Jan 13
Well the rumors proved true even in regards to the name of the new Google Phone – The Nexus One. Google fans are overwhelmingly excited about the Nexus one but even more excited about what the Google Store means for the new and refurbished cell phone industry.
The Nexus One is running the newest Android 2.1 software and comes with all of the awesome, pre-loaded apps like: Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube and Google Talk, and additional goodies like Maps Navigation and Google Voice. Its processor is insanely fast, it’s got a five-megapixel camera, and it shoots video as well. The Nexus one also has a really cool new feature, which is a voice-enabled keyboard for any text field. This means you don’t have to type at all anymore. Searching for a YouTube video? Just tell your phone what video you are looking for, and the Nexus One will type the search for you. It works the same for composing texts and emails. You can find more specs for the Nexus One here.
The craziest part of the Nexus One announcement is that it’s for sale at Google’s new web store as unlocked. For the first time ever in the US, you can purchase an unlocked phone from the manufacturer’s website and then pick the phone plan you want from any of the carriers that support the phone. Google’s store could seriously shake the pillars of what is the current mobile phone market in the US. It will be interesting to see how long companies like AT&T play along.
Tagged with: android • google phone • nexus one • review
Dec 16
It seems that the rumors about Google releasing a new Android phone (like the Motorola Droid) are true. Word on the street is that Google gave a number of its employees a sample of their new Nexus One, a name will not likely be the official name when it is released.
The Nexus One is rumored to be the first cell phone to run on Anroid 2.1. It is also supposed to be a little shallower in depth than the iPhone and posses a larger touch screen. Most exciting to me, is that it seems fairly certain that the Nexus One will be sold directly from Google as unlocked, so you will be able to use it on T-Mobile or AT&T.
If the rumors are true, and day-by-day it seems clearer that they are, the new Google Phone should be released in January. Whether or not it will be fabled “iPhone killer” remains uncertain, but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if anyone has a shot at taking down Apple, it’s Google.
For more on the new Google Phone, visit Engadget or The New York Times.
Tagged with: android • google phone • nexus one • review
Dec 15
Google never ceases to blow my mind with what we will soon be able to do from our new and refurbished cell phones. Google has recently released Google Goggles (currently available for only Android phones like the Motorola Droid), which allows you to use the camera on your cell phone to perform Google searches.
All you have to do is open Google Goggles, point at the building, book, business card, painting, etc., snap a picture, and the Google search results appear. It gets even better when you use it with local businesses. Just open Goggles, point your camera at the business and without even having to take the picture, Goggles will display the name of the business, which you can tap for more information like contact info and reviews. There is a nice little video on the Google Goggles page, where you can get more information about Goggles.
There has been some backlash about Goggles, however, as Google has been working to incorporate face recognition into Goggles. Face recognition means you could literally point your camera phone at someone walking by and if there is information about that person online, the search results for them would pop up. I admit, I’m not sure if this feature is scary or cool. Maybe scary cool.
Tagged with: android • google goggles • picture search • review
Nov 27
Googles newest ad campaign for the Motorola Droid is really big – as in tall. Google has rented ad space on the Reuters Sign and the NASDAQ sign in Times Square, NY between 12:30-2:00pm and 6:30-8:00pm. The screens display how their newly improved Search by Voice feature, which now comes with all Android devices such as the Motorola Droid, works.
Search by voice allows you to search for business information, like you would do via Google, without having to enter text. You just say the name of the business you are looking for, and the Google search results for that business show up. The Times Square campaign allows anyone to dial 888-376-4336, use the Search by Voice system, and then watch as their Google search results are displayed on one of the two digital signs.
The Search by Voice feature seems like a nice system, but I’m not really convinced that typing the name of the business that I need information about is really that difficult. I mean you have to look at the screen to read the search results anyway, so typing the information in eliminates the need to raise and lower that phone to your head, which you would need to do to use Search by Voice (nitpicking, I know). I’m just surprised that Google is proud enough of the feature to drop so much money on this type of campaign.
Tagged with: android • Google • motorola droid • search by voice
Nov 13
Adobe has recently released a free Photoshop App for mobile phones running Google’s Android software such as the new Motorola Droid. This is one of the coolest apps that I’ve seen released in a while, especially as the amount of megapixels in cell phone cameras continue to rise (the Droid comes with a legit 5 megapixel camera).
Photoshop for Android devices makes it incredibly easy to perform edits to photos on your smartphone and then upload them when you’re finished. When you open up a photo in your photo gallery, you are given the option to edit the photo. With a click, the photo opens in Photoshop, and you’re ready to start editing. At the top of the edit mode screen, there are three icons: crop, image correction and color effects, and soft focus. Under the crop icon, you can choose to crop, straighten, rotate, or flip the photo. If you click on the image correction and color effects icon, you have the ability to change the exposure, saturation, tint, or to make the photo black and white. The degree of these changes all depends on how far you slide your finger on the exposure, saturation, etc. scale. The soft focus button allows you to adjust the amount of “soft focus” that you wish to apply to the photo.
One of the nicest features of Photoshop for Android is that it has both an “undo” and a “redo” button, so you can make edits without fear of not being able to undo them.
Once you’ve finished editing your photos, you can upload them from your Android mobile phone directly to the Photoshop.com account, which comes free with 2GB (roughly 1,500 pictures) of storage for all Android devices. The photoshop.com account makes it easy to share photos online and is a good way to back up the photos on your mobile phone. You can even add captions before uploading. Android also has the ability to upload a large amount of photos even if the Photoshop app is not running, meaning you can be doing other things on your phone while photos are uploading to your Photoshop.com account. You can find a video demonstration of the Photoshop app for Android devices here.
Tagged with: android • android phones • photoshop • review
