Messages are rolled into Hangouts in Android KitKat
Google has big plans for Hangouts - but it's killing off third party Google Voice apps.
Google Product Manager Nikhyl Singhal shared that news and more on Google+ yesterday afternoon, shortly after Google unveiled Android 4.4: KitKat and the Nexus 5.
He said the new Android Hangouts app, which now includes SMS and MMS messaging, is "a great step forward," but that Google still has "a lot of work to do" on Google Voice, explaining that the two are not yet compatible.
Part of that work is also to "make Google Voice as secure as possible," so Google is killing off third party Voice apps, Singhal revealed.
Party's over
"There are a few third-party applications that provide calling and SMS services by making unauthorized use of Google Voice," Singhal wrote.
"These apps violate our Terms of Service and pose a threat to your security, so we're notifying these app developers that they must stop making unauthorized use of Google Voice to run their services and transition users by May 15, 2014."
He also revealed that the updated Google Hangouts app will only work for users with Google Voice phone numbers who have enabled Google Voice on their Sprint phones.
But he added that Google is "working to support SMS messages for all Google Voice phone numbers by early next year," and promised that no one's Voice number will change when that happens.
Finally it seems Google is working to get Google Voice up and running outside the U.S., and working to add Google Voice MMS messaging capabilities. But because it has to work with carriers to do so, that might take a while yet.
"It will take some time before Google Voice is fully integrated into Hangouts, and we appreciate your patience along the way," Singhal wrote.
Yesterday was a big day for Google fans and Android users, as Google finally unveiled Android 4.4: KitKat and the Nexus 5!
Sony will reveal more about its plans for KitKat and Xperia next week
Sony today dropped a small hint about its plans for Android 4.4: KitKat, the new Android update that Google detailed yesterday.
The official Sony Xperia News Twitter account said to watch out for news from Sony next week.
"Re. #Android @KitKat, we're excited – next week our news on: 4.3, 4.4; products & more…" Sony tweeted, with the hashtag "#Sony Xperia."
So it seems the company has plans not only for KitKat, but for Android 4.3: Jelly Bean as well - and it sounds like some new products might get announced next week, maybe including an Xperia phone or two.
A future Xperia
That fits somewhat with a rumor that Sony will announce two new Xperia phones, including a Sony Xperia "Tianchi" with an eight-core MediaTek chip, in Shanghai on Nov. 12.
Will the phone code named "Tianchi" debut with KitKat installed? Only time (or more leaks) will tell.
But Nov. 12 is more than a week away, so either that rumor got the date wrong or Sony has more tricks up its sleeves than we currently know about.
Either way, we'll be watching next week for any news.
Break me off a piece of that
With Android 4.4 having finally arrived yesterday on the Nexus 5, other phone makers are also beginning to detail their plans to upgrade users' devices to the new Android version.
Google revealed as part of its announcement yesterday that KitKat will arrive on the Nexus 4, Nexus 7, Nexus 10, Samsung Galaxy S4, and HTC One Google Play edition "in the coming weeks."
However, plenty of Android users are still left with the question of when the new Android update will arrive on their devices.
TechRadar has the full scoop on which Android phones are currently confirmed to be getting KitKat - and the one device that definitely isn't.
Motorola's upcoming midrange Moto G smartphone has been hinted at several times over the past few days, first as a phantom reference on Motorola's homepage next to the Moto X, then last night from @evleaks.
Now, we've got a fresh promo card from our own tipster, purportedly destined for a Phones4u store.
As you can tell from the image, the device is targeted at midrange smartphone holiday shoppers' pockets with a 4.5" 720p edge-to-edge display covered in Gorilla Glass and 1.2GHz quad-core CPU. There will be just 8GB of storage, a 5MP shooter capable of 720p recording with 1.3MP front-facer, Bluetooth 4.0, running Android 4.3 Jelly Bean (sorry no Android 4.4 KitKat build on release).
According to our tipster, the device will be priced at £134.95 off contract.
It's unconfirmed what sort of battery will power the Moto G, although if past leaks are confirmed it will be of the 1,950 mAh flavor.
No release date as of yet, although it certainly will be here by the holidays, and it looks like it will be heading overseas as well. Previous rumors also suggested interchangeable back panels (also hinted at in the lower left of the above image), with possible dual-SIM capabilities. At £135, the Moto G could do some serious damage at the midrange price point this holiday season.
The new Nexus 5 manages to offer a huge step up in power while maintaining a brilliantly low price tag.
The Google Nexus 5 is a phone that's the product of constant evolution, companies one-upping each other as they try to prove they can make the best Nexus.
The Nexus One was HTC's only shot at the title, with Samsung making two more then LG getting the nod for the most recent edition, the Nexus 4.
While that was a decent phone for a stellar price, the Nexus 5 is a huge step forward for a number of reasons - not least the sub-£300 price tag (for the 16GB version - it's £339 for the 32GB iteration).
There's the Snapdragon 800 chip at the heart of things, running the show incredibly smoothly. The Google Nexus 5 is based loosely on the LG G2, with the same processor and similar IPS LCD screen, albeit with the new Google phone coming in at a smaller 4.95-inch.
This means that video and internet browsing looks stellar, with colours bright and vivid without looking over saturated, as we've seen on the Super AMOLED screens of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Note 3.
The overall design of the Google Nexus 4 is an interesting one, as it's lost the glass back to replace it with rubberised plastic - presumably to make it easier to hold.
It is, and the smaller bezel means that you don't feel like you're holding a giant handset despite the near-5 inch screen. It's easy to move the finger or thumb around most of the display, and if you're used to a larger display you'll not even notice a problem with the bigger visage.
The camera module on the rear of the Nexus 5, which is an 8MP option, protrudes slightly from the back of the device, making it sit a little awkwardly when placed on the table.
However, there's a good reason for this: LG has thrown in its optical image stabilisation technology (OIS) to help improve the quality of pictures as well as making video look better when you're jumping around at a gig or 'sports event'.
The overall design of the Google Nexus 5 is impressive, while not coming anywhere close to the construction of the metal-clad HTC One or similar. It sits in the hand well, has a high quality screen and everything works well when you want it to.
Android KitKat 4.4 is the big other change for the device, as the first phone to offer the new OS. Android fans won't notice much of a change, and to be honest, there's not a lot that's going to be that different, in the same way that Android 4.3 didn't really further the message much more.
However, there are some tweaks that make it worth talking about - for instance, the menu bar, the one that takes away the physical home buttons, is now transparent, which brings more of a holistic feel to any app that you're trying to view.
There's also a mode that's supposed to engage full screen with greater ease, but we were only able to turn this on when in the Google Reader app, although we're hopeful that this will come to more apps as Google optimises the new OS.
Apart from that it's mostly just the icons that have changed, making things like the phone app a little larger and making them feel more integrated with the home screen.
There's definitely a step up here, but it's not going to change your world in a way that some people might have hoped. For instance, the general speed of operation that came with Android Jelly Bean was a real game-changer, but there's nothing like that on offer here.
There's another feature that sadly wouldn't work for us: the integration of Google Now to the whole phone in the same way as the Moto X.
This means you're supposed to be able to say 'OK Google' and the phone will instantly turn on, ready for your voice command. Our unit seems to be a little bit too pre-production, as the option to turn this one wasn't available no matter how hard we tried to force it.
In summary, KitKat is a good upgrade, making the Android OS more integrated than ever before, but if you're waiting to get it on your HTC One or Samsung Galaxy S4, you don't need to worry too much given these handsets already have a decent skin to hide such elements.
The camera, an 8MP option on the Nexus 5, is a move forward again compared to the Nexus 4, with sharper images, faster processing and a wider gamut of options to help improve your snaps.
We only had a few minutes to test, but the lower light images seemed impressive enough, and the video was shake free compared to that on the Nexus 4.
We're not going to celebrate the feature too much, as there are many better handsets out there that will give you good images on the go that far surpass this handset. However, they'll cost nearly double what you'll be able to get the Nexus 5 for, so if a top-quality snapper isn't the most important thing to you, this will be more than good enough.
The rest of the Nexus 5 is pretty basic; Google wants the stock Android buyers to just get on with downloading their own apps and making the phone their own. With that in mind, the Nexus 5 is a really good option, as the larger screen is perfect as a blank canvas to paint upon as you see fit.
The internet browser is fast, the music output impressive (although the UI is still too basic) and the video player, and the screen technology in particular, is really, really impressive.
Early verdict
The Nexus range has taken a real step forward here. The Nexus 4 was a great option for those that don't want to spend a lot, but the handset really began to creak after too long.
The Nexus 5, while a little later in the year compared to the other top-end handsets, seems to be a lot more bullet-proof in terms of being able to carry on chugging for a couple of years.
And what's better is that this will cost very little to buy directly from Google, meaning many will be able to snap this up and go on a rolling SIM-only deal to give freedom to upgrade when they want.
Many thanks to Carphone Warehouse for providing us with our review sample!
Google Nexus 5 makes life easier for business users
When the Nexus 4 was launched in November 2012, it offered the highest display resolution on the market, was the first mainstream handset to offer 2GB of RAM but alienated many potential customers by omitting a micro-SD card slot.
The new Nexus 5 doesn't solve that issue but at least it offers twice the onboard storage and ups the rest of the hardware to match the market's current best-of-breed.
The hardware
It might come as a shock to many but the Nexus 5, despite being a smartphone, packs more firepower than many laptops (and desktops) used in businesses across the country.
While its processor, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, cannot be directly benchmarked against traditional x86 ones, it is deemed powerful enough to keep the Nokia Lumia 2520 going, which gives an indication of is sheer firepower.
There's also a decent amount of onboard system memory, a full HD display and a bevy of connectivity options, all rounding off a system that has a lot of potential, not only as a smartphone but also as a so-called zero client on its own merits, similar to HP's t310.
Having 4G/LTE and 802.11ac actually makes the Nexus 5 more advanced than the majority of laptops on the market. Add in exceptional battery life (8.5 hours on Wi-Fi, 7 hours on LTE), wireless charging and the ability to drive, via SlimPort, an external full HD monitor (with 4K in the pipeline) and you have a business-ready solution.
So you will be able to connect a monitor to it out of the box and use Bluetooth (or even NFC) keyboards and mice. And it will not surprise us if talks of a Foleo-like (or BlackBerry's Redfly) mobile companion emerge in the next few months in the form of a HP Chromebook 11 clone.
The software
Android 4.4 Kitkat is yummy!
Android 4.4 KitKat is great for the mobile user who wants to remain productive on the move. Google peppered a number of small improvements that, lumped together, make it a worthy update for users who use Android devices for business purposes.
Perhaps the most important one is the newly redesigned Quickoffice application which is bundled by default on KitKat. It allows users to create and edit Microsoft office documents, spreadsheets and presentations and works seamlessly with Google Apps. What's more, Quickoffice supports Google Docs documents natively and stores files on Google Drive and other rival cloud storage services as well.
There's also Google's new voice command feature that doesn't require the user to interact physically with the device, similar to the "OK Google now" feature found on the Moto X. It makes the phone ideal for off-the-cuff, impromptu requests, even within an office environment.
Google engineers have also worked hard on making multitasking work better through a number of smaller improvements (memory optimisation, better touch screen etc), partly driven by Android partners.
Another small tweak is KitKat's ability to search for people and contacts in Google Apps domains and automatically prioritise them based on how often you get in touch with them, not unlike one of the key features of Xobni, which was acquired earlier this year by Yahoo.
The rest of the most notable improvements includes (a) the introduction of Host Card Emulation which should boost NFC-equipped devices by allowing any application to emulate an NFC smart card (b) native support for Wi=Fi or cloud-hosted printing services and (c) better hardware sensor management.
All in all, the changes are incremental both for KitKat and the Nexus 5 but Google has provided once again with the ideal platform to showcase how well a fine-tuned hardware/software solution can deliver the goods.
Most importantly, the combination is now the benchmark against which other flagship smartphones are going to be measured for the next 12 months.
The Google Nexus phone has, in many ways, helped revolutionise the mobile market in much the same way that the Apple iPhone has. It has also taken many hardware and software design cues from the iPhone, but then again so has nigh on every smartphone handset that we see today.
Apple's iPhone has undoubtedly been the catalyst that has changed the mobile market in ways that would have seemed so radical a few years back. If it wasn't for the iPhone, we might well have seen Android looking a lot more like the OS that graced BlackBerry devices.
The Google Nexus One was not the first Android phone to market, that was the T-Mobile G1. With manufacturers still seemingly unconvinced about creating devices for its new mobile OS, Google introduced the Nexus One to show developers just what the software could do.
Google had never planned on making the Nexus series into a staple of the annual smartphone diet. The original Nexus One handset was designed to give Android a push in the right direction, and nothing more. It obviously worked, as Android now holds over 70% of the mobile market in Europe.
The Nexus One, Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus
Perhaps buckling under industry pressure to follow the Nexus One up with more, and more impressive hardware, the guys at Mountain View made a second. And a third. And then a fourth. And what's that? Number five is now upon us.
Google also decided to take this "one off" into the tablet market, showing the world how it feels tablets should be made. Again, we might never have seen these devices had it not been for the advent of the original iPad, a device that again pushed Apple into revolutionising a new market.
So how has the volatile nature of the mobile market changed the Nexus hardware and software over the years? Well just click next and we'll take you through the journey of Google's Nexus range.
In case you forgot Huawei is a Windows Phone partner. And the Chinese brought the first non-Nokia WP8 launch in a while, the Huawei Ascend W2 (the successor of the Ascend W1). The phone goes after the Nokia Lumia 520 by targeting "value-savvy" consumers.
It has a 4.3" IPS LCD screen with WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels, 217ppi). It also features super sensitive touch technology, so it works even if you're wearing gloves. The phone is rather large for a 4.3" device though, measuring 134 x 67 x 9.9mm, it's almost the size of a 5" phone. The 160g of weight don't help its cause either.
Anyway, the Ascend W2 comes in several color options (that's the strength of the WP lineup, right?), from standard Black to Blue, Red and Yellow.
The phone is powered by a Snapdragon MSM8230 chipset with a dual-core Krait CPU running at 1.4GHz, Adreno 305 GPU and 512MB RAM. It has 8GB of built-in storage and no expansion slot.
There's a 5MP camera on the back that can shoot 720p videos. On the connectivity side there's 3G, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 and microUSB 2.0. The battery has 1,700mAh capacity.
The press release touts the affordable price of the Huawei Ascend W2, but is mum on a concrete sum. The 3G version of the phone will be available in Russia and the Netherlands this month (probably soon, it's been shipping since October). It will expand to more markets later. The Chinese version of the phone has been around since August.
The analysts over at Strategy Analytics has posted a report on the global smartphone shipments for Q3 2013. For the period, over 251 million smartphones have been shipped worldwide.
This marks a significant growth of 45% on an annual basis - Q3 2012 saw the shipment of 172.8 million smartphones. The main force behind the growth is "robust demand" for Android and Windows Phone devices in Europe and Asia.
Android took a whooping 81% global share with 204.4 million units sold. Google's market dominance means four out of every five smartphones now runs Android. Strategy Analytics points out Google's mobile OS keeps gaining user base at the expense of BlackBerry and Apple.
The Canadian manufacturer's smartphone position slid even further down from 4 percent in Q3 2012 to just 1 percent. Its BlackBerry OS 10 running smartphones combined sold just 2.5 million for the quarter. In comparison, in Q3 2012 BlackBerry sold 7.5 million units.
The surprise of the report comes from Redmond, Washington DC. Microsoft's Windows Phone now powers 10.2 million smartphones - a stark jump of 178% over the 3.7 million units that were sold in Q3 2012. As a result, the company's smartphone market share has doubled from 2 percent to 4 percent in the past year.
The success is largely due to the success of the Nokia Lumia line up in Europe, Asia and the US. Windows Phone is still struggling to gain traction in Japan, South Korea and Africa, Strategy Analytics points out.
It's OK, you can come out now. Halloween is over, all the trick-or-treaters are gone, and we hid all the really cool gadgets from the zombies.
Let's all relax. It's November. Christmas is coming and the tech is getting PHAT (can we pull that off? We probably can't pull that off).
The KitKat's out of the bag
Yep, the Nexus 5 with Android 4.4 KitKat, after months of teasing, has finally launched - so obviously we had to play with it as soon as possible. Our hands on Nexus 5 review is coming but we all chipped in with our two cents in TechRadar Reacts.
Generally, the consensus was good - we liked the Nexus' screen size, processor and LTE, found the casing satisfyingly glossy, and were impressed by the specs, but the lack of microSD and the mediocre camera let the device down a little.
Android KitKat was a mixed bag, too: it looks clean - and we're interested to see how combining texts and Google hangouts will work out - but the features didn't quite blow us away.
However on the whole we found the Nexus 5's high-end specs excellent value for its mid-range price, and gave it a solid 4 out of 5 knee-jerk rating.
Google Glass gets some goodies
Before Google dropped the Nexus 5 on us, it let slip some details about Google Glass 2, nevermind that hardly anyone's been able to try Glass 1.
The upgraded hardware will come with a sleeker frame and earbud component after some people found the bone-conduction strategy to be, well, not really audible.
You'd be forgiven for hanging back from getting a pair for fear of looking a bit Geordie from Star Trek: TNG. But worry no more - Google, along with several third party companies, will be introducing stylish Google Glass accessories to make the look more customisable.
There will be coloured caps for the earbuds, various styles of attachable sun glass shades and shields, and the option to swap frames, finally making this epitome of wearable tech more individual. Sort of. A bit.
Bendy LG screens for iWatch?
While sir is parading around town in his fancy new computer-specs, would sir consider completing the look with a fabulous new Apple iWatch in 2014? Because the latest word is that LG, and not Samsung, may provide flexible OLED screens for the thing.
Could this be one of the "significant opportunities" that Tim Cook hinted at during Apple's Q4 2013 earnings call?
"We obviously believe that we can use our skills in building other great products that are in categories that represent areas we do not participate in today. We're confident in that," he said.
According to an "expert", "LG Display has been in talks over flexible light-emitting diode panels for quite a while and it looks like it will be sealing the deal with Apple." We "watch" (geddit!) with interest.
While we're talking wearable tech, Oculus Rift's CEO Brendan Iribe this week revealed that we can expect a lighter mobile virtual reality headset and, at some point, a mobile version with the PC headset next year.
However, there is currently no support for Apple - although this didn't seem to worry Iribe:
"We have some exciting plans on the mobile VR side as the PC VR side," he said. "It's pretty incredible what [John Carmack has] been able to do."
"Due to rapid, drastic changes in the business environment and a declining demand for PDP in the flat panel display market," said the Panasonic statement. "It was judged that continuing the business would be difficult and a decision was made to stop production."
In other words, as our Steve May puts it, the future's bright, the future's 4K Ultra HD OLED TVs.
He writes, "My advice to plasma fans is doff your cap in respect, celebrate past triumphs, maybe grab a Panasonic panel while you can – they are bloody good after all – but then look unflinchingly toward to a new era of OLED and 4K Ultra HD, both areas in which Panasonic seems very intent on pursuing."
The Google Play Store was out of Nexus 5 16GB stock a couple of hours after the device was officially announced. The 16GB units are still out of stock in the US Play Store.
There are 32GB units available – both Black and White – but the bad news is if you haven't pre-ordered one already you're in for a wait. The Nexus 5 32GB in the US Play Store comes with the note "Leaves warehouse in 2 - 3 weeks".
In the UK Play Store, the White Nexus 5 units (both 16GB and 32GB) will ship in 1-2 business days, while the Black units will leave the warehouse "by November 8".
The German Play Store is also out of stock of Black 16GB units, while the 32GB Black units will ship by November 15. The 32GB White units will come the soonest – ship by November 8 – while the 16GB White ones will take 2-3 weeks.
It seems that Google has learned nothing (or refused to learn) from its previous device launches. We get that the Nexus 5 is a relatively low-margin product, but not even coming close to meeting the demand is still very annoying.
Just as Apple promised at the announcement event, the iPad Air is up for sale now. The Apple Store, major carriers worldwide as well as select brick-and-mortar and online stores are offering the latest and greatest iOS slate.
The Apple iPad mini 2 runs iOS 7 out of the box and boasts storage options ranging from 16GB all the way to 128GB. Color options are just Silver & White and Space Grey & Black. As usual there will be Wi-Fi and 3G/LTE versions.
Checkout the image below to see how each of version of the iPad Air is priced in the US.
Pricing in Europe is a bit steeper than this. We've organized how prices stand and compare in the UK, German and French Apple Stores. Here go the pricing tables.
United Kingdom
Germany
France
As for the Apple iPad mini 2 with Retina display, it's going to become available for purchase around the end of November. Apple hasn't officially stated the reasons why both iPads haven't launched at the same time, but it's pretty clear that it's all due to supply shortages.
Tim Cook feels confident that his company will dominate the tablet market this Christmas. "I think it will be an iPad Christmas," Tim Cook said.
According to analysts, however, the second generation iPad mini is having serious production issues. As a result, only a limited number of iPad mini 2 units will be available for this holiday season. This could turn out to be quite a headache for the company and its next quarterly financial report.
Cook's comment regarding potential iPad mini 2 shortages states that "It's unclear whether we'll have enough for the quarter or not,". The fact that even Apple admits there is a problem with supply suggest that getting an iPad mini 2 before 2014 might be quite problematic.
Indeed, a new report surfaced today saying that the situation might be even worse than previously expected. The info comes from China and says that one of the two iPad mini 2 screen suppliers (LG Display) is having huge issues with the production and Apple was even forced to turn to Samsung to save the day. However, even so, full production is reportedly not coming until we are "well into next year".
So we've pulled together a list of networks and retailers who will be offering up the handset. Keep an eye on the list though, we'll be updating as we hear more...
As expect, you can buy the Nexus 5 straight from the Google Play Store. It's available for £299 for the 16GB model in black or white, or £339 for 32GB.
Carphone Warehouse
Carphone Warehouse is stocking the Nexus 5 - though just the 16GB model - from Friday November 1. The handset is £295 SIM free - a whole £4 cheaper than Google - and it's also available for no cost if you join a £32 per month 3G contract on O2.
That includes unlimited calls and texts and 1GB of data. Oh, you can get it on a 4G contract for £37 per month, which will lump on an extra 2GB of data fun.
Even better, the first 1000 customers who order the Nexus 5 on a 4G contract on the Carphone Warehouse website will bag themselves a free 16GB Google Nexus 7. Last year's version though - sorry.
O2
While Vodafone and EE aren't getting in on the Nexus action, O2 is offering the phone directly, but only in the larger 32GB variant.
Available on O2's Refresh tariff, the phone is free on a £32 per month deal, which gives you 600 minutes, unlimited texts and 750MB of data.
Three
Data friendly network Three is also stocking the Nexus 5 and it has confirmed the handset will be supported by its 4G service which is due to roll out in December.
You can bag yourself unlimited data (plus 500 minutes and 5000 texts) on the Nexus 5 from just £29 per month, although you'll need to stump up £49 at point of sale.
The 16GB Nexus 5 is also available on PAYG, but at £399.99 it's extremely expensive so you'd be better off going via Google direct.
HTC has shown remarkable commitment to the HTC One regarding the software updates, eschewing traditional notions that OEMs don't update their phones in a timely manner. Sticking to that commitment, HTC has now announced that it will be updating the HTC One to Android 4.4 KitKat.
Jason Mackenzie, president of HTC America, has confirmed that the carrier locked version of the HTC One in North America will receive the 4.4 update within 90 days. Although that's a pretty large time frame, at least HTC has given one, unlike most other OEMs out there.
Meanwhile, those who purchased the unlocked developer edition of the handset will be receiving the update within 30 days. Finally, those who bought the Google Play edition will get it the quickest, that is, within 15 days.
So far, Motorola is the only other OEM that has announced Android 4.4 update for their handset. We are hoping other OEMs will join in on the KitKat party soon.
Yesterday, Motorola announced the Android 4.4 KitKat update, arriving on the Nexus 5 first and some of the other Nexus devices later. Now it's the turn of the Android OEMs announce when they will be bringing the update to their devices. Being a wholly owned subsidiary of Google, you'd expect Motorola to be the first one to confirm, and the company has delivered.
Motorola has confirmed through a post on Google+ that they will be bringing Android 4.4 to some of their devices shortly. The list of devices includes the DROID Maxx, DROID Ultra, DROID Mini and the Moto X.
Motorola is making no promises regarding when the update will actually be made available but it's good to see at least a confirmation of the update arriving at some point in future, hopefully a not too distant one.
