Hallelujah! I just watched this video showing that the recent Nexus One OTA update brings multi-touch to the device! Hooray! Below is a video from AndroidCentral.com that shows the three apps that make the most use of this feature;
The bowser
Google Maps
and Gallery
The update also includes Google Goggles, a ’3G switching to EDGE’ fix and more!
If you haven’t gotten the OTA yet, Android Central has a great walk through on manually updating your Nexus One.
In the meantime, here’s an excerpt from their thoughts as well as the video:
Enjoy.
‘Multitouch on the Nexus One, for all intents and purposes, is the same as multitouch anywhere else (any by that we mean the iPhone, natch). Pinch to zoom, spread your fingers to zoom out. There’s a slightly weird elasticity to it — the motion continues slightly after your fingers have stopped. We wouldn’t call it a bug; it’s just a noticeable difference.’
I came across this video recently and I found it creative as well as informative;
YouTube user AndroidHD has taken six Android Handsets, ran the same video on them in unison, filmed them and posted the results. So if having great video resolution is an important factor when purchasing an Android device, this video is worth four minutes out of your day. The phones compared are:
Nexus One vs Moto Droid vs Acer Liquid vs Samsung Galaxy vs HTC Hero vs HTC myTouch 3G.
After watching this video, it seems to me that the Nexus One not only has an amazing screen, but it has the amazing screen. But, I may be a little biased as I love that device.
So what’s the verdict? Leave a comment and let us know which one you feel has the best video processing power!
We have known for awhile that Mozilla was working on Firefox for Android and now we have visual progress. Vladimir Vukićević (a Mozilla developer) just posted a screen shot of the first page load from the Firefox browser running in the Android emulator. He notes that we are still a ways to go from a usable alpha release, but we are one step closer.
Note that the screen shows the full Firefox browser and not the mobile UI. Vladimir explains the situation on his blog:
“You’ll note that this is the full Firefox interface, and not the Fennec/Firefox Mobile UI; we’re testing with the full interface because it’s significantly more complex than the mobile UI and stresses Gecko much more. So, if the full UI works, then Fennec should work fine as well. Given the interest in Android on netbook and tablet devices, an updated version of the full Firefox UI might find a home on some of these. Android has been pretty great to work with so far; it’s a bit unusual platform for us due to its Java core, but with the NDK we’re able to bridge things together without many problems.” -Vladimir VukićevićMozilla
In a related note, Mozilla has updated their mobile platforms page with their plans for other operating systems. They chose Maemo as their first mobile platform then started on Windows Mobile. Android is Mozilla’s next biggest challenge and they have no plans to support other platforms at this time.
Mozilla does not have plans to build an iPhone browser due to constraints with the OS environment and distribution.
Bonus: Check out the more than 40 add-ons that are currently available for Firefox Mobile
So after all the hype, the Nexus One came to fruition yesterday to fan fair as well as haters. From what I’ve gathered reading the blogs, tweets and comments of others is that the main gripes from the haters so far is:
Not enough innovation on the OS side. New UI but mostly the same bells & whistles as current Android devices.
Way over priced.
Now I may be a little biased at this point due to me needing a new device right now so I’m going to purchase this handset and I know I’m going to love it. But, as to the cost, I think that is best summed up in my own words.
I am used to purchasing my phones at full cost for the past six years. The main reason I’ve done this is I don’t like contracts. Although I’ve used T-Mobile USA for more than five years, I don’t like the idea of an ETF looming over my head in the event that I want to go to another carrier. At times I have purchased handsets used. Like my G1 (RIP) which I purchased for $315.00 last March off of Ebay. So I will not be signing a contract to purchase the Nexus 1 and I know that $530.00 is a lot of coin for a phone.
But, it should be realized that this is more than a phone.
We all know that the device can play music. All forms of music which is more than I can say for many music devices. (Android devices are the only ones I’ve seen that will play the .ogg format. I’m sure there are others out there but I haven’t used them.) The device comes to you with a 4GB card for storing music. Oh, it plays videos as well so let’s call it a media player. A quick search on Ebay and I found a SanDisk Sansa Fuze 4GB Black MP3 Player with a buy it now price of $52.99 and the shipping is free but if I want it fast, it’s an additional $4.99 so that brings us to $57.98.
It’s also a navigation device with free GPS service. I know that the G1 provides this and while on a trip to Eastern Washington I discovered that the GPS will still work even without a SIM card in the device. Granted the only maps available without service are any that are cached on the device but I was still able to get my coordinates for free. I can only assume that the Nexus One will also provide this service for free as well. (I had a Blackberry Curve and Telenav wanted $15.00/month for GPS service.)
So, to Ebay again, I found a Tom Tom XL 340.S for $119.95 + $9.75 for shipping. This device has a bad review stating that it’s memory couldn’t handle the first update so that’s pretty lame IMO. That brings our grand total to $187.68.
The Nexus One has a 5 mega pixel camera. Ebay. First item. A New Argus DC 5185 5 meg camera with a whopping 32MB of storage (lol) and the thing takes AAA batteries. If you’ve ever been unfortunate enough to purchase a camera that uses regular batteries you know that they usually don’t last very long. Near as I can tell this camera doesn’t record video and the view screen is only 1.5 in so the Nexus One is a better camera it seems. Price: $38.24.
Last and perhaps most importantly, the Nexus One is a phone/internet tablet. So real quick I found an LG CU500 UNLOCKED QUAD GSM PHONE with a buy it now price of $43.95 and a Nokia 770 Internet Tablet with a buy it now price of $100.00 plus $6.85 shipping.
I’m not including sales tax as I live in Oregon and we hate that shite. lol
So in this example, the total is now $376.72, this is a far cry from $530.00 but let me justify it by putting it this way:
I’m on the internet a lot. Almost an unhealthy amount. This has made me guilty of loving instant gratification so I want & need all of these devices but I not only want them all right now, I want them all in one package. So to me, I’m paying an additional $154.00 to get them all in one and right away. Plus it will have the cool UI and I’ll be the envy of at least some of my friends.
So the device is more than a phone and although the G1 & My Touch devices can pretty much do the same things right now… I need a new device and I have a suspicion that this device will do all these things faster than the aforementioned devices since it has the 1 gig Snapdragon processor.
That being said, the device may be expensive if you purchase it unlocked but I feel it’s absolutely worth it for what the device truly is, how it looks and it’s performance. Plus, you’re not tied to one carrier. Yes, I know that it only supports the AWS spectrum for T-Mobile USA but that’s not my point.
One final thought, when the iPhone came out back in ’07, it cost more than $600.00, you had to sign a two year contract with AT&T and you couldn’t insure it nor purchase it unlocked from them or Apple. They still sold over a million of them and the device didn’t support IM or MMS for a loooong time.
The Nexus One already supports those features and many, many more.
Over at Tech Dirt, they’ve pointed out an interesting question about the Nexus One. Apparently the estate of Philip K. Dick is not pleased with the use of the name, “Nexus One,” without their permission. If you don’t know, Philip K. Dick is the author of many, many science fiction novels and short stories that have become movies. In this situation the story Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is at issue. This storywas made into the feature film, Blade Runner and included characters called replicants that were advanced Androids. The replicants in the story and film were ‘Nexus-6′ devices so it seems that Google’s & HTC’s choice in naming the device the ‘Nexus-1′ is an homage to Blade Runner and Philip K. Dick since the device is powered by Android.
I personally agree with Mike Masnick of Tech Dirt as he writes:
‘The article notes (surprisingly) that Motorola paid George Lucas for the rights to use “Droid” for its Android phone, but no one spoke to the Dick estate, who now claim they are “shocked and dismayed.” Really? Shocked? Isa Dick Hackett, Philip’s daughter is claiming:
“We were never consulted, no requests were made, and we didn’t grant any sort of permissions.”
Perhaps that’s because Google doesn’t need permission from you to do such a thing. Of course, since Google hasn’t made any official announcement on this, there’s still a good chance they could change the name, just to avoid having to deal with an angry and misguided family member who doesn’t like the idea of anyone paying tribute to her father without first paying up. You have to imagine there must be some other science fiction author out there who would be thrilled to have Google promoting his or her work, rather than whining about getting permission (i.e., “payment”) for the use of a name.’
It does seem silly to me that they would complain not only because it’s an obvious tribute but there are bands as well as other sci-fi stories & characters that use the name Nexus and even a collaboration company. So if any of these uses of the term Nexus adds a number to the end of it, that individual suddenly needs permission from the Dick Estate? I don’t think so.
Phone Scoop has discovered that the HTC Nexus One has been approved through the FCC and the device does indeed support the 1700 AWS Spectrum range for T-Mobile USA.
Although many handsets go through FCC approval and never reach consumers’ hands…I think with all the hype and rumors of the last 72 hours that we can confirm this puppy is going to make it into many an Android lovers’ pockets. Here’s PhoneScoop’s take:
The FCC recently approved a new device manufactured by HTC that is called the Nexus One. The FCC confirms that this device has 850/1900 GSM bands, and support for T-Mobile’s 1700MHz 3G network. The FCC also confirms that it has a hearing-aid rating, which points to a U.S. release, as well as support for microSD cards, Bluetooth, and 802.11b/g Wi-Fi. The FCC does not confirm any other details about this device, but Google mentioned recently that it has given this device to employees for testing purposes and may sell it directly to the public.
The wireless blogs & the ‘Twitter-verse’ have been a buzz all weekend with rumors, pictures and videos of the so called ‘Google Phone.’
Androidguys.com have compiled this handy list of updates & information and I have also posted an NBC video below about this new handset. More news to follow as we get it so stay tuned…
The Story so Far… You know, 20/20 and all that.
Around the middle of October a writer for TheStreet.com was the first to really get the Google Phone rumors rolling again. He claimed that Google would be selling a handsetdirectly, bypassing carriers.
Some believe this is the Google Phone news we’ve been waiting for. Other think it’s just the same thing as last year – nothing more than a gift to employees
Nothing has been officially announced. The closest we have so far is a post from the Google Mobile Blog that says their employees are dogfooding a mobile lab. Said handsets are unlocked and feature new mobile features and capabilities.
The Wall Street Journal publishes an article that pretty much confirms the rumors. The code name ‘Nexus One” is born.
A few pictures have identified the handset as “Phone 88″. Perhaps each phone has a unique model/serial written into it to identify leaks. Looking back at the first Dragon/Passion images, we were told that the image blacked out parts of the screen because “…it has a number that I’m told is used to determine who this phone was loaned to.“ Coincidence? Maybe.
The phone looks exactly like the HTC Dragon/Passion except for the missing HTC branding. Specs include a Snapdragon 1GHz chip, 3.7-inch AMOLED display, and a 5 megapixel camera.
Gizmodo’s source from a few weeks back said that we have yet to see the ‘real’ Android. Based on collected descriptions, the ‘real’ Android might be one designed by Google which has every screen, button, and animated background specifically designed.
UPDATE: According to a quick start that comes with the handsets, there is mention of a page for questions at google.com/phone/support. The site is inactive at this time.
So I am going to try to at the very least give a comprehensive list of the noteworthy Android links and maybe try to call attention to some forum posts of people who may be in need of help or praise on a once a day basis. Given that I have 2 other blogs and media company to boot, it will be difficult but I love Android so I’m going to try to attempt it.
The reason why
So here is my first go at the news roundup, hope ya’ll like it.
Hardware specs create unimaginable possibilities for developers. How about some brand new ones for you?
Ahoy mateys! 