GALAXY™ NEXUS™ BY SAMSUNG NOW AVAILABLE ON THE VERIZON WIRELESS 4G LTE NETWORK

First Smartphone to Combine Android™ 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and the Power of America’s Fastest, Most Reliable 4G Network

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. – Verizon Wireless, Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile) and Google™ announced Galaxy™ Nexus™ is available starting today in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement.

Customers can browse the Web, stream music and more at blazing speeds using the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network. Galaxy Nexus customers can enjoy access to the 4G LTE network in 190 markets covering over 200 million people across the United States, and fly through the Web with fast download speeds of 5 to 12 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps within the 4G LTE Mobile Broadband coverage area.

Galaxy Nexus runs Android™ 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, which brings an entirely new look and feel to Android. Galaxy Nexus offers customers a redesigned user experience with improved multi-tasking, notifications, Near Field Communications (NFC) sharing with Android Beam™ and a full Web-browsing experience. The lock screen, home screen, phone app and everything in between have been rethought and redesigned to make Android simple, beautiful and useful. Galaxy Nexus also features an ultra-thin 9.47mm design with a 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED™ Contour Display to watch movies, view pictures and play games that come to life in 720p (1280×720) resolution.

More after the break 

Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) features:
• Redesigned user interface – software navigation buttons, a first for Android smartphones, and a dedicated recent apps button to make multi-tasking easy
• Face Unlock – use state-of-the-art facial recognition to unlock Galaxy Nexus
• Android Beam™ – quickly share Web pages, apps, contacts and YouTube™ videos with friends by simply tapping two compatible phones together
• Redesigned Camera – introduces panorama mode, 1080p video capture, zero-shutter lag for instant photo capturing, and effects such as silly faces and background replacement
• People Application – browse friends, family and coworkers, see their photos in high-resolution and check their latest status updates from Google+ and other social networks
• Cloud Services – keep email, contacts, photos, music, browser bookmarks and other data synced to the cloud, available across multiple devices so customers never lose important data
• Google Music – upload up to 20,000 songs to the cloud, discover and buy new music from Android Market™, and stream it instantly on Galaxy Nexus and from the Web for free
• Google+ – Create a Google+ account right from the phone and check status updates, manage circles, quickly share updates and photos, video chat with up to ten friends with Mobile Hangouts, and chat with groups of friends with Google+ Messenger
• Support for Google Mobile™ Services – Gmail™, Google Maps™ with 3D maps and free turn-by-turn navigation, Google Earth™, Movie Studio, YouTube, syncing with Google Calendar™, a redesigned Google+ app and access to more than 300,000 apps, millions of eBooks, thousands of movies to rent, and millions of songs available to download from Android Market

Additional features:
• Dual-core 1.2 GHz application processor and HTML5 Web browser – optimized dual-core processing with Android 4.0 combined with lightning fast 4G LTE connectivity for fast downloading of graphics, applications processing and Web browsing
• Mobile Hotspot capability – share 4G LTE or 3G connection with up to 10 Wi-Fi-enabled devices
• 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with zero-shutter lag for instant photo capturing, autofocus and LED flash with full 1080p recording
• Front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera for video chat
• Textured soft-touch back cover – enhances the ergonomic feel and makes the phone slip- resistant
• Bluetooth® 3.0 technology – support for headset, hands-free, stereo, phonebook access, human interface device (HID) and object push for vCard and vCalendar 1 GB RAM and 32 GB on-board memory (actual formatted capacity will be less)

Pricing and data packages:
• Galaxy Nexus is available now in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement.
• Customers that purchase a Galaxy Nexus by Samsung will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan beginning at $39.99 monthly access and a smartphone data package starting at $30 monthly access for 2 GB of data.

Customers can visit www.verizonwireless.com/galaxynexus for more information on the Galaxy Nexus. For additional information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.

Samsung and Google decide to postpone the new product announcement at CTIA Fall. We agree that it is just not the right time to announce a new product. New date and venue will be shortly announced.

It was a much anticipated event because they were going to lay down to rest all the rumors that have been floating around about the next Nexus device that would be the first phone to be released with the latest version of the Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android.

Samsung is sending out invites for the special Samsung/Google event that is being held on October 11th at 11:30AM in San Diego. The invitation says ‘What’s new from Android’.

The Nexus prime or the Galaxy Prime is the most waited for phone, this year. This is supposed to bridge the gap between the tablet’s Honeycomb version of Android and the mobile Gingerbread version.
Here are the reasons to look forward to this phone.

1. Google Developer Phone.
Meaning, it will be used by registered developers to test out new apps and by Google for testing out their on-going work on Android till the next Developer phone gets released.

2. Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS)
This is the first phone with ICS. With ICS, there is no need for physical buttons on the phone. Like the Honeycomb, it comes with software buttons. All the older phones will have to tweak ICS to get their physical buttons working for this new version which just translates into late updates.

3. Stock Vanilla Android

It won’t have the skins that the manufacturers put on it like Motoblur from Motorla, Sense from HTC and TouchWiz from Samsung. It will be plain vanilla Android. Android OS updates will reach this phone first.

4. Display

Taking into account all the rumors, it seems to have almost a 720p resolution. That is a big difference when compared to the disappointing Moto’s pentile screens.

5. Size

To each, his own. For us, size does matter. This phone is rumored to have a 4.6″ screen.

Let’s wait and see what Nexus Prime and ICS brings next week.

Stay tuned.

When the specs of Bionic first came into existence in January, it seemed like a beast of a phone and we couldn’t wait to get our hands on it. The first 4G dual-core phone in Verizon. With the launch dates and the consumer’s patience slipping, the phone kept gettting better.  Finally, SGS2 is going to launch sometime in August before Motorola gets its act together for Droid Bionic.

It remains to be seen which phone will be Verizon’s flagship.  Meanwhile, here is a comparison of the main features of the  two phones.

Processor:

Samsung Galaxy S II : Dual-core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor Mali-400MP GPU Exynos chipset.

Droid Bionic :  TI OMAP4 1.2 GHz processor

Display:

Samsung Galaxy S II :  4.3-inch 480 x 800 pixels Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touchscreen,

Motorola Droid Bionic :  4.3 -inch qHD TFT capacitive touchscreen with 540 x 960 pixel resolution.

Dimension  :

Samsung Galaxy SII :   125.3 x 66.1 x 8.5 mm

Motorola Droid Bionic:   125.9 x 66.9 x 13.3 mm

Weight :

Samsung Galaxy SII : 116 gms

Motorola Droid Bionic : 158 g

Storage:

Samsung Galaxy S II :  1GB RAM and comes with 16GB/32GB storage depending on the model.

Motorola Droid Bionic :  16GB internal storage and 2GB ROM but RAM is expected to be upgraded from 512MB to 1GB.

While the specs of both these phones are excellent, Bionic comes a close second to Galaxy S II. According to the current launch dates, Galaxy S II also has the luxury of being the first dual-core 4G phone and will enjoy teasing the original Droid users who are ready for their upgrades and are waiting to switch from their well-used and dying Droid.

Verizon:

All Verizon Wireless post-paid customers will receive free calling to Japan from March 11 through April 10.  Post-paid customers are those who receive a monthly bill from the company.  In addition, Verizon Wireless post-paid customers will receive free text and multimedia messaging to Japan for the same time period.

Pay attention to this note too

* Only long-distance usage charges associated with calls made from residential landlines terminating to wireline or wireless destinations in Japan will be waived from Mar. 11 – April 10.  All other fees including taxes, surcharges, monthly recurring charges (MRCs), minimum spend levels (MSLs), monthly minimum charges (MMCs), etc will continue to apply.  Post-paid calling card charges to Japan will also be waived.

AT&T doesn’t have any mention of these additional charges. Not sure about Sprint.

Here is what AT&T has to say

Effective beginning last week, March 11, and continuing through March 31, AT&T wireless postpaid customers will not be charged for:

• International long distance usage from the United States and Puerto Rico to Japan
• Text messages to Japan, originated from a U.S. wireless number

In addition, and also effective March 11 through March 31, residential wireline customers can seek credits for up to 60 minutes of direct dial calling to Japan:

• Upon receiving their wireline bill, customers may call AT&T to receive adjusted calling for up to 60 minutes. In other words, no charges for up to 60 minutes of call time from the United States to Japan between March 11 and March 31.

For any of the above activity, customers will either see no charges reflected on their monthly statement, or they will see a full credit applied to their statement for activity between March 11 and March 31.

References : Sprint, Verizon and AT&T

Apple : On June 29, 2007, Apple released the iPhone which changed the playing ground for many companies. The iPhone was the first of its kind and it clearly had no competition.

AT&T : Apple’s iPhone was available only through AT&T. AT&T benefited when the iPhone frenzy hit its high, as people had to move to AT&T if they wanted the iPhone.

Verizon : Word has it that Apple first wanted to sign a deal with Verizon, but both the companies failed to come to terms with the deal. Verizon wanted the Verizon logo on the iPhone and Apple refused it. Though arguably, they had the best network, they did not have a great phone to champion their strength.

Motorola : After Motorola Razr, this company did not have a sensational moment. They had to prove themselves.

Google : Whoever thought that Google would complete with Apple in the mobile market? Google buys the Android operating system for mobile platform in 2005.

A couple of years go by with the iPhone rule. It required Verizon, Motorola and Google to come together to provide a challenge for the Apple iPhone.

Enter Droid. It was the pièce de résistance for Motorola, Verizon and Google.

On October 28, 2009, Verizon released the Motorola Droid, which runs on Google’s Android OS after a heavy campaign . The Droid did everything right. It was on the right network, on an open source platform, had multitasking, appealed to the technically inclined as it was customizable in every possible way. As is with any open source network, it soon had a big following and the community rooted the phone, built its own custom ROMs and overclocked the CPUs.

Apple realized that it should not have shut Verizon off. AT&T network is not the worst, but it definitely left a lot to be deserved, so much so that the iPhone users started an Operation Chokehold to let the world know about the limitations of AT&T network. Though it did not really choke, it drove home the point.

Subject: Operation Chokehold
On Friday, December 18, at noon Pacific time, we will attempt to overwhelm the AT&T data network and bring it to its knees. The goal is to have every iPhone user (or as many as we can) turn on a data intensive app and run that app for one solid hour. Send the message to AT&T that we are sick of their substandard network and sick of their abusive comments. The idea is we’ll create a digital flash mob. We’re calling it in Operation Chokehold. Join us and speak truth to power!

The mobile users are still divided. Some would swear by the iPhone and some would swear by any Android phone.

Apple is planning to release a Verizon iPhone in a few weeks from now.  Motorola has since released many more Droids. Google has gained enough steam and has taken off. The Droid did and still does. In the Droid, the iPhone met more than its match and the war continues.

What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments section.

What : Let’s you listen in on different radio Air, Marine, Police, Rail and Weather radio.  It has feeds from LiveFireFeeds.com, RadioReference.com, RailroadRadio.net and Wunderground.com.

How : A very simple app. In the 5 minutes that I spent listening to the Chicago police radio, I heard them talking about a fallen tree in someone’s garage, a student being held for having a knife in school, two gangs shouting at each other.  It made my otherwise uneventful day, eventful.

It was interesting to know that it also had the Police and Fire radio right where I live. You could also browse by area, genre and source. We were able to listen in on the Australia and Austria police radio too.

Usefulness : It is not an utility app.  If you have some time to kill or if you are interested in listening in on radio, then this is the simplest app you can find.

QR Code :

In just 9 days short of 3 months after Google released Froyo, Motorola and Verizon are finally ready to put the Droid owners on it – AGAIN.

While a lot of us no longer wait for over-the-air updates, some of us still do. Did you get your update? Are you seeing any problems with the updates? Let us know in the comments.

Guess we should add that the OTA is for customers in US.

If I had to name a single app that I spent a lot of time on everyday, it would be the Google News and Weather widget. When a friend of mine who is quite tech-savvy and has had an Android device for the past year didn’t know about this, I knew I had to write this.

What : The name says it all. It is News and Weather. It comes with its own topics like Sports, Health, World news and  so on. The best part  is how you can add your own news topic to watch.

How :  If you are reading this, you already know how to add a widget to your home screen.  Add a widget and choose News and Weather. Open the widget and go to Menu -> Settings.

Here are the different topics.

Add your own news topics that you like to keep a watch on. Since I am from Michigan, I have Michigan as a news topic and then Lansing as another news topic and of course, Droid and Android.

Here is what the actual news listing looks like. All the topics that were selected appear in tabs and it is very easy to navigate through them.

Usefulness : Go get it.

This should already be bundled with your Android device. Choose to install a widget and choose News and Weather. Let us know how you like it.

Here is a comparison of the phones available with the major US carriers.

Verizon :

Comparison Chart

Droid : Technical Specs

T-Mobile

Comparison Chart: