Android

Samsung has apparently announced that the Galaxy S4 is now the company’s fastest selling smartphone ever in an official statement from “an executive at the company” posted by Chosun.com. While we don’t get any specific sales numbers by region or carrier, the company reportedly said that it had shipped around four million units of the device to partners worldwide by the end of April, just five days after launching the device:

“As of the end of April, we supplied four million Galaxy S4 handsets to telecommunication operators around the world,” an executive at the company said on Friday.

In comparison, it took the previous generation Galaxy S3 around 21 days to accomplish the same.

The statement continued by noting that Samsung had reached 6 million devices sold by last Friday and plans to “break the 10-million mark by as early as the end of this month.”
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In March, Fortune reported that Google had signed up Warner Music for an online music service similar but not identical to the popular Spotify service. Today, Greg Sandoval at The Verge is reporting that Universal and Sony Music have also signed on and the service will be launched tomorrow at Google I/O:

When Google rolls out the new services tomorrow at I/O, it will mean that it gets the jump on Apple, which is also trying to launch a new streaming-music service. According to reports, Google’s subscription services would resemble Spotify, and offer on-demand songs that would be streamed to their PCs and mobile devices. In contrast, Apple is working on an online radio service that is said to be more akin to Pandora, the top webcaster.

Google comes to these negotiations as a powerful player in music. While Google Play is still a relatively new service, insiders say YouTube is a juggernaut. The user-generated video site sees more than 800 million unique visitors a month and music videos are among the most popular fare.

I may not have exotic taste in music but I’ve never not been able to find whatever I want to listen to on YouTube. Google already owns the space and an advertising-based version of YouTube streaming is just a GUI change in my book.
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Update: NVIDIA has moved the pre-order date up to today because their “partners are so excited about SHIELD.”

Back in January NVIDIA introduced its handheld Android gaming system, SHIELD, and most people reacted to this ambitious project with skepticism. Today NVIDIA moved closer to silencing their critics by announcing preorders and delivery details for the device. Beginning today, gamers can preorder the SHIELD for $349 via an exclusive offer, all others will have to wait until next Monday. To be eligible for the the early-access preorder you must sign up to be notified of SHIELD news and updates. NVIDIA is targeting a June release date with availability at Newegg, GameStop, Micro Center and Canada Computers.

SHIELD gamers will have access to the NVIDIA TegraZone, Google Play and Steam digital gaming stores, while they can grab their movies, music and apps from the Google Play Store. As expected from a hardcore graphics company, NVIDIA has packed this handheld with some serious firepower including the Tegra 4 processor which is claimed to be “the world’s fastest mobile processor.” The SHIELD also features a console-grade controller, 5-inch, 720p retinal multi-touch display and built-in 802.11n WiFi. Only time will tell if the emergence of dedicated Android gaming devices will pressure Apple into creating their own.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93L_lo-s5rU?list=PLZHnYvH1qtOaufFa3lSxQMGqExnU85QYD]

Although BlackBerry has been rumored to bring its BBM messaging platform to iOS and other devices before, today the company has made things official announcing at its event that support for both iOS and Android will be arriving in the coming months. The service, which BlackBerry says currently has about  60 million monthly active users, will come to devices running iOS 6 and Android 4.0 or above when it’s launched as a free app sometime this summer in the App Store and Google Play.

The company said that it would be bringing messaging and groups functionality to new platforms first but also has plans to introduce voice features, screen sharing, and its just announced “social engagement platform” dubbed ‘Channels’ in future releases. BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins said the company is “committed to making the BBM experience on other platforms as fully featured” as possible:
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While the report is a little bit on the light side with specific details regarding the product, a new report from AndroidAuthority claims that a source has revealed details about a Google smartwatch as well as new updates coming to Gmail and Maps apps on Android.

According to the report, which seems to provide more questions than answers, the Android smartwatch has been floating around Google offices in Berlin, Manchester, and more recently Mountain View, which it claims signals “the watch is set for release sometime soon.” The last we heard from analysts is that Google smartwatch is scheduled for 2014 at earliest, but AndroidAuthority already claims to have details on the device:

While noting that “Functionality will be very much like Glass,” the report claims Google’s smartwatch is “not a standalone device yet” and that “It needs to be tethered to a smartphone.”

We don’t expect to see a Google smartwatch on show at Google I/O this month, and the report doesn’t offer up much in the way of confident predictions for when we might. The report added that sources say Google’s Motorola will be manufacturing the smartwatch.

Also included in the report is info on updates that are apparently coming to Google’s Maps and Gmail apps on Android devices in the near future. AndroidAuthority describes redesigned apps that will apparently borrow a lot from the most recent versions of Google’s apps on iOS:
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BGR this morning said that AT&T wasn’t happy with the HTC First, the phone with the Facebook Home built in.

BGR has confirmed that HTC and Facebook’s little experiment is nearing its end. BGR has learned from a trusted source that sales of the HTC First have been shockingly bad. So bad, in fact, that AT&T has already decided to discontinue the phone.

Business Insider hears the same.  The chatter likely increased after AT&T dropped the price of the First to essentially Free last week.  An AT&T spokesperson just told us:

“As mentioned previously, we do pricing promotions all the time and have made no decisions on future plans.”

Clearly there is wiggle room on both sides here but no one can say that Facebook’s venture has been successful so far.
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We recently delivered a comprehensive summary of everything we know about Google’s rumored Motorola X Fon, and today is looks like a device labeled Motorola XT1058 has appeared in official FCC filings as discovered by AndroidGuys.com.

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Google today is showing off a new way for content creators online to provide content recommendations to readers viewing their site through mobile devices. The new content recommendations feature is not so surprisingly powered by Google+ and will allow users to access related content for the page they are currently visiting through a small notification that appears as they browse. To access the recommendations, users can enable the feature on Android devices running 2.3.3 and above and also on iOS devices running Chrome or Safari on iOS 5 or later. Site owners can implement the feature by dropping in a single line of code.

Google explained how it creates the recommendations based on Google+ activity and also showed the new feature in action in the video above posted to its Developers YouTube channel:
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I’m not going to lie, this is a bit depressing. Among other boilerplate-type of answers to good questions that Wired’s Steven Levey threw at him, Sundar Pinchai said:

What can we expect from I/O this year?

It’s going to be different. It’s not a time when we have much in the way of launches of new products or a new operating system. Both on Android and Chrome, we’re going to focus this I/O on all of the kinds of things we’re doing for developers, so that they can write better things. We will show how Google services are doing amazing things on top of these two platforms.

We’ll be on hand this week to see exactly what that means.

Some other tidbits from the interview: On Firefox OS: “It isn’t surprising. If we don’t do ChromeOS, someone else will”. On Google-branded hardware: “Any hardware projects we do will be to push the ecosystem forward”.
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Following their announcement of the new “Coins” virtual currency, Amazon has given all Kindle Fire owners 500 coins for free, a $5 value.  Coins can be used by Kindle Fire owners to purchase apps, in-app purchases, and other content from the Amazon Appstore.  This generous offer by Amazon will result in them giving away “tens of millions of dollars’ worth of Amazon Coins” to Kindle Fire owners.  The 500 free Amazon Coins should already be in your account if you are eligible for the giveaway.

This promotion comes just hours after Amazon’s Kindle Fire Mother’s Day sale has ended.

Full letter from Amazon C.E.O Jeff Bezos below:

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TkKJR38nEgE

You may not want an HTC First Facebook Android phone but your mom probably does. So AT&T and 9to5Google are giving you a chance to win one with no contract or obligations (You can also get one ON CONTRACT for $1).

Mother’s Day is right around the corner and AT&T is celebrating moms with a fun, shareable video e-card for a special edition of the popular “It’s Not Complicated” campaign. In a new rendition of the commercial that will air Friday through Sunday, mediator Beck Bennett strays from his usual, “what’s better, bigger or smaller?” and instead asks, “who gives the best hugs?” to a unanimous response – mom does! The video e-card can be personalized, offering consumers a simple Mother’s Day themed e-card video, with Beck and the kids, to share with mom via social media (Twitter, Facebook, email). Make your own personalized version of the “It’s Not Complicated, Moms are the Best” video e-card at ATTMothersDay.com.   

You know the rules: To enter, simply follow @9to5Google and retweet this post telling us why your mom would love an HTC First Facebook phone.

We’ll pick the winner on Mother’s Day.

Update: We have a winner!

https://twitter.com/antwonw/status/333672048553508865

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KGI Securities analyst Mingchi Kuo, who has been known to have accurate information regarding Apple product launches in the past, is out today with a new note that includes some surprisingly specific specs for upcoming products from Google. One of the products Kuo expects to see at Google I/O later this month is a new Nexus 7, but the note also included info on what he thinks Google has in store for the months after the event, including: an Android powered notebook, a new TV product, and even a Google smart watch.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about an Android-powered notebook over the years, and just last month Intel executives confirmed that the majority of its new sub-$200 notebooks running on its mobile Atom CPU will be Android based. However, according to Mingchi, don’t expect to see the notebooks making an appearance at I/O this year. That’s because Android 5.0 won’t be ready to show off at I/O, says Kuo, but vendors such as Samsung will apparently move first with Android 4.x powered notebooks coming within 3-4 months:

Android Book – Android Book won’t be introduced at the upcoming Google I/O as development of Android 5.0, which is targeted at NB, is incomplete. We think Android Book featuring Android.4x will be rolled out in the coming 3-4 months because some brand vendors, like Samsung (Korea), want to move first. But shipments will be limited as the current Android OS isn’t well supported for laptops.

As for Google’s rumored over-the-top TV content business, Mingchi says an Apple TV-like competitor is on the way but delays due to a change to Nvidia Tegra from TI OMAP means we likely won’t see it at I/O. Kuo also said in his note to clients today that he expects Google to launch a smart watch-like wearable device alongside Google Glass, but it apparently won’t go into mass production until next year:
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Well-connected Analyst Mingchi Kuo from KGI securities is known for his often accurate predictions (timing notwithstanding) of upcoming Apple products.  He’s got a detailed report out today on the new Nexus 7 that he thinks will be announced at Google I/O and could ship as early as June or July in large numbers.

Perhaps the most interesting bit is that the entry level price will  remain at US$199, with Google likely to lose US$5-10 per unit sold according to the analyst. Why is keeping the same price interesting? Because this thing is getting supercharged according to Kuo:

It will be interesting to see how close to the current display size the new screen is. 1920×1200 is a 16:10 screen ratio just like the current 1280×800 but enlarging it a few points would go a long way in making it more competitive with Apple’s 7.9-inch iPad Mini, and with the shrunken bezel size, Asus could keep the same handheld form factor.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon is working to expand its hardware offerings, this year, beyond the Kindle e-readers and tablets (like the Kindle Fire). According to the new report, Amazon is working on two smartphones, including a high-end model with a 3D display. Like other smartphones currently on the market, this display could be interacted with via a user’s eyes:

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You can now download at the Play Store with a lot of new features this year:

Research firm Canalys is out today with its latest report tracking worldwide smart mobile device shipments for Q1 with Android accounting for almost 60% of smart mobile devices shipped by OS. That’s compared to a 19.3% share for Apple and approximately 18.1% for Microsoft. Keep in mind Canalys’s report also includes notebooks, in addition to tablets and smartphones, which account for the majority of Microsoft’s share. When looking at tablets alone, Apple continued its lead with 46.4% share in the quarter, although Canalys warned Apple “lost share to its Android-based rivals for the third consecutive quarter.”

‘Spearheaded by Google and Amazon, the commoditization of the tablet market has happened far quicker than that of the wider PC market,’ said Canalys Senior Analyst, Tim Coulling. ‘Profit margins are being squeezed and vendors without a low cost structure will find it hard to compete. A solid range of must-have accessories and a software and services strategy are vital as vendors will increasingly need to make revenue around their devices.’

When it comes to smartphones, the report has Android at roughly 75.6% of shipments with around 32% of those shipments coming from Samsung. We know Apple sold around 37 million iPhones in the quarter but, as always, we warn that the stats from Canalys don’t include shipped vs sold data. 
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Google has updated its Android Translate app with a new Phrasebook feature to store some translated phrases that users want to keep quickly accessible. Phrasebook can easily sync via your Google Account’s login credentials.

When you’re traveling in another country, you want quick access to your favorite translated phrases—whether it’s “Where can I find a museum?” or “Do you know where the bathroom is?” Google Translate lets you save these translations in your Phrasebook, but you still could not easily access them on the go from your phone or tablet. Starting today, you can automatically sync the phrases in your Phrasebook to your Android device using the Google Translate mobile app, so you can carry your most useful phrases with you wherever you go.

 Additionally, Google has added support for 16 new languages for camera-input translations.

Last but not least, this latest release of Google Translate for Android sees a significant improvement to the camera-input feature. You can now use camera-input to find translations in 16 additional languages: Bulgarian, Catalan, Danish, Estonian, Finnish, Croatian, Hungarian, Indonesian, Icelandic, Lithuanian, Latvian, Norwegian, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, and Swedish.

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After reports last year that Google Wallet’s co-founding engineer Rob von Behren had left the company to join competitor Square, Google today confirmed it has now lost another important employee related to its mobile payment efforts.

Google provided the following statement to VentureBeat, confirming that Osama Bedier, who was up until today chief of the company’s Google Wallet business, will be leaving the company “this year to pursue other opportunities.” Bedier joined Google back in 2011 after leaving eBay.

“We can confirm that Osama Bedier has decided to leave Google this year to pursue other opportunities,” said spokesman Nate Tyler. “He’s achieved a lot during his time here and we wish him all the best in his next endeavor. “

Google made a point of noting that it remains committed to making payments easier for users despite Bedier’s departure:
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