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While we aren't going to claim benchmarks are any kind of end-all measurement for real-world performance, there's little denying many people take a lot of stock in such utilities when purchasing a new device. The new Nexus 7, which is now packing basically the same chip as the Nexus 4, should provide a major performance boost over its Tegra 3 predecessor. But just how much of a boost? Google quantified it as 1.8x CPU performance, and 4x GPU performance. Let's see what the popular holistic benchmarking app Geekbench 2 has to say about that, along with the memory benchmark Androbench.
Get excited, students - textbooks are coming to the Play Store next month, so you can get gouged digitally rather than in your university book store. This morning at an event which also featured the new Nexus 7 and Chromkey, Google announced that you'll soon be able to get some of those gigantic hardback tomes in eBook form on the Play Store, and they will presumably be viewable through the existing Play Books app.
Update: We have the official Google Play Games APK here - just pick a mirror:
Android 4.3 factory images and driver binaries for most recent Nexus devices have just been published on the Google Developers site, and chances are if you've got a new-ish Nexus, the image you're looking for is there. The Nexus 10, Nexus 4, Nexus 7 (Wi-Fi and mobile data), and Galaxy Nexus (takju / yakju variants) all have factory image downloads available right now, here.
Yes, The New Nexus 7 Will Work On AT&T, Verizon, And T-Mobile's LTE Networks - All In A Single Model
This is definitely one of the highlights of today's Nexus 7 presentation for me: multi-network LTE support in one device. No mucking about with carrier-specific models. This is really great, assuming your carrier is supported.
Google has announced the much-anticipated successor to the Nexus 7, released a little over a year ago, today at a small press conference. Hugo Barra introduced the device, which has been leaked extensively in the past month (several of those times being here, more recently).
Motorola and Verizon unveiled the newest members of the DROID family today, and I had some time to play with these freshly-minted Kevlar constructions. My initial conclusion? These phones are all really, really alike.
With no DROID 5 in sight for an unveiling at next week's Verizon festivities, it seems the writing is on the wall for the form-factor that basically got Android off the ground: the QWERTY slider phone.
The HTC One Mini has been a pretty poorly kept secret for some time now, and while it has previously been rumored as an upcoming AT&T handset, we can now all but confirm this fact - with pictures! This is the AT&T "HTC One mini," (the model name in the settings menu has 'mini' in lower-case) as leaked to us by an anonymous tipster.
The new Nexus 7 is all but imminent at this point, and it sounds like we may finally have a launch date for the much-anticipated sequel to Google's small tablet: July 20th, according to OfficeMax documents obtained by Engadget. Corroborating an earlier leak from Android Central, those same documents also allege a $270 price point for the 32GB version of the device (AC's leak also says the 16GB will be priced at $230).
Community developer LlabTooFeR has reason to believe that Android 4.2 will, in fact, be coming to HTC's One S. A series of tweets late last night between Llab and a few followers indicate that the One S "Ville" model (the version using a Snapdragon S4 processor) will receive Android 4.2 one way or another.
Late last night, AT&T began promoting its new "Next" smartphone upgrade plan in earnest. And earlier yesterday, a leaked training document revealed Verizon's "Edge" upgrade plan. Both are very obvious four-letter copies of T-Mobile's new Jump plan. Let me give you the breakdown on these Jump competitors as quickly as I can.
Droid-life has gotten its hands on some leaked Verizon employee training materials, and they reveal the existence of something called "VZ Edge" - what can only be described as Verizon's four-letter answer to T-Mobile's new Jump upgrade plan. The gist is this: Verizon will allow you to upgrade your phone every 6 months, with strings attached. Here's what we know so far.
Update: The post has now been published.
As smartphone storage capacity grows on average with each passing year, many manufacturers have begun to abandon the microSD card slot on flagship handsets. Google itself has taken multiple opportunities to trash expandable storage as a "messy" feature that, from the standpoint of the people who actually develop Android as a profession, is not worth the problems it creates.
If you haven't heard yet, Google Maps received its biggest Android update in, well, ever earlier this week. This is an all-new app in any practical sense, and it's going to take some getting used to. Not only has Google changed the way basically everything works in at least some sense of the word, it's also gone on something of a culling expedition - the new Maps app is way more streamlined and, frankly, simpler than the old one. There is less stuff.
[The Android Police Podcast] Episode 69: Sea Lion Pie (With Special Guest Pam Hill)
The Android Police Podcast: Episode 69
Welcome to the Android Police Podcast, Episode 67.
In what PhoneArena calls a "leaked internal memo," launch dates for the Verizon versions of the HTC One and the upcoming Moto X are allegedly revealed - August 1st and August 23rd, respectively. It also adds to the growing pile of evidence that the Moto X will be coming to Verizon sans-DROID branding. Is there any reason to take stock in this rather generic looking document, though?
Looking for a great deal on the 32GB version of Verizon's Galaxy S4? Well, too bad - you aren't going to find one. Big Red is hoarding the supply of handsets like they're the only bar in a dry county, and it's their way or the highway. Verizon originally announced the 32GB S4 would be available for a staggering (but utterly believable) $299 on contract, $100 more than the 16GB edition, despite the fact that it was actually only $50 more off contract.