Google may have run out of love for the Nexus One as far as Ice Cream Sandwich is concerned, but that doesn’t mean the legions of loyal Android developers have. An intrepid dev named TexasIce on the XDA forums has managed to get an early build of CyanogenMod 9 up and running on Google’s first Nexus device, and it looks mighty impressive for a work-in-progress. → Read More
Now, this is firmly in the unconfirmed basket, as the only proof I’ve seen of an update reaching a Nexus one is the first part of a two-part upgrade, but some Twitter users are getting all a flutter, claiming that Android 2.3, aka Gingerbread, has arrived on their device. → Read More
Where there’s a will, there’s a way — especially when said “will” is shared amongst a chunk of the Android hacking community. If you’ve got a Nexus One on T-Mobile and just can’t seem to hold a signal, that will just worked in your favor: thanks to efforts out of the good ol’ XDA-Dev forums, the N1 now has (totally unofficial) support for T-Mo’s WiFi Calling feature. → Read More
Google had originally wanted to launch the Nexus Two device alongside Android 2.3, the next release of their mobile operating system, also known as “Gingerbread”. That’s not going to happen. The Nexus Two has been delayed. But it appears that Google is full steam ahead on the Gingerbread release. In fact, it may be hitting the Nexus One in the next few days.
This news comes by way of a tweet today from one Alvaro Fuentes Vasquez. While Vasquez’s Twitter profile may not show much, his LinkedIn profile reveals that he’s on the “leadership team” of the Open Handset Alliance, one of the governing bodies backing Android. In other words, this guy should know what he’s talking about. → Read More
“Your mobile phone should be free.”
That was Google CEO Eric Schmidt talking to Reuters in November of 2006. It was just about a year before the Android project was first unveiled. It was also just a few months before the iPhone was introduced (Schmidt was a member of Apple’s Board at the time). At that point, Schmidt had to know that both Google and Apple were on the verge of changing the mobile industry. Or, at least, that’s what he thought was going to happen.
There’s no question that the situation in the mobile industry (particularly in the U.S.) is better than it was in 2006 from a consumer perspective. And yes, that’s largely thanks to Apple and Google. But free phones? We’re nowhere close to that. But last year we were. And then Google’s dream turned into a nightmare. → Read More
On Tuesday, Google was slapped with a breach of contract class action lawsuit alleging that its Nexus One smartphone failed to maintain 3G connectivity and that the Mountain View company not only made misleading claims about the product’s capabilities but also failed to adequately support customers in search of answers.
Plaintiff Nathan Nabors of Florida is seeking damages and class action interest on behalf of residents of his home state as well as California who have bought the Nexus One since its January debut.
The only defendant named in the suit is Google – in other words, manufacturer HTC and exclusive 3G carrier T-Mobile USA are not included in the suit. The potential size of the classes is not specified in the complaint. → Read More
Remember when Google killed the Nexus One a month ago? Yeah, it’s still sold in a few places here and there, but it’s mostly dead. And apparently it had to die in order to find its heaven: Android app developers.
A new post tonight on the Android Developers Blog declares that the now-for-developers-only Nexus One has proven to be “a little too popular.” As Tim Bray writes, “we blew through the (substantial) initial inventory in almost no time, and they’re back-ordered from HTC.” In other words, they’re now completely sold out. → Read More
Remember how back during the Antennagate press conference, Steve Jobs explained that all smartphones have an Achilles Heel known as their antenna? Oh sure, we all rolled our eyes and then oohed and aahed when we learned we’d get bumpers. Well guess what… Jobs was right. Again. And now, courtesy of Tawkon we’ve got the proof.
A video produced by Tawkon clearly demonstrates that when the iPhone 4, the Blackberry Bold, and the Nexus One are held in the death-grip style, all three handset antennas are impacted. As the video shows, the result is that each of the three handsets compensates for the death-grip’s impact by increasing its cellular broadcast levels to a range that Tawkon considers ‘High’. → Read More
The official “Google Phone,” the kinda dead Nexus One, is still Google’s official “dev phone.” The phone, available unlocked for $529, is running the latest Android version and includes the “Google Experience” suite for Android development. The Nexus One combines an up-to-the-minute platform (Android 2.2), modern hardware, and the pure Google Experience software suite. It’s a good choice both for people who want to build Android applications using either the SDK or the NDK, and those who want to experiment with modified versions of the Android platform. Note that the Nexus One still ships with Android 2.1 but will download 2.2 soon after you turn it on; make sure you’re near a fast network. Pop over here to read more but if you’re in the market for an Android phone, you could do worse. → Read More
Well, that was a fun run. Google is now officially done selling the Nexus One. It’s not that big of a surprise as it broke last week that Google’s last shipment was en-route. After the inventory dried up, they were done selling cell phones directly to consumers. Well, at least they were done for now. It’s hard to say that Google will never do it again, but it probably won’t happen for some time. → Read More
As if Nokia needed yet another wake-up call, self-declared ‘Nokia fanboy since 1999′ Ricky Cadden, aka Symbian Guru is so utterly fed up with the company and the products it releases that he’s quitting his blog (via Mobile Entertainment).
Cadden has purchased himself a Nexus One and seems well on his way to become an Android fanboy.
Anyone with the slightest interest in the mobile industry should read his goodbye post, which is a scathing analysis of why Nokia and Symbian are in the corner where the punches are being served. → Read More
Mobile search could grow from 9 percent of all queries this year to 20 percent by 2012, estimates RBC analyst Ross Sandler in a new report issued today. There is still a huge gap between mobile’s share of overall search queries and its share of search advertising. Sandler estimates that mobile will still represent less than 2 percent of search ad budgets this year, compared to the 9 percent overall share. But he thinks that gap can narrow and that mobile search advertising can be a $2 billion to $3 billion market in 2012.
His assumptions seem a bit aggressive on the ad revenue side. There might always be a gap between mobile search share and mobile search ad spending because of the relative effectiveness of search ads on PCs versus on mobile phones. But Sandler does a deep dive into mobile search advertising and comes up with some compelling reasons why that gap should at the very least begin to narrow just as mobile search starts to take off thanks to the growth of large touchscreen devices such as the iPhone, iPad, Android, and Blackberry. → Read More
Back in January, I wrote a post entitled An iPhone Lover’s Take On The Nexus One. At the time, the Nexus One was soon to be released as the latest and greatest Android phone, and a number of iPhone users were wondering whether it was worth it to switch for the benefits of Android (and perhaps more importantly, another network besides AT&T). My take: it was the best Android phone yet, but it wasn’t better than the iPhone. Now I’m going to do the same type of review for the new HTC EVO 4G phone, which Sprint is launching next week.
At Google I/O, the search giant gave the phone away to every attendee complete with one month of service to try it out. Just as with the Nexus One, I’ve decided to use it as my primary phone for the past week or so to get a real sense of the pluses and minuses of the device. Just as with my Nexus One review, this isn’t meant to be an all-encompassing review or roundup (for that, see here or here or here). Instead, this is just my reaction to the device as an iPhone user. → Read More
Last last night (early this morning) there was some confusion about our post indicating that Android 2.2, Froyo, had started to roll out. Some thought we had Photoshopped the pictures (I wish I was that good at Photoshop), others though we were just using the developer build, and others thought we got some sort of special press copy. But rest easy people, I have in my inbox a confirmation from Google that says the following: “The roll out to Nexus One devices has begun!”
Naturally, I asked the company what the deal was with the roll out, since I was as surprised as anyone to see 2.2 ready to install on my device when I picked it up last night. After all, Google itself had just tweeted out that the new OS would be available on the Nexus One in the “next few weeks.” But that looks to be a solid under-promise, over-deliver — very nice, Google. → Read More
Sometimes there are advantages to staying up really late at night. I had just laid down in my bed to try and get some sleep before an early flight to New York tomorrow when I remembered I hadn’t charged my Nexus One. I reached over to my bedside table to grab it, and I see an alert letting me know a system update is available. Having just read numerous reports that Android 2.2 would be coming to the device in the “next few weeks” I figured this couldn’t be the new OS codenamed “Froyo.” But it was.
Yes, apparently Google is starting to roll out the Android 2.2 Froyo update to Nexus One devices right now. I just tried the EVO 4G (the newest Android phone which Google gave out at Google I/O this week) but 2.2 isn’t available for it yet. I guess being the “Google Phone” has its advantages. Nexus One owners, if you’re up, check for an update right now. → Read More
When Google launched its Nexus One Android phone, it also launched alongside it an online phone store where the Nexus One and future Android phones would be for sale. It was a slightly disruptive play to de-link the purchase of a phone from an actual carrier. The idea was, you could pick your phone, pick your plan, and mix and match.
Well, it didn’t turn out that way. Carriers don’t like to give up control. In fact, Verizon decided not to sell the Nexus One at all, and instead opt for its own more Incredible Android phone. The phone store turned out to be a flop, and Google just announced that it will be closing up shop online: → Read More
All this port needs is the Wii Remote hack from earlier and it will be near perfect. A PS3 Bluetooth controller would make it perfect. Now that Quake 3 has been ported, how about some Half-Life action? → Read More
If you have a Nexus One or Motorola Droid and play classic games with an emulator, you must do this hack. It essentially turns the Nexus One into a full-fledge portable gaming system. The Wii Remote is even small enough to travel with, too. Can’t you see yourself pulling out the phone and firing up Metroid while cruising at 30,000 feet? I can. [via NeverKnowTech] → Read More
Late last month, a number of sites noted that a very early build of Fennec, the mobile version of Firefox, was available to download for Android phones. However, that build wasn’t official as it was put together by an individual and optimized for the Droid device. Today, Mozilla has itself put out a pre-Alpha build of Fennec that should work at the very least on Droid and the Nexus One.
Mozilla is quick to note that this is a pre-Alpha build of the browser, and is only for testing purposes. But that isn’t stopping Mozilla’s Vladimir Vukićević from announcing it on his blog. “There also aren’t yet any automated nightly developer builds or automated updates to this build; it’s even more of a pre-nightly build (even earlier than pre-alpha). But, it’s usable enough that we wanted to get some feedback on it as we continue to develop,” he notes. → Read More
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