Hasta La Gadget!

You may not be able to get Android 2.3 loaded in any official capacity on your Nexus One yet — or any other phone, for that matter — but Google’s 2.3 SDK is now available, which means there’s an emulator attached, too. As with most development emulators, this one’s a stripped-down subset of the apps and settings you’d see on an actual retail device; basically, all that’s left is the bare minimum Google figures its developers are going to need to code apps. Be that as it may, we noticed a few things that stuck out:

• Overall, the UI changes are extremely subtle, and generally for the better. We prefer the new looks for the status bar, keyboard, and menus over their Froyo equivalents.
• We couldn’t get a sense of the performance improvements — the emulator is slow as molasses for us and really has zero bearing on how it’ll perform on devices.
• When you reach the end of a scrolled list, the side of the list that has reached the end glows orange briefly, presumably to make it even more obvious that you’re at the end. Even the browser does this — it’s an interesting effect that we kind of liked.
• The miserable default camera UI is exactly the same. Expect manufacturers to continue to replace this with wild abandon.
• The Gmail app isn’t included in the emulator, so fear not when you’re looking at the screen shot of the unthreaded messages — that’s the “standard” email app.
• The fingertip-sized markers for highlighting text work quite well, including in the browser. They seem to consistently disappear after a few seconds and automatically highlight and / or copy the text in between the markers; we’re not sold on whether we like that behavior.

Clearly, the jury’s out until we’ve got a Nexus S firmly planted in our hands — but in the meanwhile, check out a bunch of shots of Gingerbread doing its thing in the gallery below.

Android 2.3 Gingerbread in pictures originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Dec 2010 23:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google’s really been big today on emphasizing that Gingerbread is better than ever for game development, and that’s already bearing itself out thanks to a page culled from the Android 2.3 SDK where we see a handful of new keycodes in the system clearly targeted for gaming: L1, L2, R1, R2, Select, Start, and so on. Does it have anything to do with the Sony Ericsson Zeus Z1 and all the PlayStation phone noise, though? We imagine it lays some of the groundwork, but all told, it’s hard to say — after all, PlayStation famously uses shapes for its primary controls, and we wouldn’t be surprised if Sony were working on a separate development environment of some sort for PlayStation-branded titles rather than letting it all flow through the official Android SDK proper. We also don’t yet know whether Sony Ericsson’s gaming efforts are coming in the Gingerbread or the Honeycomb timeframe (though we’re definitely expecting news next February at MWC), but one way or another, game devs should find it a little easier now to map the controls they need.

Android 2.3 definitely supports game controls, may (or may not) be PlayStation-related originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Dec 2010 19:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, color us surprised. Just last Wednesday, Samsung announced that it had developed its very own NFC module in-house, but today we’re learning that it came just a few months too late for inclusion in the outfit’s forthcoming Nexus S. Right on cue, NXP Semiconductors has come forward today proclaiming its involvement in the first handset to ship with Android 2.3. The outfit’s PN544 NFC controller and accompanying open source software stack will be used in the Nexus S, and naturally they’ve both been “fully integrated and validated on Gingerbread.” Of course, only time will tell what sort of applications spring up to take advantage, but we’ve got a feeling that metro payments and the like could be first in line. Nice of America to finally catch up, right?

Continue reading Samsung Nexus S utilizing NXP’s PN544 NFC chip

Samsung Nexus S utilizing NXP’s PN544 NFC chip originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Dec 2010 14:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This thing is all but official anyway, but for what it’s worth, Google’s now got its own product page live for the upcoming Nexus S from Samsung. Here’s the rundown: 4-inch WVGA display, triband HSPA with AWS support (no HSPA+, seemingly), 5 megapixel camera, NFC, 16GB of onboard storage, 512MB of RAM, available on T-Mobile. It’s also got a gyroscope — as do the existing Galaxy S phones — along with something being called the “contour display” (which matches up with rumors we’ve heard), integrated VoIP support, and Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Interestingly, the phone’s quoted as having nothing more than a 1GHz Cortex A8-based Hummingbird processor, seemingly shooting down rumors that this thing would be rocking the Orion dual-core setup. Ah, well! Peep all the shots in the gallery below.

Update: And now it’s official! According to the Official Google Blog, the Nexus S will be available for purchase after December 16th “online and in-store from all Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile stores,” either unlocked or with a T-Mobile plan. Across the pond, look for the Nexus S to hit December 20th at Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy UK. Videos after the break.

Update 2: Best Buy’s let out the pricing details: $199 with a two-year T-Mobile contract or $529 unlocked. Also, be sure to check out our rundown of the Android 2.3 SDK!

[Thanks, Tony]

Continue reading Google’s Nexus S official, coming December 16th to US, 20th to UK (update: $199 on contract, $529 unlocked)

Google’s Nexus S official, coming December 16th to US, 20th to UK (update: $199 on contract, $529 unlocked) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Dec 2010 11:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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And finally, here it is! Android 2.3 — perhaps better known as Gingerbread — is now official, bringing a host of tweaks that should get the Android faithful pretty stoked. Most notably, the new build is being called out as significantly better for game development, tying in nicely with all these Sony Ericsson rumors we’ve been hearing as of late. Also on deck is tightly-integrated VoIP support, video calling support via a front camera, better cut-and-paste, NFC integration, gyroscope support for more accurate orientation data, an improved download manager, a redesigned keyboard with multitouch support, and an integrated task manager. Follow the break for the platform’s introductory video.

Continue reading Android 2.3 SDK revealed, Gingerbread improvements called out

Android 2.3 SDK revealed, Gingerbread improvements called out originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Dec 2010 11:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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