 4.2 for Xperia M dual
Asus has started rolling out an update to Android 4.2 Jelly Bean for its Transformer Pad TF300 tablet.
The software update means that the Transformer Pad 300 is the first tablet to get Android 4.2 Jelly Bean aside from Google’s Nexus 7 and Nexus 10. Asus is rolling the firmware out in the US from today and other regions during March.
In a time where Android 4.2 is still a rarity for those who don’t own a Nexus device, ASUS has come along and, once again, put a lot of OEM to shame with swift action on the latest version of Android.
Along with all of the goods Jelly Bean 4.2 brings, including widgets on the lock-screen and user profiles for multiple users, ASUS will also have significant updates in tow for its App Locker, its virtual keyboard, the lock-screen and setup wizards. Users can grab the upgrade over-the-air so be sure to take a quick trip to the Settings > About Tablet menu where you’ll be able to pull this one down.
In related news, ASUS has confirmed several other tablets in its lineup that will get Android 4.1 in the second quarter of this year. These tablets include the Transformer Pad Infinity, the ASUS MeMO Pad Smart 10, and the MeMO Pad.
Good going Asus!
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Android 4.2 released for the ASUS Transformer Pad TF300
Improvements include enhanced performance, stability and multiple user account logins
Fremont, CA (March 4, 2013) — ASUS is excited to announce Android 4.2 is now available in the US region for the ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T. Android 4.2 will be released to Transformer Pad owners via a free over the air update starting today in the United States and will be available in other regions during March. This new version of Android enhances performance and stability, improves the user experience with new features as well as providing multiple user account logins.
The ASUS Transformer Pad TF300 is one of the most successful ASUS tablets to date and offers a full notebook PC experience when attached to the innovative mobile dock. ASUS is committed to providing the best customer experience, and is the first manufacturer to receive Android 4.2 for partnered tablets. The ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity, ASUS MeMO Pad Smart 10”, and ASUS MeMO Pad will receive Android 4.2 in Q2.
Sony will be rolling out an update to Android 4.2 Jelly Bean shortly after they launch their new Xperia Z smartphone sometime in the next couple of months, likely in March. Talk Android reports that the news came earlier today on Twitter, during a company question and answer session.
From Sony’s Twitter account: “Xperia Z launches on JB 4.1, but will receive 4.2 shortly after launch. As always, we’ll share more info on this over the coming weeks on the blog.”
The Jelly Bean 4.2 update will bring some modest improvements over 4.1, like a more reactive user interface through touch-responsive CPU boosting, automatically resizing widgets, lock-screen widget options, and Android Beam, which is basically that “tap to share” feature that the Samsung Galaxy S3 boasted in its launch advertisements.
While it’s great that Sony is promising quick action on the update front, especially since if they do follow through with it in good time it will be one of the first non-Nexus devices to run Google’s newest OS, we’re left wondering whether the whole thing is lip service to a very small group of users and journalists.
As we’ve reported earlier, the Sony Xperia Z will be a quite impressive piece of hardware to run Android Jelly Bean on, no matter what version you have. With a five inch screen capable of 1080p high definition resolution, a 1.5 GHz quad-core processor with 2 GB of RAM, and a 13 megapixel rear camera with 16x digital zoom, the Xperia is going to be a hot smartphone to have when it releases sometime in the next couple of months (it’s being released in the United Kingdom on March 1st, so it’s a safe bet that soon after it will land here).
Flipboard for Android has been updated at a decent clip recently, and its most recent overhaul brings a nice new feature that only Android 4.2 users can take advantage of.
Android 4.2 Jelly Bean introduced something called “Daydream,” where the phone or tablet goes into a sort of screensaver mode when docked or charged. This keeps the screen on and allows for a number of apps, either first- or third-party, to interact with the OS. For example, Google allows a simple clock widget to bounce around the screen, while apps like Beautiful Widgets and StumbleUpon have taken advantage of the mode to show rotating bits of photo and text.
Flipboard Daydream mode shows off news covers, gorgeous HD images with text overlaid. It’s a small but important feature that differentiates the Android version from its iOS counterpart, and grants those few Android 4.2 users a chance to take advantage of their shiny new devices.
Hopefully, more developers start making use of this feature in their apps. And more devices get the Android 4.2 update so people can use this feature.
Sporting a Galaxy Nexus, and love the camera on the new Android 4.2 Jelly Bean? Then you might just be in luck, as a user from Android Central’s forums has ported the camera app and is now available to download for your Nexus Running 4.1.1.
Its as easy as moving files into location and changing the permissions. Interested?. check out the link below for more instructions.
Google today announced the Google Nexus 4 Smartphone, the Google Nexus 10 Tablet and the 32 GB version of the Google Nexus 7 tablet.
The Google Nexus 4, the newest smartphone in the Nexus line-up from Google, was announced today for availability starting next month in select markets.
[quote]“LG is proud and excited to play this role in helping build the latest Nexus smart-phone,” said Dr. Jong-seok Park, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Com-munications Company. “Users will be delighted by the perfectly balanced combination of form and function with the latest generation of Android.”[/quote]
The specs of the Google Nexus 4 include a 4.7-inch True HD IPS Plus display (1,280 x 768), an 8 megapixel rear camera, Gorilla Glass 2, a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 2GB of RAM and the latest rendition of Google Now. Turn-by-turn navigation via Google Maps is included, as are 3D Maps, Street View and Indoor Maps. The Nexus 4 will be sold unlocked, supporting some 200 carriers that play by the GSM / HSPA+ rules. It’ll be made available in both 8GB and 16GB versions starting November 13 in the US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Spain and Australia, with pricing set for $299 (8GB) / $349 (16GB).
[quote]“This is the first time we collaborated with LG to build a Nexus device,” said Andy Ru-bin, Senior Vice President of Mobile and Digital Content at Google. “They brought an extraordinary amount of talent to the project, and the result is a feature-packed device that feels great in your hand, and blazingly fast under the hood.”[/quote]
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LG AND GOOGLE ANNOUNCE NEXUS 4
Sleek, New Smartphone Combines LG’s Best-in-Class Hardware with the Best of Google
SEOUL, Oct. 30, 2012 – Designed collaboratively by LG and Google, Nexus 4, the newest smartphone in the Nexus line-up from Google, was announced today for avail-ability starting next month in select markets. With a sophisticated hardware design from LG, your favorite Google Apps, and the latest version of Android™, Nexus 4 puts the best of Google in the palm of your hand.
“LG is proud and excited to play this role in helping build the latest Nexus smart-phone,” said Dr. Jong-seok Park, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Com-munications Company. “Users will be delighted by the perfectly balanced combination of form and function with the latest generation of Android.”
“This is the first time we collaborated with LG to build a Nexus device,” said Andy Ru-bin, Senior Vice President of Mobile and Digital Content at Google. “They brought an extraordinary amount of talent to the project, and the result is a feature-packed device that feels great in your hand, and blazingly fast under the hood.”
Capture and share your world Nexus 4 comes with a high-performance 8MP camera and takes stunning Photo Sphere images, letting you capture every detail of the world around you. Up, down and all around you, it’s like no camera you’ve ever seen; with Nexus 4, you can snap pictures in every direction that come together into incredible, immersive Photo Spheres that put you right inside the scene. Plus, photos upload themselves with Instant Upload so you’ll never lose a shot.
All of this comes to life with stunning clarity and crisp, natural color on the vibrant 1280-by-768 4.7-inch True HD IPS Plus display supported by Zerogap Touch technol-ogy. Gently curved glass edges allow your finger to slide smoothly on and off the 320ppi screen, while cutting edge display technology means you feel like you’re touch-ing every pixel, protected by scratch resistant Corning? Gorilla? Glass 2.
Built for speed Nexus 4 comes with a cutting-edge Qualcomm Snapdragon™ S4 Pro processor, so you’ve got speed and power to spare. Zip around the web, experience rich 3D graphics and gameplay, and effortlessly switch between multiple apps without ever missing a beat. With 2GB of RAM and the fastest version of Android ever, Nexus 4 is the snappi-est Nexus smartphone yet.
Information at your fingertips Nexus 4 comes with the latest Google apps, putting the best of Google in the palm of your hand. The latest version of Google Now is built-in, which keeps you even more organized – get reminders about upcoming flights, restaurant reservations, hotel confir-mations and even nearby photo opportunities – when and where you need them.
Get to the places you care about quickly and easily with Google Maps™ for Android. With turn-by-turn GPS navigation, live traffic info, and integrated driving, walking and public transit directions, getting from A to B has never been easier. 3D Maps and rich satellite imagery give you a more realistic sense of what’s around you while features like Street View and Indoor Maps make sure you always know what’s in front of you.
Nexus 4 is sold unlocked and is GSM/HSPA+ compatible so it will operate on more than 200 network providers worldwide. Just pop in a supported SIM card and be up and running in no time. It will be available to purchase in both an 8GB version and a 16GB version on Google Play™ starting November 13 in the US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Spain and Australia. Offline availability in Europe, Central/South Americas, Asia, CIS and the Middle East will begin from the end of November.
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Also, Google released the 32GB version of the Nexus 7 tablet, signalling an end to the 8GB version. The 16GB Google Nexus 7 has now taken center stage in Google’s Play Store, with $199 netting you a slate that’s currently boasting a “now shipping” status. Those willing to fork out $249 can get a 32GB model (also listed as “In Stock”), while $299 provides access to a GSM-enabled 32GB model that’ll hop onto cellular networks — unfortunately, that one’s listed as “coming soon.”
And last but not least, out comes the iPad rival from Google’s stable, the Google Nexus 10. The new tablet, built in collaboration with Samsung, has one big bragging point — the highest resolution display of any tablet on the market — a 2560 x 1600, 300ppi, 10-inch touchscreen. Google promises about 9 hours of continuous video playback and about 500 hours of standby time. Despite being a Nexus device, the new tablet picks up on the design language of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Note 10.1. It features a pair of front-facing stereo speakers on either side of the display (when it’s held in a landscape orientation) plus an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 1.9-megapixel front camera for video chats. Under the hood, there’s a dual-core processor, 2GB of RAM and built-in NFC. It also gets a built-in micro-HDMI port.
Like the Nexus 4, the Google Nexus 10 will ship with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. One new 4.2 feature Nexus 10 users may enjoy is the ability to have multiple user profiles on a single device. The Nexus 10 will ship on Nov. 13 at a price of $400 for 16GB of storage and $500 for 32GB.
We were supposed to get a reveal of the LG Nexus 4 today, but thanks to the threat of Hurricane Sandy, that won’t be happening. Fortunately, the delay of Google’s Android event leaves more time for leaks, and today we’ve got a pretty big one to share with you. The folks over at Swedroid have posted an intriguing new video that not only gives us a look at the sleek Nexus 4, but also shows it running Android 4.2.
The device looks exactly like the pictures we’ve already seen, but the silver bezel seems to more prominent that I first thought. The new ‘pure Android’ runs OS 4.2 and the video length is 1:47. No word from Google on when the official launch date will be. Check it out below.
Over the weekend, yet another Nexus 4 leak emerged. This time, @evleaks showed off what is ostensibly going to be the new home screen of Android 4.2. While the overall look remains the same — some think this will still be called Jelly Bean — it shows off something very interesting.
On all other Nexus devices, Google has put four icons on the bottom dock in order of importance. Phone, then Contacts, then Messaging, then Browser. In Android 4.1, the Browser icon became Chrome for Android, but the order was the same. These are icons that stay with you regardless of what home page you’re on; these are the ones you’re likely tapping the most.
If the above render is accurate, Google has changed up this order for the first time since the Nexus One in 2010. On the left-most side now is Chrome, emphasizing the fantastic browsing abilities of the new device. Then we have Gmail, which was previously relegated to the Google folder. After that, another new icon in the dock: Camera. While the Galaxy Nexus didn’t have a great camera sensor, Google reworked the camera UI to make taking photos much enjoyable.
Lastly, we see the Phone icon, which still remains an important part of the show, but less so than ever. Judging from the informal surveys I’ve taken of smartphone users over the years, voice calls are decreasing in importance as users transition to text-based forms of communication. Data — and therefore browsing — have become paramount in the eyes of the average Android user. Email, too, has maintained its importance, and Android 4.2 is expected to improve the experience dramatically with a new Gmail app.
Now, this render could be totally bunk, or it could be that I’m reading way too much into this. But if it turns out to be true, Google is certainly making a statement about what it thinks is the future of smartphone usage. Or, it could just be a big, fat arbitrary coincidence.
According to rumors Google “has been distributing a video recorded at one of its weekly all-hands “TGIF” meetings on its internal network” to present the new products coming in just over a week: the Samsung Nexus 4, LG Nexus 4, and the new Asus Nexus 7 (32GB Wi-Fi version and 32GB 3G + Wi-Fi model), all running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. Looks like the Key Lime Pie versions will come out in the early 2013 event.
Nexus 4
Several sources including TheNextWeb have stated that LG will make the SmartPhone which will feature a quad-core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm APQ8064 Snapdragon processor, 4.7-inch 1280 x 768 display, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera (and 1.3-megapixel front-facing snapper) and a 2100mAh battery.
Nexus 7
The new variant of the tablet is supposedly going to come with not only a 32 GB capacity but also a 3G modem built in, expect a nano sim card slot. Asus will continue to make the Nexus 7 and the new variant will supposedly feature a newer chipset which is more battery efficient.
Nexus 10
Here is the big news after the positive success of the Google Nexus 7, Google will launch a new Nexus 10 tablet. The device will feature a 10-inch display with 2560 x 1600 resolution, 16:10 aspect ratio and 300 pixel per inch (PPI) density. It is also believed that Samsung will be the manufacturer of the said tablet and the Nexus 10 will also run the new Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.
Google’s October 29th event also will hold host to launch of several other products making it a total of 5 Nexus launches on the Day. The Google Nexus launch date of Oct 29th also co-incides will Microsoft’s Windows 8 and Phone 8 launch that will take place on the very same day.
Considering the device isn’t even officially acknowledged yet, there’s a surprising amount of information available about the LG Nexus 4.
The latest leaks of the upcoming Nexus 4 smartphone, indicate that the device will indeed launch with a new version of Android, 4.2, but will still be called Jelly Bean. Well, Jelly Bean Maintenance Release 1.
There is only one precedent for this in the Android world. The Motorola Droid was released in late 2009 with Android 2.0 Eclair, and when the Nexus One debuted a few months later it also ran Eclair, albeit with a few updates in Android 2.1. Google could be holding off launching a new version of Android — Key Lime Pie — because Jelly Bean hasn’t proliferated to enough devices yet, and due to its low market share very few users have been able to take advantage of its features.
Android 4.2 will look and feel identical to Android 4.1, but will come with a number of security enhancements and will coincide with a new version of the Gmail app. It may also have an updated notification bar with faster access to quick settings, but that remains to be seen.
The rest of the specs of the LG Nexus 4, as provided by the reliable evleaks, have already been confirmed: 4.7-inch 1280×768 True IPS display, a 1.5Ghz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro SoC, 2GB RAM, 8/16GB internal storage, 8MP camera/2MP front camera, 2100mAh non-removable battery, 9.1mm thick, 139g. For comparison, the Galaxy Nexus is 8.9mm thick and 135g.
So, presumably the LG Nexus 4 will be announced at a Google event on October 29th.
