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).
On the Lat-Long Blog today, Google announced it is making new features available in the latest version of Google Earth including the tour guide and 3D imagery it rolled out to the mobile apps in July. Google Earth 7 for the desktop now includes “comprehensive and accurate tours of more than 11,000 popular sites around the world, including our growing list of cities where new 3D imagery is available.” Google is also rolling out more accurate 3D imagery for new areas:
In addition, Google Earth 7 now includes the comprehensive, accurate 3D imagery we’ve already made available on Android and iOS for Boulder, Boston, Charlotte, Denver, Lawrence, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Portland, San Antonio, San Diego, Santa Cruz, Seattle, Tampa, Tucson, Rome and the San Francisco Bay Area (including the Peninsula and East Bay). And today, we’re adding more 3D imagery for a handful of metropolitan regions including Avignon, France; Austin, Texas; Munich, Germany; Phoenix, Arizona; and Mannheim, Germany.
Google is updating its Google Translate service with a few new features today. Among the new features is grouped clusters of synonyms for easier viewing, and frequency indicators that mark translations as “common, uncommon, or rare”. Google also explained a new “reverse translations” feature:
Our users often tell us that they check our translations by translating them back into their original language. Reverse translations can distinguish translations of different meanings and reveal subtle differences among similar words. Each translation is now annotated with its most frequent reverse translations.
The new grouped synonyms will initially only be available when translating into English, but Google said more languages will be added soon. Google also described how the frequency indicators will work: Expand Expanding Close
We knew that Google Play carrier billing would be available “in the coming weeks” for Verizon customers when Google confirmed on Twitter earlier this month. Today direct billing is officially rolling out to Verizon users with the new payment option now available form the Google Play store billing page pictured above (via AndroidPolice). Direct carrier billing is already available to most other Android users in the U.S. on AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile. No word yet on whether or not Verizon will employ the rumored $25 limit for direct billing. Expand Expanding Close
If you’re using Google Search or Maps on desktop and mobile you’ll see an AMBER Alert if you search for related information in a particular location where a child has recently been abducted and an alert was issued. You’ll also see an alert if you conduct a targeted search for the situation. By increasing the availability of these alerts through our services, we hope that more people will assist in the search for children featured in AMBER Alerts and that the rates of safe recovery will rise.
Google explained the alert could include information about an abducted child or additional details including “make and model of the vehicle he/she was abducted in or information about the alleged abductor.” It also said it is working with other organizations, such as Missing Children Europe and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, to roll out alerts to other countries as well. Google has partnered with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in order to display the AMBER alert data: Expand Expanding Close
As we covered earlier today, Google is getting ready to introduce a brand new lineup of Nexus branded devices for the holidays and to accompany the launch is Android 4.2. We already got a good look at some of the features in this latest version of Jelly Bean in a promo video and walkthrough with Google engineers, but Google has a full run down of what’s new in 4.2 on its Android website here. It also posted the video above showing off the new Photo Sphere camera experience.
One of the biggest new features that Google is talking about is the new Photo Sphere camera mode. It allows users to snap pictures in every direction “that come together into incredible, immersive photo spheres that put you right inside the scene.” You can check out photo spheres from a few photographers here.
Some of the other features included in 4.2: enhancements to the lockscreen with widgets and camera access, Miracast wireless display support, multi-user support on tablets, and improvements to Google Now and accessibility. Google explained the multi-user support available to tablet users:
It’s your fully customized tablet. And theirs, too. With support for multiple users, you can give each person their own space. Everyone can have their own homescreen, background, widgets, apps and games – even individual high scores and levels! And since Android is built with multitasking at its core, it’s a snap to switch between users – no need to log in and out. Available only on tablets.
Android 4.2 also includes a smarter keyboard with Gesture Typing: Expand Expanding Close
There have been several leaks of Google and Samsung’s joint venture into the 10-inch tablet space —during the anticipation for the unveiling of Google’s slew of new Android products (whenever that may be)—dubbed the “Nexus 10“. Adding to thd leaks yesterday, BriefMobile posted a brief video showing off the Nexus 10’s over-all structure. Past the overview, nothing is really shocking here. It looks like we’re seeing the same dual-core Samsung Exynos 5250 processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, a 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, which we’ve seen over the last week. We hope you like a little bezel with your tablet.
Google Senior Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra posted some vacation photos to his Google+ (via AndroidCentral) page that appear to have been snapped by a yet-to-be unveiled Samsung Nexus 10. Some information that we learn about the tablet’s camera specs: the image is shot at 2,048-by-1,536 resolution (3.1 megapixels), which is rather low, but that’s likely because Google+ resized the images. It seems unlikely Vic would post images from another device with the camera listed as “Nexus 10,” but we’ll know for sure on Monday when Google is expected to announce the Nexus 10 alongside the new LG Nexus 4 in New York.
The filing, as first discovered by Galaxus (translated), detailed a codenamed “ME370tg” ASUS device. This, of course, would point to Google’s ASUS-made Nexus 7.
Another noteworthy aspect to the filing is that the ME370TG will receive certification Oct. 29. This date should probably sound familiar, as it is also the day of Google’s upcoming New York City event.
Unfortunately, the 3G-enabled Nexus 7 does not appear to sport LTE connectivity.
Apparently, keeping secrets isn’t in Google’s DNA. Following a leak of the LG Nexus 4 this morning, ahead of Google’s press event on Monday, we now get a look at what appears to be the support manual for the rumored Samsung-built Nexus 10 tablet. The Verge pointed us to these pair of images from Korean website Seeko, showing some basic specs for the 10-inch tablet.
It’s not clear if these images are legitimate. Moreover, unfortunately, we don’t learn much from the images. If they are the real deal, it appears the new Nexus 10 will sport a design much different from the current Nexus 7 lineup. As you can see in the images above, the placement of the volume rockers, and other components, line up with the Galaxy Note 10.1, but the sides of the device in landscape orientation appear to have a slight curve. None of the specs listed that we can see are surprising, including: a micro USB port, headphone jack, LED indicator, micro HDMI port, and a back camera with flash. We’ll be at Google’s event in New York on Monday where we hope to get a better look at the new device.
Google is set to take the stage this Monday in New York City for what many expect will be the launch of the new LG Nexus 4, among other things. Just a few days before the event, U.K. retailer Carphone Warehouse is now listing the device, specs, and more, as well as accepting pre-orders with a delivery date of Oct. 30. The phone is listed as being free with a two-year contract through Vodafone or O2 UK. This isn’t the first time the retailer has leaked a device prior to launch, but it’s always a possibility the details will change.
Many of the specs listed on the retailer’s website seem to line up with previous leaks, including: 2GB of RAM, a 320ppi HD display similar to the Optimus G, a 1.5 GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor, and 8-megapixel camera. The website lists the device as shipping with Jelly Bean rather than Key Lime Pie, but the new OS is expected to be unveiled during Google’s media event on Monday. Other specs listed include 8GB of storage, 1080p@30fps video, and NFC. There is of course no telling how legit this, but the retailer does appear to be pretty confident. U.K. readers can pre-order the device now through Carphone Warehouse, with an expected delivery date of Oct. 30. We’ll be on hand in New York on Monday to bring you live coverage of the event.
Google announced today on its Inside AdWords blog that it will now allow AdWords users to track iOS downloads from in-app display ads, a feature that was previously only available for Android app downloads. Google said iOS conversion tracking allows advertisers to “better understand which campaigns are most effective at driving app downloads.”
The feature allows marketers to track downloads that originate from “in-app” display ads, meaning the iOS conversion tracking feature at this point doesn’t include app downloads driven by Google Search or Google Display Network ads. For iOS app downloads, Google explained marketers will have to go through a couple extra steps, requiring them install an SDK, grab a code snippet from their AdWords account, and then install it into their app. The same feature is currently available to Android as a codeless solution requiring users to simply create a new conversion in their account.
Tracking downloads of an iOS app requires integrating a small SDK into your app and pasting a small snippet of code in your app’s didFinishLaunchingWithOptions method to call the SDK.
Full instructions from Google on setting up iOS conversion tracking are below: Expand Expanding Close
BusinessInsider pointed us to an interesting update to the Google Wallet website today: Google is now advertising “the next version” of its mobile wallet app and providing a link a to request an invite. The website has a link to “Request an invite” for when the new version is ready, but even more interesting is what happens after users do so. After clicking the link, Google asks users to select the type of mobile device they use. The three options include: Android, iOS, and Other.
There is no details regarding what might be included in the next generation of the Wallet service, but many are speculating Google might have plans to extend some portion of the Google Wallet app to iOS and possibly other devices. An iPhone version of Google Wallet would of course not include the NFC capabilities that have limited the service to select Android devices, but perhaps it could provide some type of integration with Apple’s Passbook feature on iOS? We have requested an invite to the new version of Wallet, and we will keep you updated when we learn more.
Google also announced today that Google Wallet is now available to Galaxy S III users on MetroPCS:
Google launched its new ARM-powered Chromebook last week with two years of 100GB Google Drive storage and 12 Gogo in-air, Wi-Fi passes for free, and it even published FAQ pages so folks could access the perks in just a few quick steps.
Here’s how to claim the 100GB of Google Drive storage:
Log into your Chromebook (ARM-powered Chromebook, Samsung Chromebook Series 5 550, or Samsung Chromebox Series 3 only).
Update to to the latest version of Chrome OS (Chrome OS 23 required).
Go to the Google Drive offer page, and the 100GB will soon load in your account (Google will verify the Chrome OS device—only one deal per Google account).
The Association of Newspapers in Brazil is not happy with Google News, as it recently opted out of the free news aggregator, over complaints that Google crops news headlines and lede paragraphs for the decade-old service without permission nor monetary reimbursement.
The 154-member ANJ roughly equals 90 percent of Brazil’s newspaper circulation. The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas reported on a dispute that occurred earlier this week between an ANJ member’s lawyer and a Google executive at the American Press Association General Assembly in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The contention apparently “fueled one of the most intense debates during the Inter American Press Association’s 68th General Assembly.”
On one side of the debate were defenders of news companies’ authoring rights like German attorney Felix Stang, who said, “platforms like Google’s compete directly with newspapers and magazines because they work like home pages and use content from them.”
On the other, Google representatives said their platform provides a way to make journalistic content available to more people. According to Marcel Leonardi, the company’s public policies director, Google News channels a billion clicks to news sites around the world.
ANJ president Carlos Fernando Lindenberg Neto specifically told the Knight Center that providing the “first few lines of our stories to internet users, (Google) reduces the chances that they will look at the entire story in our websites.”
Google Public Policy Director Marcel Leonardi refuted Neto’s comment during the IAPA debate, claiming if the reader is “satisfied with the small blurb (we offer), that means the story did not call his attention that much.”
Image via <a href="//www.engadget.com">Engadget</a>
According to a listing on Amazon and Samsung’s website, a 3G version of the new Chromebook is also available for $329.99. When the latest Chrome OS laptop was announced yesterday, there was no mention. However, it is now available for all to pre-order. Besides 3G technology, specs remain the same on the Chromebook. It packs an 11.6-inch screen, 16GB of storage, 2GB of RAM, and Bluetooth. Like the previous versions of the Chromebook, the new 3G version will be bundled with two free years of 100MB of data per month from Verizon. [The Verge]
After rumors over the last week, Google confirmed this evening that Verizon Wireless customers will be able to buy Google Play content from their Verizon account. Google tweeted:
Hey @Verizon Customers! Pay for Google Play apps, music and more on your phone bill. We’re rolling this out over the coming weeks. Enjoy!
Droid Life pointed out that there could be a $25 limit set for how much can be charged to a Verizon account each month. We will know more as this feature rolls out to Verizon customers!
During the Q3 2012 earnings call, Google software engineer Amit Singh just elaborated on the company’s enterprise business via Google+ (text version below):
The latest on Enterprise business @ Google from #google earnings. More Fortune 500 companies are #gonegoogle
Our Enterprise business continues to grow at an astounding pace as more and more companies and schools ‘Go Google’ and move to the cloud. We saw especially strong traction in the retail sector with Dillard’s, Kohl’s, Office Depot all using Google’s enterprise products. In education, there are over 20M students, faculty and staff now on Google Apps, including Princeton, Virginia Tech, and the Philippines Department of Education, which has over 600,000 users. And with the launch of Google+ for enterprise customers, organizations of all sizes including Kaplan and Banshee Wines are starting to use our Hangouts and other tools to work together and get things done from anywhere.
Google Apps features several cloud-based Web applications that are similar to traditional office suites. The services vary per edition but generally include: Docs, Gmail, Calendar, Talk, Sites, Groups, Video, and Marketplace. Google Apps’ popularity among businesses and academicians has rapidly increased due to enhanced sharing features, accessibility, and cost.
Google has encouraged businesses and educational institutions to go Google with Google Apps since May as part of its “Go Google” campaign.
During Google’s financial call today, which we have full coverage of in our liveblog, CEO Larry Page revealed that Google’s run rate for mobile is now at $8 billion. That is quite the increase from the $2.5 billion it announced last year:
This time last year I announced that our run-rate for mobile advertising hit $2.5 billion. That seemed like a pretty big number — even for Google. Now we have built up additional mobile revenue from users paying for content and apps in Google Play. Including these new sources grossed up, I can announce our new run-rate for mobile is now over $8 billion. That’s quite a business
However, CFO Patrick Pichette added that its run rate for the quarter also included ads and Google Play content revenue. Not surprisingly, the company noted the majority of that $8 billion figure comes mostly from ads. During the call, Page also confirmed there are still roughly 1.3 million Android activations daily: Expand Expanding Close
Beginning at 4:30PM EST, we’ll be getting the full break-down of Google’s earnings for the third fiscal quarter. In an odd turn of events, Google released its earnings early this afternoon due to a screwup with its SEC filing. The screwup caused Google to close down its stock for the better part of the afternoon, causing a steep drop. Google may discuss the situation on the call… stay tuned after the break:
Google’s Director of Product Management, Hunter Walk, who works specifically on YouTube, just gave Bloomberg a brief insight into his latest project made possible by the company’s famous 20 percent time.
Walk manages roughly a dozen engineers at YouTube, but he also utilizes Google’s 20 percent time—a time Google freely allots to employees every week for side projects— to mold YouTube into a platform for social causes and change, and not just a resource for endless cat videos.
“There is a real desire for YouTube to be a global classroom and a global town square, not just a global living room,” said Walker to Bloomberg in an interview.
Over the past year, Walk has been quietly evangelizing within Google for his initiative called YouTube for Good. He has convinced about a fifth of YouTube’s 1,000 or so employees, as well as some from Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California, to set aside a chunk of their time to build online tools used by organizations including the United Nations World Food Program and Charity: Water.
YouTube for Good also made it possible to live stream last year’s AIDS symposium by the ONE Campaign, and it developed innovative tools like automatic face blurring to protect protest activists in YouTube videos. Aside from YouTube for Good, Google Reader, Gmail, and Google News are a few of the many successful side projects created with Google’s 20 percent time program.
The new Chromebook is a great computer at any price, but it’s an incredible computer at $249. It’s one of the lightest laptops on the market. You can easily carry it around all day—it’s 2.5 pounds, a mere 0.8 inches thick, with more than 6 hours of battery life for the typical user. And with 100 GB of free storage on Google Drive*, you can get to all of your stuff anytime, anywhere.
Even with its compact design, it’s packed with performance—it boots up in less than 10 seconds and resumes instantly. High-resolution videos (in 1080p) are beautiful to watch and when using the touchpad, you’ll notice smooth scrolling due to a hardware-accelerated user interface. And as you‘d expect from a Chromebook, it’s easy to share with others. Everyone—mom, dad, grandparents, tech lovers, tech haters—can have separate accounts where all of their stuff is kept safe. Finally, if you’re an active Google user of products like Gmail, Drive, Search, Maps, YouTube, Play or Google+ Hangouts, everything just works seamlessly.
The new Chromebook weighs a little less than 2.5 pounds, but it boasts the same 6.5-hour battery life. The screen, however, is 0.5-inches smaller with a 1,366-by-768-pixel resolution. The most notable difference in Google’s thinner Chromebook is the Samsung Exynos 5250 dual-core processor inside, and it features a Cortex-A15 chip that reportedly runs 1080p video and ChromeOS pretty well. GigaOm’s Kevin C. Tofel even noted the overall performance is “comparable to the Intel-powered Chromebook I have, but perhaps a half-step behind; at least in my few hours of using the device.”
This is finally a compelling offer at $249—as long as the hardware is fast. It looks like a base-line MacBook Air (and will surely draw criticism for that) for a quarter of the price. Again, so long as it performs, I don’t think Google will have a problem selling them to its intended audience: grandparents, kids, and as second or third computers for those who are heavy Google service users, and companies that need cheap mobile workstations.
Update: More reviews are starting to come in and unfortunately many are complaining about slowness. Not surprising for a $249 machine but clearly not for power users.
