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You probably guessed this was coming - our Mega-Holiday Giveaway series just wouldn't be complete without a Galaxy Nexus (check out our just-published review). Today, we're giving away one Verizon Galaxy Nexus, courtesy of our friends at Texas Instruments, along with a pair of Klipsch S4A headphones (read our review here). (For our international readers: this particular contest is open to the US only (it's a US-only phone), but you may want to check back tomorrow.)
Perhaps you've heard of an upcoming phone called the Galaxy Nexus. It's just a little piece of awesome sent down from the Android Gods to bring in the newest version of Android: Ice Cream Sandwich. Ever since it was officially unveiled on Tuesday night, there have been rumors flying around that Big Red may not be the network that will get this oh-so spectacular device -- but, thankfully, we can now put all that crap to rest, because Verizon just officially announced it.
Uh-oh. Sounds like Samsung's lawyers heard about Samsung Mobile President Shin Jong-kyun's little statement that the Galaxy Nexus was designed such that no "known" Apple patents were used or infringed on by the phone. This was probably, to be frank, a very stupid thing to say. Aside from basically challenging Apple to take a closer look at the Galaxy Nexus, there's also the fact that, if Jong-kyun's statement was actually correct and Samsung did design the Galaxy Nexus to avoid Apple patents, that Apple's lawyers would love to quote it at various patent infringement trials around the world.
Another hour, another sign ICS and the Nexus Prime are coming.
At this point, it's pretty clear that we've all been knee deep in Ice Cream Sandwich goodies all week long. We've already given you the Music 4.0.1, Google+ 2.0, and ICS Clock widget APKs, but that's not all - now we have some details regarding the CDMA Verizon Nexus Prime. At least that's what we thought it was called before Google and Samsung decided on the Galaxy Nexus as the final name, according to our reliable source who goes by Geek Vundotra (remember the leaked apps above?).
Hot on the heels of the leaked media files, we now have yet another leak, also courtesy of P3Droid, this time of the 12 wallpapers found in Ice Cream Sandwich. As someone put it on reddit: "I feel like whoever is leaking these is like some kind of psychopath giving us parts of his victim, piece by piece." That sounds pretty accurate, doesn't it?
It seems that sneak peeks of the next Nexus device - and its firmware - have really been picking up steam in recent days. Just after we were treated to video of Ice Cream Sandwich running on a Nexus S, the folks at MyDroidWorld have released the so-called Nexus Prime's boot animation to the public, and it looks, well, awesome. I've taken the liberty of putting together a clip of the boot animation by itself for your viewing pleasure:
The Prime leaks are rolling out in full force now, and we're really starting to get a good look at what Ice Cream Sandwich is all about. While Google and Samsung decided to cancel the Unpacked event -- originally set for October 11th -- where the Prime and ICS were to be announced, at least we have something to look at while we wait for the date to be rescheduled.
Oh, snap -- things are starting to get real now. This morning, BGR broke some exclusive info on the Nexus Prime that they obtained from a "trusted source." Now, GSMarena is reporting that they also have exclusive info on the upcoming device, but there's one problem: the latter strongly disagrees with the former. In fact, about the only thing the two sources are in agreeance about is the display --a 4.65-inch Super AMOLED HD running at 1280x720.
It's apparent that the Nexus Prime/Galaxy Nexus announcement is getting closer, as new information is starting to surface almost daily. Today, the hardware specs have been revealed by a "trusted source" in BGR's camp -- so let's have a look:
Of all the questions that have been surrounding the upcoming Nexus Prime, there has been quite a bit of intrigue about the buttons, or lack thereof, I should say. How will it work? What will the on-screen buttons look like? How will Ice Cream Sandwich work on device that already has physical buttons? ...and that's just the beginning of the inquiries.
So, by now you've heard of the Galaxy Nexus/Nexus Prime/Droid Prime/Samsung Prime... or whatever we're calling it these days. If you haven't, well... you should find a rock with internet access to live under. Details are few and far between, but thanks to the guys over at MyDroidWorld, we have a full listing of the installed system apps to gander at while we wait for something better to come along.
Rumors surrounding the next Nexus, internally known as the "Prime," are really starting to pour out now. Firstly, we saw a document that suggested a rather disappointing screen resolution, which fortunately, was later revealed to be nothing more than a placeholder. On top of that, Eric Schmidt outed the tentative release timeframe for Ice Cream Sandwich yesterday: October or November.
Yesterday we reported on a shocking bit of news discovered within an XML file on Samsung's website. The file nexusprime.xml suggested that the next Nexus device was to have a screen resolution of just 480x800. This, along with the ARM11 processor listed in the file proved to be a source of concern for many, but the bewildering specs seemed too out of place to be true.
For those still wondering whether Android's first Ice Cream Sandwich device will be made by Samsung, there may finally be a definitive answer. A file recently spotted on Sammy's website called "nexusprime.xml" tells us that the answer is yes.
Nope, Verizon still hasn't changed its mind about skipping the Galaxy S II, but if BGR's latest exclusive proves to be true, Android fans on Big Red needn't be disappointed. Indeed, the carrier is said to be launching the Samsung DROID Prime - likely a rebranded version of the long-rumored Nexus Prime - as early as this October.
The wait has been long for those eager to find out more about Ice Cream Sandwich (i.e. everyone in the Android community), but it appears that the date is finally drawing near, as more and more details are starting to leak out. Last week we got our first look at the next version of Android, and today Electronic Times published some details on the first device that will run it - the Nexus Prime.
Ah, the Droid Bionic. We've kicked back and watched this outrageously anticipated device go on one heck of a rollercoaster ride over the past six months or so, and yesterday we finally got word that the LTE beast would be hitting the street sometime in September. This new information brought on a slew of mixed feelings from our readers: some happy, some enraged, and some just downright disappointed.