Probably the last big Google project with Samsung — should be interesting what they do with Moto’s old hardware division in terms of developing their own handsets.
I don’t think they can afford to turn their shoulder on Samsung and HTC because of the Motorola purchase. It’ll still be interesting, but the Android ecosystem wouldn’t last long if they don’t support the other vendors some.
The next round of Motorola devices should be nice though. I already like the Razr and the watch (Actv) they released with it. But once they get rid of Moto Blur and update quicker then it’ll be nice. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a Google Experience Tablet from them with Ice Cream Sandwich soon.
Oh, I’m sure the Android platform will continue to be available to all the vendors that currently have it now and pretty much anyone that wants to run it. I’d imaging they’d license it to Apple really wanted to do that. I meant that the “Google” and “Nexus” branded phones will likely now come from Google and the newly acquired handset division. This will allow Google more control over aspects like Wallet and other NFC applications that the company seems to be pushing for. In a related vein, I get my Square card reader next week and am looking forward to playing around with it.
I would like to see Google Wallet/NFC succeed and make Square, Paypal and even Dwolla better. I got a Square card reader and haven’t used it yet. I played with it a couple times and then thought we’d use it for a garage sale or fantasy football and never did.
I read through the specs on ICS last night — pretty damn impressive. I like they way they’ve clustered the Google apps together and changed the camera functions to make them a bit easier to use. Seems like those two things alone should give them a bit of a jump on iOS 5.0, which really didn’t change the landscape of the OS a whole lot other than adding Siri. Which of course prompted every Apple loving tech blogger to cream their shorts when, really, it’s just another voice activated app that hasn’t proven to work well at all at this point.
Not that I, personally care too much about it, but they also made an honest attempt to make things “prettier”. The bigger images in the gallery app, the high res images in the people app. They are trying to appeal more to the general public. Basically all iOS did was add Android’s notifications and a little better version of Android’s voice actions. But no more than people use it right now, either implementation is going to be good enough. You also have to admit Google really stepped up in the hardware for this one: larger, higher res screen, more memory, NFC, it should be interesting.
Google’s the only one really thumping the NFC thing at the moment, but I think they could be ahead of the curve toward card free payments. As far as making things “prettier” I think that’s important. We’ve had this discussion before: Good design and ease of use should be as important as openness and technical capability. There are reasons why Apple’s products sell well, and it’s not just Apple fandom. They make a good looking device that is designed to appeal to those who just want the damn thing to work. The more Android works towards elegant design while keeping up with it’s open architecture and enhanced capability, the more people will use it. Although I think that stealing customers from Apple is one of the most difficult barriers to cross in the modern electronic industry. The focus should be on moving those without smart phones to Android before they try iOS.
Powerful, large, great specs. What does registering with Nexus really do for us?
Good question, not much probably. I wish I knew the release date, price and more of the specifics.
Probably the last big Google project with Samsung — should be interesting what they do with Moto’s old hardware division in terms of developing their own handsets.
I don’t think they can afford to turn their shoulder on Samsung and HTC because of the Motorola purchase. It’ll still be interesting, but the Android ecosystem wouldn’t last long if they don’t support the other vendors some.
The next round of Motorola devices should be nice though. I already like the Razr and the watch (Actv) they released with it. But once they get rid of Moto Blur and update quicker then it’ll be nice. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a Google Experience Tablet from them with Ice Cream Sandwich soon.
Oh, I’m sure the Android platform will continue to be available to all the vendors that currently have it now and pretty much anyone that wants to run it. I’d imaging they’d license it to Apple really wanted to do that. I meant that the “Google” and “Nexus” branded phones will likely now come from Google and the newly acquired handset division. This will allow Google more control over aspects like Wallet and other NFC applications that the company seems to be pushing for. In a related vein, I get my Square card reader next week and am looking forward to playing around with it.
I don’t think they’ll have Motorola exclusively make the Nexus devices.
http://thisismynext.com/2011/08/15/motorola-google-nexus-program-explained/
http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/15/google-motorola-deal-doesnt-guarantee-a-nexus-droid/
I would like to see Google Wallet/NFC succeed and make Square, Paypal and even Dwolla better. I got a Square card reader and haven’t used it yet. I played with it a couple times and then thought we’d use it for a garage sale or fantasy football and never did.
Yeah, I plan on using mine for garage sales or for arbitrage sales of stuff on ebay and craigslist. Should be interesting…
this wouldn’t happen so fast if it weren’t for the google/motorola deal.
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/42627/motorola-razr-ice-cream-sandwich-update
I read through the specs on ICS last night — pretty damn impressive. I like they way they’ve clustered the Google apps together and changed the camera functions to make them a bit easier to use. Seems like those two things alone should give them a bit of a jump on iOS 5.0, which really didn’t change the landscape of the OS a whole lot other than adding Siri. Which of course prompted every Apple loving tech blogger to cream their shorts when, really, it’s just another voice activated app that hasn’t proven to work well at all at this point.
Not that I, personally care too much about it, but they also made an honest attempt to make things “prettier”. The bigger images in the gallery app, the high res images in the people app. They are trying to appeal more to the general public. Basically all iOS did was add Android’s notifications and a little better version of Android’s voice actions. But no more than people use it right now, either implementation is going to be good enough. You also have to admit Google really stepped up in the hardware for this one: larger, higher res screen, more memory, NFC, it should be interesting.
Google’s the only one really thumping the NFC thing at the moment, but I think they could be ahead of the curve toward card free payments. As far as making things “prettier” I think that’s important. We’ve had this discussion before: Good design and ease of use should be as important as openness and technical capability. There are reasons why Apple’s products sell well, and it’s not just Apple fandom. They make a good looking device that is designed to appeal to those who just want the damn thing to work. The more Android works towards elegant design while keeping up with it’s open architecture and enhanced capability, the more people will use it. Although I think that stealing customers from Apple is one of the most difficult barriers to cross in the modern electronic industry. The focus should be on moving those without smart phones to Android before they try iOS.