New High-End Nexus Tablet Could Bear HTC Branding
Seems HTC is taking the headlines today with talks of wearables and KitKat updates. Seems a new report is surfacing overseas that HTC has won a contract to make the next Nexus tablet. In the past we have heard of various OEM’s submitting devices or device designs and outlines, to Google to be the next manufacturer of a Nexus device. Obviously Samsung had their run, LG is doing their thing and ASUS had some of the tablets cornered.
HTC was the first OEM to build and offer a Nexus phone when the Nexus program first started off. I remember it quite well as it was the first Nexus device and I worked at T-Mobile and that was one of the big network partners it was launched working with. That was before the line took off and carriers started selling them in stores though.
If HTC has been picked up for a new high-end Nexus tablet we fully expect it to be quite a powerful, stock, monster. It would be good for HTC to get back into the tablet market with something in the Nexus line. Their last attempts at the tablet market were lackluster, even though they had some great designs and features. The tablet market has changed quite a bit since then though.
All of this is just chatter crossing the Taiwanese based websites right now. If the chatter is to believed though, we could see a new HTC made Nexus tablet sometime in the 3rd quarter of this year. Now, will it be aluminum bodied with 4 front facing speakers, or go for a more streamlined Nexus look? The better question is if HTC is making a Nexus tablet, will you be down to purchase one?
Source: focustaiwan via Droid-Life
Img via Phandroid
Red Nexus 5 Hitting Play Store Next Week?
The Red Nexus 5 has been spotted a few times out in the wild, and everyone is wondering when it will be available for purchase. February 4th might just be the date it hits the Play Store.
A document showed up in Sprint’s internal play book stating that February 4th will be the day that the red Nexus 5 is hitting the Play Store. Just in time for Valentine’s Day? It is the color of passion, and seems fitting for the Hallmark holiday. Of course there hasn’t been any confirmation on Google’s end, but I think it is likely we will be seeing this red Nexus 5 in the Play Store next week. Are you going to get one?
Source: Android Central
Rumor: Nexus line coming to an end in 2015?
If true, this may be sad for many, but according to @eldarmurtazin on Twitter, Google will be killing off the Nexus line by next year in favor of Google Play Edition devices.
The Nexus program has been around since January 2010 when the HTC Nexus One was announced. All Nexus devices have been pure Google Android, with no custom skin on top of them. Highlights of the Nexus program have been that the devices have “usually” been unlocked, were “usually” sold directly by Google and have been the first to receive software updates.
While it may seem this is the natural progression, killing off the Nexus line once phones started shipping with stock firmware, in my opinion, I don’t think that Google is ready to kill it just yet.
One thing that people have praised the Nexus program for is that it has offered the choice of an off-contract at a reasonable price. Besides the Moto G, which isn’t in the same class as the Nexus 5, there is no GPE device that is that inexpensive. The HTC One is $599 from the Play Store and the Samsung Galaxy S4 is even more expensive at $649. Besides the only GPE tablet, LG’s G Pad 8.3, and the Moto G, there are no reasonably priced GPE devices.
Devices like the Moto X have proved that selling a cheaper device is possible, but who knows if Samsung, Sony and HTC will ever release a high-end GPE device that is also relatively inexpensive.
With comments from Android director of engineering Dave Burke (from the August 2013 article from The Verge) that states they’re “halo” devices meant to educate the rest of the ecosystem, I’m not sure I believe the death of the program.
“Basically what Nexus allows us to do is set the standard … [we can] demonstrate how Android runs and hopefully influence other device manufacturers to take what we’ve done and do even better,” he said in that interview.
There was also another reason for its existence, that Google needs hardware on which it can develop Android and Burke said “as an engineering team creating a mobile platform — we can’t do that in the abstract. We need to do it on a real device that we’re carrying with us.”
Well, anything is possible, but only time will tell if Google is putting an end to the Nexus. That being said… where’s that new Nexus 10?
via Twitter
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Is the Nexus Line Ending in 2015?
Eldar Murtazin is one of those guys that seems to have a knack in finding out information before everyone else. We would say he has about a 70 to 80 percent rating for being spot on, and now he has dropped a doozy about our precious Nexus phones.
Nexus line by Google is over in 2015 
Yes – this line will be replaced by Play Edition (current name, it will be rebranded)
— Eldar Murtazin (@eldarmurtazin) January 27, 2014
Murtazin just tweeted that information out, and I quickly straightened up and belted out, “WHAT?!” before my fingers started typing out this post. To me it seems like a pretty good idea, as well as true.
When Google started this Google Play Edition line, a lot of us thought they were being extremely kind by throwing on stock Android on our more popular devices, without us having to suffer through the task of rooting those devices. But then Google started throwing curveballs at us, when they announced Google Play Editions of random devices, like the LG G Pad 8.3, Sony Z Ultra, and the Moto G. Maybe this is a preview of things to come?
Then we have the Moto X. Some of us speculated that the Moto X line would maybe phase out the Nexus line, but having the Google Play Edition line sounds a little more intelligent, and it will allow the manufactures battle it out for best Google Play device. That’s just what we are thinking over here, but let us know what you guys think about this. True? Or complete BS?
Source: Twitter
Nexus 10 out of stock on Google Play
For a few months, Google’s 10-inch tablet, the Nexus 10, has only been available in a 32 GB model in the Google Play Store since the 16 GB model has been out of stock, but today inventory has finally run out completely.
Seeing as how Google never replenished stock of the 16 GB model, it’s probably safe to say we won’t be seeing the Nexus 10 (2012) coming back. Hopefully this means that it’s almost time for a new 10-inch tablet, since at the moment, the company is lacking in that option.
There have been plenty of bogus leaks such as those that suggested a new model would be released on Black Friday, then at CES, but all of those rumors turned out to be untrue.
With the Nexus 10 released in November 2012, it missed the yearly update cycle Google usually has with its products. If any more information about a new device becomes available, you can be sure we’ll have it here.
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DEAL: Woot selling factory refurbished Nexus 7 2013 today only for $189 and $219
If you missed all the recent discounts on the newest model of the Nexus 7, today Woot has the flagship 7-inch tablet at a discounted price.
The devices Woot has for sale today are the black 16 and 32 GB models and are “factory refurbished for $189 and $219 respectively. These aren’t brand new, but they’re as good as new since you usually can’t tell the different with a refurbished device.
Coming with a 90 day warranty from ASUS, this is a pretty good deal for $60 and $50 off the price of a new Nexus 7 (2013) from Google that has a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 2 GB of RAM and runs Android 4.4 KitKat.
via Woot
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Nexus X Concept Shows Us The True Meaning Of Having No Bezel
Concept designs are always great fun; although they may never come to fruition or be ever truly realised, the designs that artists from all over come up with can be really amazing and innovative, raising our expectations for what is possible and what should be possible. This Nexus X concept comes from TheTechnoToast over at Deviantart, showing us his interpretation of what a “premium Nexus smartphone” should look like.
The concept is accompanied by a set of features which includes:
- a 3.2 GHz octo-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 2000 with 6GB of RAM;
- a 6.5 inch super AMOLED 4K display covered with unscratchable Sapphire Crystal;
- a 6000mAh battery which lasts 5 days on a single charge;
- Android 4.5 with 3 options: Stock Android, a skinned version (shown above) or rooted w/Cyanogenmod;
- a transparent 5MP front facing “invis” camera and speaker, hidden behind display;
- a 30MP back facing 8K camera
- Windows RT, Chrome OS and Ubuntu Ready (multi boot)
There’s definitely some really interesting ideas in there, in particular the camera hidden behind the display. While I don’t know if this is actually physically feasible, it’s a very cool idea, as are a number of the features listed, though some are just a little out of reach (6,000mAh battery, if only). As for the physical design of the Nexus X concept, TheTechnoToast says that the enclosure is made from “a single piece of matte stainless steel”, and as you can see, there is basically no space between the screen and the edge of the device. And how much with this piece of drool-worthy technology cost? £400 for the basic 16GB, LTE-enabled version which works out to be about $650 USD. Not bad for something that’s basically a high-performance computer in a 6.5-inch body.
What do you think about this Nexus X concept? Let us know your 2 cents in the comments.
Source: Deviantart via Phones Review
Nexus 5 now shipping with slightly altered physical appearance
Over at XDA Developers forum, some new owners of the Nexus 5, and those that returned theirs for defects, are reporting that their devices are slightly different from those that originally shipped at launch.
According to XDA member shinral, some devices had noisy buttons, a protruding SIM card tray and a “cutting edge” or sharp display frame.
With the recent long shipping times for the Nexus 5 to come back in stock, Google and LG must have been busy making slight tweaks to the production line.
All of these imperfections are reported to have been fixed and one of the other differences noted between the original and new Nexus 5 are larger microphone and speaker holes.
Have you had any issues with your Nexus 5 or noticed any of these changes?
via XDA Developers
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Kit Kat India Goes Into Damage Control, Will Honour The Winners Of The 2013 Nexus 7
A few days ago, we covered the story of some people in India possibly getting the short end of the stick in the Android KitKat competition where one of the prizes was a 2013 Nexus 7. The story goes that some winners of the Nexus 7 ended up receiving the older, 2012 Nexus 7 instead of the 2013 version. Kit Kat India appeared to be indifferent at first, however their Twitter and Facebook pages started getting bombarded with expressions of disappointment. A truly messy situation, one which threatened to escalate and damage the Android KitKat brand in the region and wider community.
Fortunately seeing the potential to damage both Android and Nestle’s KitKat brand, Kit Kat India caved and posted the above photo on their official webpage earlier today. A message went up on their Facebook page soon after to confirm that they would be calling up winners of the competition who had received the 2012 Nexus 7 to organise a replacement with a 2013 version. This wasn’t the quickest of resolutions, nor was it done completely voluntarily, however it likely did wonders for the Nexus 7′s reputation in particular ahead of any last minute Christmas shopping this festive season.
What do you think about this whole ordeal? Do you think Kit Kat India could have handled this better? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Thanks Manu for calling this in!
Source: Tech2Yantra
This is the white Nexus 7 (hands-on)
The Nexus 7 has been out in a black hue since this summer, so it was only a matter of time before Google launched it in white. And this many not come as any sort of shock, but the white version of the ASUS-made Nexus 7 doesn’t pack any unexpected surprises — unless, of course, you were hoping the device would be white on the front and the back (although white is barely visible along the edges when you’re looking at the front). We had the opportunity to play with the KitKat-packing slate today, and your overall user experience will be exactly the same regardless of your color preference. The outside is essentially alike as well, although there are two exceptions: this one has the FCC info printed on the back, which by the way has a glossier feel than the soft-touch plastic on the black Nexus 7. In fact, we were immediately reminded of the feel of the white Nexus 5. If the new hue is for you, they’re already shipping from the Play Store in the US for $270: your only option is a 32GB WiFi-only model. Check out the gallery below for plenty more images.
AIVAnet 