Google - 27/41 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

May

Google Now Offering Galaxy Nexus Accessories Through The Play Store

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Galaxy Nexus, Google, News

After surprising (and delighting) users by selling the acclaimed Galaxy Nexus directly from the Play Store (at a substantially reduced price), Google has upped the ante, offering a trio of handy Samsung-branded Nexus accessories for purchase starting today.

For now, customers can choose from Samsung's slick Vehicle Dock ($54.00) which includes a car charger, the HDMI Portrait Desktop Dock ($49.00), or the Desktop Dock ($54.00) with pogo pin connectors and a 3.5mm audio jack.

While these reasonably-priced accessories are certainly enticing, Google reminds customers that they "will only work with the HSPA+ version of the Galaxy Nexus (as sold on the Google Play store)." This of course means that those with a Galaxy Nexus connected to either Sprint or Verizon looking for Samsung-branded accessories will have to look elsewhere (it's worth noting that Samsung offers similar accessories for the Nexus' CDMA/LTE variants).

May

[Updated] An ASUS Nexus Tegra 3 Tablet Called Nexus 7 Has Potentially Been Outed - Shows Android Jelly Bean Is Version 4.1

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, ASUS, Google, Jelly Bean 4.1, News, Rumors

According to Rightware's Power Board benchmark result site (see #11; the benchmark in question is Basemark ES2.0 Taiji), a long-rumored device has popped up in a result database: the much-awaited Nexus tablet. Here's the additional raw info you don't see in the benchmark that we were able to acquire from Rightware:

"os": {

"android": {

   "model": "Nexus 7",

   "hardware": "grouper",

   "manufacturer": "asus",

   "device": "grouper",

   "brand": "google",

   "display": "XXXXXX-userdebug 4.1 JRN51B 3XXXXX dev-keys",

   "version_sdk": "4.1",

   "board": "grouper",

   "version_code": "1"

}

}

Note: strings replaced with XXXXX were redacted by Android Police for privacy.

May

[Weekend Poll] Google + Motorola: A Match Made In Heaven, Or A Disaster Waiting To Happen?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Google, Motorola, Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Voice Control Apps: Future Or Fad?

A few days ago, David argued that Google's now-approved purchase of Motorola will change the Android game. Hell, that much should really be pretty obvious - they now have access to virtually every piece of the smartphone puzzle in their hands. At first thought, that seems like a good idea for reasons that are probably obvious to most people reading an Android blog: a more pure Android experience. But as David pointed out, the tie-up has unnerved Android's biggest manufacturers and may push them to explore other directions.

May

Jury Finally Decides: Google Did Not Infringe Oracle's Patents With Its Use Of Android

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

Google and Oracle have been going at it for weeks now over both patent and copyright infringement claims made by the latter company. At least one issue is settled, though, as the jury on the case has decided that Google did not infringe any of Oracle's patents with Android. This is only a small part of Oracle's assault on Google. The larger issue is on the matter of copyright infringement, but at least on the patent issue, Google seems to be in the clear.

It's been a long road to get here, as the jury has been debating the matter for at least a week.

May

Google And Motorola's Shotgun Wedding Is Final - And It's Definitely Going To Change Things For Android

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Editorials, Google, Legal, Motorola, News

Today, Google announced that its acquisition of Motorola Mobility had officially closed. Make no mistake, this merger is something of a shotgun arrangement - and the offspring conceived out of wedlock is Android. So, how did we get here, two and a half years after the first DROID?

A Brief History Of Motorola And Android

Motorola was once Google's model manufacturer partner. At least in the US, it produced what was the most popular "first generation" Android smartphone, the original Motorola DROID. The OG DROID was responsible for "hooking" many people on the operating system, whether through endlessly modifying and tweaking the device, or simply for its stellar build quality and reliability (those things were little tanks), it was truly the work-horse that first brought Android into the hands of a large number of people here in the US.

May

China Approves Google's Acquisition Of Motorola, Deal Expected To Be Finalized Next Week

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

When we last heard about Google's deal to buy Motorola, the EU and the US had approved the deal. The one major market we were left waiting on is China and now, according to the Associated Press (known around here as "the other AP"), the country's regulators have given Google the green light. The deal is now expected to close next week.

The biggest asset of the deal is, of course, Motorola's 17,000+ patents. Google has already promised that it will not interfere with Motorola's dealings and continue to operate the company entirely independently. The approach would make sense in the context of rumors that Google would be expanding it Nexus line.

May

Google I/O Schedule Is Now Live, Get A First Look At All The Cool Android (And Other Google) Session Topics

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

In case the parade of trade shows and device announcements in the first half of the year aren't enough to keep you excited, Google I/O stands as the centerpiece of Android and Google hype. If you're just too eager to see what's going to happen late this June, then here's something to whet your appetite: The Google I/O schedule is now live at Google's developer site.

The schedule includes information for all tracks, including Android, Chrome, Google TV, YouTube, and all your other favorite Google products. As always, we can expect some great announcements at the keynote sessions, which will likely be the highlight of the event for most of us.

May

[Update] Google Appears To Have Backpedaled On Music Deauthorizations, Now Allowing More Than Four Devices To Be Removed

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

Well, that didn't take long. Earlier today, we reported that Google was limiting the number of devices that can be deauthorized from your Google Music account. The official limit on Google Music devices was 10 active devices, with the proviso that up to 4 devices could be removed from your account every year. As of this moment, the Google Music help page still echoes this, but Google might be back pedaling. We're hearing reports that some users are able to deauthorize devices after being told just this morning that they'd reached their limit. Cameron, who had already reached his limit this morning, tried it out and lookie here:

^{Earlier this morning (left), and around 3:30 EST (right)}

While it's unclear how Google's stance on this has changed (we've reached out to Google for comment), it does seem very clear that some customers are now able to deauthorize devices that, just hours ago, they could not.

May

Google Music Now Only Allows You To Deauthorize Four Devices Per Year

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

The problem with any account-based music streaming service, from a corporate standpoint, is that end users are a shared password away from getting access to free media. Really, who hasn't shared their Netflix account once or twice? In an effort to prevent this kind of abuse, Google Music (likely at the request of the music labels) has instituted a cap on the number of devices you are allowed to deauthorize: Four. Per year. It gets worse, though.

For the uninitiated, here's how it works: you are allowed a maximum of ten devices that can be associated with a single Google Music account.

May

Google Is Reportedly Planning A Renewed And Expanded Nexus Device Assault This Fall, And This Is Why I Love It

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Carriers, Editorials, Google, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Jelly Bean 4.1, News, Rumors

This is the sort of quasi-rumor (it's fairly detailed and comes from the Wall Street Journal, so we're inclined to trust it) that makes me happy to be an Android fan.

According to the WSJ, Google is in cahoots with up to five device manufacturers to provide early access to the next iteration of the Android OS (Jelly Bean, we assume) so it can have an entire "portfolio" of Nexus devices ready by Thanksgiving - that's late November for those without turkey day. It will then sell said devices, phones and tablets, unlocked through (again, presumably) the Play Store, much as it has done with the unlocked GSM Galaxy Nexus.