If you happened to walk into a store and saw the Nexus Q sitting on the shelf for sale, you might want to consult a salesperson to actually find out what the elegant black orb does. Unlike smartphones or tablets that lend their visuals to their functionality, or the Apple TV unit that gives away its function in the name, the Nexus Q is a visual enigma that hasn't really gotten the consumer technology world convinced.
The smartphone industry is one of the most fiercely contested in tech space, and although Windows Phone 8 will bring Microsoft well and truly into the fold, the battle is currently fought between Google's Android and Apple's iOS platforms.
Google means business with Android these days. That's not to say it didn't before, but since the company's Google I/O conference recently it has become clear that the people at Google are beginning to understand what it takes to make a premium smartphone. It's not apps, and it's not handsets. It's the feel of the operating system.
Android Jelly Bean (4.1) seems to have gone down a treat among those using it, and it certainly seems as though Project Butter - a movement to make Android a lot sleeker and lag-free - has done the trick. With any new operating system, the temptation for many is to simply mod and tweak in order to decipher just what it's capable of, and for those having done a little - maybe too much - modding on their Nexus device, you'll be pleased to know you can grab a fresh, stock copy of your mobile OS.
Seeing that we've been able to gather a few years of experience with touchscreen keyboards, they've become relatively easy to use for most, especially for simple and short search queries. However, if you want to add a more creative and personal touch to your input, you will be able to take advantage of Handwrite, which Google just announced. It's a new feature of Google's mobile search website that's actually built into the search webpage itself, so you'll be able to try this out on any touch-enabled smartphone (or tablet, for that matter.)
Apple's iPad has dominated a market it is credited with creating back in 2010, when the very first iPad slate was unveiled to a very mixed response. Some lauded it as the next best thing, while the skeptics brushed it off as merely a large iPhone, but nobody can argue it has been a huge success, one most Android vendors have tried - and failed - to emulate.
Google's new Nexus 7 tablet has already proved to be extremely popular gadget amongst technology fans. As expected, it hasn't flown off the shelves as fast as we generally see the iPad go, but recent reports have shown that consumers have already depleted official supplies of the 16GB model, with prospective purchasers now needing to wait until more come off the manufacturing line before they can get their hands on that Jelly Bean goodness. With Google only recently launching their first Nexus 7 commercial via YouTube, it represents a pretty decent success story without any actual defined advertising and we are pretty sure the popularity will continue as we move forward.
The Nexus 7 tablet has been an almost permanent fixture in tech news of late, and with sales currently through the roof, Google has finally given its cheap-yet-powerful tablet its very first advertisement.
We’ve already discussed everything you need to know about Jelly Bean in one of our previous post, but if you’re not in the mood to read the lengthy post itself, you should know that Android 4.1 brings vastly smoother user interface, more powerful notifications, better keyboard with next word prediction and offline typing, and lastly, the amazing Google Now.
As well as making any tech fan shudder, the drop tests of our much loved gadgets serve an educational purpose, because despite most consumers getting carried away with nice displays, sharp cameras and other great hardware features, few actually take into consideration how quickly it can all be lost with one spillage or drop on the floor.
