Yesterday, Google began a 10 cent Android app promo to celebrate hitting 10 billion downloads, and actually included a pretty solid list of apps. Yesterday’s included Sketchbook Mobile, Asphalt 6, and more. The 10 day special continues today with even more apps. Most of the ten apps being offered through the “10 Billion Promo” page on the Market typically range from 99 cents to a few dollars or more, and at ten cents, the majority of them are must have apps. Here’s what’s on offer today:
Update: Verizon issued the following Statement to us this morning then another one:
We’re working to provide expanded services that will provide the best security and user experience in the market around m-commerce. We expect to provide access to an open wallet when those goals are achieved.
The Galaxy Nexus headed to Verizon Wireless in the next week or so won’t feature Google Wallet, even though it has the NFC chip to do so, we have learned. The app won’t be available in the Android Market for Verizon Galaxy Nexus users. Big Red simply blocked it.
Blasphemy you say? “Pure Google Android?” Nope. The Verizon Galaxy Nexus will receive its updates directly from Google, not a carrier. But Google caved to Verizon and blocked Wallet from the device.
The reason Verizon has chosen to kick Wallet out of the device is likely because of their recent creation of a new mobile payment project called ISIS. ISIS not only features Verizon, but also is a partnership with AT&T and T-mobile to build a new mobile payment network much like Wallet. It is supposed to roll out in 2012.
The Nexus S on the remaining U.S. big four carrier Sprint was the introductory device to receive Google Wallet but many would guess that the Galaxy Nexus, being pure Google, would see Google Wallet.
Luckily, Verizon’s Galaxy Nexus will still feature NFC technology like the European version does. You’ll still be able to use NFC enabled apps including the ability to swap files and tap NFC enabled signs — just not Google Wallet.
Developer JackpotClavin has released CyanogenMod 7 for Amazon’s Kindle Fire, and it is now available over on the XDA forums. Before you install we must warn that this version isn’t very stable. There is also no way to revert the Kindle Fire back to your original settings, so there’s literally no going back. That being said, read on for the directions!
While the legal drama continues to hash out in other countries, a U.S. judge has rejected Apple’s request to block some Samsung smartphone and tablet sales in the U.S., Reutersreports. The ruling occurred Friday afternoon in a California court, bringing an end to this part of the case. The legal proceedings began in April, after Apple claimed Samsung was misusing Apple’s patents for three smartphones and the Galaxy Tab 10.1. But don’t think this is the end of the war on the U.S. front. Apple will most likely file more lawsuits over more patent infringements. The judge ruled today:
It is not clear that an injunction on Samsung’s accused devices would prevent Apple from being irreparably harmed.
Apple has been pressing courts around the world to put injunctions on Samsung’s apparent infringing products. On November 30th an Australian judge lifted the preliminary injunction on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 that was originally granted earlier in the year. In a statement on the matter, Samsung said this: Expand Expanding Close
While the documents were never submitted in court, The Vergehas uncovered documents Apple was going to provide to highlight the work-arounds for their iPhone and iPad patents that Samsung could have utilized. The reason these were thought up is because Samsung claimed there was no way they could create their devices without the required elements of a smartphone or tablet today. Apple, however, said there were plenty of work arounds. For Samsung smartphones, Apple explained in the redacted documents:
Front surface that isn’t black.
Overall shape that isn’t rectangular, or doesn’t have rounded corners.
Display screens that aren’t centered on the front face and have substantial lateral borders.
Non-horizontal speaker slots.
Front surfaces with substantial adornment.
No front bezel at all.
Just this afternoon, a judge has decided to not grant the U.S. preliminary injunction Apple was pressing for against Samsung.
Verizon Wireless allowed CNET to photograph the carrier’s upcoming Droid 4 and Xyboard tablet designed by Motorola. The Droid 4 looks very similar to the current Droid RAZR — a device we loved — and also in a way represents the Droid 3. CNET calls the Droid 4, “essentially the Droid 3, but with an LTE connection.” Verizon wouldn’t go into details over specs, but Droid-Life has leaked plenty over the past few weeks. The device will reportedly have a 4-inch touchscreen, 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 5-row slide-out keyboard, front camera (specs unknown,) and an 8MP rear camera. Count on this device being a Droid RAZR with a keyboard.
Next, Verzion’s next tablet offering, the Xyboard has also been in the rumor-mill these past couple of months. The tablet, offered in both an 8- and 10-inch variant, is a successor to Motorola’s Xoom, which was the first to device to ship with Google’s Android Honeycomb. Verizon once again wouldn’t go into details about the tablet, but here’s what we know so far..
Every 14 days, Google publishes an updated pie-chart laying out all of the details about what Android versions are most prominent. Yesterday’s chart reveals that Android 2.3, or Gingerbread, now makes up 50.6% of Android’s user base, followed by Android 2.2, Froyo which has 35.3%. Interestingly, there are still close to 12% of users on lower levels of Android. Where the shocker really comes in to play is the percentage of users that are rocking Honeycomb, the Android version exclusive to tablets.
Figures also updated by Google’s team, was a pie-chart showing different screen sizes that feature Android. The chart showed that 3.1% of all Android devices are tablets with a 7-inch or larger screen. If all 200M Android devices are still active and represented here, that means that 6.2M Android Tablets are in the market.
Confirming our report from last night, Google has toldThe Verge that they have no affiliation whatsoever with Carrier IQ, but rather the OEMs of Android handsets do.
We do not have an affiliation with CarrierIQ. Android is an open source effort and we do not control how carriers or OEMs customize their devices.
Carrier IQ news has blown up this afternoon, after being found on numerous handsets currently offered on the market. While Verizon has said that Carrier IQ can’t be found on their devices, Apple, RIM, Nokia, Windows Mobile, and most Android devices do have the tracking software. For now, if you’re Android device is affected you can install CyanogenMod or just wait for all of this to blow over after an update, in a few days.
In a move to combat Amazon’s dominance in the delivery of physical products, Google is said to be in talks with “major retailers and shippers” to create their own rival service, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The companies that are reportedly considering partnering with Google — Macy’s, OfficeMax, and Gap Inc– are some of the same that recently signed up to integrate the company’s Google Wallet NFC platform into their retail locations. Google’s service will compete directly with Amazon’s Prime, which offers same-day or next-day shipping on all of their products.
Google plans to meld an existing product-search feature that directs shoppers to retail websites with a new quick-shipping service that the Internet giant will oversee. The quick-shipping service will be based on a Google behind-the-scenes system that allows shoppers to figure out whether stores have a product in stock and that allows them to find out whether they can get that product shipped to them within a day.
Amazon has seen huge success with their $79 a year Prime program. Not only do customers get expedited shipping on products, but get added bonuses on Amazon’s Kindle Fire when it comes to media downloads and their MP3 store. The report mentions that Google has talked to UPS to also partner in the program.
It’s not clear if the program will cost a subscription fee like Amazon Prime, or if it will be offered free through the help of their partnerships. Google seems to like to stick with the free model more than anything, so I wouldn’t discount the possibility.
Google’s Android development team has released Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0.1) for x86 chipsets as part of their promise to open up Android for Intel and AMD systems. The release isn’t fully stable — missing sound, camera, ethernet, and hardware acceleration for Intel chipsets. What will work however is Wi-Fi, sound, and hardware acceleration for AMD chipsets.
Below, you’ll find the instructions for downloading the source code. On the open source page you can also find the .ISO for MSI’s AMD powered Brazos Tablet. Developers, get working!
Hi all,
The ics-x86 branch based on Android 4.0.1 is ready.
You may download the source as usual:
A new San Francisco based start-up called Switchcam combines YouTube videos from concerts, political events, and more to stitch together one video with multiple angles from the event. The service uses YouTube videos, which are turned into a seamless video. Above, I was watching a concert from My Morning Jacket where two camera angles were used. While Switchcam will automatically switch between the angles, you can also do it manually. The service works very seamlessly.
The service goes beyond two angles however, and can also have a set list to the left of the video. Right now the service has a vast majority of concerts, which seems to just be curated by the staff. The product is currently in beta, but is launching soon the company says on their blog. Presumably when it launches, Switchcam will allow its users to do the stitching instead of the staff. Check out their full list of events.
This is an awesome use of the large amount of videos YouTube offers. You may remember the music video service called Rokker we showed you a few months ago. Hopefully we continue to see products like these roll out in the future.
Curious to see how Windows Phone feels, but don’t have a device around to do so? Us neither. But Microsoft has just released a new HTML 5 website that allows iPhone and Android users to get a taste of the Windows Phone 7 (Mango 7.5) operating system. The trial requires no downloads or registration, and you can try it out by just going to the webpage http://aka.ms/wpdemo on your Android device.
While it doesn’t use any of the data on your phone like your contacts, the demo does give you a pretty comprehensive look at all of Windows Phone’s features. Microsoft uses a blue dot to guide you around the operating system, and obviously some features like voice recognition just don’t work in the browser. Drat, that’s something we really wanted to try.
Will this draw users over to the Windows Phone platform? Probably not, but it’s always cool to see what the competition is up to.
The folks over at iFixithave torn-down the Galaxy Nexus, per usual, exposing what’s underneath. While they didn’t find anything we didn’t already know in terms of hardware, the team found that it’s fairly easy to get into the device — unlike the Droid RAZR — requiring only a few screws and a guitar pick. For replacing the 1750mAh battery users shouldn’t have any problem. The iFixit team does worn however that the screen is fairly hard to replace. They’re still working to identify a few power amplifiers and motion processing units , but we’ll let you know when iFixit finds them.
Don’t forget, we’re still waiting on the launch of the Galaxy Nexus in the United States. The Ice Cream Sandwich device has been available in the U.K. for a little over two weeks now, and has seen positive reviews. It shouldn’t be too long until we see Verizon’s LTE in the mix. iFixit gave the device a 6/10 on the repairability scale:
Samsung Galaxy Nexus Repairability Score: 6 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair).
Battery replacement is incredibly simple thanks to the removable rear panel.
Minimal adhesive makes removal of the motherboard and other components a snap.
Headphone jack and speaker assembly are not soldered to the motherboard, so replacement is easy.
The only soldered components are the volume switch and vibrator motor.
Removing the rear case to access the motherboard and other internals requires a lotof careful prying and guitar-picking.
The glass is fused to both the display and the display frame. So don’t crack the glass unless you’re good with a heat gun, or you’re fond of replacing the glass, display, and frame together ($$$).
To honor the ongoing Cyber Monday, Google is now offering $1.99 albums for select artists on Google Music for U.S. users. The deal includes albums from top artists like Coldplay, Rihanna, Drake, Justin Bieber, David Guetta, Mary J. Blige, LMFAO, Florence and the Machine, Lady Antebullum, and more. The deal even includes Lady GaGa’s ‘A Very Gaga Holiday’, to start getting you in the Holiday spirit.
A user on the SlickDeals forums spotted the Kindle Fire at both Target and Walmart available for only $123.88, on Sunday. That’s almost $80 off the original price! The sale is apparently unadvertised and it is unclear if it is still running in select stores, so we suggest you head over to your local store to check out this hell of a deal. You may even want to bring the above image with you to see if they can hook you up if the deal isn’t currently running (there’s also more after the break). It looks like you won’t be the only Kindle Fire user, seeing as Amazon had record sales (in the Kindle family) with the Kindle Fire this weekend — the company announced in a press release today. Check out the receipt after the break for more proof.
Speaking at a conference in Liverpool (via Develop), Google’s Paul Kinlan revealed a few of the company’s plans in regards to making more additions to Chrome in 2012. The changes he outlined include the browser supporting plug-and-play gamepads, a cool feature that would give gamers a better way to game through Google+ games. Kinland also said the browser would be receiving the open source WebRTC platform.
Google is to add plug-and-play gamepad, webcam and microphone support to its Chrome web browser early next year, Google’s Paul Kinlan has revealed.
Speaking at Develop Liverpool, Kinlan also claimed that the search engine giant would be adding open source video and voice chat application WebRTC to its web browser.
Both additions would allow Google to offer more cloud and gaming services. We’re sure these are the first changes of many for the year of 2012.
Droid Lifehas leaked the official specs and release date for the upcoming Droid 4 — a device that has already been photographed before. Like in Droid’s past, the Droid 4 will land on Verizon, packing the carrier’s blazing fast 4G LTE bands. As for the hardware the Droid 4 looks very close to the Droid RAZR. Specs for the Droid 4 include a 4-inch touchscreen, 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 5-row slideout keyboard, front camera (specs unknown,) and an 8MP rear camera.
Interestingly, the handset doesn’t include a removable battery, but does include the tool to do so (as seen in the picture above) to insert a SIM card or SD card. The release date for the Droid 4 is rumored to be December 8th, which is the date we’ve also been hearing that for the Galaxy Nexus. We’ll keep you posted, but in the mean time head on past the break for another spec shot.
President Barack Obama has officially joined Google+ today. President Obama can already be found on Twitter, where he actively — and his staff — make posts throughout the day. On his first day the President has already made three posts, which is pretty active for day one. As he begins to learns the ropes, the President could use his Plus profile more as a blog than anything. It will be interesting to see if the President uses Google+ Hangouts to communicate with citizens, as some of his opponents already have.
Welcome to the Obama 2012 Google+ page. We’re still kicking the tires and figuring this out, so let us know what you’d like to see here and your ideas for how we can use this space to help you stay connected to the campaign.
The Galaxy Nexus hit Europe last week and has even been reviewed, but believe it or not Verizon — the official carrier — has yet to announce an official date. Well apparently, Business Insiderhas said this evening that they’ve gotten official word from Verizon that the Galaxy Nexus is landing in December. Google originally made comment that the Galaxy Nexus would land sometime in November, but with only around a week left and with no official announcement from Verizon, November is running out. December seems most likely, and previous rumors are saying December 8th.
Cheap Android devices aren’t just for the Third World. The ZTE X500 Score, a prepaid handset available on Cricket, has become available for purchase on Amazon for $69.88 without a contract.
The Score packs a 3.5-inch display, 3.2-megapixel camera, 4GB of storage, and Android 2.3, Gingerbread. While we haven’t experienced Cricket firsthand, it is a subsidiary of Sprint so you should see some good speeds. This device seems ideal for youngsters or a new smartphone user with that low price tag and cheaper prepaid plan through Cricket. Or maybe you want to pick up a VoIP app and use that Wifi zone that you spend 98% of your life inside anyway.
In an interesting move by Google, the company has begun advertising their new Chrome sale right inside of Chrome’s ‘New Tab’ page. The ad, as seen above, says, “Get a Chromebook for the holidays: the computer powered by Chrome.” This comes after Google announced this afternoon a $50 price slash on both their Chromebooks. Things must be really bad in the Chromebook department to push an ad like this..
Just in time for the holidays, Google has announced a price drop for both the Samsung Series 5 and Acer AC700 Chromebooks. Both are now being dropped to $299 from $349, which still seems a little steep for what you’re getting. So why the price drop? Most likely Google isn’t seeing the type of sales they were looking for with Chrome OS and hope sales will help boost that.
Shouldn’t Google be going a little lower in price with these?
Former Googlers Robby Stein and Kevin Palms have launched a new iOS app called Stamped. Stamped is backed by Google Ventures, among other investors, and allows users to check-in to locations in a very simple way. Instead of whether you didn’t like the location, thought it was just ‘meh’, or totally loved it, Stamped uses a five star only recommendation system. If you like something you simply ‘stamp’ it. But get this — you only get a limited number of stamps to use, and earn more as your friends like your recommendations.
Stamped joins other check-in and ranking apps like the new Oink, Foursquare, and more. The ability to rank only what you only enjoy seems like a very smart idea, and throwing in the limited number of rankings makes it even better. Like any social network it’s about where your friends are, but being backed by Google this app has the chances of taking off.
Stamped is currently available on the iOS App Store for free. An Android version is also currently in development, and should hit the Android Market fairly soon. Check out a few more screenshots after the break.
Four days ago, Google released the source code for Ice Cream Sandwich, and it was inevitable hackers would get working on an ICS port for devices. One of the most popular Android handsets to date, the Galaxy S II, is one of the first outside of the Galaxy Nexus to receive Ice Cream Sandwich’s touch. The port is pretty stable, only missing Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and audio from the mix, but we expect bug fixes to be rolling out soon.
LG’s Optimus 3D is also among the first devices to receive the Ice Cream Sandwich port. The status of this port is unknown right now, but from the looks of it everything seems to be pretty smooth. Check it out after the break. (via Android and Me)
