Google is to release a tablet called the Nexus 7

Google has announced it is to release a tablet called the Google Nexus 7 soon, which has been a collaboration between Google and Asus.  This tablet will be powered by Android Jelly Bean, which is the latest version of Android to be released. The Nexus 7 will have a 7 inch screen that has a resolution of 1280-by-800 pixels resolution that represents a pixel density of 216, it’s also comes packed  with a Tegra-3 chipset, quad-core CPU,12-core GPU and 1GB of ram. These chips will provide the user with a super sleek experience what ever you choose to throw at it. The tablet also weighs in at a very reasonable 340 grams or 3/4’s of a lb. 

The other features will include NFC technology a 1.2MP front facing camera, micro phone, Wi-Fi connectivity, bluetooth support and it will be the first tablet to come preloaded with Googles Chrome browser, which has been specially optimised for a tablet. The Google Nexus 7 4325 mAh battery promises over 8 hours of running time, which is excellent.

The Google Nexus 7 can be bought for $199 (£159) for the 8GB model or $249 (£199) for 16GB.

This tablet simply blows away the competition within it’s target market, such as the Kindle fire and the the Barnes & Noble Nook tablet. It is not only lighter but it also comes in a thinner form factor too than these tablets. The nexus 7 also beats off the competition when it comes to the resolution of the screen, the resolution of 1280-by-800 pixels resolution that represents a pixel density of 216 simply cannot be matched.   This tablet is also the fastest in the field too thanks to the lightning fast 1.3GHz quad-core processor. 

This tablet offer great features for it’s price, if you buy it you will not be disappointed. Because it seems to offer what people want most in a tablet which is small form factor, great performance and battery life.

 The only negative points that can be found with this tablet is that it does not have an expandable memory slot, this could hinder the devices capability.  It’s worth also noting that Google s Android OS for tablets still does not offer the same of amount of apps as iOS does. Android does also lack in polish too compared to Apples iOS, but it is catching up fast on these fronts with Apples iOS in leaps and bounds as time goes on.     

This tablet can be now pre-ordered through Google Play. It will be available from Mid July in the US, Canada, Australia and the UK. 

Samsung Galaxy S3 is on course to sell almost 10 million phones next month

Samsung has made a statement on Monday claiming that the 

Samsung Galaxy S3 is on course to sell  10 million or more phones by July.

Samsung’s mobile business president Shin Jong-kyun says if the momentum of sales continues it could become one of the most successful phones that has ever been sold.

He goes on to say in an article in The Guardian on Monday that ”the Galaxy S3 would reach the milestone two months after its launch, and be on sale from nearly 300 mobile carriers around the world by the end of July”.

Reaching the 10 million mark will be unprecedented, considering that the phone was only launched back in May in Europe. It seems like  the phones revolutionary technology has proven to be irresistible. Who could resist the allure of the amazingly fast quad-core processor or the fantastic large Super Amoled 4.8-inch screen, which all comes in a lighter form factor than the iPhone 4S. 

However it worth pointing out that Samsung figures are not based on activations but rather on the amount of devices that have been shipped, but there should not be a large difference in the figures.

When Apple releases the iPhone 5 sometime later this year. It will be interesting to see if Apple can top the impressive sales of this device. All this will depend on how revolutionary Apples new iPhone is, going by the current rumours it is certainly going to prove to be a good match for the Samsung Galaxy S3.

Google s Nexus 7 tablet could be released this month

Google plans to release a Nexus 7 tablet  this month. According to Android Authority the release date is likely to be at the end of June and it going to be a collaboration between Google and Asus  and it will have a Nvidia’s quad-core Tegra 3 processor. It will also feature a 7 inch screen, but there has been no information on whether the screen will be LCD or amoled, it will come with Android’s next operating system pre installed which is Android Jelly Bean.

The odds of it being released at the end of June are good, because Google holds it’s annual I/O developer conference then, so there is a good chance that these rumours might have some validity. It likely to be priced around the $150-$250 range, which will make it competitive against the likes of the Kindle Fire tablet. In order for Apple to compete effectively at this end of the market, they really need to bring out their rumoured budget iPad that is supposedly coming with a 7 inch screen.

It’s doubtful the release of this tablet will make an impact within an already crowded tablet market. Windows 8 Arm powered tablets are also due for release in the near future, this will further pose a problem for Google s future Android tablet market share.

 

Google plans to introduce some major enhancements to its maps for Android users

CNN reports that Google plans to introduce some major enhancements to its maps. Google at a news conference at its San Francisco office, said that its firstly adding an option to enable Android users to be able to use its maps service offline. At present you are required to use either a wifi or a wireless data connection for the maps to work. Google says this service will be available in more than 100 countries.The offline mode option will be rolled out to Android users within a couple of weeks.

 

Speaking at Google’s news event Rita Chen, a product manager for Google said “No longer will you need paper maps,” .

 

It seems unlikely that Apple iOS users will get this upgrade, because it is rumoured that Apple is dropping Google maps in favour of its own version, Apple’s new map service is rumoured to be built into iOS 6 which is expected to be launched at the Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, which starts on June 11.   

 

Google plans to also make available a 3D option to mobile users. This will enable the mobile users to have access to more detailed 3D maps within urban areas. Peter Birch who is another project manager speaking at the news event says “We’re trying to create the illusion that you are flying over the city, almost as if you were in your own personal helicopter,”. Google also plans to extend these 3D maps by the end of the year to cover over 300 million people. At first these 3D maps will only be available within Google s Earth app for mobile devices but there is a desktop version planned for a later date.

 

All these enhancements to Google s map service look promising. Lets hope when Apple releases its own version, it can offer the same bells and whistles as the Google version does.

Source CNN

 

7.1% of all Android devices are now running Ice Cream Sandwich

Ice Cream Sandwich is now running on 7.1% of all Android devices  according to the Android Developers website on June 1, that 

Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich is now running on 7.1% of all Android devices. It has more than doubled since last April when it was reported that only 2.9% of Android devices were running ICS.

While the ICS software user base is expanding. There are problems brewing for the OS. It appears that many of the older  and lower end devices are not able to run ICS, due to the hardware of these devices not being able to cope with the newer requirements. In fact the adoption rate of Gingerbread (Android 2.3) has increased by 1.3 percent amongst older and lower end devices over the last few months alongside the growth of ICS. The Android Developers  website goes on to say that Froyo (2.2) and Gingerbread (2.3) are running on as much as 84.1% of Android devicesICS has a long way to go, before it  becomes a major player within the Androids eco system. This will not help Google’s fragmentation issue which appears to be growing day by day.

On a more positive note most of Google’s Android high end and mid end devices are now receiving or have received the new OS update.  Samsung devices such as the,Galaxy Tab Galaxy S2 LTE, and the Galaxy Note have all received Android 4.0 aka ICS. The Galaxy S3 even now coming with ICS.

Sony has now updated most of it’s high end and mid end Xperia range phones with the exception the Sony Xperia Play, which will not be getting it, due to hardware issues.

Htc has plans to rollout ICS soon to its high end devices such as the EVO 3DIncredible SSensation XLDesire S and the Desire  HD.

Other manufactures such as LG, Asus and Viewsonic are planing soon to implement ICS. 


No Ice Cream Sandwich update for the Sony Xperia Play

Sony decides to cancel the Xperia Play Android 4.0 update. The reason for this seems to be down to stability issues.

They cited in blog post  ”In regards to Xperia Play, after extensive in house testing with our developer teams and working with our partners, we have concluded that a consistent and stable experience, particularly with gaming, cannot be guaranteed for this smart phone on Ice Cream Sandwich – therefore, we will not make the Android 4.0 upgrade available for Xperia Play.”

The developer community and game content providers are reporting the same issues with the beta ICS ROM that was released for the Xperia Play by Sony for developers and game content providers to test

This will come as blow for Sony Xperia Play owners, because the device is not even a year old.  This problem relates to the over fragmentation of Android. As Android grows and runs on more and more devices, the problem of software stability issues will grow even further.  Google needs to go down the IOS root more, by having a stricter policy on device uniformity. 

Samsung Galaxy S3 has received over 9 million pre-orders

Samsung’s latest version of its flagship phone has received over 9 million pre-orders for Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone from more than 100 global carriers in just a week after it was announced according to the  Korea Economic Daily.

These sales are quite staggering, the Samsung Galaxy S3 took around six months to sell 10 million phones and 11 months to sell 20 million,” according to the MailOnline., This looks like it could be a match for the iphone 5 which is likely to be released in a few months time. Apple at the moment are predicting poor Q3 results, due to people waiting until the iphone 5 get released.

The phone will first go on sale on May 29 in Europe and then it will be slowly released  to other countries around the world. The US is set to receive it on June 1 and it will be available on all carriers.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 wireless charging dock delayed

Bad news for those waiting to buy the Samsung Galaxy S3 with the revolutionary wireless charging dock. A website called Mobile Fun has revealed that it will not be released until September accoring to an inside source. The article stated: “We have no further info at the moment on this – unfortunately the latest date for release is approx Sept. 2012.”
This minor hiccup will not prove to be too much of a problem for Samsung, due to the other ground breaking features that this phone will have to offer both on the hardware and software side. 

The Samsung Galaxy S3 Launched in London

The Samsung Galaxy S3 has been launched today at an Apple-style launch party at the Earls Court auditorium in London. The specifications of the phone will blow the competition out of the water that is at least until the iPhone 5 gets released either in June or October if you listen to the rumours about the new device.

The Galaxy SIII will run on Androids latest operating system, which is Android 4 (ICS) which has many extra software features built in to it. It is t0 have a 4.8″ screen, 1.4 Ghz quad-core processor, 64gb internal memory, which the high end model will get, NFC payments technology,eight mp camera and a front facing 1.9 mp camera with face recognition.The phone is to also get a voice control system similar to the iPhone’s Siri system, which will be called S voice.  A wireless charging kit will be included with the phone that will remove the clutter of wires.

The 4.8″ screen is going to consist of a Super AMOLED  screen with a  resolution of  1280 x 720p which will blow the competition out of the water.

The camera is said to be equal to the iphone 4S and the Samsung Galaxy S2, but this cannot be guaranteed until we see some independent tests done to varify this.

The phone is going to launch on May 29 in Europe, and in 10 other cities worldwide including Tokyo and Dubai. The US release date has not announced been yet.

Samsung Galaxy S Advance UK release on April 30

The Samsung Galaxy S Advance is to be released in the UK on April 30 Samsung has confirmed, which is a little behind Russia which is the first place it débuts.

 

It will be a beefed up version of the 2010’s Galaxy S according to Samsung. The specifications are likely to be between the the Galaxy S and Galaxy S II. It is expected to feature a dual-core 1.0GHz processor, 16 gb of storage, 768MB of RAM, a curved 4-inch Super 480×800-pixel display. But the camera specs are likely to disappoint, it is to get only a 5 Megapixel Auto Focus Camera with LED Flash. The operating system is likely to disappoint too.  It is only to come with Android Version 2.3 (Gingerbread) rather than Ice Cream Sandwich which is currently being rolled out to many of the high to mid end Android devices.

 

To sum up the device it is a mix bag on the spec side of things. But if you have an old Samsung Galaxy S it is worth the upgrade, because you will benefit from the new faster dual core 1.0GHz processor and a LED flash which the Samsung Galaxy S did not have.