Toronto-based PushLife gets acquired by Google

Remember PushLIfe? This is the Toronto-based organization that currently powers the Virgin Mobile Live BlackBerry app. A few months ago we interviewed Founder & CEO of PushLife Ray Reddy and was completely blown away with how user friendly their music app was, not just on BlackBerry devices but on the most basic quick messaging devises. You can check out the interview here but good fortune has come their way as they have officially announced that Google has purchased them.

They stated on their site that “We are pleased to announce that we’ve been acquired by Google… We’ll be joining Google engineering team in Canada, and will be working on building better mobile application for all users. The past three years have been an incredible ride and, while we will be eventually discontinuing the PushLife service, we look forward to more adventures at Google”.

There are many reasons Google would have snatched up PushLife: So RIM would not have used them exclusively for their BlackBerry devices/tablets; to incorporate the PushLife features into the upcoming Android music platform and possibly build out a future music/video/movie distribution channel.

Whatever the reason is a BIG congrats to everyone at PushLife!

Google Nexus S with AT&T bands available in black or white, $600

AT&T users can grab a Google Nexus S with the proper 3G bands – sure, not from AT&T itself but there are other retailers that offer it. Even better, you have a choice between a black and a white color version – it was just black before.

Google’s second droid, the Google Nexus S, first launched with T-Mobile, which meant that users on other networks couldn’t get in on the fun. Now the Samsung I9020A, which is the model name of the AT&T’s Nexus S, is officially on sale.

As a consolation for the wait, users can get the phone in white (well, just the back anyway) – and T-Mobile users can’t (for now anyway). Negri Electronics carries both the black and white Google Nexus S for AT&T – both at the same price of $598.5 (for comparison, that’s €416). AT&T don't offer it (for now), so there's no option to get it on a contract.

Some lucky guy already bought the white Nexus S (just a day after the launch) and did what anyone else would have done – he took some unboxing photos. Here they come:

White Google Nexus S with AT&T 3G bands

As you can see, the white version comes with Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread, which is still very new and fairly rare.

The white Nexus S is running Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread

Sprint’s Google Nexus S 4G (with CDMA and WiMAX connectivity) is coming soon too. The Canadian launch of the Nexus S is nearing as well – several operators will reportedly carry the phone there, with Fido pricing the phone at $500 (Canadian) for pre-paid or $100 (again, Canadian) with a 3-year contract

Google delays Honeycomb tablet OS; what if that was Apple

“To make our schedule to ship the tablet, we made some design tradeoffs,” says Andy Rubin, vice-president for engineering at Google and head of its Android group, in a Bloomberg article. “We didn’t want to think about what it would take for the same software to run on phones. It would have required a lot of additional resources and extended our schedule beyond what we thought was reasonable. So we took a shortcut.”

Rubin also said that if Google released Honeycomb now, it couldn’t stop companies from using it on phones “and creating a really bad user experience. We have no idea if it will even work on phones.”

Wow. Google, the company that positions itself as being better than Apple because it is open, is closing down Honeycomb. For now, at least.

So the bottom line here is that in order to keep up with Apple, Google took shortcuts on the development of Honeycomb and now it’s come back to bite them in the ass.

Google deserves some kudos for not releasing a half-baked OS, but I don’t understand why more people aren’t up in arms about this. Open source executive Dave Rosenberg described Google’s delay “as an affront to hard-core open-source enthusiasts,” but that’s about all that was said.

Where are the mainstream press articles tearing Google up over this? While there are a few comments, many of the articles I’ve seen told Google’s story and stopped there.

Can you imagine if it were Apple delaying a software release. What would the press say if Apple admitted it took shortcuts with its OS to keep up with Google and now they couldn’t release it? The press would have a field day with that story.

The mainstream press already had a field day with rumors that Apple was going to delay the iPad 2. When all was said and done, they released it early.

Apple gets slammed all the time for supposedly delaying its hardware and software products, but the thing that nobody seems to mention in those articles is that Apple never announced a ship date. How can you possibly be late delivering a product when you haven’t said when you will ship it?

The simple answer is, you can’t. But that doesn’t seem to stop everyone from piling on.

Still, it seems strange that many of these same people are silent on Google’s delayed Honeycomb release. Seems like a clear double standard.

Google phone Nexus one is a reality

After over whelming success of Google Android which is Mobile Operating system , Google Inc has now decided to produce and sell Mobile device known as ’Nexus one’. Yes! Yet another service to be launched shortly by Internet Giant which will surely affect sales of competitor in mobile industry.

Nexus 1 hardware has been made in corporation with HTC and whole user experience is designed by Google. Google will use full VOIP service which means that no voice/sms plans needed at any carrier and voice calls will go through Google Voice on Data SIM cards and will provide unlimited free voice calling. Key features of Nexus 1:

Specifications

Android 2.1
3G/HSDPA
Wi-Fi
A-GPS with Google Maps
Enhanced Voice to text feature
Quad Band GSM
QualComm Snapdragon Processor (1 GHz)
Large OLED Full Touchscreen
Expandable Memory
Dual mics

Price in India :
As such there is no official news regarding price of Google phone but Internet rumor about expected price is around 200$ which means around Rs 9200.

Release date
Nexus 1 is set to release on 5th of January 2010, currently Google has asked their employees to test these products for quick feedback and suggestions for improvements

Difference between Google Nexus S vs Samsung Galaxy S and Nexus One

Nexus S is a latest offering from Google derived from Google Nexus one and Samsung Galaxy S. It seems that the performance boost has been rather less than what I was expecting. Part of the blame lies with market maturity and many of the features coming to an apparent stop.

The Nexus S shares many features that we have already seen, so we will analyze the differences, both aesthetic and technical details, to find the hypothetical comparison with Nexus One and Galaxy S.

Difference is in Android version 2.3 that incorporates the Nexus S and will, hopefully within a short time to rest of devices.

Exterior design. The Nexus S screen is 4 inches SuperAMOLED, like the Samsung Galaxy S and larger than the 3.7 inches of Nexus One, just AMOLED. But the three phones share the same resolution of 800 x 480.

The exterior design of the Nexus S shares more similarities with the Galaxy S in its curved and black, also brings the curvature of the screen, they say, improves visibility. On the other hand we find the flat and gray design of Nexus One, straight lines do not seem to mobile plastic casing as it appears the Nexus S.

Processor and memory. The processor that incorporates the Nexus S is manufactured by Samsung, called Humingbird. Has the same speed (1 GHz), but its performance, thanks to the integrated GPU is much better than the Nexus One Snapdragon, especially in games.

The three shared the same amount of RAM (512 MB), which has shown that still allows to run multiple applications smoothly. It seems that it is necessary to increase yet, but it will come.

Extra features. The Nexus S has frontal camera for video calling features and NFC technology . With regard to the Samsung S Galaxy, it lacks FM receiver. In addition to two items that also incorporates the Nexus One as the gyroscope and Bluetooth 2.1, 802.11 n or WiFi.

One thing that surprised us was the lack of SD card slot in the Nexus S. We opted for an internal memory of 16GB, which I think is right. Since the end we are always fair in the phone memory to install applications and we can move applications to the SD, it now seems that this not a concern.

Google phone Nexus one is a reality

After over whelming success of Google Android which is Mobile Operating system , Google Inc has now decided to produce and sell Mobile device known as ’Nexus one’. Yes! Yet another service to be launched shortly by Internet Giant which will surely affect sales of competitor in mobile industry.

Nexus 1 hardware has been made in corporation with HTC and whole user experience is designed by Google. Google will use full VOIP service which means that no voice/sms plans needed at any carrier and voice calls will go through Google Voice on Data SIM cards and will provide unlimited free voice calling. Key features of Nexus 1:

Specifications

Android 2.1
3G/HSDPA
Wi-Fi
A-GPS with Google Maps
Enhanced Voice to text feature
Quad Band GSM
QualComm Snapdragon Processor (1 GHz)
Large OLED Full Touchscreen
Expandable Memory
Dual mics

Price in India :
As such there is no official news regarding price of Google phone but Internet rumor about expected price is around 200$ which means around Rs 9200.

Release date
Nexus 1 is set to release on 5th of January 2010, currently Google has asked their employees to test these products for quick feedback and suggestions for improvements

Google Nexus One phone- everything you want to know

Google has finally introduced their mobile phone Nexus One, the first smartphone that will be sold through a new model of online store hosted by them. Nexus One combines the latest hardware from HTC with the latest Android software. With this new model of retailing, Google wants to provide online users an efficient way to access different Android phones.

On the website www.google.com/phone consumers can purchase Nexus One phone without service (compatible with the SIM card of any GSM network) or under contract with one of the telephone operators Google partners. As they put on sale new phones through this channel, consumers can benefit from the possibility of combining the phone they wish with the consumption plan that best suits your needs.

Hardware Review

The Nexus One has a 1-GHz Snapdragon CPU, a 3.7-inch 480 x 800 display, 512 MB of of RAM and an expandable 4-GB microSD card. The 1-GHz processor alone should make the Nexus one of the fastest smartphones available currently. It has a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash, Wi-Fi connectivity, accelerometer, compass and proximity sensors.

It comes with Stereo headphone jack with four contacts of 3.5 mm jack and remote control. Tricolor notofication LED lights up with each new email, chat message or text message.

Operating System and Softwares

Nexus One is equipped with Android 2.1, which has the following features:
- Navigate Google Maps: Provides detailed driving routes through voice instructions.
- Email: Multiple Gmail accounts, universal inbox and sync with Exchange.
- Agenda: Includes contacts from multiple sources, including Facebook.
- Quick Contacts: Allows you to quickly switch communications applications to social networks.
- Android Market: Access to over 18,000 applications.

Pricing and Purchase

Initially, Nexus One mobiles are available for sale in the U.S. through Google’s virtual store. The price of mobile without service will be $ 529 but may also be purchased for $ 179 with a two-year contract with operator T-Mobile USA. In the near future, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone are planning to offer these services in the U.S. and Europe, respectively. Starting today and you can visit the page www.google.com/phone for more information about Nexus One and order, although for now only accept those coming from U.S. consumers and the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong. Indian users will get a message saying “Not available in your country” However, you can browse the website but cannot purchase.

Google phone Nexus one is a reality

After over whelming success of Google Android which is Mobile Operating system , Google Inc has now decided to produce and sell Mobile device known as ’Nexus one’. Yes! Yet another service to be launched shortly by Internet Giant which will surely affect sales of competitor in mobile industry.

Nexus 1 hardware has been made in corporation with HTC and whole user experience is designed by Google. Google will use full VOIP service which means that no voice/sms plans needed at any carrier and voice calls will go through Google Voice on Data SIM cards and will provide unlimited free voice calling. Key features of Nexus 1:

Specifications

Android 2.1
3G/HSDPA
Wi-Fi
A-GPS with Google Maps
Enhanced Voice to text feature
Quad Band GSM
QualComm Snapdragon Processor (1 GHz)
Large OLED Full Touchscreen
Expandable Memory
Dual mics

Price in India :
As such there is no official news regarding price of Google phone but Internet rumor about expected price is around 200$ which means around Rs 9200.

Release date
Nexus 1 is set to release on 5th of January 2010, currently Google has asked their employees to test these products for quick feedback and suggestions for improvements