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selinz
Many were worried that google would give preferential treatment to Motorola. So ...
goafrit
Google is diversifying and that is good for their strategy.
Google rolls out Android 4.0 with Samsung
Rick Merritt
10/19/2011 11:43 AM EDT
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Goggle announced the release of Android 4.0, aka Ice Cream Sandwich, unifying what were separate variants of the OS for smartphones, tablets and digital TVs.
The news came in a Hong Kong press conference where Samsung launched the first smartphone using the software, the Galaxy Nexus. The debut with a Samsung device gives credence to Google's promise to continue to work with all Android partners in the wake of its $12.5 billion bid to buy Motorola Mobility.
Google announced at its annual developer conference a year ago its plans to bring together the separate phone, tablet and TV versions of Android. The new version is the first with built-in support for near-field communications (NFC).
A so-called Android Beam feature uses NFC links to share data between phones. NFC also provides the underpinnings for Google Wallet, an electronic payment service.
Android 4.0 sports a number of enhancements, mainly at the applications and user interface level. They include an improved browser that can synch bookmarks with Google Chrome, support for Google+ social networking, enhanced mail and calendar programs and Face Unlock, a face-recognition feature used for unlocking a handset.
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus runs on LTE and HSPA+ networks and sports a 4.65-inch AMOLED display supporting 1280 x 720 pixel resolution, including 720-progreessive video. It uses an unnamed 1.2 GHz dual-core processor with 1 Gbyte RAM and 16 GBytes flash.
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chanj
10/19/2011 12:31 PM EDT
I heard there is face recognition to unlock the phone. There is no doubt NFC will bring more apps and convenience to users. The launching is in Nov 2011 which seems like the right timing to catch the holiday season. What else do you want from Android 4.0?
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Les_Slater
10/19/2011 1:07 PM EDT
And what carriers will be offering it?
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GroovyGeek
10/20/2011 1:43 AM EDT
Carriers will take their sweet time as usual, and many models will be left out in the cold as usual. Your best bet if you want Ice Cream Sandwich is Cyanongen Mod, probably on an HTC phone. A note to Google: Ice Cream Sandwich is the worst name ever - long to pronounce clunky to write out... Can we stick with 2-3 syllable 1-word deserts please? Froyo was great, heck even Gingerbread is half decent.
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Les_Slater
10/20/2011 10:15 AM EDT
This brings us one step closer to having a universal mobile device. The screen size and resolution could in many cases alleviate the necessity of carrying both a smartphone and a tablet.
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goafrit
10/21/2011 10:00 AM EDT
Google is diversifying and that is good for their strategy.
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selinz
10/23/2011 11:46 AM EDT
Many were worried that google would give preferential treatment to Motorola. So far, that doesn't appear to be the case.
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