Hasta La Gadget!

Are you totally, utterly and irrevocably impatient? Then head past the break for some very early benchmarks we grabbed from a pre-production (hand-built) Nexus 7 in London. Our full review will have far more complete and reliable stats, but in the meantime we’ve seen just enough evidence to be sure of one thing: neither the tablet’s low $199 price point nor its slightly reduced (1.2GHz) clock speed throttle its Tegra 3 engine in any obvious way. Read on for more.

Continue reading Nexus 7 early benchmarks: full Tegra 3 performance on the cheap

Nexus 7 early benchmarks: full Tegra 3 performance on the cheap originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jun 2012 08:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Virgin Mobile turned a few heads earlier this month when it announced it would be selling Apple’s iPhone 4 and 4S off-contract on top of offering an affordable $35 a month unlimited data plan. The MVNO has now started sales of both handsets, with the iPhone 4S 16GB commanding a price of $649.99, while the iPhone 4 8GB will cost $549.99.

While Virgin Media claim that the plan comes with unlimited data, the reality is that after 2.5GB you’ll start to see some throttling. Having said that, the deal does work out cheaper in the long run compared to AT&T or Verizon if you’re willing to shoulder the initial cost of the phone.

Virgin Mobile joins Cricket Wireless as yet another MVNO to offer prepaid plans for the iPhone. Cricket offers the cheaper phone ($499.99 for the 4S), but you’ll be spreading the savings over a higher monthly tariff ($55 for an unlimited plan).

Would you really spring for an iPhone 4S at this stage when the next iPhone is on the horizon? Rumors have indicated that the next iteration of Apple’s smartphone will come with a larger 4-inch display and a bump in resolution to 1136×640. Apple is said to have redesigned core apps for the device to take advantage of the increased real estate, and will encourage developers to do the same. Alleged parts for the next iPhone have also made several appearances, indicating the use of a smaller 19-pin dock connector and two-tone metallic back.

Virgin Mobile begins prepaid iPhone sales is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Just in case you still think that Google is a software company, what happened earlier yesterday morning has debunked that myth once and for all. I know, Google has churned out Google-branded smartphones in the past, where those were manufactured by HTC first, followed by Samsung as part of the Nexus range. However, what you have here this time around would be a hardware that was built right in the bowels of Google’s headquarters itself – resulting in this rounded beauty known as the Nexus Q.

Just what is the Nexus Q? It is a sphere, basically, but that does not mean it is down and out for the count. Do not despise small beginnings, literally with the Nexus Q. The Nexus Q is said to be the focal point of Android as well as Google Play, allowing one to stream not only music, but video straight into your home. You will be able to control it using an Android-powered smartphone or a similar tablet.

As mentioned earlier, this was specially designed and engineered by the team over at Google. The Nexus Q is tiny enough not to look out of place in just about any home, where the main purpose of it is to be plugged into the best speakers and TVs around your home. Touted to be the first ever social streaming device, similar to a cloud connected jukebox, it allows everyone who drops by your place to basically brings their own personal music collection to the party. First out in the US, you will be able to place a pre-order for the Nexus Q from Google Play for $299 a pop. Shipping commences sometime from the middle of next month onwards. Of course, other territories will also be on the receiving end of the Nexus Q, but we will just have to wait for an official announcement on the release dates.

Just what other kind of hardware specifications does the Nexus Q carry? We are looking at connectivity options that include Optical audio (S/PDIF), Ethernet, micro HDMI, and microUSB. You will find the same kind of processing power as the Galaxy Nexus, and the entire device tips the scales at just 2 pounds. The rotating top dome functions as a volume control, and it is rounded off by 1GB RAM and 16GB of internal memory, all running on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Product Page

[ Google gives birth to the Nexus Q copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

The official Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update has leaked, with the file being discovered waiting on Google’s servers ahead of the official release next month. The Jelly Bean installer is seemingly the same file that is being pushed out to the free Galaxy Nexus handsets Google handed out to developers after the Google IO keynote yesterday.

Jelly Bean includes a new notifications system as well as Project Butter, Google’s efforts on reducing lag in the interface. There’s also a new Google Voice Search system to take on Apple’s Siri, together with app encryption.

Meanwhile, Google Maps gets offline navigation, and there’s offline voice dictation for US English. There’s more on Jelly Bean in our IO wrap-up here.

You can download the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update here [zip file] though be warned, it’s unclear if all the bugs have been ironed out of this version. If you want the most stable release for your Galaxy Nexus it’s probably safer to hold off until Google pushes it out OTA officially in mid-July.

[via Xmoo]

Jelly Bean for Galaxy Nexus leaks is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

T-Mobile just updated its prepaid data plans a month ago, and now it’s the corporate crowd’s turn for a shakeup. The new (and quite frankly daunting) array of primarily business-minded plans is based around whether or not you’d rather face throttling or overage fees if you push past a set cap. Overage Free plans for subsidized (Classic) and unsubsidized (Value) devices are largely self-explanatory and slow down that bandwidth cap-busting hotspot, modem or tablet until the next month. The High-speed plan range costs lower as a matter of course, but you’ll be dinged to the order of two to 10 cents for every megabyte over the limit. That said, there’s some bargains to be had versus other carriers, especially with the 5GB and 10GB plans. Provided you’re happy with T-Mobile’s coverage, it may be worth signing up to eke out a few extra dollars in savings every month.

T-Mobile brings out new mobile data plans mainly for the suits and ties, makes overage optional originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jun 2012 07:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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