Nexus S (Crespo/Soju) - 4/8 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jul

The 5 Best Android Phones Under $60 (US Only) - July 2011

Posted by David Ruddock in Deals, Droid 3, Droid X2, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Nexus S 4G (Crespo4g), Revolution, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless

I know, I know. The last one was under $50, and preferably free. But in our attempt to keep you updated with the latest and greatest deals on the latest and greatest devices, we had to make sacrifices. Fortunately, that means there are also no repeat appearances from last month's post, though you should still check it out - a lot of those handsets (aside from the DROID 2) are still viable choices.

So, you get a fresh batch of deals, on a fresh set of phones. Oh, 4 of the 5 are for Verizon - and AT&T and T-Mobile are left out of this month's roundup (though the $50 Infuse deal at Target gets an honorable mention).

Jul

AT&T Brings Back 2010, Announces The Samsung Nexus S

Posted by Cameron Summerson in AT&T, News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju)

In a move that feels oddly reminiscent of Verizon announcing the iPhone (read: announcing a nearly year old device), AT&T just told the world that it would be getting the Samsung Nexus S, which is immediately available for pre-order from Best Buy for $99 with a two-year agreement.

This version of the Nexus S is lacking HSPA+, which makes it exactly like the T-Mobile version that landed in December of last year. Don't get me wrong - the Nexus S is a good phone, and the only device currently on store shelves that runs pure vanilla Gingerbread, but I just find it a bit hard to get excited about a device that's already been on the market for quite a while.

Jul

[Updated x3] Netflix Adds Support For 16 New Devices, Including The Thunderbolt, EVO 3D, Droid 2, 3, X2, Charge, Atrix 4G, Bionic (!), And... One Honeycomb Tablet

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, Atrix 4G (Olympus), Bionic, Charge (i510), Droid (Sholes), Droid 2, Droid 3, Droid X (Shadow), Droid X2, Epic 4G, EVO 3D (Shooter), EVO 4G (Supersonic), Fascinate, Froyo 2.2, G'zOne Commando, G2 (Vision), Galaxy S, Galaxy S 4G, Gingerbread 2.3, Incredible, Incredible 2 (Vivow), myTouch 4G Slide (Doubleshot), News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Nexus S 4G (Crespo4g), Revolution, Thunderbolt (Mecha)

Netflix this evening appears to have quietly unleashed the Android app on 16 more previously unsupported devices, all without updating the application at all.

The whole situation threw us off quite a bit, as the Netflix app description now lists both the new devices and a reference to a new version 1.3, while the app itself is still stuck at 1.2.2.

Nevertheless, after trying to find it in the Market using devices that were previously unsupported (HTC EVO 3D and Thunderbolt), to our pleasant surprise, we succeeded. So... it seems that Netflix indeed simply updated the list in the Market publishing console without updating the app at all, which means it was compatible with all of them all along.

Jul

PayPal Hopes To One-Up Google Wallet, Offers Smartphone-To-Smartphone Transfers Using NFC

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Applications, News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Nexus S 4G (Crespo4g)

It's been a while since the Nexus S hit the Android scene, bringing two noteworthy new features with it: Gingerbread and NFC. While the former has seen relatively wide adoption, the latter hasn't gotten much action as of yet - the closest we've come to witnessing a useful example of the technology is Google Wallet, and we have yet to find out when that will be available for public consumption.

But it appears El Goog will be far from alone in its NFC ventures, as PayPal today unveiled an NFC-enabled Android widget which will allow Nexus S users to exchange payments by simply tapping their phones together.

Jul

Nexus S Build GRJ90 Is Android 2.3.5, World Keeps On Turning

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Gingerbread 2.3, News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Nexus S 4G (Crespo4g), Samsung

Well, well, well - looks like there was more to yesterday's Nexus S GRJ90 leak than originally met the eye. Though the update doesn't contain many changes, the bigwigs at Mountain View apparently deemed it substantial enough to warrant a new version number: 2.3.5.

Again, the update includes:

Fixes for the Nexus S 4G's signal reception issues
A 4G settings widget for the Nexus S 4G
TTY (teletypewriter) support
NI push support
The NFC secure element, which is critical to Google Wallet

So there you have it - assuming that Droid Life's sources are credible (and given the blog's track record, I'd say they are), you'll be able to refer to the update that should be hitting your Nexus S 4G next Monday not only as GRJ90, but also as Android 2.3.5.

Jul

Psst: Google+ Android App Features NFC

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Nexus S 4G (Crespo4g)

While NFC has yet to be widely adopted in smartphones, that didn't stop Google from sneaking it in to the Google+ app. This mean that, when using an NFC-enabled device (read: the Nexus S/4G), you'll be able to read tags and share the contents via Google+. The functionality is quite limited right now, but this could bring big things in the future: automatically check in at a restaurant and share it with your Circles, scan tags to join a Huddle, easily find location-based relevant Sparks... the list goes on and on.

Unfortunately, the only way you can utilize this functionality is if you have a Nexus S and are part of the Google+ field trial.

Jul

Help Build Your Own Nexus S By Bouncing Balls Of Google Apps In Nexus Contraptions

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Games, News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Nexus S 4G (Crespo4g)

We just stumbled across a new game by Google to promote the Nexus S called Nexus Contraptions - on YouTube of all places. In this game, it's your job to navigate bouncing balls of Google Apps around various obstacles and into a funnel that ultimately leads into a Nexus S.

^{Hmmm, I wonder what you win if you get the fastest time?}

I'll admit, I only played around with it for a few minutes, so I didn't get very far - but I can already tell that the levels actually get quite difficult and require some planning to successfully complete! Take a look at this screenshot from one of the earlier levels of the game:

As you may be able to tell, you control the yellow robot arm (it's stationary) and you have to use the various provided "tools" to bounce the ball around the room and land it in the red funnel in the lower right corner.

Jun

T-Mobile Appears To Be No Longer Blocking gTalk Calls Over 3G - Is It Working For You?

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Google, News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), T-Mobile

When the new Google Talk with voice and video calling was launched, those of you on T-Mobile who wanted to place calls on 3G quickly found out that it wasn't at all possible. Rather than connecting you to your dog for an afternoon chat, the application stubbornly insisted on only operating through a Wi-Fi connection. At Google I/O 2011, I was able to dig up some more technical details surrounding this limitation, even further upsetting hopeful customers. Bummer.

The light at the end of the tunnel appeared out of nowhere today, when reddit user ep311 was suddenly able to call a friend from his Nexus S running Android 2.3.4, all on 3G while driving home from work.

Jun

Fring For Android Updated, Finally Supports Nexus S (2.3.4), Thunderbolt, DROID Charge, Galaxy S II, G2X

Posted by David Ruddock in Applications, Charge (i510), Flyer, G2x (p999), Galaxy S II, News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Tips & Tutorials

So, you bought that fancy new Nexus S/DROID Charge/Galaxy S II/G2X/Flyer with a front-facing camera, and you were excited to make video calls. Then you noticed there isn't any native video chat client for Android (yet - Talk will have this integrated soon). Then you heard about fring, which is pretty cool. Then you tried to install it, only to discover it didn't work. Then you probably had a sad.

Well, frown no more - fring has been updated to support all sorts of front-facing camera-having devices (like the ones in the title, plus the HTC Flyer). The update has also included general bugfixes and improvements to audio quality, so head on over to the Market and check it out!

May

[Updated 5/4/11] Don't Wait For The OTA - Update Your Nexus S To Android 2.3.4 Manually (GRI40 Or GRI54 -> GRJ22)

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Gingerbread 2.3, News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Samsung

Last Updated: July 26th, 2011

Wow, this didn't take long at all - the Android 2.3.4 update for the Samsung Nexus S that we were afraid would take a couple of weeks to surface, has already shown up and is ready to be flashed to your Nexus S running 2.3.3 (GRI40 or GRI54).

Just like before, manual update instructions couldn't be simpler, so why wait for your device to be updated OTA (who knows when that will happen) when you can do it all by yourself and get that Google Talk video and voice chat right here and now?

Note: If you don't have GRI40 (2.3.3) or GRI54 (also 2.3.3) and instead have GRH78 (2.3.1) or GRH78C (2.3.2), then head over here and install GRI40 first, then proceed below.