Google may launch Android controlled home entertainment system

This one actually could be far bigger news than it first would seem. The news has come out that Google may be looking to launch an Android controlled home entertainment system later this year. The interesting part of it is that the hardware is said to be Google branded. As yet, Google has never released branded hardware without a partner, like the HTC Nexus One, Samsung Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus, and Motorola XOOM.

The report by the Wall Street Journal says that Google is planning to design and market the home entertainment system, and there is no mention of any hardware partners. The idea behind the entertainment system is similar to the Android@Home project that Google showed off at last year's Google I/O. The home entertainment system has been developed by the Android team, and will run a variant of the mobile OS software. It will allow users to stream music from any device over a wireless network.

It is highly likely that such a system would see pretty tight integration with Google Music, Android and Google TV (which is itself a variant of Android). The real question is whether or not Google is really planning to build the hardware itself. Even the acquisition of Motorola Mobility wouldn't really help with this as the company has no history of building audio equipment bigger than headphones.

Google To Roll Out Home Entertainment System:

Google Wallet Lands On GSM Galaxy Nexus For AT&T

The Google Wallet application has been available for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus 4G on Sprint, and now it would appear that the application is also available for the GSM Samsung Galaxy Nexus on AT&T. The guys from Droid Life discovered that the application is now available for the AT&T version of the Galaxy Nexus and have tested the application and it seems to be working on AT&T.

By now, most of you know the story behind Google Wallet and the fact that it has only been officially available to the Nexus S 4G on Sprint, something that irritates the hell out of all new Galaxy Nexus owners. The other 3 major carriers here in the U.S. (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) have their own NFC payment system in the works and would rather you not use a competing service while they finalize everything.

As far as Verizon goes, the LTE Galaxy Nexus is still not showing as supported. I’m in the middle of looking into something that has to do with it and will report back on my findings. For now though, feel free to ask Big Red on Twitter why AT&T has given the thumbs up, yet they still won’t. Wallet was updated for some users yesterday, but it’s almost impossible to tell if the note that reads “Small changes for device compatibility” was a part of it. If it is, then GSM users, jump on it.

Introducing Google Wallet:

Google’s Android Bouncer To Boost Security On Android Market

Google has announced a new feature for its Android Market which is designed to boost security and cut down on malware, the new feature is called Android Bouncer. According to Google, Android Bouncer will automatically scan the Android Market for malicious software on new applications, when a new application is uploaded to the Android Market, Google will run the app on their cloud infrastructure and check it for malware.

Today we’re revealing a service we’ve developed, codenamed Bouncer, which provides automated scanning of Android Market for potentially malicious software without disrupting the user experience of Android Market or requiring developers to go through an application approval process. As well as scanning individual applications, Google will also be checking developer accounts, so if someone is found of uploading an application with malware then Google will stop that developer from releasing new applications.

Google Suggests Android Developers Drop The Menu Button

Before Android 3.0 Honeycomb the Menu Button played and integral part of Google’s mobile operating system and was often used by developers to display options that were relevant to the user, often using the activity’s built-in options menu.

But as Ice Cream Sandwich rolls out to more devices Google has reached out to Android developers and asked them to start dropping the Menu Button in favour of the action bar. Stating that it’s important that developers migrate designs to the action bar in order to promote a consistent Android user experience.

Google explains:
“Even if your app is built to support versions of Android older than 3.0 (in which apps traditionally use the options menu panel to display user options/actions), when it runs on Android 3.0 and beyond, there’s no Menu button. The button that appears in the system/navigation bar represents the action overflow for legacy apps, which reveals actions and user options that have “overflowed off the screen.”

For more information on the announcement jump over to the Android Developers website, for help migrating the Menu Button in to the action bar ready for Android Ice Cream Sandwich devices.

Google Puts Nexus S Android Ice Cream Sandwich Update On Hold

Just four short days after the Nexus S began getting an update to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, a post from a Google employee on the company's official Mobile Help Forum mentions that the update has been halted in some areas. In response to users reporting that nothing happens on their Nexus S after getting notified of the OTA and trying to install it, Google's Paul Wilcox has said that the issue is probably the result of the update being paused in that area. Wilcox adds that the pause is meant to help Google monitor feedback on the update and that users running into the aforementioned problem will receive another notification once the update goes live again in that region. The full statement:

"If you received an update notification a little while ago but the update isn't currently available for your phone, this is likely the result of Google pausing the update in your area while we monitor feedback. The Android 4.0 update is continuing to roll out around the world so your phone will receive another update notification when it's available again in your region."

So what's with the hold? We've yet to hear an official word from Google, but sources speaking with The Verge suggest that this pause is normal and is used to ensure that the roll out is going swimmingly. Some users are reportedly experiencing pretty poor battery life on their Nexus S after installing the update, so it's been suggested that that may be something that Google's looking into. We'll be sure to update you when we hear more from the Goog, but until then, you Nexus S folk out there that have already gotten the Ice Cream Sandwich update should mosey on down to the comments section and let us know how things are working.

More information's:
Google Puts Nexus S Android Ice Cream Sandwich Update On Hold

Android Ice Cream Sandwich running on Google Nexus S:

GameStop testing sales of Android tablets in 200 stores

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that during this holiday season, retailer GameStop will put specialized Android tablets in 200 stores to see how well they sell. The tablets, made by Asus, Acer and Samsung, will each come with seven free games including EA's "Dead Space", and will be offered at the same price you would see at other stores. Although the tablets will support GameStop's new controller out of the box, it must be purchased separately at the store.

Last month, we reported that GameStop was planning on offering its own Android tablets to sell in its stores. Besides offering pre-installed games, console quality content would be streamed from the cloud using the controller. The idea behind adding the tablets in its stores is to sell more gaming devices to complement the individual games that it sells.

Google says Face Unlock will not work with a picture

The new Face Unlock feature for Ice Cream Sandwich is one of the more intriguing features that will be available, we don't know a lot about how it exactly is going to work. Obviously, it would have helped if the demo at the Galaxy Nexus announcement had actually worked, but since we don't have that, we have to just guess.

The Cyanogen lead developer Koush tweeted that it seemed like it would be easy enough to game the system by using a photograph to hack into someone's phone. It's a valid worry, but also one that shows a pretty small amount of faith in the Google engineers. That fear has been put to rest by Android-focused Developer Advocate Tim Bray, who has said that a photo will not be enough to unlock your phone.

Now, the big question is in how long Face Unlock will take to get you into your phone. Face Unlock sounds great, and Google is known for pushing its products to be fast, but Face Unlock needs to be very fast to keep users content.

Steve Jobs vowed revenge on Eric Schmidt over Android

Monday will bring one (of likely many) biographies on Steve Jobs. This one by Walter Isaacson includes the story of the falling out between Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt. The story has been leaked to the New York Times and Associated Press (likely to stir up free advertising for said book,) and it's a pretty interesting one.

Of course, Eric Schmidt was on the board at Apple from 2006 to 2009, while also acting as CEO of Google. The two companies eventually started competing with each other through iOS and Android, so Schmidt left Apple's board. When Steve Jobs saw Google release Android, he apparently felt it was a great betrayal, and told Isaacson that he felt Android was a "stolen product." Jobs was especially angered with a January 2010 Android device by HTC, which Jobs felt had many of the features of iOS including multitouch.

Apple has since sued HTC and other Android manufacturers multiple times. Jobs told Isaacson:

“ I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong. I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this. ”

Ice Cream Sandwich may finally bring native screenshots to Android

The big reveal for Ice Cream Sandwich is happening tomorrow, but as always, that won't stop us from giving you some new info tonight. There is new word coming from Android Police that Ice Cream Sandwich will finally be getting native screenshots.

Screenshots have so far been relegated to certain manufacturer UIs like Samsung's TouchWiz, or to the root community through apps like Shoot Me. With Gingerbread, Google had built in the capability for developers to add the option of taking screenshots within an app, but there hasn't been options for system-wide screenshots. Now, it seems that we'll be able to do just that in ICS by simply pressing the power and volume down buttons.

Behind this process are two binaries: screenshot and screencap, which apparently existed in Honeycomb, but weren't hooked to a specific key combo. So, there we go, native screenshots will finally be in Android.

T-Mobile G2x on sale price $199.99 or $499 on contract

The new T-Mobile G2x cell phone is now on sale for $199.99 with 2 year contract. Full retail price is just $499. That’s cheaper than the Nexus One/S. Most people will go for the contract not because its cheap but because either they don’t have $499 to spend on a phone or are not willing to pay that much at a go. The phone is great, Dual core has arrived, it has an HDMI port at the top of the phone. So enticing.

The T-Mobile G2x cell phone has a 4.0-inch 480 x 800 capacitive touchscreen display, a dual-core Tegra 2 processor, an 8-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera, A-GPS, WiFi, HDMI mirroring, an 8GB of internal memory, a microSD crad slot up to 32GB and Android 2.2 Froyo OS (Gingerbread in the future).

With that being said, having UMA is pretty much carrier specific and T-Mo’s really good in that regard. There are quite a few current Android handsets that have wi-fi calling. . T-Mobile has added or launched Wi-Fi Calling on the Samsung Vibrant, Galaxy S 4G, Sidekick 4G, plus the Motorola Charm and Cliq2, along with the T-Mobile G2x and the MyTouch 3G Slide. T-Mobile Introduces New $79.99 Unlimited Data, Calling and Texting Plan.

More information's:
http://g2.t-mobile.com/G2x

T-MOBILE G2X CELL PHONE REVIEW:

Google Q3 report shows record earnings, but doesn't talk Android

Google held its earnings call for Q3 2011 today and the numbers are looking good for the company. On the purely financial side of things, Google is reporting record earnings. Year-on-year revenue was up 33% for Q3 clocking in at a whopping $9.72 billion, which beat the estimates by almost $1 billion.

Unfortunately, there was nothing about Android or mobile revenue in the earnings call. The call broke down revenue generated from Google sites and the AdSense network, but did not cover specifics on AdMob revenue, or Android Market revenue. It is possible that Google is saving this information as an homage to Steve Jobs, and it will be part of the announcement for Ice Cream Sandwich and the Nexus Prime, but we'll have to wait and see on that.

The Next Web attempted to do some "back of the napkin" math to approximate a number for total Android devices in the wild, but ended up assuming about 575,000 daily activations this quarter. Even the conservative estimates that we've seen have Android activating more devices per day than that, not to mention the more aggressive estimates which would have had Android activating at least 750,000 devices per day in Q3.

We're hoping we see a better breakdown of mobile next week at the ICS event, but regardless, Google had a great quarter, and the company stock has jumped 35.61 points (6.37%) in after hours trading since the earnings call was made.

Bobsled by T-Mobile adds free calling to mobile and landlines, Android and iOS apps launched as well

Once, it was just a humble Facebook application that allowed you to call your online buddies. Now, however, Bobsled by T-Mobile has been taken to the next level and has a few more tricks up its sleeve.

Effective immediately, the VoIP service by T-Mobile allows you to make free voice calls to mobile and landlines across the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. All you really need is a computer with a web browser and an internet connection.

Besides, Bobsled by T-Mobile is now available on Android and iOS devices. Dedicated applications can be found on both the Android Market and the App Store, and once you have them set up you can chit chat all you want with your friends over at Facebook. However, bear in mind that the aforementioned free calls are a perk limited to the web browser version of the service.

Below is a video of Bobsled by T-Mobile in action so feel free to check it out.

Android 2.3 Gingerbread Almost Reaches 40 Percent On Android Devices

Google has released the latest Android distribution details, and Android 2.3 Gingerbread now makes up for almost 40 percent of all Android devices, with a 38.7 percent share. Still in top place is Android 2.2 Froyo, with 45.3 percent on all Android devices, next is Android 2.1 Eclair with an 11.7 percent share, Android Honeycomb now makes up a total of 1.8 percent, and Android 1.5 Cupcake is down to 1.1 percent and Andoid 1.6 Donut is down to 1.4 percent.

Google are expected to release the latest version of Android, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich either some time this month or early next month, so we suspect to see a change in these figures when they are next released.

More information's:
http://developer.android.com/resources/dashboard/platform-versions.html

google android tablet: