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Google makes the Nexus 7 tablet official: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and a $199 price (video)
Some of the mystery has been taken out of it, but Google has officially taken the wraps off of the Nexus 7, its first reference-grade tablet. The 7-inch slate is the first and currently only device shipping with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and takes advantage of its optimization for smaller tablet screens, magazines and movies -- it's also the first to ship with a finished Chrome for Android. Like what was widely suspected, the tablet is built by ASUS (shades of Eee Pad MeMO ME370T, anyone?) and mostly draws our attention in terms of what we get for the money: that quad-core Tegra 3, 1.2-megapixel front camera, NFC and 1280 x 800, IPS-based LCD are traits we'd normally look for in a pricier tablet. How much pricier, you ask? Google is asking just $199 for a dainty 8GB model and $249 for a 16GB version -- that's a lot of speed for the money, especially with a $25 Google Play credit and a slew of bundled content. There's no SD card slot, however. We'll test the Nexus 7 as soon as we can, but you can swing by Google Play (and possibly local stores) to order one in Australia, Canada, the UK and the US with a mid-July shipping window. Check out our full coverage of Google I/O 2012's opening keynote at our event hub! %Gallery-159263%
Google Play starts selling movies, TV shows (single episode or full season) and magazines today
The Android Market became Google Play to focus on how it pushes media, and now it's adding a few new options. On stage at Google I/O 2012 the company just announced it's adding support for the purchase of movies, as well as TV shows by episode or by season, and even magazines all available today. That's in addition to the existing apps, movie rentals, music and books. Oh, and look, Google just introduced a new tablet that you can use to access all of that content. We'll keep an eye out for an exact list of all the new media partners, although mentioned on stage were magazines including Hearst, Conde Nast and Meredith long with TV networks Disney / ABC, NBC Universal, Sony Pictures and Paramount . Check out our Google I/O live blog for even more details as they're announced, and look after the break for video introductions. Check out our full coverage of Google I/O 2012's opening keynote at our event hub!
Google brings incremental app updates, added encryption measures to Android
Google has just announced a new feature for Google Play that's sure to please anyone who's sat through an app update that never seemed to end. It now offers what it calls "Smart App Updates," which will let developers provide incremental updates to apps instead of forcing people to download a whole new APK for every minor update. On average, Google says those should be about a third the size of typical updates. What's more, the company has also announced that it's bringing added encryption measures to Android, which will let paid apps be encrypted with a device-specific key that makes them harder to rip and share. Both features will be supported on Android devices running Gingerbread or above. Check out our full coverage of Google I/O 2012's opening keynote at our event hub!
Google Play hits 600,000 apps, 20 billion total installs
Google during its I/O keynote hit a symbolic milestone: it now has 600,000 apps in the Google Play Store. As well, the store is clearly hitting a brisk pace in adoption, with 1.5 billion downloads every month and 20 billion since Android began. Free apps are available in 190 countries, with paid apps in 132. The app and download counts stack up fairly well to Apple's own claims, although not universally: it's just short of the App Store's 650,000 apps, but Apple can still point to 30 billion total downloads. Google also hasn't said how many apps are explicitly tablet-friendly versus 225,000 iPad-oriented apps. Either way, Google can say that it has largely erased the app quantity deficit, and that's no mean feat.
Google: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean coming to Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S and Motorola Xoom mid-July
As is the norm for developer summits, Google's kicking off I/O with a keynote highlighting whatever the heck it wants to. Jelly Bean is, of course, one of the big topics of discussion at today's session, and we're hearing more news come down the pipeline straight from the horse's mouth. Jelly Bean, also known as Android 4.1, should be making its way to the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S and Motorola Xoom in mid-July as an OTA update, and the SDK will be available today as part of a developer preview. Keep up with the latest Google news by checking out our I/O keynote liveblog!
Android 4.1 Jelly Bean home screen revealed, automatically accommodates your apps and widgets
It's a pain manually moving apps and widgets on Android screens, ain't it? Well, at Google I/O 2012, the folks in Mountain View have just given us some Jelly Bean salve to soothe that irritation. The latest Android OS automatically arranges onscreen icons around any new widgets or apps you choose to insert. Not only that, but you can also remove any unwanted apps and widgets with a simple swipe up and off the home screen to delete them. A welcome Android addition, to be sure, but it begs the question, when will us non-Nexus owners get to enjoy it? Check out our full coverage of Google I/O 2012's opening keynote at our event hub!
Android Jelly Bean input options include updated keyboard, offline voice dictation
On stage at Google I/O, the company is showing off its newest features for Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, which include a new keyboard with SwiftKey-like word prediction, and voice typing that works even when you're offline. From the demo on stage it worked quickly without the annoying lag of waiting for the server to process your words we've experienced from voice control so far. There are 18 new input languages including Persian and Hindi, although offline voice dictation is US English only for now. Also mentioned on stage are new audio cues for blind users, and support for Braille. Check out our Google I/O 2012 live blog for all the details. Check out our full coverage of Google I/O 2012's opening keynote at our event hub!
Project Butter improves Android 4.1's speed to a silky-smooth 60FPS
As part of its unveiling of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, Google has unveiled Project Butter, a major effort to squash Android's frequent problems with device lag, as well as Systrace to help diagnose performance. Project Butter lets the CPU and graphics run in parallel, rather than crash into each other, and has a big impact on both real and perceived speed: the entire interface runs at 60 frames per second on sufficiently fast hardware. Graphics are now triple-buffered to keep scrolling and transitions humming along, and the processor will swing into full gear the moment you touch the screen to keep input lag to a minimum. Systrace, in the meantime, will help developers stamp out what performance hiccups remain. The tracing tool will be a part of the Jelly Bean SDK, so every coder can get an app running in tip-top shape. Check out our full coverage of Google I/O 2012's opening keynote at our event hub!
Google: 400 million Android devices, one million activations a day
Google has just kicked off its I/O keynote with some big new numbers to share. It now says there are 400 million activated Android devices out there, and one million activations per day. That's up from the 100 million activated devices it announced at Google I/O last year, and 200 million it announced last fall, while the activations per day are up from the 900k it confirmed just earlier this month. As Google was quick to point out, that translates to about 12 devices activated every second, and it's happy to note that things are "definitely not slowing down." Check out our full coverage of Google I/O 2012's opening keynote at our event hub!
Google cuts the price of the Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ to $349, adds Jelly Bean
Jeez Louise, Google's 2012 I/O opening keynote has barely begun and much of the news has already leaked out on the company's own Play Store. Add this to the list: Google is dropping the price of the HSPA+ Galaxy Nexus to $349 from $399, and is updating its flagship phone with the next, soon-to-be-unveiled version of Android, Jelly Bean. That screenshot up there should answer some of your most likely questions, but here's the short version: it'll be compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile in the US, and roughly 200 other GSM carriers everywhere else in the world (no surprise here). As for the software, well, we have enough early intel about Jelly Bean to know that's Android 4.1 running on a seven-month-old handset. As for what that jump from 4.0 to 4.1 entails, you can expect quite a few stories from us, but this official announcement should be as good a place as any to start. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Live from Google I/O 2012's opening keynote!
June is drawing to a close and we're back in San Francisco for what will be the last major event of the month. It's Google's I/O developer conference and it starts today with the first keynote. Set your browsers here and refresh at the time below to join us in this great American liveblog! June 27, 2012 12:30 PM EDT
Google's Nexus 7 cover turns up on the Play store, will set you back $20
Not surprisingly, Google will have some accessories for its new Nexus 7 tablet, including a cover that also leaked out a bit early through Google Play (and spotted by MoDaCo's Paul O'Brien). As you can see, it will cover both the front and back of the device, and set you back a fairly reasonable $20. Available at least in dark grey, it has a matte (seemingly textured) finish, and provides access to both the tablet's headphone jacket and charging port.
$399 Triad speakers for Nexus Q surface in Google Play store
Well, we certainly know what's coming at 12:30. In addition to outing the Nexus 7 tablet and Nexus Q media-streaming device, the Play store has a listing for $399 Triad bookshelf speakers "designed to optimize the sound quality of the Nexus Q." The listed specs peg each speaker at 14 pounds, with a 1-inch fabric dome tweeter and a 6.5-inch proprietary woofer. The speakers' range is 75 Hz - 20 kHz, and according to the page they will ship in two to three weeks -- only in the US.
Google to hand over $25 Play credit with each Nexus 7 tablet purchase
Among the premature Google Play leaks this morning is a line about a purchase bonus, to ship alongside each Nexus 7 tablet. As a temporary incentive, Mountain View is offering customers a $25 credit to spend on Play store content, along with additional content, including a copy of Transformers: Dark of the Moon. We're just minutes away from the start of Google's I/O conference keynote, where we expect to hear full details about the tablet and bonus cash, along with a handful of other devices, such as the Nexus Q.
Miselu Neiro synth at Google I/O: exclusive first look at apps from Korg and Yamaha (video)
Remember Miselu's Neiro -- that prototype app-based Android-powered synth we last played with at SXSW? Not only is it being showcased at Google I/O 2012 here in San Francisco, but we got an exclusive first look at some of the apps being developed for the new platform ahead of the event. The company's been on a roll since our meeting in Austin, gaining (ex-OQO CEO) Jory Bell as CTO and building relationships with partners like Korg and Yamaha. Now on its second iteration, the laptop-like synth has evolved from the hand-built prototype we saw at SXSW to a more polished reference design -- complete with breakout board for SD card and Ethernet support. As before, the device runs Gingerbread on a dual-core TI OMAP processor and features a two octave velocity and pressure-sensitive keyboard, a capacitive multitouch widescreen, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, audio and MIDI I/O, plus USB and HDMI ports. This version even adds XLR and quarter-inch audio jacks -- just keep in mind that those specs have not been finalized. What's really exciting about the synth is the apps. The company's ongoing partnership with Retronyms to create a suite of touch-controlled, cloud-enabled musical apps has evolved beyond the drum-machine demo we covered at SXSW. Called nStudio, the suite now also includes a pad-based sampler / sequencer and a mixer. Plasma Sound is a touch-based musical instrument that's part theremin, part keyboard / sequencer. It's already available for other devices on Google Play, but was easily tweaked to run on the Neiro -- sight unseen -- thanks to Miselu's musicSDK and OS X-based emulator. Miselu will be showcasing two more apps on its synth here at Google I/O: Korg's Polysix and Yamaha's Vocaloid. The Polysix app faithfully recreates Korg's legendary 1981 synth -- known for its rich, thick analog sound. A real, mint-condition Polysix was even available for comparison during our brief time with the app (see our gallery). Vocaloid takes full advantage of the NSX-1 DSP chip that's built-into the Neiro. It's a singing synth app produced by Yamaha that "uses concatenative synthesis to splice and process vocal fragments extracted from human voice samples." We'll be spending some time with the Vocaloid app and its creator -- video game designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi (of Sega and Lumines fame) -- later today. In the meantime, check out the gallery below and watch our hands-on video with the other apps after the break.%Gallery-159214%
Sirius XM details GoogleTV app ahead of the I/O party
The fine folks at Sirius XM just couldn't wait for Google I/O to kick off. Yesterday the satellite radio giant tipped off Reuters (not that it was the only one "spilling the beans," mind you), and today it's offering up even more information on its upcoming Google TV offering. The app, still slated for a broad 2012 release, will be available as a free download for US subscribers via the Google Play store. The list of features includes Start Now, which lets users listen to programming from up to five hours prior, pausing / fast forwarding / rewinding and Tune Start, which brings up the beginning of an already played song. Also on-board is the Show Finder, a program guide that lets subscribers set show alerts. The company will be demoing the product later this evening at I/O. In the meantime, check out the press release after the break.
Sirius XM gives Google TV a Stern look, plans radio app for this summer
Sirius XM has long had a love affair with Android, going so far as to build an Android-powered satellite radio just a few months ago. That flame is burning for at least a little while longer with plans for a Google TV app launching this summer. Much in line with Sirius XM's more recent internet options, subscribers can soon tune into virtually anything from the satellite radio lineup, including the obligatory Howard Stern, as well as online-only bonuses like ESPN SportsCenter. The radio provider tells Reuters that it worked "closely" with Google to build the app, but what secret sauce that adds (if any) is left to the imagination: the live pausing and five-hour content storage don't exactly break the mold of what we've seen so far. We'll find out very soon just how category-busting Sirius XM can get when we get a full reveal of the Google TV app in sync with the start of Google I/O.
Google tablet will indeed be co-branded with ASUS and will target Amazon, says insider
We already suspected as much -- not least from the FCC filing above -- but an unnamed executive at Asustek Computer Inc has reportedly just confirmed that Google's much-rumored new tablet will be co-branded with ASUS. According to Reuters, the employee said the tablet will help Google to "target Amazon" and the Kindle range of tablets and e-readers. Despite the existence of Google Play Books, which are available on any Android tablet, the insider said that Google "doesn't have anything like Amazon's service" -- a quote which may not make a ton of sense, but which does support the general notion of a $199 rival to the Kindle Fire.
Google I/O 2012 kicks off tomorrow, get your liveblog right here!
Hey, remember that keynote last year where Google unveiled Ice Cream Sandwich before showing off Google Music and the Open Android Accessory standard and Android@Home before giving away 5,000 Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablets? Yeah, it was quite a rush. This year we're expecting another new flavor of Android and maybe even a new Nexus tablet to boot. You won't want to miss it and, as always, we'll be there. We'll be liveblogging every detail of the event straight to your browser courtesy of our exclusive liveblog viewer. Set your bookmarks right here for all the action then set those alarms for the time below. June 27, 2012 12:30 PM EDT
Google's Jelly Bean cup runneth over, kills grass in the process (update: video!)
Happy Google I/O week! Why not celebrate with a giant jelly bean or 12? The search giant clearly has some big, colorful plans for later this week, including, perhaps, another entry in its delicious parade of lawn-cluttering mobile operating system dessert foods. The above statue was spotted and posted to the Google Developers page on Google+, and it surely amounts to more than just a belated Easter celebration. We'll no doubt be hearing a lot more on the subject from Google -- and the American Dental Association -- in the days to come. Update: No, Google wasn't planning on leaving a mess on the Googleplex grass. That jar is part of a more elaborate statue that more clearly reminds us Jelly Bean is, in fact, part of the Android ecosystem. You can catch a video of the assembly and the final product after the break.
