Jake Smith

Google released its first update since November for the popular Google Voice for Android app. The update is substantial; bringing an improved UI that matches Ice Cream Sandwich, Click-to-Call feature on tablets, asynchronous SMS sending (offline queuing), an official user-feedback menu on each screen of the app, and a new icon.

The Click-to-Call feature that is new on tablets works very similar to the Chrome Extension. Users can press the Click-to-Call button, and select a number that will then be sent to the phone to make a call. No, you cannot actually complete the call on a tablet —sadly. (via Droid Life, Android Central)

You can head over to the Android Market to download the update. We are waiting on the full change log to hit.

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Android 4.0.4 was leaked early for the Verizon Galaxy Nexus, and —of course— in typical fashion, a user at the XDA-Developers Forums made a guide available to install the update. The update will presumably be rolling out over-the-air to the masses soon, but if you are up to the challenge, you can install it early with some trickery. Obviously, it is not for the feint-of-heart.

Android 4.0.4 brings many necessary updates, according to the unofficial change log posted on XDA. The update brings noticeably faster speeds, battery stats bug fixed, new radios, improved signal strength, a new power menu, faster boot time, increased volume, keyboard fixes, improved quick controls in the browser, updated News and Weather app, and much more. You can read the full unofficial change log after the break.

Update: One of our commenters (“Eddy”) gave us more insight into after the install.

I updated to 4.0.4 last night via CWM. I can confirm that, although root is initially broke after the update, you can use Wug’s GNexus Root Toolkit to re-root and flash CWM again.

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AT&T announced the Galaxy Note will be available on its network at CES 2012, and we learned last week it will launchFeb. 19 in-store for $299. Today, you can finally pre-order this “phablet” in both carbon blue and ceramic white colors. Better yet, if you pre-order the device today, it will be shipped to you on Feb. 17, just two days before it is available in-stores on Feb. 19.

Just as a reminder: the Galaxy Note sports a huge 5.3-inch touchscreen, dual-core 1.5 GHz Snapdragon S3 processor, 1 GB of RAM, and Samsung’s advanced S-Pen. It will also be available on AT&T’s 4G network.

The pre-order launched today to compliment Samsung’s advertisement in the fourth quarter of today’s Super Bowl. Are any of you pre-ordering?

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Google reportedly poached an Apple employee to hire on its own staff. VentureBeat reported that Google hired Apple’s (now former) Senior Director of Product Integrity Simon Prakash for a secret project, where he would work perhaps alongside Google’s cofounder Sergey Brin. Prakash could even work under Motorola Mobility, whom Google is working to acquire, to head hardware projects.

Prakash worked at Apple for over eight years, and was responsible for the product quality across Apple’s products—from iPhones to Macs. To boost his reputation, you may recall that Apple was voted top among product quality in a recent JD Power and Associates Award for the sixth consecutive last year. It is obvious why Google would go after such an employee.

Prakash could be joining Google to work on Google X’s wearable heads up display glasses we showed you in December. Former Apple employee Richard DeVaul, a PhD. scientist from MIT with a focus on building wearable technologies, also left Apple to join Google X’s team. Is Google building up a huge and talented team for such a large product?

We have more iOS device executive departure news forthcoming, so stay tuned.

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Google updated its Android stats —as they do every two weeks— revealing how much of each version of Android is installed across devices. Yesterday’s update revealed that Android’s most recent offering, Ice Cream Sandwich, is now installed on 1 percent of devices, which is pretty meh if you ask me. Ice Cream Sandwich saw its first debut on the Galaxy Nexus, and over time, it has seen both official and unofficial installs across many other devices.

Not much else has changed from the last stats refresh. Android 2.3 Gingerbread still holds the most installs with almost 60 percent across every device, while Android 2.2 Froyo follows close behind. Let’s hope Google can deploy Android 4.0 to devices very quick, because we would not want any of you to miss out! You can see the graph below for the full breakdown.

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Droid-Life has Google Wallet working on the Verizon Wireless variant of the Galaxy Nexus—a noble feat. In December last year, we broke news that the Verizon variant would not support Google Wallet, because the mobile carrier wanted to push its own similar payment platform called ISIS. This bugged many users. Droid-Life also showed Google Wallet working on an AT&T Galaxy Nexus, too. Today, the Android news community showed us how to do it on the Verizon version.

So how do you do it exactly? More information is available after the break.

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The Sprint version of the Galaxy Nexus is the only variant to officially see Google Wallet. However, a new report from Droid-Life said the GSM Galaxy Nexus with an AT&T SIM card can download and access Google Wallet from the Android Market, which is a sigh of relief for many users. As you can see in the screenshot above, courtesy of Droid-Life, there are not any hoops–just a simple download.

Google Wallet gives users the ability to use the built-in NFC chip to pay for goods. Google Wallet was first introduced on the Sprint Galaxy S, and it saw a quick rollout to many retail outlets.

Last year, we broke news that Verizon Wireless was blocking the use of Google Wallet on its version of the Galaxy Nexus to later push its own payment platform. It was not clear if Sprint and AT&T would do the same. We now know that the Sprint version will come with it officially paired, and it can at least be downloaded on the GSM AT&T variant.

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AT&T announced through a press release that it would get the already announced Huawei MediaPad on its 4G network tomorrow. The carrier would not give any specific details on pricing, only that it will be available for “varying price points.” As a refresher, the MediaPad boasts a 7-inch multi-touch display, Android 3.2, 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 5-megapixel rear-camera, 1.3-megapixel front-camera, and Wi-Fi. The device should also be updated to Ice Cream Sandwich, soon. The full press release is available after the break.

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There are two new reports today regarding the upcoming availability of the sleek Droid 4. Droid-Life, who is usually on-par, reported that Verizon Wireless’s latest QWERTY offering will launch for $199 on two-year contract and $549 full price, which has been confirmed in Verizon’s system (seen in the screenshot below). This certainly makes for one of the cheapest LTE offerings out there. Droid-Life also posted a second screenshot of Verizon’s internal system that reveals the Droid 4 will launch on Feb. 10 in all markets. Why Feb. 10, you may ask? It is the same day Star Wars in 3D hits theaters. As a reminder, the Droid 4 boasts a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 4-inch qHD display, 1GB of RAM, and dual-cameras. We will keep you updated as Verizon goes official with its launch date.

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Google is continuing its push on Google TV by rolling out Android 3.2 to Sony’s Google TV while the update to the Logitech Revue is on its way, GigaOm pointed out. The 3.2 update is not too major, but it does bring some nice updates, such as: Google TVs now boast hardware acceleration, HTTP live streaming that helps with HTML 5 live video, changes to the way Google TV identifies channels to make it easier for developers, and lastly a few user interface changes to Google Chrome.

That is all fine and dandy, of course, but what we really want is Ice Cream Sandwich to roll out to Google TVs soon. Android 3.2 will be the last major update before Ice Cream Sandwich operating system lands, but smaller updates will obviously ensue. We should be seeing ICS land by the end of the year, hopefully. Perhaps Google will give us a little more info at their Google I/O conference, so stay tuned!

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Research firm comScore is out with its latest numbers for the month of December, giving us a glimpse at the current United States mobile market. The report indicates that mobile sales are up-and-rising for the holiday month. comScore found that Google’s Android is leading with a 47.3-percent OS market share (rising 2.5 points), which brings the company close to a notable 50 percent. Perhaps we will see the feat reached in February or March. On the other hand, Apple’s iOS is in second with a 29.6-percent market share (rising 2.2 points).

When it comes to device market share for both smartphones and non-smartphones on the OEM side, Samsung tops the charts with a 25.3-percent market share, which did not change from the previous month. LG and Motorola place second and third, both losing a small amount of market share during December. All three manufacturers play a crucial role in selling Android devices, which gives Android a large lead. Apple comes in fourth in market share, and now boasts 12.4-percent of total mobile subscribers (rising 2.2 points).

The U.S. still ranks in as one of the world’s most important places for smartphones, with 97.9 million people owning smartphones during Q4 2011. When it comes to worldwide sales, Research Firm IDC  yesterday released its estimates for December. They found that Apple passed LG to become the third-largest smartphone manufacturer worldwide, with an 8.7-percent market share in Q4 2011, and a 6 percent market share in 2011 as a whole. Nokia remains in the top spot with 26.6-percent, followed by Samsung who has 22.8-percent. You can check out the graphs after the break for the full run-down:

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In order to spread its message and keep developers in the loop, the fabulous Android development team launched an official Android Developers page on Google+. The team said it is launching the new website to connect with developers and build quality apps for the Android ecosystem.

We’re focused on working with you – Android developers – to help make your apps and games successful within the Android ecosystem. We’re looking forward to finding out what you want to hear from us – so let us know how we can best help you build awesome Android apps in the comments below.

The team encourages developers to add the page to their Google+ Circles to keep on top of news and to join Google+ Hangouts.

This is a pretty cool website out of Google. It is neat to see a one-stop place for Android developers to get their news and communicate with others in the similar field. Google also made an Android Developers website as a way to stay on top of code changes and tutorials, but we are sure the Google+ profile will keep all of that aggregated. You can read the full introduction post after the break.

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Motorola announced a new developer version of the Motorola RAZR, which will be on its way to Europe in the coming months. What makes a developer version of the device so special? The developer version comes with an unlocked bootloader, which gives developers a little more free reign when it comes to developing their apps. There is no release date given, but it should be here soon. Motorola also said the device would be available in the United States in the coming months. Have you read our review of the Motorola RAZR yet? You can check out the press release in full after the break.

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After leaked advertisements and many rumors, Google finally announced on Jan. 9 that Sprint would be the second carrier to host the Galaxy Nexus. Roughly close to a month has passed, and we have not heard anything out of Sprint or Google in terms of launch. However, finally this weekend, Google posted the official sign-up website for those looking to order the Galaxy Nexus on the Now Network.

The Sprint version of the Galaxy Nexus is unlike the Verizon version due to it Google’s Wallet technology and a faster processor. Last month, we exclusively told you that Verizon would not have Wallet because of its own wallet-like technology in development.

As some background, the Galaxy Nexus should be the first LTE device on the Now Network. It will rock 32GB of storage, along with a 4.65-inch 720P HD screen, 5-megapixel camera, 1GB of RAM, and Android 4.0. There is no word on a launch date, but if you are interested—we suggest going ahead and signing up. (via Android Central)

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[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Hhgfz0zPmH4″]

Google released updates today to three of its popular Android apps: Google Maps, Goggles, and Listen.

Google Maps was updated with a small new feature called “night mode” that will help you better navigate through tunnels. There is not much word on how exactly this feature will work, but it sounds cool nonetheless.

Google Goggles was updated to version 1.7.1 with a long list of updates. Goggles will no longer store inaccurate locations for queries in search history and it will not crash when loading large bitmaps. The app also features the usual performance enhancements and will now show the description field for user-submitted results.

Lastly, Listen’s update is small. It fixes an issue where Listen would improperly take audio focus from other apps while in the background. You can download these updates from the Android Market. (via Android Central)

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When Google+ first launched, a good majority of people went crazy when they saw you could not use nicknames on the service. Luckily, Google is about to change that. Google’s Bradley Horowitz made a post on Google+ today, announcing that users will soon be able to add a nickname next to their full name in the coming days. You can see this modeled above with blogger Louis “Luigi” Gray.

The setting will appear under Edit Profile, where you can select your name by clicking on “More options.” It is worth noting that this will change your name across all of your Google Profiles.

For names that Google has deemed unacceptable, you can challenge it for personal use by providing the following information to the review team:

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Google just announced in its Q4 2011 earnings live call that there are 250 million Android devices now activated, up 50 million from the last call. Better yet, Google also announced that there has been 11 billion downloads from the Android Market, rising 1 billion since December. Google also announced that there are 350 million active Gmail users.

Those are pretty solid numbers from Google. Make sure you listen to the rest of the call here.

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[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTdqQ7tQsz0&context=C32e8d17ADOEgsToPDskIqSGNZngP0BozhWxTF8nLh”]

Google already announced its Q4 earnings in a press release, reporting $10.58 billion in revenue along with $2.71 billion in GAAP net income, but Google executives are now on a call to talk more detail. You can listen above!

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Amazon just released software version 6.2.2 for the Kindle Fire. While Amazon has yet to release an official change log, users are reporting it on the Kindle Fire support forums, and it can be found as an over-the-air download. The minor software release brings full-screen Silk browsing for your enjoyment. We will keep an eye out for other changes. (via The Verge)

With the new Android phones coming out of CES 2012, Samsung’s Galaxy S II is starting to feel a little outdated. Luckily, British retailer Mobicity did not get the memo and prematurely revealed perhaps the newest offering out of Samsung: Samsung Galaxy S II HD. The retailer showed off the device, featuring a larger 720P HD 4.65-inch display and faster 1.5GHz processor.

American users should not get too excited, because this device most likely will not land in the United States anytime soon. It will probably first see the light of day in Europe and Australia. Do you remember how long it took for the Galaxy S II to drop?

It is also worth noting that third-party retailers do not always tell the full story, but Mobicity’s promotion of  “a larger, higher resolution screen and more battery power” definitely sounds promising. We hope to hear more soon —perhaps at Mobile World Conference 2012 in a few weeks. (via Android Central)

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[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVum3HsmZ6M&feature=player_embedded”]

Launching on the Google+ Games platform, Google is showing off a new game involving its Google Maps product. The game, as you can see demonstrated in the video above, involves rolling a blue ball around a map. The game is set to launch sometime in February.

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