Many reports assumed T-Mobile’s version of the Nexus 4 would not have Wi-Fi calling, but a T-Mobile Connectivity and Data page for the device just confirmed support for the feature.
To use the feature: T-Mobile customers need to get a specific GBA SIM card, register their 911 address, turn on Wi-Fi, and then connect to a Wi-Fi network. Pretty straightforward. Now go check out our hands-on review of the LG Nexus 4.
The update comes just in time for the holiday season, as Google noted on the Google Commerce blog this afternoon that users of the refreshed app could now “easily browse for gift ideas, research products, and locate great deals on the go.”
The app’s newly added improvements include a redesigned home screen with a larger search box and bigger photos, and it now spotlights great sales and special offers from the new Sales page. Version 3.0 also notably integrated GoodGuide, a rating system that details whether a product is healthy, safe, or environmentally friendly.
The app’s full change log:
New UI with faster navigation and bigger images.
Discover sales and special offers in your area from the new sales screen.
Search for apparel and accessories more effectively with image-centric search results.
Make more informed buying decisions with GoodGuide product ratings.
Get great deals online with retail promotions.
Find out about new features and content with push notifications.
3.0.1: Fixed a bug that caused the app to crash at startup for some users.
Google Shopper 3.0 is available for Android devices at the Google Play store. While the iOS version is not yet live, many reports speculate it will roll out sometime soon.
Google now lets friends play live music with…the Chrome browser and computer accessories?
Yeah, watch the video above for the full rundown. It is such a cute ad. Maybe it’s the purring cat in the beginning (the Internet + cats = magic), or maybe it is because Google is getting crazy creative with product advertising— even if it’s only meant for YouTube.
Anyway, back to the point: Google launched an interactive web app today that allows friends to play music together remotely in the Chrome browser.
When entering the site, users can browse 19 different instruments, and then select an instrument for playing. They can even invite up to three additional friends, toggle instruments, switch between expertise modes, and mess around with autoplay functions.
The Berlin Wall fell 23 years ago today, and Google’s Cultural Institute is celebrating the anniversary by releasing an online collection of related exhibitions.
The collection, appropriately titled “The Fall of the Iron Curtain”, features 13 exhibitions comprised of documents, video, and photos from many partners, including: the DDR Museum in Berlin, Polish History Museum, Romanian broadcaster TVR, and Getty Images.
According to the official Google blog, notable contributions include a video commentary by Harvard professor Niall Ferguson, insights by Cold War history specialist and professor Patrick Major, a personal account of East Berlin life by independent curator Peter Millar, and more.
YouTube is all about live streaming lately, and now the video-sharing platform has announced COD (ahem—slang for “Call of Duty”) players can soon stream their gameplay when Activation launches the latest title for its popular franchise next week.
“Call of Duty Elite takes the live streaming experience even further, letting viewers on Elite see the player card of the user that is streaming,” announced Activision in a press release. “With just a couple clicks, viewers can dig deeper to see such information as class loadouts, recent match data, as well as career stats across supported Call of Duty games on Elite.”
The partnership essentially allows gamers to watch exploits in real-time multiplayer Call of Duty: Black Ops II matches for free. The deal is coushiony for Google and Activision, too. The Internet Giant gets engaging content to bulk its website, while Activation lands premium promotion.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II launches worldwide on Nov. 13, presumably at the $60-something price mark, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Windows PC. The title will also release in North America on Nov. 18 for the new Wii U.
A few notable apps either launched or announced headlining news today, so 9to5Google gathered the most noteworthy ones in a roundup below. Our sister website, 9to5Mac, publishes app roundups on a daily basis, and now we attempt to do the same here for the most important changes happening in the Google Play store. We will also continually update this list throughout the day, so keep checking back for more details.
1.Angry Birds Star Wars
The highly-anticipated (and much-teased) Angry Birds Star Wars is now available in Google Play (video atop). Developer Rovio has long been working with the recently Disney-acquired LucasArts to bulk its popular app lineup with a Star Wars-themed iteration of Angry Birds that brings new creative and play experiences to the franchise.
The latest Rovio title ditches the traditional exploding/flinging Angry Birds for a slew of new bird characters each wielding a unique weapon. The Han Solo bird, for instance, halts enemies with a three-shot space gun. The game also features iconic Star Wars locations, 80 immersive levels, “hours and hours” of gameplay, fresh mechanics, and new level-up capabilities for birds.
Mercury News recently sat down with Google Vice President of Product Management John Hanke to discuss Google’s Niantic Labs, and the resulting interview gave an interesting sneak peak into how Google is actively exploring ubiquitous computing.
Google acquired Keyhole in 2004. As CEO of the mapping startup, Hanke joined the folks in Mountain View to help “explore the intersection of ‘geo’ and location and mobile, with an eye toward things like ubiquitous computing.”
Ubiquitous computing, as Hanke further noted, has been around for 20 years: “the idea is that computing devices will disappear into the background and what you’re left with is the benefit of computing, which is information and activities.”
Hanke heads Google’s Niantic Labs—a project exploring experimental mobile-social-local applications. The team just released its first product, a free Android app called “Field Trip“, that essentially serves information based on surroundings to users. As a person roams their neighborhood, for instance, the app employs location technology and databases to retrieve data on local history, landmarks, and restaurants. Field Trip then pushes helpful suggestions for those places and things.
9to5Google previously detailed a leaked version of Google Wallet that plans to soon introduce a physical Google Wallet card, but a new leak today adds another layer of credibility to the piling speculation.
As noted by TechCrunch, Google let the cat out of the bag again today on its “Eligible Devices” page under the Help section of the Google Wallet website. The page listed all of the Android devices “eligible to download the Google Wallet app for use with the Google Wallet card.”
Last week’s leaked screenshots of the Google Wallet app also called the physical cards “Google Wallet card.” With that said, Google’s Eligible Device page no longer mentions them. It seems Google has promptly corrected its mistake. Hmm.
Googler Ami Fischman, a self-dubbed “Watt Wrangler”, just announced a new battery-saving Chrome Stable release.
“We recently enabled GPU-accelerated video decoding for Chrome on Windows,” wrote Fischman on the official Google Chrome blog. “Dedicated graphics chips draw far less power than a computer’s CPU, so using GPU-accelerated video decoding while watching videos can increase battery life significantly.”
Fischman noted test results show batteries last 25 percent longer with GPU-accelerated video decoding switched on. So now, Chrome users on Windows can watch more YouTube videos, as Fischman noted, without worrying about dwindling battery life.
Chrome users can even access website permissions, such as geolocation, much more easily with the new release:
This saves you from having to dig through settings pages to find these permissions. Now, simply click on the page/lock icon next to a website’s address in the omnibox to see a list of permissions and tweak them as you wish.
This latest release also includes an option to send a “do not track” request to websites and web services. The effectiveness of such requests is dependent on how websites and services respond, so Google is working with others on a common way to respond to these requests in the future.
So, in case you were wondering what is the main advantage of Google Voice Search over Apple’s Siri, watch the video above. The most notable difference between the two speech-recognition services —by far— is the response time.
Samsung plans to welcome the new year with a new look.
ChannelNews just published a report, citing sources in Asia, that claimed Samsung is working with Scott Bedbury, a brand-marketing wizard whose past experience includes Nike, to launch a “more vibrant International brand image alongside the likes of arch rival Apple.”
The new look, which apparently ditches the blue Samsung logo and fashion’s all-new advertising material with fresh colors that will compliment an overall brand identity for the company, is set to unveil at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The Guardian published a new report today that cited unnamed sources and throws around phrases like “not optimistic” and “unlikely event” in regards to Apple ever allowing a Google Maps iOS app.
The story claimed Google’s app is ready to ship by the end of 2012, but Google is torn about the likelihood of Apple ever giving an official go-ahead:
While one source indicated increased hopes that the dedicated Google Maps iOS app will eventually be approved now that Apple’s maps leader, Scott Forstall, has departed the company, another was less than enthusiastic about any increased prospects, citing industry politics and Apple’s need to save face as much as possible and “keep moving forward in an effort to make its obviously inferior product better”. Apple unveiled the section, which on Monday listed ten free and paid-for apps, to spotlight alternative mapping apps for iOS in an effort to placate users over response to criticisms of its own Maps app.
The Guardian specifically noted Apple’s reluctance to give Google Maps any attention in iOS. The company apparently went as far as to neglect apps in the “Find maps for your iPhone” section of the App Store that use Google Maps APIs:
Further, a source at Google told me the feeling is that those apps were purposely left out of the new section because they promote Google and its “superior product” – at a time when there is so much bad blood between the companies over the continuing smartphone patent litigation (following allegations from the late Steve Jobs that Google’s Android OS ripped off iOS). In other words, no matter how bad Apple’s Maps are, the company still wants its users to move on from Google – and forget about them. This doesn’t bode well for the approval of an official Google Maps app, the source says.
Despite the pessimistic outlook of the anonymous Google sources, the Guardian said Apple and the folks in Mountain View are in constant talks. So, the tide could potentially change without any notice. With that said, they firmly believe Apple will never again make Google Maps a default mapping solution in iOS.
AT&T just revealed a launch date and price deal for the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1.
The Ice Cream Sandwich-based tablet will release Nov. 9 with a $499.99 price tag, but the carrier is also offering $100 off with the purchase of any Samsung Galaxy smartphone:
AT&T is giving customers more reasons to purchase a Samsung device this holiday season as part of a limited time offer that gives customers up to $100 off the purchase of any connected Samsung device of lesser or equal value, including the new Samsung ATIV smart PC and Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, when they purchase any Samsung Galaxy smartphone (w/ two-year agreement incl. qualifying voice and data plans)
The 4G LTE-capable Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 features a 1,280-by-800-pixel resolution display, dual-core 1.5GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, microSD card slot, VGA front camera, 3-megapixel rear camera, and a 7,000 mAh battery.
AT&T will sell the tablet at company-owned retail stores nationwide and online at www.wireless.att.com.
YouTube wants Americans to video record and submit their voting experience, just as it encouraged folks to do during the last election.
The U.S. Election Day is tomorrow, and Olivia Ma, of the YouTube News and Politics team, gave a few details on the official YouTube Global blog this morning on how to capture Election Day videos:
We want to see and hear from you tomorrow. Whether you’re vlogging about which candidate you support, capturing footage of the long line at your polling place, or encouraging your friends to get out of the house and go vote, we’re inviting you to send us your Election Day videos. You can either tweet them to @YouTubePolitics or include #YouTubePolitics in the video title, and a selection will be featured on the YouTube Elections Hub.
YouTube reminded those who are interested to check their state law for more information about polling place activities and to consult with the Citizen Media Law Project’s Documenting Your Vote project before recording at a voting location.
Samsung announced today that it sold roughly 3 million Galaxy Note IIs since the phablet launched over a month ago.
The company specified to the Associates Press (via USA Today) that it took just 37 days to hit the sales figure:
The South Korean firm is pinning its hope on the Note II and the S III to maintain its market lead during the crucial fourth-quarter holiday season, when a number of new gadgets are vying for attention from consumers in the crowded market.
A new report by IDC gives support to Samsung’s unverified claims: the research firm revealed Samsung sat at No. 1 in terms of the global smartphone market for Q3 2012 with 56.3 million sales—doubling Apple’s 26.9 million in iPhone sales.
Google updated its Platform Versions website last night to reveal Android 4.x is now on 28.5-percent of devices.
Ice Cream Sandwich officially released to the masses over a year ago, but it is only powering 25.8-percent of Android smartphones and tablets. Jelly Bean, the following Android OS that launched in June 2012, has a meager 2.7-percent of the pie. Meanwhile, in third place, the two-year-old Gingerbread sits comfortably with a 54.2-percent share.
Fragmentation is clearly still an issue with Android, but it seems the slow adoption of the latest OS is just as alarming. A new iteration of Jelly Bean, Android 4.2, will launch in roughly two weeks, but the first version has hardly made a dent. Of course, Google’s new lineup of Nexus products may give Jelly Bean’s share a boost. We will just have to wait and see, though.
AndroidPolice just posted screenshots of a leaked version of Google Wallet, but the most notable tidbit does not concern the app at all: Google plans to launch a Google Wallet card.
The card acts and looks like a typical credit card, but it stores many credit cards into one, shiny piece of plastic. It also works practically everywhere. According to the screenshots, users order the Google Wallet card from their Google Wallet app for front-door delivery.
AndroidPolice noted the significance of a physical Google Wallet card:
The other important implication? The physical Wallet card could make carrier approval for Wallet a thing of the past unless you want to use tap payments. Google could publish a version of the Wallet app without NFC permissions that just allows you to switch between your cards, that could be installed on any phone (even iOS or Windows Phone, theoretically), and you just use the Wallet card for payments. That’s pretty cool. And could seriously reduce the chance of rival mobile payment systems of catching on. Google really does seem to have thrown a wrench in the works of the likes of ISIS and other competing systems.
As for the Google Wallet app, it will soon feature a “Wallet Balance” option for depositing or withdrawing money. Users will also have the ability to transfer money from person to person. Availability for these latest Google Wallet features only seem to hint at the Unites States, for now, but stay tuned for more.
Google Wallet now stores payment information, like debit card numbers and billing addresses, for retailers’ mobile websites.
Shoppers normally need to enter “17-20 fields of information” on mobile websites, according to the Google Mobile Commerce team, while having to “click and scroll through multiple pages to provide shipping and billing information.” Apparently, roughly 97 percent of mobile shoppers run from the check-out process and abandon their shopping carts.
The Google Mobile Commerce team just explained, however, that Wallet users can now check out more safely and quickly in just three simple steps: click the Buy with Google Wallet button, log into Google Wallet, and then click to complete the order.
Google Wallet is currently integrated with Finish Line, MovieTickets.com, Seamless, SwimOutlet.com, etc., to enable three-step purchasing on their mobile websites. For a limited time, Google Wallet users can also get $10 off at 1-800-Flowers.com and $20 off at Rockport.com (some restrictions apply).
Sprint just announced customers could pre-order the LG Optimus G starting today for $199.99 with a new two-year contract or eligible upgrade.
So, what’s so special about this particular LTE Android smartphone? Well, it has a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 processor. It also features a 4.7-inch True HD IPS Plus display, 2GB of RAM, 32GB built-in storage, NFC, and a 2,100mAh battery.
Unfortunately, this powerful handset boasts the aging Ice Cream Sandwich OS. There is also no mention in the announcement of an upcoming upgrade. Take a look at 9to5Google’s hands-on review of the AT&T version for a full spec refresher.
Oh, but we must note the LG Optimus G’s cheese shutter. Yeah—you heard that right. The smartphone’s camera is voice-activated by words like “cheese” and “smile”—eliminating the need for a shutter button. Um, interesting?
AT&T and T-Mobile recently announced they would start to share a combined database of stolen mobile devices that aspires to discourage theft and shield customers.
All the major carriers, through their wireless association CTIA and the Federal Communications Commission, first revealed plans in April to merge their respective databases, but AT&T and T-Mobile were the first to do so yesterday.
CNET specifically elaborated on how the joint database works:
The database went live yesterday, and allows either AT&T or T-Mobile to block a device from being used on either network. In order to do that, the companies ban a device’s IMEI number — a unique identifier that tells networks what the device is and who owns it — and effectively stop it from being able to place calls.
In the past, stolen smartphones were blocked by eliminating the use of a SIM card. However, in the GSM world, a phone can be used with any SIM card. So, if a thief stole a device and popped in a new SIM card, it would still work. By targeting the IMEI number, that’s no longer the case.
Sprint and Verizon are expected join the initiative by November 2013.
Google will allegedly launch a scan-and-match feature for its music service by this week at the earliest, according to a new report by CNET. (An update to this story is below.)
CNET defined the scan-and-match feature as “a process whereby a user’s music can be stored on the computer servers of a host service,” and it said the service could then online stream songs to “web-connected music players” to save users from “the time-consuming process of uploading each individual track to a host’s servers.”
Google was apparently set to unveil the feature today at a media event in New York City, but the impending havoc of Hurricane Sandy caused the search engine to cancel plans.
CNET previously reported that Google was close to “obtaining the licenses it needed to launch the service,” but Google will now launch the scan-and-match feature first in Europe, according to the website’s sources, with a United States landing scheduled for soon after.
It is not clear at this time if Google will offer the feature for free.
UPDATE: Google just unveiled three new additions to its Nexus lineup in a blog post on the official Google blog, where it further unveiled new Google Play content. Twentieth Century Fox movies—with new purchasing ability introduced for Canada, U.K., France, Spain, and Australia—are officially coming to the Google Play library. Google is also working with Time, Inc., to bring People, Time, and more popular publications to its marketplace.
As for music, the search giant partnered with Warner Music Group to include the label’s full catalog of songs and artists. It even confirmed the rumored scan-and-match feature would soon launch free:
The Nexus 4 will feature wireless charging, according to a leaked quick-start manual for the much-discussed LG smartphone.
The manual specifically mentioned a “wireless charger”, as seen above, but it also said folks need to use “an approve model”. The manual further noted the 4-inch Android device would house an induction coil on the back, according to Pocket-Lint, which reported the story via Ubergizmo, between the top Nexus logo and the bottom LG logo. Check it out:
The LG Nexus 4 has been widely outed by third-party retailers, most notably Carphone Warehouse, and various other leaks. Just yesterday, reports surfaced that claimed the smartphone would boast a $504 price tag. The hefty cost allegedly comes with a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 2GB of RAM, 8-megapixel camera with LED flash, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and more desirable specs.
Google was supposedly set to unveil the Nexus 4 at a media event in New York City today, but the search giant cancelled due to the impending havoc of Hurricane Sandy. While you wait for news of a rescheduled event, go below for a YouTube video that shows the widely leaked LG Nexus 4 in action.
Brief Mobile just posted a bevy of leaked images and specs for what it claimed is Google’s upcoming Nexus 10 tablet expected to be unveiled Oct. 29 in New York City.
A breakdown of the device’s specs—via the tech website’s “trusted source”—revealed a dual-core Samsung Exynos 5250 processor, 2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage, 10.1-inch Super AMOLED display at 2,560-by-1,600-pixel resolution, 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with LED, front-facing camera, NFC, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.0 capability, as well as Android 4.2 Jelly Bean preloaded
Brief Mobile subsequently dubbed the Nexus 10 “the best-specced Android tablet in the world,” and it noted the tablet’s back feels like brushed aluminum with rubber-coated edges.
“It’s extremely light and thin,” the tech website added.
In related news: Google Senior Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra posted a couple vacation photos to his Google+ today that were allegedly taken with the Nexus 10. The images have a 2,048-by-1,536-pixel resolution—much lower than the tablet’s camera specs reported by Brief Mobile. However, it is likely Google+ resized the images.
So, unless this is an elaborate hoax, it looks like the Nexus 10 has now been completely outed. Unfortunately, there is no word on pricing or whether the device pictured above will actually unveil in just three days as Google’s latest Nexus tablet.
