Google Talking Ice Cream Sandwich, Nexus Right Now
There is a new Google Android Nexus phone coming, and it's BIG.
After an initial false start, Google and Samsung are presenting in Hong Kong the future of the Android mobile operating system. The next version of Android, codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich, will surely be detailed on how it'll marry smartphones and tablets into one unified platform.
What many people are eagerly awaiting in the reveal of the next-generation of Nexus device, the "Pure Google experience" phone meant for developers and those who like to be on the cutting edge of Android releases.
We'll be learning more about that soon, so stay tuned for regular updates throughout the next hour or two. You can also follow along at the livestream via YouTube that starts at 10 p.m. EDT.
UPDATE: See the entire presentation in the video below:
LIVE UPDATES
Kim Titus takes the stages to introduce the head of Samsung Mobile, JK Shin, who takes the stage.
Shin talks about how Samsung and Google work together to become the number one Android partnership. They're unveiling the first Ice Cream Sandwich phone here. HSPA+ for tasty Ice Cream Sandwich experiences, he says. Shin introduces Android daddy Andy Rubin.
Rubin is wearing a black shirt and blue jeans. Hmm... so there's going to be a new phone. Three things: Simplicity, Beauty, and "Beyond Smart." All about cloud services, so your cell phone is doing things for you.
And now a video of the... GALAXY NEXUS! Forget about calling it the Nexus Prime. We suppose that they wanted to leverage the strength of the Galaxy brand.
Samsung boasts again being the #1 Android maker. Now they're talking about speed. Supports LTE and HSPA+ in two different versions. It'll be the first LTE phone with Android 4.0.
1.2 GHz dual-core processor "that flies".
Next up, the screen. Super AMOLED. 100,000:1 contrast ratio. Make that "HD" Super AMOLED. 4.65-inches of love. 1280x720. Ice Cream Sandwich supports this as the native resolution. 0.01 ms response time.
Now they're talking about design. Curved contour. The 4.29 mm thick bezel... or thin bezel, more like.
The textured back is called "hyperskin" for a soft, grippy back.
LED notification light on the bottom. Nice.
5 megapixel camera. Yikes, that's a bit last year. Even the Galaxy S II are at 8 mp. 1080p videos though, so that's on-par.
Sensors galore, including barometer in case you wanted to play weatherman.
Coming November in U.S., Europe, Japan. Japan gets it on NTT DoCoMo. No mention of other carriers yet.
Now Google is back to talk about Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0. Google says that people don't LOVE Android, and now it wants to change that with ICS.
"Android is enchanting... something you can fall in love with." ... "Meet Roboto" -- the new design UI. No fake materials, no fake wood or brushed metals. Now inspired by the latest design trends, magazine layout with bold headlines and big picture.
Showing off the new lock screen with a new Roboto font. The unlock mechanism is a bit like the one from webOS.
Galaxy Nexus has no buttons. Ice Cream Sandwich is all about virtual buttons, like how iOS has been doing it from the beginning. But button presses in Android are now replaced with gestures. He's showing off swiping left and right to switch home screens. Scrolling in stacks on the home screen too. Left and right scrolling through apps, also like iOS. Widgets are resizable, which is nice for customization.
Folders are improved. They can now go into the favorites tray in the bottom "dock". Finally a customizable tray.
An icon for quick recent app switching. Scrollable list and a simple flick discards it and ends the process -- like webOS.
FINALLY native screenshot taking. Holding volume and power buttons at the same time.
Now the ability to dismiss individual notifications with a flick.
Improvements to text input, like an inline spellchecker. Improved cut, copy and paste to make it consistent throughout the entire system.
Now showing off Android voice recognition for text dictation. Seems the same as before.
New way to unlock your phone. No need for a PIN or pattern. Face recognition to unlock!
Uh oh, Google's demonstration of facial recognition unlock... isn't working. Ouch.
Moving right along... the new browser. Easier to manage tabs, you can have up to 16 of them open. Flick gestures to close tabs.
Defaults to mobile browser, but now there is a setting to ask the browser to request the desktop version. No more need to hunt around for a link.
One click to save a cached version of a webpage for offline reading, like Instapaper.
Now improvements to Gmail. Redesigned inbox with an action bar at the bottom to quickly compose, search, refresh, and other functions. Action bar will change based on context. You can swipe left and right to navigate through message threads. Smooth animations.
Now coming, offline search. By default, last 30 days are saved, but that can be expanded to even longer.
New calendar app. Pinch to zoom to expand/contract views.
Everything else is updated too, including Maps, YouTube... but maybe we're not going to see them tonight?
New settings now demoed. Better data controls. Graph of your data usage, and you can even set a mobile data limit for those of you on data caps. It even breaks down data usage by app. This is VERY cool to have integrated as a native solution. Definitely something that's too granular for Apple to put into iOS.
Now about the camera app. Swipe left on the lock screen to start the camera app, no need to fumble to unlock. Also lots of social network sharing options. Tap to focus. They're boasting zero shutter lag. Seems pretty fast.
Native video editing, and edits are saved as a copy, so originals are saved. There's a hipster filter. Instant Instagram! Also automatic organizing by location, or tagged people.
Built in panorama photo taking, which stitches together a wide shot. Pretty fancy.
Now for video recording. 1080p, continuous focus, zoom while recording, time lapse, video snapshots. Showing off a video demo. Nice nature shots. Really neat time lapse demonstrations.
A new people app. Sorta like contacts, so far. Looks a little like Metro from Microsoft. Compiles all the contact details. Integrates the contact's recent social updates right into the contacts detail page.
There's visual voicemail control now. Other calls controls including a canned, quick response. Instead of flat rejecting a call, you can select to send a text instead.
Now with NFC, sharing content using "Android Beam". It's like that "bump" app. Demo'ed showing article sharing by touching phones together. Also sharing maps. Can also share YouTube videos, contact cards. Sharing apps too! Minecraft running on one, another phone touches it and it goes straight to the marketplace. Neat.
Ice Cream Sandwich SDK is available now at Android.com. Developers, get to work!...please.
Kim Titus is back on stage thanking everyone for coming. And that's it!
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Quote: "how Samsung and Google work together to become the number one Android partnership"
So I guess Motorola was a wasted acquisition, which, by the way, is the only cell phone manufacturer not paying MicroSoft to make Android phones... I guess I don't get it?
WOW, the iPhone 4S has been out for like a week or two and already it seems like really old, outdated technology on a tiny screen. I guess if you are going for the smallest smartphone in the world , then the iPhone 4S is not a bad choice. There are so many great phones to choose from like the HTC Amaze, Samsung Galaxy S2, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Motorola RAZR, etc. I will be the first one to admit I was a fool for buying the iPhone 4 when it came out. I went through 3 of them in 4 months with antenna and glass issues. I never want to go back to misery and itty bitty screen.
Amazing. Panoramic photos are incredible. Android Beam is pretty flippin' awesome. Face unlock is cool ...if it actually works, lol.
I'm not an iPhone hater by any means, but ICS really makes iOS5 look pretty ridiculous. Siri is cool, but I haven't seen this many new technologies in a product unveiling since... uhhh...
Definitely glad I waited on upgrading my phone, definitely getting the Galaxy Nexus once released on Verizon.
Sure, that's nice. Stuff like Beam and face unlock have been done years ago by other companies/countries however, so they don't come as very impressive to me.
I'm not impressed by the camera - come on, Nokia N8 had an amazing 12MP (too bad it couldn't record 1080p, though!) - but at least it seems okay and it can record 1080p. The rest of the specs are nice; I'd take an SGS II HD over this but it's a great phone. +1 on calling it Galaxy Nexus, I like Galaxy brand
I wouldn't be surprised if it wouldn't, though, this phone seems a bit different from what we're used to in the Galaxy S line: it doesn't have top specs in everything, but it packs a good set of software, great screen and I'm sure Samsung will find a way for Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy S2 to co-exist peacefully.
Maybe now Apple fanboys will shut it about better DPI, because Galaxy Nesus' is aboot the same as their iPhone 4S's, and combined with a bigger screen, it's great. I like all these app updates and new features; but...
... does it have HDMI and USB-on-the-Go?
I've been skipping on Ice Cream Sandwich news... it looks like they added a few new cool features!
I like this app-specific limits, and the Apple remark is nice... they allegedly care about their user experience but somehow don't have something like that yet. Another questions is, why did take Android so long to implement this? The idea is simple...
ICS really makes iOS5 look pretty ridiculous. Siri is cool, but I haven't seen this many new technologies in a product unveiling since... uhhh...
I agree - this is quite a set of new features; I bet that those of the 4S buyers who know a bit about tech are banging their heads against the wall right now...
WOW, the iPhone 4S has been out for like a week or two and already it seems like really old, outdated technology on a tiny screen.
It was ALWAYS like that. iPhone 1 - pretty much every non-touch smartphone packed more connectivity and features. I don't remember what was happening during iPhone 2-3GS, they might have been ahead of others. However, ever since Galaxy S1 came out, their
seems interesting, please check if you can find out which flash memory it is using. While having a decent CPU and lots of memory is great, having fast flash memory is also important as it directly effects your ability to multitask and have the OS feel snappy.
But many reviews rarely test the speed of the flash memory.
And about the camera, image quality is more important than megapixels. Are they using a better image sensor, or are they using the cheap crappy 5MP sensor from their older devices.
The 8mp sensor on the iphone 4s doesn't even come close to the quality of my old 5 megapixel DSLR, or even my 7.1MP point and shoot)
While the newer image sensors may be better than older ones, it is not really related to the increase in resolution. the noticeable improvements come from better (lower noise) sensors that can capture a higher dynamic range, as well as better color accuracy, along with having a better lens (which even the high end phones like the iphone 4s lack for the most part). When dealing with a small camera unit, it impossible to get a proper lens that will accurately focus light in a way which prevents most of the lens distortion, as well as improve sharpness, as well as having a large enough size to allow more light in. On shots without a flash, in situations where a cellphone will crank up the ISO and still use a slow shutter speed of like 1/2, I can do with a ISO of around 250, and a shutter speed of 1/50 and still get a well exposed image.
A friend of mine with a canon EOS 1d mk III and a fast prime lens can use ISO's of 100 and shutter speeds of 1/100+ in average indoor lighting and get great shots with almost no noise.
I was ready to get this phone until it mentioned the camera was only 5 MP. This makes me a sad panda.
Seriously people. Are you really expecting a 8MP camera to be significantly better than a 5MP camera for a phone? A phone that has a 1mm (and most likely smaller) lens. A 3MP point and shoot will take better pictures than a 12MP camera phone. Since forever, MP has been a marketing term. When unless they give fine details about the tech behind the camera, its going to just be crap.
I wouldn't get this phone as I am happy with my GSII, but I am definitely excited for ICS! Hopefully Samsung and AT&T don't make us wait a year and a half before getting it though...
Seriously, as a photographer, don't let the 5 megapixel camera thing turn you off. Look up something called the "circle of confusion." It's a physical law that determines how small you can focus a given beam of light. What does that have to do with camera phones? Well, if you know you can't focus light smaller than a certain size, there's no point making a camera sensor with pixels that are smaller than that point. And yet phone and camera manufacturers do it anyway because, as we can see from the comments, people will make a snap decision based purely on the number of megapixels a camera has. Even if giving it more megapixels would actually cause it to take WORSE photos.
There is nothing in this release to make people sit up and want this phone. Other than for die hard droidfags its not going as good as the 4S.
It's a disapointment. It comes with a TI OMAP4460, so the GPU is indeed the PowerVR SGX540, the same GPU that came with the old Galaxy S II.
Quote: "how Samsung and Google work together to become the number one Android partnership"So I guess Motorola was a wasted acquisition, which, by the way, is the only cell phone manufacturer not paying MicroSoft to make Android phones... I guess I don't get it?
They can't, if Motorola ever pay Microsoft, seeing as they are now owned by Google, then Google would have to admit using Microsoft IP and if MS wanted they could push a worldwide injunction or a licensing payment in the realm of billions.
Very expensive game.
Because even 5Mp camera maxes so much sense on 2-3mm lens, eh?
Let's not start a megapixels war. Lots of pixels on a too small sensor means too small pixels and bad sensibility or lots of noise if you prefer. The quality you get in practice (even with expensive dslr's) has nothing to do with the amount of pixels. I'll choose a modern 5mp sensor over an 1 months old 10mp sensor design anytime !
I am afraid facial recognition will be as usefull or as useless in everyday life as Siri is. It already works on laptops in a well lit office, but how the hell do you want your phone to recognise you in backlight conditions or in semi-darkness (unless you fit some IR lamp on the thing maybe).
Besides that, it looks like a great (and big) phone ! I like it but I'll stick to my sensation for a while.
iPhone 4S vs Galaxy Nexus
4S - faster (look up the benchmarks, the A5 destroys tegra 2, let alone this setup)
Camera - iPhone has the best phone camera on the market
Screen - Nexus has the better screen by a bit HD LED IPS vs HD AMOLED - they're pretty close
OS - ICS sandwich wins for OS
Apps - iPhone 4S wins
Customizability - ICS wins hands down
Ease of Use - iP4s
I'm a tech nerd, and this galaxy nexus looks sweet. I'll still be recommending the iPhone to all my non-tech friends though, cuz droid is still freaking hard for a non-tech person to use like it's meant to be used.
down vote me: I don't really care, cuz at the end of the day they're both great phones.
I sick of both apple and droid fanboys.
Since when does the goodness of your phone depend on what phone it beats. For me the goodness of the phone depends on one thing: how well and efficiently it gets MY tasks done.
I have a lot of droid buddies who just rage on iPhone, and a lot of iPhone buddies who just rage on droid.
Grow up
5 MP camera?
meh
Why would you bother adding all the other great stuff and then stick a camera on it from 2009?
Can we get get some BATTERY LIFE numbers on this thing?
Does it makes phone calls? How is battery life and signal overall?
Come on, it's a phone before everything else!
Cheers!
You guys all want bigger screens so when its in your pocket the ladies think your passion in your pants is bigger! IMO our carriers pull these phones down with their slow speeds and poor signals!
That 3+ year old GPU just costed them a sale... samsung had enough time to make a whole new SoC with SGX554(dec 2010 release) or SGX544 (June 2010). Using this paltry OMAP 4 stuff is sad, could have at least used Exonys, even that is better.
I wonder if I can just find Samsung Galaxy S II HD LTE, put ICS on it and sell my ip4 and original samsung galaxy s II I have... hmm seems like a better idea.
Sad face google... thats all you get from me for this. GJ on the ICS though.
It's a disapointment. It comes with a TI OMAP4460, so the GPU is indeed the PowerVR SGX540, the same GPU that came with the old Galaxy S II.
That is Galaxy S..not 2.
Every one must pay attention, couse Google SmatPhone has never been the top spec!!!
normaly it's a event to show new OS and Design!!!
The powerful SmartPhone probably came in a few weeks by Samsung/HTC
Camera - iPhone has the best phone camera on the market.
Hmm yeah, you really aren't a tech nerd if you think this is true. Next time try not to get your facts from an Apple bullepoints. Clue: the best phone camera on the market is not on an Android phone either.
Love reading the people praising this phone who were bashing the iphone in every other thread! Your flagship hardware for nerddroid is weaker than not only the gs2, but also the iphone 4s.
To make it better, the crap OS FAILED during the demo, hahaha!
Really, really pathetic.
The nexus line has never been top of the line for hardware just like the iPhone. This phone is showcasing ICS, a pure android OS with no third part UI overlays (sense, motoblur). It is about as pure and streamlined and you can get with android at the moment. The CPU/GPU is lacking but will perform wonders running AOSP.
The nexus line has never been top of the line for hardware just like the iPhone. This phone is showcasing ICS, a pure android OS with no third part UI overlays (sense, motoblur). It is about as pure and streamlined and you can get with android at the moment. The CPU/GPU is lacking but will perform wonders running AOSP.
That didn't stop all the droidnerds from trolling every iphone article about how much better this phone was going to be. Android 4 on paper looks ok, but this phone is inferior to the iPhone 4s hardware-wise.
Yea, having both the Face Recognition and Quick Response features fail to work during a live demo was NOT GOOD.
Siri worked fine during the let's Talk iPhone" event and is the reason they sold 4+million iPhone 4Ss in a 3-day span, in addition to the amazing cameras and the flawless performance all-around.
Google, seriously... demand more from your hardware developers. You can do better than this.
That is Galaxy S..not 2.
It was a mistake I was thinking "might as well get an Ga
iPhone 4S vs Galaxy Nexus4S - faster (look up the benchmarks, the A5 destroys tegra 2, let alone this setup)Camera - iPhone has the best phone camera on the marketScreen - Nexus has the better screen by a bit HD LED IPS vs HD AMOLED - they're pretty closeOS - ICS sandwich wins for OSApps - iPhone 4S winsCustomizability - ICS wins hands downEase of Use - iP4sI'm a tech nerd, and this galaxy nexus looks sweet. I'll still be recommending the iPhone to all my non-tech friends though, cuz droid is still freaking hard for a non-tech person to use like it's meant to be used.down vote me: I don't really care, cuz at the end of the day they're both great phones.
The Nokia N8 has the best camera on the market.