If you’re the sort to get a little too adventurous with CyanogenMod 10 or other custom ROMs, Google just gave you a crutch. Android 4.1.1 factory images are now available for every Nexus device that can currently get a taste of Jelly Bean: the HSPA+ Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S and the expected Nexus 7. While it’s not a complete safety net, the gesture will let dedicated modders flash their phones and tablets knowing that they can almost always jump back to the pure OS if someone’s definition of “alpha build” is a little too rough. CDMA users are unfortunately left out of the loop; let’s just hope they’re brought up to speed before too long.
Samsung is having slightly better luck in Munich than it is here the US in its ongoing legal battle with Apple. The high court upheld a previous ruling that Cupertino’s patent relating to “list scrolling and document translation, scaling, and rotation on a touch-screen display” was invalid. The end result is that the Galaxy Tab 10.1N and Galaxy Nexus will stay on shelves in Germany, while Apple undoubtedly looks for a new avenue of attack against its primary competitor (one we presume will also be of the legal variety). The decision to deny an injunction against the 10.1N comes only two days after the same device passed a similar challenge in Dusseldorf, where the cosmetic design was the focus. Samsung was obviously pleased with the result, saying that it confirmed the company’s position that its Android products did not infringe on Apple’s IP. Cupertino, on the other hand, remained predictably silent. Of course, this war is far from over, and it’s only a matter of time before a new ruling hands one of the two manufacturers another small victory.
Despite the sweltering heat waves, our spirits are high at Engadget, and for good reason: it’s time for our summer edition of the smartphone buyer’s guide. Here, you’ll find our top recommendations for the best smartphones across several US carriers, along with the best QWERTY and budget alternatives. In many ways, it’s now easier than ever to find a world-class smartphone, but unless you’ve developed a strong brand preference, choosing one is likely more difficult than ever before. It’s no secret that the HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S III have firmly cemented themselves as the premier smartphones of the day, but if you’re torn between the two, we’ll reveal our preference in this latest installment.
Summertime also brought a bit of a shock, as Microsoft revealed that Windows Phone 8 apps won’t be compatible with the current generation of Windows Phone hardware. For this reason, we’ve excluded all Windows Phone handsets from consideration in the latest buyer’s guide. While the future of Microsoft’s mobile platform looks incredibly bright, a purchase now would guarantee obsolescence in the short-term. Instead, all prospective Windows Phone purchasers must wait for the next generation of handsets to become available — you’ll regret it otherwise.
Naturally, there is no shortage of rumors surrounding the next Apple iPhone, and given the handset’s current lack of LTE connectivity, the iPhone 4S is certainly showing its age. While cautious purchasers may choose to bide their time, the iPhone remains top-notch in many other respects, and its arrival at a number of prepaid carriers brought a breath of fresh air to an otherwise stagnant environment.
If you’re curious to see how it all unfolded — and we know you are — join us after the break, where we round up the very best smartphones of the season.
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!
We’ve certainly delved into Android 4.1 Jelly Bean’s new features, but Google itself is just now giving us a full exploration of its update’s sugar-laden heart through an official changelog. While Google Now, the updated camera app and other core components easily get their due, the checklist also has a decidedly more buttery feel than one would think — key individual apps like Calendar now have more elegant transitions to go with the leaps and bounds in Android’s overall speed. The breakdown even goes into corners that Google scarcely illuminated during the Google I/O keynote, such as accessibility and the finer nuances of the new keyboard. If you’re the sort whose Jelly Bean fever has you checking for that Galaxy Nexus upgrade so often that you’re nearly punching a hole in the screen, Google has your (no doubt temporary) placebo.
This week, as it were, Google has been banned from selling the Galaxy Nexus due to a court battle between Samsung and Apple and the software the smartphone contains. According to Google though, starting next week this ban will be lifted for the smart device because of a software update which will bring the newest version of Android, version 4.1 Jelly Bean, to the device, shipped and ready. This update also brings a tweak to the software which supposedly stops Apple’s patent claim that’s currently holding the device from sales.
This news comes at the same time as the rest of the legal statements sent to the press this week in light of the Apple vs Samsung case. Tucked away neatly in the statement presented to Joanna Stern at ABC News was a blip about next week being the first that Google would sell the Galaxy Nexus once more, this time with the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update that attendees of the 2012 Google I/O developer convention have been enjoying now for several days.
Above: hands-on with the Galaxy Nexus and Google Now, a new feature included with the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system update.
Have a peek at our full review of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean to see what new buyers of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus will be in for in just 7 days or so from now. Also have a look at the Google Play store’s listing for the Galaxy Nexus and see for yourself if it’s still temporarily out of stock / Coming Soon or if it is up for sale once again. Soon, we shall see!
It wasn’t just Verizon Galaxy Nexus owners who were hurt when Google dropped Android Open Source Project support for CDMA models — officially, Nexus S 4G users had to depend on carrier-approved builds as well. At least one of those software dramas is coming to a close, as AOSP Technical Lead Jean-Baptiste Queru has just confirmed that the Nexus S 4G once again has a full AOSP build. Problems surrounding the phone have been sorted out to give it full CDMA voice and WiMAX-based 4G data while keeping true to Google’s original, easily modifiable vision. The download is available right away for the Nexus S 4G faithful, but Queru has dashed any immediate hopes of this being the prelude to its Galaxy Nexus counterpart; the camera, GPS and NFC currently wouldn’t work on Verizon’s model, even if the cellular components checked out.
This week has been a bad one for the lawyers in charge of keeping Samsung’s mobile products on the shelves as not only the Galaxy Tab 10.1 but the Galaxy Nexus have now had bids to end their preliminary sales ban in two separate Apple court cases. Apple is currently working on legal suits against Samsung in regards to alleged patent infringement and has won preliminary sales bans on both the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Galaxy Nexus in the USA until the court cases take place. In other words – good luck trying to find either device for sale in the USA until the cases are resolved.
Just yesterday it was ruled that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 preliminary sales ban would be upheld despite protest by Samsung. Now with the Galaxy Nexus held up until its own case is resolved, Samsung finds itself in a bit of a precarious situation with a whole lot of product sitting in the back room with no legal means for sales.
“Samsung is disappointed with the court’s decision that denied our motion to stay. We believe today’s ruling will ultimately reduce the availability of superior products to consumers in the United States.
We will continue to pursue an appeal of the GALAXY Nexus preliminary injunction, which we filed on July 2 to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Meanwhile, we are also working closely with Google to resolve this matter, as the patent in question concerns Google’s unified search function.” – Samsung spokesperson
Have a peek at the Samsung Galaxy Nexus timeline we’ve got sitting below to see the short history of this case as well as some of the fabulous hands-on posts this device has been getting into as of late. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is Google’s current hero phone showing off their latest Android operating system version 4.1 codename Jelly Bean, complete with advanced search functions as well as voice recognition to go with it. We’re fully expecting the Nexus 7 to also fall under this Apple patent umbrella as the iPad has similar functionality – we shall see!
UPDATE: It’s being reported that Samsung and Google will also be seeking to implement a software patch that will take out “local” results in its updated voice search to help get the Galaxy Nexus out of this jam. Hopefully this update isn’t true – we’ve been loving the hot Google Now action we’ve seen thus far!
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.
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.
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