Android and Me |
- The Android world is about to be flooded with NFC-enabled devices
- White Nexus S peeks its head on Samsung’s website
- Official Netflix app arrives in the Android Market
- HTC Merge is finally coming to Verizon, but not sold by them?
- Nexus 3 to be designed by Google? Danger co-founders join the company
| The Android world is about to be flooded with NFC-enabled devices Posted: 12 May 2011 05:07 PM PDT If you watched the “How to NFC” session at Google I/O, you already know how much Google is committed to the technology. The company believes that NFC has the potential to change the way we exchange money, information and location — three things that Google is very much interested in. As we saw a couple of days ago, Google will bring some new features in Ice Cream Sandwich that will make use of the NFC chip in some very interesting ways. But unless there are NFC-enabled phones for people to buy, those features will go unnoticed and very few people will take advantage of them. Currently, the Nexus S is the only Android phone that packs an NFC chip. But according to Nick Pelly — technical lead for NFC at Google — that will change later this year. Nick said that he personally knows of dozens of Android devices that will launch with NFC capabilities in the coming months. While that’s very exciting, what’s even more amazing is that there are dozens of Android devices coming out in the near future. Manufacturers and carriers are launching so many Android devices these days that we have to wonder if we’ll even be able to keep track of all of them in the future. With Google pushing hard for NFC adoption, it won’t be long before we take NFC for granted. Similar to the way we expect phones to have Wi-Fi, GPS and an accelerometer.
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| White Nexus S peeks its head on Samsung’s website Posted: 12 May 2011 01:27 PM PDT Rumors about an AT&T version of the Nexus S have been spreading around since last January, before we even knew it was going to be white. Now that Sprint’s Nexus S 4G has been released, though, we have really been hoping for Google’s current flagship phone to come to more carriers soon. Though we do not know if this device will be carried directly by AT&T, the white Nexus S made a brief appearance on Samsung’s website, and this time showing much more details. This can only mean that this gadget should be close to its release. The Nexus S with AT&T radio frequencies has been through a bit of a bumpy road since its first appearances. We saw the GT-I9020A show up at the FCC (as well as Samsung’s website), followed by its brief appearance at Negri Electronics. It was not long before sites started getting a hold of the white Nexus S devices, including our friends at Droid Life, who posted a very good hands-on article and video (Check it out after the break). Though Samsung’s details on the white Nexus S were quickly pulled from their site, at least we now know that the manufacturer is getting things ready. This should be a good sign of a coming announcement (Maybe Samsung’s New York event on the 24th? Who knows!). What do you guys say? Liking it? Are you interested in the AT&T-compatible Nexus S?
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| Official Netflix app arrives in the Android Market Posted: 12 May 2011 12:44 PM PDT Hallelujah! The official Netflix app for Android just popped up on the Android Market. Before you go rushing off to download the app, there’s something we need to tell you first. The app is only available for the following devices:
As someone who doesn’t own one of these devices, I truly feel your pain if you’re being left out of some movie-streaming goodness. The app has the kind of features you’d expect from a Netflix app, like:
If you do have one of the aforementioned phones, you can go ahead and get the app from the Market. After that, come back here and tell us how we should have gotten an HTC phone. UPDATE: Knowing that many people won’t be able to install this app, Netflix wants you to know that they’re working on it. The company said:
Gallery   
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| HTC Merge is finally coming to Verizon, but not sold by them? Posted: 12 May 2011 11:08 AM PDT It is quite a shame that this device has not made it to the shelves for such a long time, especially since it has been rumored around since September 2010. There has even been some hands-on action, and if that was not enough teasing, it even went through a rumored launch date and showed up at Verizon’s site (for a very short period of time, of course…). With all the hype about this phone, we would have expected it to release at least by the holidays, but the days just kept coming without signs of Verizon’s lost child. Today, without any announcements or notifications, the HTC Merge has come back from its unknown, long… very long quest. According to a tipped document that Android Central just got a hold of, Verizon’s HTC Merge will be available as of today (May 12, 2011). The interesting part is that the Merge will not be sold by Verizon itself, but it will only be available through 3rd party retailers (such as Best Buy). Interesting move…
If you have not heard of the HTC Merge, or simply forgot about it, the specs are not too amazing (of course, it is a device from last year). Some of the main features include an 800MHz Qualcomm MSM 7630 processor, 512 MB of RAM, Android 2.2 Froyo, 2 GB of built in memory, and a 5 MP camera with 720p video recording. Of course, we can not forget about that very stunning physical slide-out keyboard, which is pretty much its main attraction (mixing great aesthetics with outstanding typing comfort). As we have mentioned before, this is pretty much Verizon’s version of the HTC Desire Z (like the G2 for T-Mobile), but with some physical modifications. We still have no word on pricing, but since it should be out anytime now, details will come soon, so stay tuned for updates on this "lost & found" device. Though the Merge is a bit of an outdated, maybe factors like dual-core processors, front-facing cameras, and 4G are simply not that important to you. Personally, I love slide-out keyboards, and if I was to choose a device that had to have one, I would actually take the Merge over any of the Android devices with physical keyboards on Verizon (like the LG Ally, or the multiple Motorola smartphones). The keyboard just does it for me (plus, I happen to like HTC devices), but we like to know what you guys think, so please let us know your opinions on the Merge.
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| Nexus 3 to be designed by Google? Danger co-founders join the company Posted: 12 May 2011 09:43 AM PDT What do Andy Rubin, Joe Britt, and Matt Hershenson have in common? They all used to work for Apple, they co-founded Danger, and now the three of them work at Google on the Android team. The trio founded Danger back in 2000, the company that built the ground-breaking T-Mobile Sidekick or Danger Hiptop in 2002. A year later, Andy Rubin left Danger to found something called Android. The startup was later acquired by Google in 2005, and the rest is history. Joe Britt and Matt Hershenson however, stayed with Danger even after the company was acquired by Microsoft in 2008. At Microsoft, the two of them worked on what would later be known as the Kin phone. Due to an internal clash with the Windows Phone team, the Kin was reduced to just a shadow of its original design. Unsurprisingly, the Kin was a complete failure. A few months after launch, Microsoft pulled the plug on the whole product. That same day, Joe Britt and Matt Hershenson left Microsoft to join their old friend at Google. The two engineers join an ever-growing list of ex-Danger employees that now work on Android. As you might remember, Google hired Matias Duarte last year to work on Android’s user experience. Before working for Palm, he was the Director of Design at Danger. You can start to see a pattern forming here. Interestingly, you can track some of Android’s characteristics all the way back to the original Sidekick. For example, the Sidekick featured the Back and Menu button similar to the ones we can see on Android today. Plus, have you seen the Sidekick’s keyboard? Doesn’t it look familiar? It should, ’cause it looks very much like the T-Mobile G1′s keyboard. What will Joe and Matt be working on at Google? You already know if you watched the Google I/O Android keynote. They’re now part of the Android Hardware Engineering team. Matt is working on bringing more accessories to the Android platform. While Joe is working on the Android@Home initiative we caught a glimpse of at the keynote. Although they don’t plan to launch any Google-branded accessories in the near future, Joe did say that that’s something they want to do “in the long term.” If you want to get an idea of how some of these Google-branded accessories might look like, I suggest you watch the part of the keynote where Joe demos their alien-looking Project Tungsten media hub. With Google now entering the hardware business, the obvious question to ask is: Will the next Google Nexus phone be designed or built by Google? It’s very possible. At the very least, the device could be completely designed by the company but built by an OEM. Will the fact that Google designs the Nexus 3 make it less or more attractive to you? Keep in mind that it’s possible that the Nexus 3 could feature Ice Cream Sandwich and a Tegra 3 CPU.
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