HTC confirm the One Google Edition!

   It's finally here, HTC have confirmed the Google Edition of their flagship device, the One. This is an interesting proposition because you get HTC's design language with Google's almost instantaneous updates, but unlike the Nexus devices this one isn't cheap!

   Obviously this is the same HTC One we know and love on the outside and parts of the inside, but HTC Sense and all of the add-ons disappear and instead they're replaced by stock Android. What's interesting about this, as HTC's Jason Dunn says:

"Is what you don't get with it: no HTC Sense, no Zoes, no BlinkFeed, no Video Highlights, no HTC Share, Living Gallery, no SenseTV, etc. The IR blaster hardware is there, but whether or not developers will be able to tap into it is an unknown right now. If having the latest version of Android is paramount to your very existence, well, you have your answer."

   At the moment it's the trade off between getting superfast updates or getting a slightly more rounded experience because things like Zoe and the IR blaster are actually nice additions to the handset!

   If you're not sure whether to go for the retail version of the HTC One which you can get from carriers, or whether to go for one of the developer or 'Nexus' versions then check out the picture below and compare it with your carrier of choice to make the right decision for you. Bear in mind buying the HTC One without a contract will require a hefty up front fee.

Click to enlarge.

   Just as before we know this will be coming to the US Play Store, but there hasn't been wider availability announced just yet! US residents can get the device from JUne the 26th for $599!
Via HTC Elevate.

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Google I/O: A 'Google Edition' Samsung Galaxy S4 with unlocked bootloader and stock Android is on the way!

   Samsung's insanely popular Galaxy S4 is already on the market, but yesterday at Google I/O it was announced that the 'Google Edition' of the Galaxy S4 would come to America running stock Android!

   This phone will feature an unlocked bootloader, 16GB of internal storage as well as that SD card slot and there's LTE on board which Google say will work with T-Mobile and AT&T in the US. Otherwise though this is the same Galaxy S4 we know and love and you can see a full run down of the specs list here! 

   The particularly interesting thing about this phone is that Google have promised that it will receive 'prompt updates' with every new version of Android. The phone also is totally unlocked and that means that it is essentially a Nexus device. So far people seem to have been quite baffled by this device and why Google are even thinking about selling it. As far as we are concerned though this makes perfect sense.

   The way we think of it is as a device which helps manufacturers get software updates out faster. This is something which Google have been saying that they want to try to work on lately and if they have a quasi-Nexus device which they can push out stock Android to nice and quickly then your Samsung's, HTC's and whoever else makes a device with a Snapdragon 600 inside only need to re-skin the OS with their enhancements and then the software is ready to be released and theoretically this will make updates much quicker!

   If you're interested in one of these Nexus Galaxy S4's then you'll be able to get one on June the 26th if you live in the USA and you can order direct from Google Play. The device will set you back a lot more than the Nexus 4, but Samsung will obviously want to maintain their margins, so you'll be paying $649! At the moment there's no word on if or when this will come to Europe or Asia, we think it's likely, but we'll have to wait and see!

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Google Exec teases 'insanely great cameras' in upcoming Nexus devices!

   There's not always a great deal going on in the tech world on the weekends, so little in fact that there's rarely any news to post, but yesterday Google's Senior VP of Engineering at Google, Vic Gundotra, decided to buck that trend. He popped up on a Google+ post discussing the quality of the camera modules on Nexus devices.

   As you know the Samsung Galaxy Nexus was a little behind the times when it launched with a 5MP camera in 2011, which was up against the 8MP shooters in the iPhone 4S and the Samsung Galaxy S2. So in 2012 Nexus devices finally caught up, when the Nexus 4 arrived with a solid 8MP camera.

   It seems that quite a few people have noticed this too and one Google+ commenter posed this question to Vic Gundotra, both question and reply are embedded below:

   As you can see Gundotra has promised 'insanely great cameras' in Nexus phones which is quite an exciting prospect. To be fair to Google they have been putting a fair bit of work into the camera technology in Android devices. It started way back with the release of Android 4.0 ICS, which featured a totally redesigned camera interface, which was much more slick and usable. As recently as Jelly Bean we've seen features such as Photo Sphere popping up and we now have almost instant picture taking (check out the amount of pictures the Sony Xperia Z can take in 68 seconds!),  so with a great new sensor and a bit more work Android will be a really great photography platform and projects like Samsung Galaxy Camera won't hurt at all!

   Now we're not expecting Nokia 808 PureView quality here, but it's exciting to get even the brief-est teaser that Google is working on something exciting for the next release of Android! What are you expecting to see in this year's Nexus? 13MP camera or should we expect something more? Let us know in the comments below!
Via AndroidCentral.

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09/10/2012

Rumours of a new HTC phablet grow!

   There have been rumours about HTC making a challenger to Samsung's self-invented 'phablet' market for quite a while now. But, everything had gone quite quiet on that front until the rumours were reignited today by a pair of tweets from @EVleaks and @Football4PDA.

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05/10/2012

Is the next Nexus going to be made by LG?

   Today Modaco founder, Paul O'Brien took to Twitter to announce some details from his, trusted sources, about an upcoming Nexus device from LG! Although, he made it explicitly clear that he doesn't know if this is the only Nexus device which will be arriving!

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HTC, Motorola and the future!

   Before I start it's worth offering up a little disclaimer. I live in the UK, our choice of phones is decidedly different from you guys over the pond in the USA. For starters we didn't get any of the Motorola Droid series, after the Droid 2 (read: Milestone 2), we only got the Razr Maxx available in big chain stores in the last 2 weeks and we get pretty much every HTC phone going!

   So what's the point of this discussion? Well both companies are doing average-poor in their financial statements and there are clear reasons, in my mind, why each of them is struggling and bare in mind that these are just my opinions and for the record I have a Galaxy S3 and Sony Tablet S, so there's no vested interest!

   Firstly, lets start with Motorola because they're easier to tackle! Firstly, the company in the last few years has failed to compete with the Samsung's and Apple's of this world and to an extent they are struggling at the moment. At the moment if you head over to their UK page you will find 14 phones for sale; the competitive of which is the Motorola Razr/Razr Maxx and yes both of these phones are nice, but given the choice would you buy one of them over a Galaxy S3? Probably not, you'd rather stump up the extra £5 a month!

   Motorola almost totally missed the boat because when the Razr was announced in November 2011 Google was days away from showcasing the Galaxy Nexus, with it's 720p HD screen, which simply trumps the Razr's! The phone was almost outdated from the moment it launched.

   Hopefully the freshly announced Razr M and it's 'bezel-less display' will help, although the Intel processor might well put off a few people. The Razr HD and Razr HD Maxx are once again good but they're very much the 4S to the iPhone 4, if you get that little analogy.

Thankfully the Razr got ICS, but only after Jelly Bean was announced!

   My criticism doesn't stop there; Motorola also have an issue with updates; that issue is that they're terrible with them! If you're lucky you'll see one update on your phone. That simply isn't competitive any more; Samsung and HTC crank out updates for the vast majority of their phones quickly and they often get them through two versions of Android! Even Sony have learnt the wonders of software updates lately and they've been widely praised for their work, so hopefully Motorola will see the light!

   Quite simply that's where Motorola's problem is; they're not challenging high-end phones and that's where Samsung and Apple are making their money. Hopefully Google have got Moto's teams working behind the scenes to create something amazing for the event on September the 5th because they'll have to compete with the Galaxy S3, the new iPhone, new Lumia devices, the stunning Samsung Ativ S and HTC's competent, if not mind blowing, One X and S. That's the competition and devices will have to wow consumers to turn their heads.

   Motorola would also do well to actually offer their phones in Europe! We can help you guys shift some phones, but not if they're not on sale here! It might be a strategic move on Motorola's part to tackle the US and China, but it's slightly frustrating for us keyboard lovers!

The Sensation just looked dated.

   HTC is a different beast entirely; people have said that things started going pear-shaped last year when they released too many Sensation devices. HTC had the Sensation, the Sensation XE and the Sensation XL, so I'm not entirely convinced that was the reason. Instead, I'd say that the Sensation series (with the exception of the XE) looked clunky and unfashionable. Yes, they were made of metal and felt good but they didn't look as good as an iPhone 4S or a Galaxy S2 did they?

   That's the problem for HTC their aesthetic. The One Series was a good start, it looked relatively fresh and unique and HTC brought their A-game with the specs, even if they put a diddy little battery in the One X!

   I think HTC knows that's the trouble too, but the company has a toss up between a complete departure from their current design language and the risk that runs of alienating their current device owners when they come to upgrade. HTC has also started focusing on battery sizes; they've been asking their Elevate users whether battery life is that important to them and whether perceived battery life is actually the reality, after all a little battery doesn't necessarily mean it won't last all day!

   HTC aren't the company that concern me, they'll be fine they're trying to change and reassert themselves, but they need to get back to creating iconic devices; the Desire and the Legend were fantastic. Everyone instantly recognised them because they were so distinct and they caught people's eyes and that's what they need to get back to and maybe ditch sense too! It looks like a dodgy scarf in the Sensation above!!! Again in HTC's defence they've tried to refresh Sense in the One series and they've toned down the colour scheme and made it less intrusive!

   So HTC and Motorola both are still competitive manufacturers and both have a place in Android's future. I'm confident both of them can offer compelling and competitive devices, sometimes though I just wish Google could make all Android phones and this is why...

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Android updates: it's a mess!

  

  In the last few days it has come to light that Motorola have decided not to update devices which are less than a year old to the latest version of Android! This is in direct opposition to the company's own promise to update phones for 18 months, something which Motorola promised to adhere to by signing up to Google's I/O support agreement. So why haven't things panned out the way we expected?

   The official line from Google is that, hardware permitting, all Android devices would get OS updates in a reasonable amount of time within the first 18 months. This is why customers will undoubtedly be more than slightly frustrating to learn that Motorola and Samsung at the very least have broken their promises.

   Lets start with Moto, their most recent statement read like this;
"You may be wondering why all devices aren’t being upgraded to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Here’s the deal. We work very closely with Google and cell phone carriers for every software update. And, obviously we want the new release to improve our devices. If we determine that can’t be done—well then, we’re not able to upgrade that particular device." - Motorola blog.


   Ok, that is a slight departure from the 'hardware permitting' line issued earlier. Lets dive a little deeper and have a look at the list of updates;



   It's a pretty long list of updates, but, there's a lot down the bottom which won't be moving past Gingerbread. The only two which are justified is the Droid 2 and the Droid Pro which were announced in 2010 and already out of their 18 month update period. The rest, including the Cliq 2, all have the ability to run ICS, as we've seen proven by the HTC Desire C's recent release.

   Similarly, Samsung have stated that;
 "After reviewing various factors such as system requirements, platform limitations, and partner-related issues, we will consider upgrading Galaxy devices to Ice Cream Sandwich. Specific upgrade plans will be communicated separately. Samsung will stay committed to responsibility for its customers as much as possible."

   The question, from an American device viewpoint is about the Samsung Captivate Glide, the Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch, the Samsung Conquer 4G and the Samsung Exhibit 4G, all of which we have heard nothing about. These are all high-end devices, so it is disappointing that these are not guaranteed an update!

   Again we come back to why? Why no update?

   I can't help but feel it has something to do with cost. Are Motorola and Samsung not updating because it costs a lot of man hours to code a stable and working release? Of course the same can be asked of HTC (to a lesser degree) and the other smaller Android manufacturers like ZTE.

   At this point I have to praise LG and Sony (Ericsson). The former has promised to update it's Optimus line from 2010, despite their low-end 600Mhz processor. The latter has promised to update the whole of their 2011 line-up, both of these are great to hear and we really have to applaud the two companies for keeping their word.

   It seems that now would be a great point for Google to expand their Nexus line-up to about five or six devices a year, each of which is guaranteed an update to the latest OS, in the same vein that Microsoft does with the whole of their Windows Phone devices. It's good to hear rumours suggesting this may become a reality later this year because manufacturers have to realise people expect their expensive devices to be supported for the length of their contracts! The reality is this is not too much to ask, even for a 'lower-end' £200 device.

   The conclusion here is that to guarantee your device will be supported for the length of your contract you have to choose a flagship device or go with a Nexus phone. You have to remember Apple can support all of their devices because they create the software in house and only have one version of each device to support. Perhaps this is a direction more companies should head, given the success Samsung has had with their one-a-year Galaxy series, which has proved insanely popular. Either way, if you take a two-year contract, have a long hard think about which device you choose with it and remember you may have to accept the software it launches with for the length of your contract, but make sure you're comfortable with it. But, remember worst case, you can hide your outdated version of Android with a new launcher!!!

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