It looks like the decision of U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh today to reject Samsung’s request to lift the injunction filed by Apple against the Galaxy Nexus is finally taking effect. That’s because the Galaxy Nexus is no longer available for purchase at the Google Play Store. We headed over to Google Play to check out the device and interestingly the device is now listed as “Coming Soon”. However, Google did not provide any reason for the disappearance. So, has Google finally complied with the preliminary injunction?
While that could be possible, it’s also important to note that there are other possible reasons as well. Maybe the device is out of stock, or maybe, just maybe, the rumored software patch that we previously reported is currently being deployed. Of course, unless we will hear something from Google and Samsung, let’s take it with a grain of salt. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus was first launched on Google Play in April this year. Just six days ago, the price of the device dropped to $349 off-contract from the store.
Google unveiled its media-streaming glowing orb to many oohs and ahhs, followed by head-scratches. The thing looks cool. And it sounds good, both in concept and fidelity. But two major questions remain: Who is it for, and how well does it work? More »
If you’re not familiar with the point-and-click classic Broken Sword, then you owe it to yourself to snatch up the Directors Cut of Shadow of the Templars. Originally released in 1996, this title is considered by many to be the pinnacle of genre, one that has fallen out of favor in the age of accelerated 3D graphics and first-person shooters. For $4, in a revamped format with touch-friendly controls, the Revolution Software-produced mystery is a no-brainer. Just don’t blame us when your day disappears as you unravel a vast conspiracy involving the Knights Templar, mimes and a terrorist clown (as if you needed more of a reason to hate those things).
This week we’re having a look at the Nexus Q, a Google device released during the 2012 Google I/O developers conference both for free to all attendees and for $299 to anyone wanting to buy one from home from the Google Play store. This device is a mid-point between your media devices (like your HDTV or stereo) and your Android device(s). We’ve also got the Google Nexus 7 as well as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, both of them running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and the Nexus Q app – downloadable now to everyone running Jelly Bean at the moment.
Hardware
It’s a two-pound beast, if you’re thinking about carrying it around, but since it’s designed to remain stationary – it doesn’t really matter how much it weighs. It’s also a sphere, or nearly a sphere, this allowing the Nexus Q to look and feel completely unique in a tech world saturated with rectangles and squares in the living room. The Nexus Q has a ring of LED lights around its center, this lovely display of color showing you the status of the device as well as indicating when its being touched.
The top half of the Nexus Q currently works as both a volume knob and a power on/off button, while the center hole near the top also acts as a light sensor – this and touch-responsiveness across the whole top half allow you to mute the device. The bottom has a rubbery stopper so that you’re not rolling about, and the back of the device has all manner of connection ports.
You’ll see on the back that you’ve got two ports for right and two for left for your audio, you’ve got an optical out port, Ethernet port, microHDMI port, and microUSB port. Below all of that you’ve got a power port which connects with the cord you’re given in the box. This unit also ships with a microHDMI to full-sized HDMI converter cord so you can use the whole thing right out of the box.
This device cannot be used on its own.
To activate the device – and to control it – you’ve got to download the Nexus Q app from the Google Play store with a device running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. This minimum software requirement is sure to change rather quickly as it actually says that only Android 2.3 Gingerbread is required in the app’s description in the store, but for now, you’ll need a Galaxy Nexus (with the software upgrade) or a Nexus 7 tablet – which we’ve also reviewed in full here.
Actually connecting your Android smartphone or tablet to your Nexus Q is simple – it just requires that you have your Wi-fi connection’s password and that you enter it once (or twice if you’ve never set up your own device’s connection to the Wi-fi in your home). From there, you’ve got a near-instant connection between the Nexus Q and your Android device for playing YouTube, Google Play Music, and Google Play Movies – these are the only three apps that work with the Nexus Q at the moment (unless you want to hack.)
Software
There is no software – so to speak – unless you hack past the basic settings that the device comes with. What you use this device for, then, is a conduit between your Android device and your stereo or television. If you’ve got the Nexus Q hooked up to your television and are letting it sit without playing music or video, you’ll get a simple sleep screen with a collection of blue orbs spinning around one another in an organic pattern (as seen very briefly in the hands-on video above.)
If you do play some music from your Android smartphone or tablet, you’ll get a visualizer showing some spectacular colors and shapes representing the sound. If you play a video, you’ll get the video up on the screen – same goes for YouTube videos. The Nexus Q certainly does not mirror your device’s display – instead it shows a stream of media from your smartphone or tablet that’s controlled by your smartphone or tablet.
We’ve had an amazing experience with connection speed and playback with the applications that work with the Nexux Q thus far. Audio sounds fabulous in every way, be it through your HDMI connection alone or through the audio ports provided. The video, on the other hand, doesn’t appear to be tuned quite as well as it could be just yet.
Above: While you’ve got something playing via your smartphone or tablet, your Notifications window lets you know – this notification then links back to the player it associates with.
The word “murky” comes to mind with video playback – but just a bit. The blacks are just a bit too overzealous in taking over the screen while the other colors seem to be quite ready to take a dip. Playing streaming video worked perfectly well, with no hiccups other than when our actual web connection failed – with no fault of Google’s at play. Playing video from our device’s own memory worked similarly well, with a slightly too-dark image but perfectly quick playback speed.
The software is fairly straightforward when it comes to working on your device, with a little Play icon appearing at the top of YouTube, Google Movies, and Google Music once the Nexus Q software was installed – tapping once makes your interface Blue and active, tapping again turns it Gray and no longer connects to the Nexus Q.
Adding more than one device to one Nexus Q is a bit more of a challenge, as once the Galaxy Nexus was connected to the Q it took a couple tries to make the Nexus 7 connect as well, but it’s nothing a tiny bit of troubleshooting didn’t fix.
Wrap-Up
The Nexus Q is an absolutely gorgeous looking device, and one that’ll be sought after long after it’s been left for dead by Google in the future. But know this: that’s a long, long time away from now. Google will hopefully take the capabilities of this system and embrace them wholly, because the Nexus Q is exactly what Google needs to bring the public’s perception of Android to the nexus level. With this device you’ve got an Apple TV for nearly every single Android device on the market, and since it is a Nexus device, Google has in so many words encouraged us to hack it.
Once the floodgates open, the Nexus Q will be capable of so very many things that it’ll be on every developer’s holiday season wish list without a doubt. The device feels great physically, only has a few software-related issues here before its big launch, and will be ready to entertain for many years to come. Will people buy it at $299? That’s a different story entirely. Is it worth $299 from our perspective? If you’re the sort of person who spent $199 on your smartphone and $499 on your tablet when you bought them both in the past year, then yes, the Nexus Q is worth every penny.
Okay, so VLC may not be the media darling it once was, but it still has a legion of fans — as evidenced by the (official) beta version’s warm welcome over at Google Play. Despite a clear warning that the build is unstable and might “kill your kitten,” users report mostly smooth multi-format video playback on a wide range of devices running Android 2.1 and up, and any jitters will no doubt be resolved over time — the whole point is that it’s open-source and ripe for improvement.
Android users might not be able to get Jelly Bean on their mobile devices now, but they can grab the new version of the Google Play Store while waiting. Unknown to many, the new Play Store includes sections for TV and Magazines. You can download the Android package via AndroidSpin. Additionally, the new Google Play Store appears to include a new feature revealing high-resolution icons of apps.
The said high resolution icons feature can be found by hitting on an icon in the top left corner of an application page. Doing so will load a full resolution image of an app’s icon, similar to the image above showing a larger icon of Google Chrome. Android users who will download the new version of Google Play will be able to zoom into each app’s icon to view them in high resolution. Some Android users are already having fun with the simple yet fascinating feature.
Adobe was very public about dropping mobile Flash last fall. In case that wasn’t clear enough, the developer just drew a line in the sand: Android 4.1 doesn’t, and won’t ever, get certification for Flash. The company is stopping short of saying that Flash won’t run, but it’s evident that Adobe won’t help you if the web browser plugin doesn’t install (or breaks in spectacular fashion) on that Nexus 7. Just to underscore the point, the firm is also halting new installations of Flash from Google Play as of August 15th. Security updates and other vital patches will continue on for existing users. Any fresh downloads after that fateful day, however, will have to come from Adobe’s mausoleum for old versions. The company had already said that HTML5 was the way forward on phones and tablets — now we know just how quickly it’s backing up that claim.
It’s surely been a crazy couple of weeks for the folks at Google. The company clearly has more new features than it can shove into a couple of lengthy keynotes — like functionality for Play that lets users update and uninstall apps by way of the My Android Apps tab in the browser-based version of the store. Check the source link below to begin your cloud-based bidding.
Fortune writer Philip Elmer-DeWitt lays out an interesting argument in his latest piece: the most important competition between Apple and Google isn’t a hardware battle, or OS battle. Whoever wins this war could depend on who has the best digital content store. Obviously having killer apps is important, but no Google is banking on entertainment as well. Can Apple maintain its stronghold over digital media sales? [Forbes] More »
Trapped in that post-Google I/O funk of hurry up, pre-order and wait? Maybe this can satiate your desires: a Nexus 7 guidebook detailing the basics of Mountain View’s upcoming slate. The digital tome covers standard Android usage as well as Jelly Bean specific tips — including the OS’ dynamically resizable widgets, using Google Now cards and “blink for face unlock,” a stock Android take on Samsung’s eyelid shuttering identification tweak. Ready to read up? Check it out at the Google Play link below.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
It looks like the decision of U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh today to reject Samsung’s request to lift the injunction filed by Apple against the Galaxy Nexus is finally taking effect. That’s because the Galaxy Nexus is no longer available for purchase at the Google Play Store. We headed over to Google Play to check out the device and interestingly the device is now listed as “Coming Soon”. However, Google did not provide any reason for the disappearance. So, has Google finally complied with the preliminary injunction?
Android users might not be able to get Jelly Bean on their mobile devices now, but they can grab the new version of the Google Play Store while waiting. Unknown to many, the new Play Store includes sections for TV and Magazines. You can download the Android package via 
