Android and Me |
- Help us name Motorola’s Android experience [Poll]
- Google Search for Mobile gets tablet version, Instant Pages; and Google Goggles learns Russian
- Apple responds to Samsung’s request to see devices, unwilling to cooperate
- Google’s Building 44 gets a face lift!
- Video: Angry Birds to bring NFC, GPS location-based features
- Video: Blake Griffin shows off his unreleased Vizio tablet
- HTC admits defeat; original Desire will not be updated to Gingerbread
- Google Mobile Search gets brand new features, right before Google Search press event
- Microsoft tries to block Google’s purchase of Nortel patents, says it’s unfair
| Help us name Motorola’s Android experience [Poll] Posted: 14 Jun 2011 01:33 PM PDT  Now that Motorola has killed the MOTOBLUR name, we need to find a new one. Since it won’t be fun to call it “Motorola’s Android experience” every time we talk about it, we asked you–our readers–to come up with some new and creative names. And you guys didn’t disappoint. With more than two dozen good suggestions, we had a hard time choosing our favorites, but here we have them. You can vote for the ones below, or if you feel like you have a better name, just let us know in the comments section. I’ll update this article with the final name a couple days from now, so make sure you follow us on Twitter if you don’t want to miss it. Happy voting!
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| Google Search for Mobile gets tablet version, Instant Pages; and Google Goggles learns Russian Posted: 14 Jun 2011 01:20 PM PDT  With so many popular products like Chrome, Android and Gmail, we tend to forget that Google’s core product is still Google Search. The company reminded us of that today by releasing more features and improvements for Google Search than we can shake a stick at. Although most the announcements were aimed at the desktop version, the company didn’t forget about its mobile users. Google started by announcing a new version of Google Search for Mobile. This now has a row of buttons at the bottom, allowing easy access to local searches for restaurants, bars, gas stations, etc. You can read more about it here. Google also introduced a new feature called Query Building. As seen in the video below, this feature lets you do exactly what the name suggests: build queries. But instead of typing every single letter, you can just press the “plus” button when Google suggests a new word. What’s more, Google Search for Mobile has been optimized for tablets. This new version of Google Search is a mix between the desktop and phone versions. You can still access most features available in the desktop version, but it uses more touch-friendly buttons. Google Images Search is also getting an update for tablets. And you can scroll infinitely, just like on your desktop computer. During the event, Google managed to wedge in that Google Goggles will soon be able to translate Russian. The app will recognize Russian text from a picture and translate it to English. Pretty useful stuff, if you ever find yourself stranded in the middle of Russia. Which for most of us only happens when playing Modern Warfare. Moving from small updates to mind-blowing new features, Google announced something called Instant Pages. This feature takes the already-awesome Google Instant to the next level. While Google has done lots of work to speed up their search engine, web pages still take a lot of time to load. The company said they won’t stop working to speed up the web until loading sites feels as fast as turning a page in a magazine. That’s music to our ears. And that’s where Instant Pages comes in. The feature works by pre-rendering the website you’re most likely to click on after you do a search on Google. That’s usually the first link on every search result page, according to Google. Instant Pages works in tandem with Google Chrome by telling the browser which pages to pre-load. As soon as you click on a link, Chrome shows you the pre-rendered web page. The end result? Instant Pages saves you around 2-5 seconds per page. That’s a lot of time if you ask me. And as they did with Google Instant, the company took the opportunity to tell us that this feature will save humanity countless years worth of time. While this feature is available for Chrome Dev users right now, this feature isn’t expected to be released for Android for a couple weeks. The reason for the delay? They want to see how much more bandwidth this feature uses. Seeing how all carriers (except Sprint) are going on a data diet, we can’t blame them. Are you guys excited about all these new features? Let us know in the comments. Gallery
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| Apple responds to Samsung’s request to see devices, unwilling to cooperate Posted: 14 Jun 2011 11:05 AM PDT  In response to Apple asking they hand over their upcoming devices, Samsung filed a request a couple weeks ago asking Apple to do the same. Said devices include the iPhone 5 and iPad 3, which have been kept secret, safe and sound at Apple headquarters. The war continues, and Apple has responded to Samsung’s counter attack. As we expected, Android’s biggest competitor is surely not going to let Samsung check out their unannounced devices (at least not willingly).
Apple claims Samsung has no right to ask for the unannounced devices on the basis that Apple is not being accused of copying Samsung. Of course, Apple also mentions this is an unreasonable request; the products they requested from Samsung are already announced, and some are even released. Apple’s iPhone 5 and iPad 3 are still unannounced. Nothing is known about them yet, so Apple will definitely try to keep any info within their own buildings. Of course, this is only Apple’s reaction. Things will be taken into further consideration in Court. It seems unlikely that Apple will be forced to hand over their devices, but we never know. The Court will hear this case next Friday, June 17th, when Samsung will have to give up their devices. Stay tuned for more details on the Apple vs. Samsung lawsuit, and hit us up on the comments section below to let us know where you stand on this.
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| Google’s Building 44 gets a face lift! Posted: 14 Jun 2011 11:02 AM PDT  Amidst the massive collection of buildings filled with Googlers in Mountain View, California, is the infamous Building 44. This building is, as they say, where all the magic happens. Building 44 houses the offices where Android development takes place. You’ve probably seen the pictures; the lawn of the building is home to a collection of massive Android sculptures. These sculptures, made by the Themendous statue makers, have been growing right alongside Android and filling the lawn as they do so. Now Building 44 is decorating not only the lawn, but the building itself.
Earlier this week Android Engineer Dan Morill showed this image of the “Bugdroid” now plastered above the entrance of the building, complete with antennae growing out of the top. Among other things, the big green window cling probably casts a pretty cool looking shadow inside the building and blocks out the ridiculous sunlight that comes pouring through that entrance. Although, it could also be a pair of monitoring antennae installed to keep an eye out for the spaceship that’s supposed to be landing in Cupertino…
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| Video: Angry Birds to bring NFC, GPS location-based features Posted: 14 Jun 2011 11:01 AM PDT  What are the limits of gaming? Well, our friends at Rovio have just shown us how far games can go with a bit of creativity and commitment. We’ve seen different versions of Angry Birds (like Angry Birds Seasons and Rio). We’ve seen Rovio release toys and clothing accessories. And they’re even planning to release a recipe book. Some of these products may seem comic and unnecessary, but it Angry Birds may prove very successful with their latest project.
Angry Birds’ ecosystem has revolved around mobile devices since the game’s birth. Portability has definitely been one of the most important factors, making it one of the most famous games out there. Rovio isn’t stopping development on Angry Birds just yet, and their future plans include the addition of NFC and GPS features into the game. Rovio’s representatives mention two new implementations: One takes advantage of NFC, while the other focuses on location-based services (GPS). The NFC feature would basically allow you to unlock levels and other secret content by tapping phones with your fellow players and/or using NFC tags. While this seems interesting, it’s not as revolutionary as the location-based feature Rovio is releasing soon, simply called “Magic.” Magic will allow users to unlock levels and features like the Mighty Eagle (strongest Bird in the game), as well as new unknown content, upon your arrival to specific locations. Just like in “real life,” the situation and environment in the game will change along with those of your own. These new additions to Angry Birds will surely make it a much more entertaining, interactive game. I can already see you guys stopping at your local “Magic” location to enjoy a few bird-throwing rounds. By the way, Rovio mentions Magic locations will be specifically planned to enhance gaming. They’ll be assigned at places where it wouldn’t be an inconvenience to play for a while. Rovio’s Peter Vesterbacka suggests they’ll announce partnerships in the coming weeks (along with the new features), so we might see some local coffee shops or businesses offering Magic locations soon. Stay tuned for an announcement in the coming weeks, and check out the video below for more details. What do you guys say? Like the idea of moving around your city to unlock Angry Birds content?
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| Video: Blake Griffin shows off his unreleased Vizio tablet Posted: 14 Jun 2011 11:00 AM PDT  As many of you know, a new tablet and smartphone were among the upcoming Android devices Vizio announced at CES. You may recall the devices’ interesting UI. It looks very different from Vanilla Android. This could be a bad thing for many Android fans, but NBA Rookie of the year, Blake Griffin, seems to be quite impressed. To us, it’s more surprising he was able to get his hands on one… and probably didn’t even have to pay for it. It sure is nice being famous.
As you can see in the video posted below, the 8-inch Vizio tablet works in conjunction with Vizio TVs and the Vizio smartphone. This tri-force setup is called Vizio Via Plus and provides a multi-platform ecosystem, allowing you to control your TV from both your smartphone and tablet. It does have a full remote control and functions perfectly along with Blake Griffin’s 65-inch 3D TV (which he probably also got for free). The tablet also serves its purpose as a standalone device. But many of us are partial to manufacturers that lean towards the purer Google experience. If you’re interested in this bad boy, leaks prove Walmart has it priced at $349[1]. Not much has been revealed about this tablet, but known specs include a 1 GHz processor, Vizio’s unnamed UI and dual cameras (front and rear).[2] What do you guys say? Going for Blake Griffin’s setup? Is anyone out there getting this tablet? It’d be nice if we could get a hold of one, too.
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| HTC admits defeat; original Desire will not be updated to Gingerbread Posted: 14 Jun 2011 09:27 AM PDT  HTC Desire owners waiting patiently for their Gingerbread update will be disappointed to learn their handsets will not be updated to Android 2.3. HTC promised they would deliver Gingerbread to the entire Desire family late last year, but their update plans for the original HTC Desire have been foiled by the handset’s memory limitation. Apparently, HTC Sense combined with Android 2.3 is too large to squeeze onto the HTC Desire’s 512 MB ROM chip.
The apology from HTC does not make the announcement any more bearable, but we do applaud HTC for doing the right thing. We hope other manufacturers follow in HTC’s path and give their customers legitimate reasons why their phones will not be receiving the latest Android update. Just because the official Gingerbread update is off the table for the HTC Desire doesn’t mean users will be stuck on Android 2.2. Since the HTC Desire and Nexus One share most of the same DNA, an amazing development community has been enhancing the phone’s capabilities for more than a year. With a fairly easy rooting process and over 20 different active ROMs to choose from, we’re sure HTC Desire owners who want a taste of Gingerbread will be able to easily satisfy their appetite.
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| Google Mobile Search gets brand new features, right before Google Search press event Posted: 14 Jun 2011 08:47 AM PDT  Google seems to be rolling out a new version of its Google Search website for mobile devices. This new version focuses heavily on local search; they’re adding a row of icons below the search bar to let you look up restaurants, bars, gas stations, etc. Tap on any icon, and Google allows you to get directions or phone the location–right from the website. This update is part of a bigger push within Google to own the local space. Google’s strategy to become the go-to location for everything local includes NFC, Google Wallet, Google Offers, Google Places… and now this Google Search update. Coincidentally, there’s a Google Search press event happening in less than an hour. You can watch live here. We expect the company to go into details about these new features at the event. But Google might have some surprises tucked away, so make sure you stay glued to Android and Me for any big announcement to come out of this press event. While we wait for the video feed to go live, tell us which new features you’d like to see Google announce today. Who knows? Maybe you’ll nail one of them. Gallery
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| Microsoft tries to block Google’s purchase of Nortel patents, says it’s unfair Posted: 14 Jun 2011 07:49 AM PDT  There’s a war going on in the mobile world. A war between the old and the new. The old and outdated (i.e. Microsoft, Nokia) are trying to feed off the success of the new and innovative (i.e. Google, Apple). On the Apple vs. Nokia front, we heard today that the two companies have settled a lawsuit… with Apple agreeing to pay Nokia a licensing fee. On the Google vs. Microsoft front, the latter has gone on the offensive, attempting to block Google from buying Nortel’s patent portfolio. As we’ve told you before, Microsoft is going after Android OEMs with hopes of getting them to pay a licensing fee for using Android. This benefits Microsoft in two ways: First, they would make more money from Android’s licensing fees than from their own Windows Phone devices. Second, it makes Android more expensive than Windows Phone for OEMs to use. Google, of course, doesn’t like that one bit. That’s why the company bid $900 million to acquire Nortel’s 6,000 patents. With Nortel’s patent portfolio, Google would be able to protect Android from patent lawsuits filed by companies like Microsoft, Nokia and Oracle. But Microsoft is now objecting to the terms under which Google would be able to purchase Nortel’s patents that say Google won’t have to recognize any existing licensing agreements on the patents. Meaning it would no longer matter if Microsoft had a previous licensing agreement with Nortel; Google could still use those patents to sue Microsoft. Microsoft claims the annulment of these patent licensing agreements “would result in considerable disruption in the development and enhancement of various existing technologies and give the prospective purchaser an unfair competitive advantage”. In other words: “We don’t want Google to be able use these patents against us.” Nortel’s patent auction is scheduled to take place on June 20th. We’ll be keeping a very close eye on it, as it could very well affect the future of Android. Meanwhile, let us know in the comments whether you think Microsoft should be able to keep these patent licensing agreements or not.
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