Seth Weintraub

Not a bad looking phone, but the specs are middle of the road. Although LG has not hit home runs in last two years, its latest models show it is not giving up.

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The folks at Google Wallet cannot be too pleased about this. Long after the rollout of Google Wallet, it is still almost impossible to get the app on any phone that does not run on Sprint’s network. ISIS, a competing mobile platform, counts carriers AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon among its supporters. The group seems to block any competing mobile wallet platform on their devices…even Google’s platform.
T-Mobile Support via AndroidPolice

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Microsoft SkyDrive and its free 7GB (25GB if you signed up early) of data are now available to Android smartphone users. Initial reviews of the service/app are positive and it has to give pause to Google, who could have sewn up the DropBox-esque service industry on Android had it opened up the Google Drive service years ago.

That being said, Android users can now use a bunch of different services to store media and files in the Cloud.

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Motorola Mobility agreed to license its standards-essential patents in Germany to Apple, according to a filing on Monday (via FossPatents).

In the deal, which chiefly includes cellular standard-essential patents, Apple agreed that it is legally responsible for past damages in connection to the patents. The timeframe for the treaty’s conception is unknown at the moment, with both firms also neglecting to reveal royalty rates in the paperwork. However, the courts in Germany could determine those rates based on FRAND policies.

The admittedly biased, for-hire blogger Florian Mueller explained:

In a filing made late on Monday (August 27, 2012) with the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, the Google subsidiary has now confirmed the recent conclusion of a standard-essential patent license agreement with Apple. Under the agreement, Apple is now licensed to use some if not all of Motorola’s standard-essential patents in Germany, though the parties have not yet agreed on a FRAND royalty rate, which will ultimately have to be set by German courts unless they agree on a rate prior to its judicial determination.

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Google is serious about its Nexus 7. So serious that it is advertising the product on its front page—something that it rarely does for anything. The short animation appears below the search bar and tells searchers that” The Playground is open – The new $199 tablet from Google”.

The $199 7-inch tablet was announced at Google I/O in June, and it went on sale last month. While Google has not published sales numbers, many reports claim it is a rare hit for the problematic Android tablet platform. Yesterday, Google expanded Nexus 7 sales footprint to France, Germany and Spain.

It will be interesting to see how hard Google pushes the Nexus 7 in the face of an almost-certain iPad Mini that Apple is expected to launch in time for the holidays. So far, consumers like the ads anyway.

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Something funny just hit me. Samsung’s “pure Google” Nexus S phone was hit with a number of software infringements in the Apple trial. This is not Samsung…this is core Google Android. However, according to patent attorney Nilay Patel who now works at The Verge, these software infringements are only for older versions of Google’s Android OS.

[tweet https://twitter.com/reckless/status/240117223828619264]

So, phones with Android 2.x are infringing on Apple’s IP. Therefore, if they are upgraded to Android 4.1, they do not infringe? By that logic, carriers and manufacturers will be forced to upgrade their handsets or else face IP infringement charges. How are they doing at upgrading so far? Google’s own market share numbers from earlier this month show a small sliver of Android 4.1 devices out there.

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Perhaps this verdict is a huge win for Android-device holders. If the verdict in this Apple case forces Android manufacturers (and carriers) to update their devices or face stiff infringement penalties, clearly the Android customer comes out ahead.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8pdaEgXENE&feature=youtu.be

Oh, and Virgin is having a sale on its selection of Androids: $35 a month is probably less than you are paying now. (and it offers the iPhone for an industry low $30/month unlimited data plan)
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Amazon just announced a press conference for September 6th in Los Angeles. They really don’t do big media events outside of Hardware launches so Kindles are what we’re expecting.

Amazon last held a Kindle Event in NYC where it released the Android based Kindle Fire and a few eInk tablets.  We’re expecting a bigger Kindle Fire  –perhaps iPad sized – this year and improvements to the Fire bringing it up to date with the ASUS Nexus 7. Oh, and maybe a phone.
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[tweet https://twitter.com/bureaucreative/status/238637941889581057]

More.

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For those of you who enjoy a little Chrome in your iOS experience, Google updated Chrome today with some nice social-sharing features. Posting to Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus are all included with the ability to push pages to the email application. The additions start to bring Chrome up to par with Apple’s Mobile Safari, which still benefits from speed due to an optimized Nitro engine that sandboxed apps do not have access to.

It would not be a Chrome update without a few “stability and security improvements” and “bug fixes addressing user feedback” either.

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In a press release today, the U.S. Department of  Justice said it seized three domains associated with pirating and distributing Android apps. The three seized domain names – applanet.net, appbucket.net and snappzmarket.com – are now in the custody of the federal government and signs are posted from the FBI (below):

“Software apps have become an increasingly essential part of our nation’s economy and creative culture, and the criminal division is committed to working with our law enforcement partners to protect the creators of these apps and other forms of intellectual property from those who seek to steal it,” said Justice Department Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division Lanny A Breuer in a statement.

As PC World noted, the websites were not always on U.S. soil. French and Dutch authorities also helped with the enforcement.

It will be interesting to see if the closures curtail pirating or if the actions just move the exploitation underground. The full press release is below.
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duhdyX8IWY8&feature=player_embedded]

Google picked up Postini in 2007 to close the gap between its Gmail application and the more enterprise-ready platforms like Exchange and Lotus Notes. The service acts as an intermediary between email servers and the outside world and allows an extra layer of encryption/security/discovery/filtering that helped Gmail become the Google Apps platform many businesses now rely on. However, it appears Google is ready to move on.

Google announced it would integrate/merge Postini’s services into Google Apps/File Vault. For those who use Postini with Exchange or Lotus Notes, Google will be dumping you.

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Interestingly, Google said it would have a solution for Message Encryption that it will announce later this year. From the direction Google is going, we are likely to see that integrated into Google Apps and probably Gmail too. That would be nice.

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Let’s see—Verizon and Motorola announcing something a week before the iPhone is announced? I am thinking Droid Razr HD.
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It appears that RadioShack is going to become a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) for Cricket in the U.S. including its Muve music service. Our tipster, Kyle T, just sent some information on the HTC One V that will be carried as a pre-paid phone at RadioShack on “RadioShack Mobile”.

Look for other phones to follow soon like the Alcatel Authority (pictured above). The full One V description from RadioShack is below:

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More fun stuff surfaced today from the Apple vs. Samsung trial. Pictured above are Samsung’s sales numbers for its smartphones in the U.S. Perhaps most surprisingly is that Samsung’s best selling phone by unit number is Boost Mobile’s Samsung Prevail, which sold 2.255 million units. Finishing in second and third were the Samsung Epic 4G and the Galaxy S2 Epic Touch both on Sprint. That means Samsung’s top three devices were all on Sprint’s network.

Meanwhile, Samsung’s U.S. tablet numbers were below expectations. They totaled just over 1.4 million since the fourth quarter of 2010 (what happened to the Galaxy Tab 8.9? And I do not see the Galaxy Note phablet either above or below).

Then there were Apple’s much bigger numbers, below:

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[slideshow]

Sometimes it is fun to take a break from reviewing the newest high-end Android phones out there to see what the other end of the spectrum has to offer. Virgin announced its new low-end phone, the PCD Chaser, which is just $79.99 without signing up for a plan.

Virgin offers unlimited data 3G plans starting at $35 a month. So, you are looking at just under $500 for a year of this phone with unlimited data. That is an incredible deal for an Android 2.3 device that does not totally suck. The Chaser comes with many of the same specs as the previous Virgin-base model, the Optimus V, including a 3-megapixel camera, 800MHz processor, 3.2-inch display, and hardware buttons. The Chaser adds the new, lower $80 price tag and Android 2.3, which the low-cost folks will welcome. However, those who want to see Ice Cream Sandwich or Jelly Bean on their devices will lament (Virgin never updated the Optimus V, so do not expect this one to get an upgrade either).

It is still a remarkable little device that once retailed for $149 (but lately it is often on-sale for much less). The Optimus included a 2GB Micro-USB card, but the Chaser does not, which frankly is pretty petty. Although the phone has a low-end camera, you cannot take videos or still images until you buy a Micro-SD card. Lame. I was able to take some borderline decent pictures and movies once I popped in an SD Card. Therefore, this might actually be a step down from the Optimus V.

Otherwise, this fine Android device will be a good step up for feature phone users. Some notes:

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We will be at this:

Tune in August 15 for all the details.
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