Author: Terren

Netflix Android app adds support for Honeycomb tablets, extends reach to Canada and Latin America originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We had heard previously that you’ll get to play Battlefield 3 at a higher res on 360 if you install it to your hard drive, but it seems it’s a little more drastic than that. It’s more like if you want to play the default version of the game, you’ll need to install it. Says Patrick Bach to GamerZines:

The thing with the 360 is that you need to be able to give consumers a game where you don’t have to install it on a hard drive, because there are 360s without a hard drive. So we need to give you the option of installing it, rather than just demanding it. You could call it a ‘standard-def’ version for the 360 if you don’t have a hard-drive.

It does make a difference, yes, absolutely.

I would say something like, “Well, I guess you should install it then,” but then I remembered that if you aren’t playing it on PC you’re a loser. And I mean that in all seriousness without a hint of irony or sarcasm.

Follow Phil on Twitter: @philrowen

A retired satellite is hurtling toward the atmosphere and pieces of it could crash into the Earth as early as Friday, the German Aerospace Center says.

We know that Samsung has the first crack at Android 4.0 with the Galaxy Nexus, but it’ll only be a matter of time before we begin seeing it show up on rival devices. HTC has already made an official statement on its plans (or lack thereof), and now it’s Motorola’s turn. Alain Mutricy, SVP Portfolio and Product Management, was in Germany talking up the European announcement of the RAZR, and slipped in a few details about Ice Cream Sandwich. Mutricy mentioned that while the company’s new flagship device was designed for Gingerbread, plans have been set to introduce the latest version of Android in the start of 2012, with a more precise date naturally on its way. Given past experience, however, it’s probable that the unbranded version of the device will get the refresh ahead of the Droid RAZR on Verizon, so US users may need to exercise a wee bit of patience here. Regardless, it’s time for the competition to step up — if the RAZR is next in line to get the OTA update, the Galaxy Nexus will have the spotlight all to itself for a fair amount of time.

Motorola RAZR to get updated to Ice Cream Sandwich in early 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Oct 2011 09:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung Canada stated in an email to us that the “The coolest Samsung smartphone will be coming to Canada soon”, but at the time gave no indication of what or when. Tonight, both the Galaxy Nexus and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich were revealed and looking incredibly impressive.

The official press release stated that this 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED display beast will be “available in USA, Europe, and Asia beginning in November and then rolled out globally”. No word of Canada anywhere. However, posted on the official Google Mobile blog is a note from Andy Rubin, the “Father of Android” himself, stating that “Starting in November, Galaxy Nexus will be available in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. Check out the Nexus website for a product tour and more info.”

No insight into which carrier(s) will be releasing this but November is in a few weeks!!

Source: Google
(Thanks to everyone who sent this in!)

Related posts:

1. Official specs of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus!
2. “The coolest Samsung smartphone will be coming to Canada soon”, we’re thinking it’s the Galaxy Nexus
3. Samsung says the Google Nexus S is coming to Canada

In Hong Kong today, Google and Samsung unveiled Google’s new flagship Android device, the Nexus Prime, a 4.65″ Super AMOLED-toting, 1.2GHz LTE and HSPA+ smartphone. However nice the hardware of the new device is, it is second to the fact that it is the first device to run Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), the newest build of Android that unifies tablets and smartphones under a single OS for the first time.

“People like Android, they need Android…but they didn’t LOVE Android,” said Google’s Matias Duarte in today’s presentation. To remedy this, Google has not only introduced new and practical functions to ICS, but gave it a slicker look, faster responsiveness, and some extremely impressive bells and whistles.

Here are 30 of the most interesting new features:

1. “Roboto,” Android’s own font

2. Even more live wallpapers

3. Newly-designed lock screen

4. Disappearing homescreen command buttons

5. Tabbed apps/widgets drawer similar to Honeycomb

6. Resizeable homescreen widgets

7. Redesigned foldering capabilities

8. Hardware accelerated 2D drawing

9. Wi-Fi Direct support

10. “Favorites Tray” at the bottom of the screen that travels across the different homescreens

11. Native Screen grab capability (Press Power+Volume Down)

12. Improved notification bar, customizable notifications

13. New Music player notification in tray controls player

14. Improved keyboard

15. Improved typing error correction

16. In-line spell check and suggestion mode

17. Cut/Copy/Paste similar to Honeycomb, but with animated dragging and dropping

18. Speech for text entry has been improved with no delay

19. “Face Unlock” facial recognition for unlock screen (Did not work in demo)

20. New Browser (Includes new tab management feature. “request desktop site” feature, syncs to chrome, save pages for offline reading)

21. New Gmail (New action bar with compose, search, labels, refresh; offline search by default that searches the last 30 days of email)

22. New Calendar with pinch-to-zoom

23. Updated all of the native Google apps: YouTube, Maps, Google+, Google Music

24. Mobile data usage metrics in system controls, allows users to self-limit their mobile data consumption, and track data usage down to individual app level

25. All-new camera app with slider zoom, facial detection, “zero shutter lag” speed, launchable from home screen

26. Photo editing tools in “edit” menu in the camera

27. Native panoramic camera shot, similar to Sony’s “Sweep” panorama

28. 1080p video capture, continuous focus, includes the ability to zoom while recording

29. Incredible new Time Lapse photography feature

30. New tile-based “People app” interface for contacts, very similar to Windows Phone

31. “Android Beam” NFC-based content sharing with multiple ICS phones (Web Addresses, contacts, maps, YouTube videos, app sharing)

Developers can get their hands on ICS right now to begin taking advantage of these new features, or to customize their existent apps and widgets to use the new UI components, styles, and of course the new font.

Consumers, however, will have to wait until November to get their hands on ICS, when the Nexus Prime launches worldwide.

There’s no shortage of new features in Ice Cream Sandwich, but one sure to attract a lot of attention is Face Unlock. That, as you can probably surmise, lets you unlock your phone through facial recognition instead of a password — hardly a new idea, but a first for Google. Unfortunately, the demo didn’t go quite as planned during the keynote — locking out Google’s Matias Duarte — but we’ll be sure to give it a go ourselves and report back.

Android Ice Cream Sandwich adds Face Unlock feature originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Oct 2011 22:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When it came time to talk Ice Cream Sandwich, Matias Duarte started the conversation (or is it lecture?) with a bit about Roboto. At its most basic, Roboto is a font — the new face of Android in a post Honeycomb world where tablets and phones share the same software space. Sure, it may seem like just another rounded, clean sans serif typeface, but it’s really an entire aesthetic that Duarte says has guided the design philosophy of Android 4.0. It’s “modern, yet approachable” and “emotional,” in PR speak at least. But the clean, geometric design extends to the rest of the OS, which now sports more clean lines, subtle animations and ditches UI elements that have been deemed “unnecessary.” Sure, Roboto may seem like “just a font” to you, but for the folks behind ICS, it’s a mindset.

Roboto font and the new design philosophy of Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Oct 2011 22:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich now official, includes revamped design, enhancements galore

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich now official, includes revamped design, enhancements galore originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Oct 2011 22:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wait no more. Google and Samsung have just made the long-awaited Galaxy Nexus (not longer the Nexus Prime, as we’d once heard) official here in Hong Kong, and the specifications are downright drool-worthy. Those with bantam hands need not apply, as this 4.65-inch behemoth is bound to bring back talk of Sidetalkin‘. Naturally, Ice Cream Sandwich is onboard, with Google finally revealing the version number as 4.0. Other specs include an HD Super AMOLED display (1,280 x 720), a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 5 megapixel rear camera (with LED flash), a 1.3 megapixel front-facing cam, 1080p video recording and playback, a newfangled panorama mode, a 3.5mm headphone jack and Bluetooth 3.0. You’ll also find USB 2.0, 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, an embedded NFC module, accelerometer, compass, gyro, proximity sensor and even a barometer — yeah, a barometer. Finishing things out, there’s 1GB of RAM, 16 or 32GB of internal storage space and a 1,750mAh battery. As for radios? There’s an HSPA+ model on tap, while an LTE version will “be available depending on region.” There’s nary a mention of carrier in the press release we’re holding, but based on earlier leaks, a 4G build for Verizon Wireless seems a lock.

Focusing on Ice Cream Sandwich for a tick, Android 4.0 will bring “an entirely new look and feel to Android,” boasting a redesigned user interface, bolstered multitasking / notifications, full-on NFC support and a new People app, which enables users to browse friends, family and coworkers’ photos whilst peeking their status updates from Google+. ICS also introduces Face Unlock, which taps into facial recognition protocols in order to unlock your handset. And then there’s Android Beam, an NFC-based technology that allows you to “quickly share webpages, apps and YouTube videos by simply tapping two phones together.” According to Goog, the “lock screen, home screen, phone app and everything in between has been rethought and redesigned,” and this is quite the beastly phone to launch with. Pics and a link to register for more info await you below, and PR per usual is after the break.

Continue reading Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus gets official: Android 4.0, 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED display (video)

Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus gets official: Android 4.0, 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED display (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Oct 2011 21:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Shares in Apple fell sharply in after-hours trading Tuesday when the iPhone maker posted earnings that fell well short of what analysts were expecting.