Google replaces Android Market with ‘Google Play’
Say goodbye to the Android Market. Google has officially rebranded the storefront today as they unveiled Google Play, the all-in-one destination for apps, books, and movies. A post on the Android Developers blog tells us that we’ll soon be getting updates on our 2.2+ handsets which will replace the Android Market app with Google Play. In essence nothing changes for the seasoned Android user, and the experience will remain untouched. Head to market.android.com and watch as you’re already redirected to the new website with a familiar layout.
We’ll be rolling out Google Play to devices in a phased OTA update, starting today and continuing over the days to come. With the update, the Android Market app will upgrade to the Play Store app and the Music, Videos, and Books apps will upgrade to Play Music, Play Movies, and Play Books. This update is for devices running Android 2.2 or higher, and users on other devices will continue to have the same access to your apps as before.
Although it gets rid of the “Android” aspect of the Market, we applaud the decision to go less platform-centric for content. “Get it on Google Play” rolls off the tongue and will help push a larger agenda forward for Google. It also makes sense if we consider that Google has a hardware device up their sleeves as it should play music and/or other media.
Read more about Google Play here.
Polaroid SC1630 Android HD smart camera hands-on, is it a cameraphone or a phonecamera?
The camera modules in smartphones continually improve, and these days there are phones like the iPhone 4S and the Nokia N9 who can take snapshots as good — and sometimes better — than point-and-shoots. Polaroid’s known for making cameras, but its newest device, a rebrand of the Aigo A8 we saw at CES last year, flips the script by taking a 16 megapixel point-and-shoot and shoving an Android phone inside.
The Polaroid version’s called the SC1630 Android HD Smart Camera, and its packed with 850/1900/2100MHz WCDMA and 850/900/1800/1900 GSM radios, along with WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and an FM antenna thrown in for good measure. The SC1630 sports an 800 x 400 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen, while underneath there’s 512MB of built-in storage and 512MB of RAM, along with proximity and G-sensors, micro SIM slot, Micro USB and a 2.5mm headphone jack. As we said above, the camera is a 16 megapixel unit, with aperture of F3.1 – F5.6, 3X optical zoom and 5X digital zoom, a max shutter speed of 1/1400 and ISO tops out at 3200. It’s got geotagging and anti-shake support as well, and can shoot videos in 720p. Scheduled to arrive in April for $299, the device still has a few kinks to be worked out and there may be some changes to that hardware before it makes it to market. Here at CES 2012, we got a chance to lay hands on the phone and speak with Emanuel Verona, Polaroid’s Executive VP and COO about the company’s first Android offering, so read on past the break for our impressions and his thoughts. Read more 
Lenovo K800 Intel Medfield smartphone hands-on
Well it looks like we have a surprise guest at Showstoppers tonight. Lenovo just dropped by with its just-announced K800 — the first Intel-powered smartphone to see the light of day. The beastly 4.5-inch 720p device sample that the company had on-hand is running a highly modified version of Android, and while the interface may not look familiar, the overall app experience shouldn’t be much different from what you’re used to. The official spec list includes a 1.6GHz Intel Medfield processor, Android 2.3, a TFT display and an 8 megapixel camera with a maximum sensitivity of ISO 3200. For now, the K800 is compatible with WCDMA HSPA+ and was running on AT&T’s 3G network — there’s no word of LTE on this version, which seems logical considering that the 4G network is a bit hard to come by in Lenovo’s native China, where the device is expected to launch first. Naturally, there’s also 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0 and GPS connectivity. We’ll be bringing you more on what’s undoubtedly the hottest gadget of the evening in the days to come, but jump past the break for an early look at the world’s first Medfield smartphone.
via Lenovo K800 Intel Medfield smartphone hands-on (video) — Engadget.
Panasonic to launch new Android smartphones in Europe
Panasonic have officially announced that they will start selling Android smartphones from March 2012 with their first global model coming with some impressive specs to boot.
While it’s not known what the final product will look like Panasonic have unveiled some screenshots of what they’re calling their Global Model concept, a rough design that will form the basis of the models we can expect to see.
What is known however is that the phone will sport a 4.3 OLED qHD screen, it’ll also feature a super-slim D-shaped design which is definitely in keeping with the current trends as demonstrated by the slinky Samsung Galaxy S2.
That super-slim design will also be dustproof and waterproof making it certainly more ‘life-proof’, finally it’s confirmed that it’ll be running Android and while Panasonic haven’t confirmed which OS it’s an almost dead-cert that it’ll be Ice Cream Sandwich.
No word on hardware yet but this could certainly be something that’ll be making an appearance at Mobile World Congress 2012. What do you think, can Panasonic compete with the likes of Samsung and Apple?
via Panasonic to launch new Android smartphones in Europe | T3.
World’s first Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich tablet released
The world’s first Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich tablet has gone on sale with Chinese manufacturer Ainovo taking the honours with a budget 7-inch offering, the Ainovo NOVO7.
With the Motorola Xoom 2 expected to be the first ICS tab prior to its somewhat disappointing unveiling, speculation and anticipation has been rife for a number of weeks around which high profile manufacturer would get the nod to release the first tablet sporting the latest Google mobile OS offering.
Ainovo NOVO7 Specs
- Asides from joining the Samsung Galaxy Nexus in the now two strong contingent of Ice Cream Sandwich outing devices the entry level Ainovo NOVO7 features specs which punch far beyond its minimalist £60 price tag.
- Boasting 4GB of internal storage and a MIPS-based 1GHz processor the NOVO7 touts front and rear mounted 2-megapixel cameras alongside a touted seven hour battery life whilst browsing the web.
- Despite coming firmly out of left field to land as the first Android Ice Cream Sandwich tablet, Ainovo is claiming to have the full support of Google and the company’s head of Android, Andy Rubin.
- “I’m thrilled to see the entrance of MIPS-Based Android 4.0 tablets into the market,” the Ainovo press release quotes the Google leader as saying.
- “Low cost, high performance tablets are a big win for mobile consumers and a strong illustration of how Android’s openness drives innovation and competition for the benefit of consumers around the world.”
via World’s first Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich tablet released | T3.
Motorola Xoom 2 review
Motorola’s Xoom 2 arrives at a point where Apple’s iPad (first- or second-generation…) still dominates the tablet market. The original Xoom was the first tablet to arrive with Android Honeycomb, an OS dedicated to the tablet form. In the months since we gave it a middling review, plenty more tablets arrived, faster, thinner, and more longevous (like the Galaxy Tab 10.1).
So what now? Well, Motorola has recast its Xoom: it’s made it faster, slimmer and lighter.
They’ve beefed up the disappointing screen found on the original, it’s now a Gorilla Glass-coated IPS screen that promises 178-degree viewing angles. But Motorola has also cut more corners than the four you see before you — ones that it hopes customers won’t miss. Read more
LG Nitro HD hands-on
AT&T stole some of LGs thunder earlier this week when it unveiled the companys LTE flagship — the Nitro HD — before the handsets official coming out soirée. Well, tonight LGs gone and thrown that fete anyway, introducing us once again to its 4.5-incher. But you have to wonder why the companys even bothering to roll out yet another Gingerbread-baked device when Samsungs Galaxy Nexus is already out of the gate and leading the Android charge with ICS — not to mention the current availability of rival heavyweights like the Rezound and Droid RAZR. Still, the phones packing some very respectable specs, with a “true” HD 1280 x 720 IPS display, dual 1.3 / 8 megapixel shooters, a hefty 20GB of storage and a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm APQ8060 processor running the show. Is it too late in the game for LG to make its beast matter? Follow past the break as we gather our first impressions of this tardy to the party entry.LG Nitro HD hands-onRight out of the box, youll notice the Nitro registers as a featherweight. Read more
Lenovo unveils the LePad S2007 and LePad S2010, both with Honeycomb and 1.5GHz dual-core chip
Oh no, it isn’t just about the 5-inch tabletphone today. Announced at the same event in Beijing just now are a couple of larger tablets from Lenovo: the LePad S2007 and the LePad S2010. Interestingly, the latter 10.1-inch device isn’t quite the same as what we saw in our exclusive scoop from two weeks ago: it’s 1.5GHz Qualcomm dual-core rather than 1.6GHz NVIDIA quad-core, 1GB RAM instead of 2GB, no funky fingerprint scanner on the back, and it’s launching with Android 3.2 instead of Ice Cream Sandwich. But fret not, as we’ve been informed that its international counterpart — aka the IdeaTab K2 in our scoop — will launch with the latest Android OS; so we’re just waiting for a release date.
Both of these Honeycomb tablets share many similarities: Qualcomm’s dual-core 1.5GHz chip, 1GB RAM, 1,280 x 800 IPS display (pretty nice on a 7-inch form factor, with 216ppi density), eight megapixel main camera, 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera, dual-mode 3G (China Telecom’s EV-DO plus China Unicom’s WCDMA) for data plus voice calls, and plans to upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich in the future. Aside from the obvious physical differences, these tablets also come with different battery capacities: the 360g-heavy, 9.7mm-thick S2007 comes with 3,780mAh that can last up to eight hours on WiFi; whereas the 670g-heavy (almost the same as the original WiFi iPad, uh-oh), 9.9mm-thick S2010 has a generous 7,560mAh that can push it to 11 hours. Like the S2005 tabletphone, both tablets will be available in China next month; so for now, stay tuned for some hands-on photos from our folks over at Engadget Chinese.
Lenovo launches IdeaTab S2005 aka LePad S2005, a 5-inch Gingerbread tabletphone
You may recall that last week we had a cheeky peek at Lenovos upcoming tabletphone, and now our brethren at Engadget Chinese are actually touching one in Beijing! Dubbed the IdeaTab S2005 aka LePad S2005 in China, this Android 2.3.5 slate packs a 5-inch 800 x 480 LTPS display with 178-degree viewing angle but same resolution as the Dell Streak 5s LCD, sadly, a Qualcomm dual-core 1.2GHz chip, 1GB RAM, a five megapixel 1080p imager on the back, a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera and a 1,680mAh battery. In terms of connectivity and expansion we have a micro-USB port, micro-HDMI port and HSPA+ radio so its ready for China Unicoms network. All of this is packaged in a 9.95mm-thick body, weighing a total of 198g. Just as thick as the Streak 5 but lighter, even with the slightly larger battery capacity.There arent any prices just yet, but given that this device is entering the Chinese market in two days time, it wont be a long wait for those obessed with tabletphones and speaking of which, its rather odd that Lenovos marketing this as a tablet rather than a phone. Stay tuned for our hands-on photos
via Lenovo launches IdeaTab S2005 aka LePad S2005, a 5-inch Gingerbread tabletphone — Engadget.
HTC G1 gets a taste of Ice Cream Sandwich (video)
Even though Ice Cream Sandwich is popping up everywhere since its source code was released to the public, we’ve got to give a shout out now that its been squeezed onto the original Google phone, HTC’s G1. The G1 was last seen sporting an unofficial Honeycomb port, and now jcarrz1 from XDA-Developers is showing off his device running Android 4.0 in this video. So far the touchscreen is (slowly) working, along with all apps and “ICS goodies”, though WiFi, Bluetooth and rotation are still out. That’s a nice effort for a device that some said wouldn’t see any versions past 1.5, so press play and witness the unholy fusion of Android’s past and present working all at once, or hit the source link below to grab the alpha release for yourself.
via HTC G1 gets a taste of Ice Cream Sandwich (video) — Engadget.
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