Hasta La Gadget!

Google has explained why it selected ASUS rather than Motorola Mobility for the Nexus 7 tablet, arguing that the good of the Android ecosystem is more important than giving the US company preferential treatment. ”We acquired Motorola to help the ecosystem in terms of patents and intellectual property” director of Android partner engineering Patrick Brady told CNET, though conceded that he could understand other partners looking on with some skepticism and fear.

“It was important for us when we acquired Motorola to stress to our partners that we weren’t buying Motorola to get in the hardware business and compete directly with them” Brady said. As far back as August 2011, Android chief Andy Rubin was insisting that Motorola would not be a lock-in for the future Nexus products, something that panned out with Samsung keeping the reins for the Galaxy Nexus.

“At first I think our partners weren’t sure whether we really meant what we said about not giving Motorola preferential treatment” Brady admitted. “But they’ve seen us do another Nexus smartphone with Samsung and the Nexus 7 tablet with Asus, so I think they see that Motorola is not getting preferential treatment. It’s all about the ecosystem.”

In fact, Brady is confident that other OEMs have subsequently been quick to recognize the advantages of Google wading into hardware development. “Android is open source, so they understand that by developing these products we’re working with silicon vendors to make sure all the technology works with the software” he points out. “And we’re enhancing the software.”

The Nexus 7 has been particularly lauded for its relatively affordable price tag, starting at $199 for the entry-level 8GB model. That’s down to a combination of cheaper components and different priorities; you can find out full review of the tablet here.

Google: Nexus 7 is proof we won’t give Motorola special treatment is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

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.

Google has opted to deliver Android 4.1 Jelly Bean as an OTA update to the ICS already on the Nexus phones and tablets it just handed everyone at I/O 2012, and there’s a manual download link available too. As Android Police notes, only GSM phones running the IMM330D firmware will take the update (which you probably don’t have, although a fresh phone from the initial Google Play run might work.) With this release already in the wild it’s surely only a matter of time before various third parties open it up to a wider variety of hardware. As always with early and somewhat untested software YMMV, keep an eye on those XDA Developers threads for the latest updates.

Update: Just that quickly, an SDK port has already popped up for the HTC One X. Of course, it’s described as unstable and the author has no plans to try to fix the numerous problems but if you’re desperate to see Jelly Bean you can, you just probably shouldn’t.

Update 2: And almost as quickly, a rooted version for ClockWorkMod Recovery and ROM Manager has appeared. Check the latest thread for all the details.

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean preview download is live, probably won’t work on your Galaxy Nexus — yet (Update) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 23:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Android Police, Download  | Email this | Comments

Google IO has become known for its swag potential, and 2012 is no exception. Google has promised all 6,000 attendees an “Android Developer’s Pack”, made up of the three key products from today’s opening keynote. In the pack, a Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 7 tablet, and a Nexus Q media computer.

That’s a total of $847 worth of technology for each developer in attendance, and considering they only paid $800 for an IO ticket it seems a pretty excellent deal. Unfortunately there’s no Project Glass in that gift bundle, though Google will be offering developers in-attendance the opportunity to preorder the Explorer Edition for $1,500.

When developers turn on their Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 7 tablet, meanwhile, they’ll get an update to Jelly Bean pushed to them within a few minutes. The Jelly Bean SDK is available today for all developers, meanwhile.

If you’re not at Google IO, and you want a new toy, the HSPA+ Galaxy Nexus is now discounted to $349. Meanwhile, the Nexus 7 is up for preorder for $199, while the Nexus Q is up for preorder from $299.

Unboxing Nexus 7 and Nexus Q

Google IO swag: Free Nexus 7, Nexus Q and Galaxy Nexus is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Google has cut the price of the HSPA+ Galaxy Nexus, dropping the unlocked and SIM-free smartphone from $399 to $349 from its official store. Although Verizon offers a 4G LTE version of the Galaxy Nexus, Google also offers the same 4.0 smartphone as in Europe directly to developers and others who don’t want a new agreement.

Meanwhile Google is also updating the Galaxy Nexus to the latest Android OS, 4.1 Jelly Bean. That should come as some reassurance to those Galaxy Nexus owners who have watched their phones grow gradually outdated in comparison to the better-specified HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S III.

Still, you’re stuck with the Galaxy Nexus’ less-than-impressive 5-megapixel camera, though the 4.65-inch 1280 x 720 display is still competitive. You also get a 1.2GHz dual-core TI processor and 16GB of onboard storage, though no expandable memory card slot.

You can find all the details on the Galaxy Nexus in the full SlashGear review.

Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ price cut to $349 is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.