Google’s Eric Schmidt hints at “phenomenal” Android-based devices

by Jeff Causey on Apr 16th 2013, 7:21pm
tagged Google, Google Glass, hardware, motorola

At the D: Dive Into Mobile conference in New York, Eric Schmidt did not spend all of his time talking about the accomplishments of Android. He also spent some time talking about the future of the operating system as far as the hardware it will run on. He hinted that new products he saw during a recent visit to Google’s Motorola unit are “very, very impressive.” In his conversation at the conference, he indicated the stuff that Motorola is working on may be considered “phones-plus.” What that means exactly, he left hanging out there for people to ponder.

Any conversation about Android on something other than a smartphone or tablet device invariably leads to Google’s newest product, Google Glass. Love them or hate them, they are poised to land with a big splash on the tech landscape. Whether Glass can change the market and become mainstream is a big question, one that Schmidt thinks has been answered already based on how they have become ubiquitous on the Google campus.

Anyone want to take a guess as to what Google may have planned for future Android devices? Where do you think it could be deployed that may be considered non-traditional?

source: AllThingsD

Samsung to fix suicidal Galaxy S III’s with a software update

by Alexon Enfiedjian on Jan 2nd 2013, 9:56pm
tagged Android Updates, failure, fix, hardware, Samsung Galaxy S III

A few weeks ago we reported that a decent number of Galaxy S III users were finding their phones dead after a random motherboard failure. It was assumed that the problem was hardware related, but according to Dutch site Tweakers Samsung has identified it as a software problem that is affecting only a few 16 gigabyte models of the phone. Samsung has already cooked up a software patch to fix the problem and will be sending out the update in the near future. Hopefully the update goes out before your phone does.

Source: Tweakers

Many Galaxy S III users reporting “dead” phones after mainboard failure

by Alexon Enfiedjian on Dec 21st 2012, 1:42pm
tagged brick, failure, hardware, Samsung Galaxy S III, warranty

Galaxy S III users have taken to Reddit and XDA forums to express outrage after their beloved phone “just died” with no explanation. Before you go getting all anxious about your beloved S III kicking the bucket, we should mention that it’s pretty normal for a few bad units to make it out of the factories when any new phone is released. With that said, this particular problem is a little too widespread for our liking. It seems that a failure in the mainboard or the nand memory is the killer in this case. According to the threads, the devices seem to last about 150 to 200 days before failing. Thankfully, Samsung has been replacing them under warranty whether or not the devices have been rooted. The bad news is that Samsung has been replacing the failed mainboards with the identical version, meaning that the same problem may very well happen again in a few months time. There has been no official acknowledgment from Samsung on this matter, but reportedly the warranty call-center workers are verifying that they’ve seen this issue reported a lot lately. If you’re a Galaxy S III owner, you may want to back up your pictures and music, or move them to your SD card, just in case. It’s never a bad thing to be prepared. Have any of our readers experienced this problem?

Source: Reddit and XDA Forums
Via: Pocket Now

Eric Schmidt On Google: “We Always Wanted To Be In The Hardware Business”

by Roy Alugbue on Jul 16th 2012, 2:30pm
tagged Eric Schmidt, Google, hardware, Motorola Mobility, Nexus 7, Nexus Q

Google head honcho Eric Schmidt recently stopped by the Allen & Company conference in Sun Valley, Idaho to share with the fine folks in the audience Google’s new Nexus 7 and Nexus Q. While offering a show-and-tell of both products, Schmidt took some time to also share Google’s vision for the future and what it has intended to do all along when it comes to the hardware business. Schmidt highlights:

“We always wanted to be in the hardware business. Larry and Sergey have always wanted to do hardware in one form or another. This was a way to get into it quickly.”

While there’s no indication Google is trying to be a hardware company (after all— the company’s foundation is on both its search engine and advertising), Google obviously is looking above and beyond. After all, it has special projects in the making such as the famed Project Glass and lest we forget— it did acquire a certain handset maker last year which Schmidt himself promises will bring “a new batch of products” soon-to-be ready for prime time. Now that we know Eric, Sergey and Larry are clearly working on some goodies behind the scenes, one has to wonder what else the world can be treated to.

source: New York Times

Nexus Q Announced at Google I/O

by Brian Kramer on Jun 27th 2012, 1:07pm
tagged Google, hardware, Nexus Q

We’ve been hearing about a mysterious Google hardware device for months now, mostly due to leaks at the good old FCC. Now we know what it’s all been about. Google announced the Nexus Q, a consumer media device that stands apart from all the rest for a lot of reasons. The device represents the first consumer device designed and built by Google.

» Read the rest

SATA based Android – Convert any laptop with this drop in PCB board

by Jim Farmer on Jan 31st 2012, 11:42pm
tagged Android PC, hardware

Android runs on everything! Though, it’s admittedly tougher to run on some things, of which the most common target are PCs. Those of us wanting to experiment in that department have typically found our way to projects like Android x86, which by the way has ICS development builds underway (Yes, I’m one of the experimenters). However, here’s another solution I hadn’t known about until today. It’s so far called “PunkThis” from CUPP Computing. Essentially what we have here is a PCB board attached through either SATA or PCI express. So yeah, stick this thing in your laptop’s hard drive bay and you’ll be running Android. The board is a great improvement over Android x86 in terms of compatibility. Most of the typical phone guts are part of the board, including a 1GHz TI OMAP processor, 512MB of RAM, MicroSD card, and even a WiFi chip. This should pretty much guarantee that any app should run unless its simply too taxing for the allotted processor speed and RAM. As for the rest of what makes a smart phone, the board is able to magically interact with the laptop’s display, keyboard, touch pad, and speakers.

» Read the rest

Physical Or Virtual Keyboard? Maybe We Can Help You Decide

by Joe Sirianni on Aug 24th 2011, 12:32am
tagged Android, betterkeyboard, hardware, keyboard, physical, qwerty, swype, virtual

It’s the age old question plaguing the smartphone industry, isn’t it? And when it comes down to it, isn’t it based on a user’s preference? ”Do I get a device with a virtual keyboard or a physical one?” While I’ll admit that this could be a difficult question to ponder, I’d still love to point out a few things that might help you decide what your next input method of choice could be. First question I suppose we could ask is, “how bent are you on having a device with a physical keyboard?” I ask this because for some it’s a major deal breaker. There is a social demographic out there who shares RIM’s Blackberry arena and hold that a physical keyboard is a must have and is the determining factor as to whether or not a specific device is purchased. I too used to be a part of that arena, but have since then reconsidered. Why? » Read the rest

How’s the Evo 4G look close to a year later?

by Andrew Greenfield on Mar 29th 2011, 1:21pm
tagged cm7, comparison, cyanogen, EVO, hardware, HTC, Root, Sprint

With how fast Android has been advancing, anti-Android pundits like to point out that your device will be outdated merely a week or two after you buy it. What does that say about your device in 10 months? Does that make it archaic? The HTC Evo 4g was released to the public on June 4th, 2010. This was in the middle of possibly the most heated stage of the “Android vs iPhone” war. The iPhone 4 was just around the corner, Android was starting to really pick up steam, and the Evo 4G was marked with the typical “iPhone killer” (stupid phrase) even with the expected iPhone 4 coming out just later that month. The device received rave reviews, numerous awards (including a rather prestigious award from Popular Mechanics), and few criticisms. It set the standard for devices with large screens and brought about a new wave in how people view smart phones. Suddenly the standard 3.5 inch screen that the iPhone taught the world was the norm wasn’t as appealing. 4+ inch screens became the new black with the Evo leading the way (Yes, Verizon supporters, the Droid X was released in response to the Evo). Of course, all new technology is amazing when it’s initially released. The shelf life and its use months later, however, are what set the device apart from the pack. » Read the rest

LG Optmus 2X Quadrant: How Does It Fare With Froyo?

by Michael Murphy on Jan 15th 2011, 11:31am
tagged benchmarks, hardware, LG, Optimus 2X, Optimus Black

We haven’t seen a fully official build of the LG Optimus 2X yet, but we know that it’s going to be sporting some pretty impressive hardware. At CES, LG showed off its full lineup of the Optimus line, and it was about as powerful as anything we’ve seen. LG will be bringing a lot to the table in the hardware department, in both the Optimus 2X and the Optimus Black. Even though this is a pre-production unit, it does quite well on the benchmarks. Video below.

[via GSMArena]