We began our journey in a bit of a behind-the-scenes tour of the Moscone Center in San Francisco to see what Google had in store. It appeared that the setup was rather similar to what we’d seen the year before – save the massive models hovering above the third floor.

While on the third floor we literally saw the word ANDROID dominating the floor aside Chrome, the second floor retained a set of services for multiple platforms. The second floor also had Google Glass holding its own unique space on the level’s far side. Below you’ll see an on-site preview of the first of three floors through Glass – aka #throughglass – this method of collection acting as a teaser for what would become the dominant subject of the conference – whether Google intended it to or not.

It was announced by Google that they’d at this point counted 900 million Android activations across the planet. This number jumped from just 400 million activations in 2012 and 100 million activations in 2011 – that’s four times the number from one year to the next, then nearly double that number again between last year and here.

Just this past month, Android activations were marked at 1.35 million per day on average back on the 13th of March according to Google – at 750 million activations back then and 900 million now, the company could be seeing over 1.5 billion Android activations by the end of the year.

Devices

Google showed of a single new device – a new “Google Edition” or “Nexus Edition” of the Samsung GALAXY S 4. This device would be sold straight from Google the way a Nexus smartphone or tablet would, but would retain the Samsung GALAXY S 4 brand name. While device announcements such as this are normally joined by a giveaway for attendees of the conference, here it was joined by a price tag and availability date: June 25th for a healthy $649 unlocked and without contractual obligations.

We had our own up-close look at this GALAXY S 4 courtesy of Hugo Barra. Google’s Vice President of Android Product Management showed this device as exactly what you’d expect it would be – at least as swift as the Samsung-skinned original and ready to act as a non-Nexus alternative for those wishing to pick up Jelly Bean straight from the source.

NVIDIA came in to take a bit of the hype and excitement of the week with a double-down announcement of their SHIELD device becoming available for pre-sale. NVIDIA’s SHIELD was both announced for pre-sale for early adopters and had its normal retailer pre-sale bumped up due to an apparent rush of requests from normal consumers.

Google Glass was, of course, on a much larger percentage of the center’s population than anywhere else in the world at any time up until this point, with the one possible exception being inside Google and Google X itself. Google Glass runs on its own unique version of Android, the device itself able to be hacked at this point to run Ubuntu (this also proven at a I/O breakout session just this week). Though it wasn’t mentioned but in passing during I/O’s keynote session, Glass and development surrounding it ended up being the star of the week.

Sliding in on the wearable wave as well was a device announced this week by Recon – the Recon Je. This pair of glasses works with a miniature computer that runs Android as well. We had a quick peek at this device here in its near-complete state as well – it’ll be released by the end of the year, well ahead of Google’s own Glass consumer push.

Services

The system known as Google Play game services was launched to tie together gamers on not only Android, but iOS and in-browser as well for desktop machines. This system will allow game saves to the cloud so that users can sign in with their game profile from any device and pick up their game where they left off. It will also support easier connections for multi-player games between users playing on different platforms.

Groups such as Glu Mobile and Gameloft have already begun integrating Google Play game services connectivity and functionality into their games. Developers at Vector Unit announced and demonstrated the ability to connect over the web with speed with their upcoming title Riptide GP 2 – a game also demonstrated this week on NVIDIA SHIELD out on the main floor at Google I/O.

Development

As this is a developers convention, Google chose it for the announcement point of the system that the company says could end Android fragmentation woes forever. This system is called Android Studio and will act as Google’s first all-inclusive developer tool they’ve ever offered – an IDE (integrated developer environment) that offers features such as virtual multi-device display testing and real-time views of multiple language translations in-app.

Android Studio works on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux at the moment. In speaking with multiple developers throughout the week, we found the fact that these three platforms were chosen first to be a common notion. Why give developers a Chromebook Pixel with an operating system based on the web and announce an Android developer system that’s not entirely web-based?

On that note, Google also let it be known that the Chrome OS experience was coming to its Android web browser with several account-sync abilities. One of the more interesting of these was form autocomplete, this allowing users to store their credit card information and contact information as they normally would on the desktop version of the browser and pull it up automatically from the mobile web.

Apps

Announced as an upgrade to the buy-and-own system already in place, Google Play Music All Access was revealed as a real competitor to streaming music services like Spotify and Rdio. This system is able to stream music both in a web browser and in-app, costing the user $9.99 a month for access – if they don’t get in on the deal early, that is.

This system is based on a choose-your-own-playlist system that also offers up smart selections from Google’s robots – at the moment, it’s both in-web and on Android, but not ready for iOS. This system is ready to roll for both mobile and in-browser users of Google Music.

Perhaps the most important app announced this week was the cross-platform chat platform expanding what was originally reserved for Google+ in video chat. Here we saw Google+ Hangouts for Android, iOS, in-browser inside Google+, and as a OS X app. Users sign in with their Google+ account and use contacts through Circles to connect.

Google+ Hangouts are able to work with text, stickers and icons, video and photo sharing, and video chat. This system will be expanding to include new types of sharing in the future as Google+ as a social network leads the way. This system is now live in effect for all platforms announced, desktop, Android, and iOS included.

Wrap-up

Android has been presented this week as one of several central systems part of the greater ecosystem that is Google, a company that aims to get technology “out of your way”. Google’s CEO Larry Page stepped on stage at the start of this conference to express his wish for an ideal future: “technology should do the hard work, so you can get on and live your life.”

In the end, Android became a power here that was assumed while Google’s ecosystem grew around it. It’s here that Google makes it clear: Android itself doesn’t need to be updated every time the company has a big event. It’s the year of the Context Ecosystem, and Google’s presentation of Android at Google I/O 2013 has once again proven it.

The Lenovo K900 was launched at a gala event at the M-Space located in Haidian, and will go on sale this week. The phone is being hocked by Kobe Bryant of the NBA, who is featured in advertisements from Lenovo throughout Southeast Asia and China. Lenovo calls him and his fame “a magnet of attention.” As for the phone, you can check it out in action in our hands on video below.

The Lenovo K900 features a 6.9mm thick unibody chassis, which makes it the most thin phone in its class. To help maintain its thinness, the rear camera is flush with the back panel, and the IPS display lies under Gorilla Glass 2 to help protect it from cracks. Inside, users will find an Intel Atom Z2580 dual-core 2GHz processor with hyper-threading.

Graphics are provided via an Intel GMA PowerVR SGX 544MP2 GPU. The camera is one of the phone’s more distinguishing points – and it certainly has a lot of them – with a 13-megapixel Sony Exmor BSI sensor and an F1.8 focal length lens with an 88-degree viewing angle for the front camera. Lenovo says the handset is capable of taking clear photos in a low-light setting without using the flash, something that is difficult to achieve with smartphone cameras.

Lenovo’s Senior Vice President Lio Jun said: “Smartphones are a critical component of Lenovo’s PC+ strategy and the Lenovo K900 is an example of this strategy in action. With its cutting-edge design and intuitive, optimized user experience, K900 offers China’s smartphone users a fresh, new option. At the same time, Lenovo’s smartphone business is growing fast in global markets. In 2013, we will add several new countries to our smartphone footprint, and by year-end we will cover most of the world’s emerging markets.”

Price starts at RMB 3,299 in China.

SOURCE: Lenovo

These plans were originally announced back on February 1st and at that time they came with options for either 500MB or 2GB of data. In the data-centric world that we currently live in, 2GB may be low for some and 500MB may even cause you to limit your smartphone usage. With that in mind, Verizon has bumped the allowances to 2GB and 4GB.

Specifically, the $60 plan has 2GB and the $70 plan has 4GB. Each of these plans also offer unlimited talk and text messaging. And for those keeping track, while the data has increased, the price of the plans has remained the same. Customers who are already signed up will see the new data allowance immediately.

Otherwise, new customers choosing these plans will have to wait until June 6th to see the 2GB ($60) and 4GB ($70) limits go in effect. Seems the better option here may be the 4GB plan, after all that is only a $10 per month increase and it offers double the data. Of course, for some 2GB may be enough to feel comfortable and not have to worry about going over.

Aside from Verizon upping the data, AT&T has also recently announced Aio Wireless. While the AT&T offering isn’t available in all markets just yet, it does seem to be one worth watching. For now Aio Wireless is available in Orlando, Tampa and Houston. The Aio smartphone plans begin at $55 per month and offer unlimited calling and messaging as well as 2GB of data. In other words, they seem to be fairly close in price to the Verizon prepaid options.

SOURCE: Verizon Wireless

Jepsen was joined by serial entrepreneurs Julia Hartz, co-founder and president of Eventbrite, Slava Rubin, CEO and co-founder of Indegogo, and Caterina Fake, founder and CEO of Findery and co-founder of Flickr. It was on this panel that Jepsen made the case for not just a broken device hardware startup model, but for new entrants into this startup world to be aiming for the moon. It was from within Google X, after all, that Google Glass originated.

“Assuming that you start big and swing for the fences – don’t do something small, first off. But assuming you do, and you get to that point where you’re taking on one of the largest companies in the world – even though you didn’t mean to – I’ve never started to mean to – be prepared to give away most of your stocks so you can win that gain, because otherwise you’re crushed.

Plan that early on, for what you’re going to do – at One Laptop Per Child, there’s this 60-minute expose on some of the larger forces that we came up against – and there’s a lot of stories I’ve not yet told about Pixel Qi. When you get in that seat, you have to be able to figure out a way where it’s more attractive for companies not to crush you.

And that’s very difficult.” – Mary Lou Jepsen

She added assurance that joining a big company is not for everyone – startups are great, she said, especially if you don’t want to get involved in the politics of working with a big company. You’ll be in a lifeboat, she explained, but though you’ll be dealing with holes in your boat here and there, you’ll be working with people that want to help you and are ready and willing to go that extra mile for you.

Meanwhile she warned that hardware funding, again, isn’t in a place where it should be. Groups that push cash to software startups are far easier to find at this time in history than those looking to build up a group for a hardware device.

“VCs (Venture Capital companies) don’t have the core competence anymore. Silicon Valley, pretty much, too – and I’m sure there’s exceptions, but by-and-large, to fund or even to due diligence on hardware.

But there are places that do fund hardware, and you can find them depending upon your bend – you have to be creative. There are Angels, certainly, and Super Angels to fund it.

But there’s not this sort of – path – but there’s not much competition, so you have an advantage.” – Mary Lou Jepsen

Have a peek at the video below for additional insight from Jepsen and let us know how well you’re taking the news – or the advice, as it were. Are you encouraged by the idea that Jepsen, one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world and a ranking member of the top 50 female computer scientists of all time is suggesting that jumping in on a startup is a situation you should want to be a part of? Let us know!

A lot of people were disappointed by the absence of hardware. Google’s largely a software and services company, of course, but we’re still trained to expect shiny new gadgets first and foremost. What I/O proved to be was a reminder that the industry has moved on, and that it’s high time we recognized that.

“Specs are dead” is an opinion growing in prevalence among those following the cutting-edge of phones and tablets. There’s a limit to the usable resolution of a smartphone display, for instance – once your eyes can’t make out individual pixels, do you really need to step up to Ultra HD? – and to the speed of a tablet processor. The areas that still need real advancement, like high-performance batteries, are evolving too slowly to make a difference with each new generation.

Hardware used to make a big difference to the usability of a device. Now, it’s just a question of badge-loyalty and aesthetics. What really makes the difference is the range of applications and services that are on offer; not solely the raw count of available apps that gets trotted out at every big press event, but whether the specific titles the user needs are on offer to them.

Software is at a tipping point, too, though. Android used to be clunky and ugly; now it looks great, and the gap between the instant usability of it, iOS, and Windows Phone is arguably nonexistent. The software race has moved on, away from silo’d applications and slick UIs to where our phones – and the companies that make them – are finally considering context alongside capability.

Context is a tricky thing to explain, certainly compared to the instant crowd-pleaser of a big OLED screen or a blisteringly-fast, multicore processor. Put simply, it’s a more intelligent way of your phone or tablet integrating itself into your life, whether that be more time-appropriate notifications, an awareness of the people around you, or of the other devices you might use. It’s about predicting rather than just reacting.

Google’s arguably doing the best at that of all the platform companies, and I/O was its opportunity to demonstrate that. Google Now is the most obvious expression of a system that offers up suggestions instead of waiting for you to go hunting for answers, but through the I/O keynote we saw signs of the disparate strands of Google’s products coming together in intelligent, time-saving ways.

Google Maps, for instance, won’t just autocomplete your recently-used addresses, but learn from your preferences in restaurants and other venues and make suggestions it thinks you’ll enjoy. Google Play Music All Access has a ridiculous name, but its ability to build dynamic playlists based on your favorite tracks will help cut down on one of the most common complaints about cloud-jukebox services: that they overwhelm with choice, and subscribers simply end up listing to the same playlists over and over again.

The new Highlights feature in Google+ is another example of the cloud being clever, not just capacious. As many have discovered, thousands of photos quickly become unwieldy when it comes to sifting through them for the best shots, no matter whether you’re storing them locally or from somewhere in the cloud.

Google’s ability to pick out the cream (and give them a little auto-enhancing along the way, just to make sure you’re looking tip-top) could mean you actually end up looking at them more, rather than feeling guilty because you’re not manually sorting them.

Google+ remains the big social network people love to slam, but it’s also the glue that looks set to hold all of these personalized services together. Just as Google hinted back in 2012, when it controversially changed its privacy policy to explicitly allow services to share information on the same registered user between themselves, the key here is the flow of data. That might not actually require people to actively embrace Google+ – indeed, they may well not even know they’re using it – but it will cement its relevance in a way that Facebook can’t compete with.

Make no mistake, context is the next big battleground in mobile. As our smartphones have become more capable, they’ve also become more voracious in their appetites for our time and attention. A prettier notifications drop-down is no longer a legitimate solution to information overload: pulling every possible alert into one place doesn’t make it any easier to cope with the scale of the data our phones and tablets can offer us.

The device which understands us better, and which handles our information in a way that’s bespoke, not one huge gush, will control the market. Google knows that; it also knows that hardware is basically just a way of getting a screen in front of users’ eyes, whether that be on a Chromebook like the Pixel, a phone or tablet from the Nexus series, or suspended in the corner of your eye like Glass.

In the same way, speech control – which also demonstrated marked improvements at I/O – is just another way to make sure people can engage with your products, on top of what touching, tapping, and clicking they’ve already been doing. More flexibility means more usage; more usage means more data to collate and customers that are further wedded to Google rather than any other company.

All of Google’s services are gradually interweaving. Google I/O 2013 is an ecosystem play, and it’s one of the biggest – and arguably ambitious – we’ve ever seen. It’ll drag Google+ with it along the way, and it might even kickstart the “internet of things” when we start to see some legitimate advantages of having every device a web-connected node. Google didn’t give us a new phone for our pocket or a new tablet for our coffee table; instead, it gave us so much more.

The new phone would even beat out the Galaxy S III, which sold 10 million units in a matter of 54 days, so the Galaxy S 4 would reach that milestone roughly a few weeks ahead of the Galaxy S III. Shin says that the Galaxy S 4 is expected to hit the 10 million mark in less than a month, so be prepared for Samsung to pop open the Champagne bottles once again.

The Galaxy S 4 first became available on April 26, and has since spread like wildfire all over the world. The phone is so hot, in fact, that Google decided to partner up with Samsung on the Galaxy S 4 to release a “Google edition” of the new handset, allowing users to bypass the TouchWiz interface in favor of a stock Android Jelly Bean experience. It’s not a Nexus device, but it could very well be.

Of course, we knew this day would come eventually, so we shouldn’t be extremely surprised that the Galaxy S 4 is hitting 10 million in sales, but we are a little impressed to see it hit that number in such a short amount of time. As for an exact date on when the 10 million mark will hit, Samsung expects to make an announcement on May 24.

In slightly related news, Shin also talked about the upcoming Galaxy Note III, and while he didn’t give away a lot of details on the new device, he says that the phablet-style smartphone will sport a 5.9-inch display, which is right on track with several rumors that we’ve heard in the past that suggested somewhere in the 6-inch range. As for the type of display, it’s rumored that it will come with OLED technology.

VIA: Android Community

SOURCE: Korea Times

According to Focus Taiwan, president of HTC North Asia Jack Tong, said that manufacturing volume will double this month compared to April and will continue to grow into next month in order to meet “strong demand” for the company’s flagship handset, which was officially released late last month, but ended up getting on shelves before the Samsung Galaxy S 4 in some markets.

The company had a fairly negative first quarter, with revenue down to $1.45 billion, but HTC is hoping that a boost in production along with sales of the HTC One will see the company turn itself around in time to report its Q2 earnings. After all, the company saw almost a 50% drop in sales compared to the same quarter last year.

Then again, HTC can’t completely rely on the One to keep the company afloat. They have other recently-released devices out on the market, including the HTC First “Facebook phone,” which actually isn’t doing so hot on the selling floor. It’s exclusive carrier, AT&T, recently dropped the subsidy down to just $0.99 from $99 after just a month of being on the market, which is something we don’t see very often and it usually means that things are going south for the device.

The HTC One is available on AT&T and T-Mobile starting at $199, with AT&T having exclusivity for the 64GB version at $299. The phone has a 4.7-inch display with a resolution of 1920×1080, which offers you a full HD display with a super-high pixel density. Under the hood is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 clocked at 1,7GHz with 2GB of RAM to keep things humming along. Check out our full review to learn more about the device.

VIA: ZDNet

It’s said that the latest iPhone will look practically identical to the iPhone 5, similar to how the iPhone 4S had the same design as the iPhone 4, but the iPhone 5S is suggested to be getting a major internal redesign in order to pack in even more features, including a rumored fingerprint scanner that could be built right into the Home button.

Boy Genius Report has obtained a few high-resolution photos of what are said to be parts going into the iPhone 5S. These include the loud-speaker bracket, ear speaker bracket, vibrating motor assembly, WiFi ribbon cable, and the SIM card tray. Overall, there’s nothing too special about these parts other than a slight redesign in them to make them a bit smaller.

However, photos of two different SIM card trays reveals something interesting. BGR points out that not only is the SIM card tray smaller than the iPhone 5S, but the photo includes two trays that are different colors, which could suggest that the next-generation iPhone will come in different color variety. Of course, this could also just be for the two different colors of the aluminum band that’s on the iPhone 5S, where the black model has a black band, and the white model has a silver band.

These parts don’t tell us much other than the fact that they’ve been slightly redesigned. However, if the iPhone 5S body is staying the same, the only reason for redesigned internals is to make room for something else, and that something else could be a variety of things, including the aforementioned fingerprint scanner or even NFC. The iPhone 5S is rumored to launch in August, and it’s expected that iOS 7 will be revealed at WWDC next month. Stay tuned!

SOURCE: Boy Genius Report

That means better low-light photos, with Xenons usually far stronger than the LED flashes we’re used to seeing on smartphones. You don’t miss out on a video light, either, with the Lumia 928′s focus-assist LED capable of being repurposed for illuminating during video recording.

Functionally, the new smartphone is much the same as what the Lumia 920 was offering months ago. However, it’s packaged up in a neater design, with the squared-off polycarbonate casing fitting more neatly into the hand, and yet still accommodating the PureView suspended optical system, which helps the high-end Lumia take such solid low-light photos.

There’s also a new display, versus that of the 920, with Nokia slotting in an OLED ClearBlack panel, coincidentally the same screen as on the Lumia 925. That’s topped with a layer of Gorilla Glass 2 which forms the entire edge-to-edge fascia of the smartphone.

Interestingly, if you head over to RadioShack, the Lumia 928 is going for half of Verizon’s upfront price, though you’ll still need to commit to a two-year agreement.

There’s more on the Lumia 928 in our hands-on and unboxing. We’ve also got photo samples from the 8.7-megapixel PureView camera.

Nokia Lumia 928 hands-on:

“At this point it is iOS and Android, and that’s iOS phones running iOS 6 and higher” Bhardwaj said of the app. “Smartphone is our real focus and again it comes back to what BBM is. If you look BBM and the engagement and the activity, it’s because it is mobile, because people are on the go.”

Expanding BlackBerry Messenger support across rival platforms has been a long-rumored strategy for BlackBerry, though there’s controversy around whether the decision will now be too little, too late. BlackBerry OS has dropped a place in the worldwide smartphone OS market share league, it was announced today, with Windows Phone taking third place instead.

Whether that will mean BBM for iPhone and Android works as a gateway drug of sorts, or merely as a route for BlackBerry owners looking to leave the platform behind and yet still keep in touch with old friends on a new device, remains to be seen.

Even without a dedicated iPad version, that’s not to say iPad and iPad mini owners won’t be able to access the iPhone BBM app. However, they’ll be stuck using screen-doubling until BlackBerry gets around to coding up a tablet-specific interface, and there’s no telling when that will actually happen.

Still, there’s at least a hint that such support is in the pipeline, as well as other form-factors where BBM could roost, beyond mobile. “I think when you look at things like Smart TVs and desktops, those are definitely areas for exploration,” Bhardwaj teased.

IMAGE: BlackBerry Blog

If this turns out to be true, we wouldn’t be too surprised, as flexible displays certainly aren’t ready for the mass market quite yet, and we’re pretty sure that if Samsung wanted to give one of their devices an aluminum shell, it would’ve been the Galaxy S 4. Instead, the company is said to be sticking with its usual slimy-esque plastic.

In fact, the Galaxy Note III is said to have a very similar design to that of the Galaxy S 4, including the new silver band that wraps around the edge of the smartphone. As for other design changes to the new Galaxy Note, it’s said to sport a thinner bezel in order to pack in a larger screen size without making the device bigger, as it’s already quite gargantuan.

As for specs of the Galaxy Note III, we’re possibly looking at an ARM Cortex-A15 octa-core processor clocked at 1.9GHz, as well as version with a Cortex-A7 quad-core chip clocked at 1.9GHz, or an in-house Exynos chip. There’s also said to be a 13MP camera on the back (just like with the Galaxy S 4) with a 2MP front-facer. There’s also expected to be an enormous 6-inch display to make it even larger than the previous Galaxy Note, but we’ll see if that actually happens.

So, it looks like all you have to do to envision what the Galaxy Note III will look like, is to take a look a look at the Galaxy S 4 and imagine it with a screen size that’s roughly an inch larger. Of course, the Galaxy S 4 most likely will cater to most people, but for those that want a larger screen for better productivity, it seems the Galaxy Note III will be your best bet at this point. Check out our full review of the Galaxy S 4 to learn more.

VIA: Unwired View

SOURCE: SamMobile

That’s a 79.5-percent increase year-on-year for Android, while iOS managed a 6.6-percent climb from its share in Q1 2012. Microsoft saw the biggest increase, however, up 133.3-percent over the course of 12 months, to hold 3.2-percent globally.

BlackBerry OS, however, declined 35.1-percent year-on-year, down to 2.9-percent. There’s still a comfortable buffer over other platforms dwelling at the bottom of the barrel, but it suggests that BlackBerry 10 still has plenty of work to do if it’s to leverage the company back into the mainstream.

For Windows Phone, 7m units were supposedly shipped in the opening three months of this year. That’s predominantly down to Nokia devices; the Finnish company shipped 5.6m Lumia Windows Phones in the period, making it the most popular vendor for Microsoft’s mobile OS. Nokia’s expectations are high for Q2, too, with estimates of as many as 7m sales by some analysts.

In Android, Samsung dominates the segment, with 41.1-percent market share of smartphones overall. Earlier this week, Strategy Analytics estimated Samsung devices comprised 95-percent of Android smartphone sales.

“The intra-Android competition has not stifled companies from keeping Android as the cornerstone of their respective smartphone strategies,” IDC concludes, “but has upped the ante to innovate proprietary experiences.”

For Apple, it’s the company’s most impressive volume for iPhone sales, but IDC blames iOS stagnation for lower year-over-year growth than the market as a whole. That’s likely to change, it predicts, when iOS 7 debuts later in 2013.

As most buyers of software and other electronic devices know, just because the box says 16 GB of storage certainly doesn’t mean you actually have that much storage to use. On the 16 GB Galaxy S 4, Samsung installs so much software that roughly half of the storage space available is consumed when the device is turned on for the first time. Samsung maintains that all the software installed on the phone is required to provide the features users expect.

Samsung is reportedly having a change of heart when it comes to its stance on using up so much the storage space on a user’s new smartphone without their permission. Samsung has said in the wake of the BBC Watchdog investigation that it will try to compact the features it adds to the device into a smaller amount of storage space to get more storage for user data and applications.

Samsung also recently announced a version of the Galaxy S 4 during the Google I/O conference that will ship without the Samsung TouchWiz interface. That special Samsung user interface is one of the pieces of software that takes up memory on a new smartphone. One of the big reasons why Watchdog and some consumers are so irritated by Samsung filling up the internal storage with software is because storage space for apps is limited.

The S 4 does have a memory card slot, but users can’t install applications to that memory card. The only content that can be stored on the memory card inside the phone is data like photos and music. Anyone who likes high-end mobile games knows that some come in close to the 1 GB mark and with only 8 GB of storage space not taken up by Samsung software, you can only install a few of those high-end mobile games before you’re out of space for everything.

SOURCE: CNET

Perhaps the ZTE Grand X2 In’s greatest claim to fame is the hardware found under its hood – a dual-core Intel Atom Z2580 2GHz processor, as well as 8GB of storage and 1GB of RAM (storage expansion available via microSD up to 32GB). The Intel-Inside aspect aside, the handset also has a higher-end display, measuring in at 4.5-inches with an HD 1280 x 720 resolution. The phone runs Android Jelly Bean.

Another notable feature on the Grand X2 In is its 8-megapixel rear camera, which – in addition to offering 1080p recording – also features a rapid-shot mode capable of up to 24-frames-per-second without shutter lag. There’s also smart scene and facial recognition, and a real-time x2 axis stabilizer. There’s also auto-focus, an automatic flash, and a 1-megapixel front camera for video chatting.

The ZTE Grand X2 In also offers wireless display sharing (WiDi), as well as an unspecified integrated audio enhancement technology said to make the resulting audio of a higher quality. The phone itself is seamless and features a soft-touch finish, which helps keep fingerprints to a minimum. The battery has a decent capacity at 2,000mAh.

ZTE France’s Terminal Director William Chhao said: “We are proud to announce the ZTE Grand X2 In smartphone pursuing our multi-year strategic collaboration with Intel. The ZTE Grand X2 In is set to build on the success of the ZTE Grand X In, our first flagship smartphone in Europe to feature Intel Inside, and further increase ZTE’s growth in the high-performance smartphone market segment.”

SOURCE: Business Wire

Recon Jet is not in a place where it’s able to be sold at the moment – the version we’re having a peek at here at the Google developer event is a pre-production item – but once it’s ready, it’ll be largely the same as what we’re seeing on the inside. Inside this device works with a dual-core mobile processor (the name of which we’re not allowed to speak of quite yet) powering Android 4.2 Jelly Bean with a custom Recon-made user interface over the top.

You’ll control this machine with a miniature touch-sensitive optical pad that sits on the side of the device near the display. Touching this pad as well as swiping left and right, up and down will allow you access to the device’s abilities and settings.

Inside you’ll be working with GPS, wi-fi connectivity for web, Bluetooth 4.0, and ANT+. With ANT+ you’ll be able to connect to a variety of other sports sensors – this device is, after all, made for hardcore sporting enthusiasts, after all. All of this connects to an HD camera the megapixels of which are not yet available as well.

You’ll be working with “gaze detection” for instant access to the machine’s abilities, its display turning off and on when you want or do not want to work with it. Your eyes will decide.

Have a peek at our brief adventure with this device and note that the main aim of revealing this device this week is to find developers that want to work with the SDK for the device in advance of its final release. This machine will be released to the public before the end of the year – we’ve confirmed this specifically once again in-person with Recon – making its appearance fall well before Google Glass hits the streets in a consumer edition. Pricing and release dates will be coming soon.

Android OS Updates

As it was last year, so it was expected to be again here in 2013. Google didn’t make an update to Android itself in any grand way, instead issuing updates to services like Google Play for developers on its back end, and updates to Apps for Android, Chrome, and even iOS. While Android 4.3 may still be on the horizon, (coming up quick, you can bet), it’s not been mentioned here on the first day of I/O.

This speaks volumes about Google’s approach with the conference, letting the world know that they’re not about to be pigeon-holed as a company that relies on updates to its operating systems and devices as major announcement fodder while they’ve got perfectly good app releases and service updates to shout about. As Apple’s new operating system update is rumored to be right around the corner, it’s possible that Android is simply fulfilling the suggestions made by Larry Page at the end this one-off keynote:

“Every story I read about Google is about us vs some other company, or something else, and I really don’t find that interesting. We should be building great things that don’t exist. Being negative is not how we make progress.” – Larry Page

Smartphones and Tablets for Developers

In 2012, Google gave away a Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone, a Google Nexus 7 tablet, and a Chromebox. The year before, they gave away a mobile hotspot from Verizon as well as a Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet – and a voucher for one of the first model Chromebooks too. This year developers are being given a Chromebook Pixel, the highest-end device on the market running this operating system. Google was expected to give away an LG-made Nexus 4, a Nexus 10 tablet, and other goodies, but they’ve sent one, single, crystal clear message instead.

Google’s message is that the most important services they’ve got to offer are on Android devices so abundant in the market that they’re inevitably already in developers’ hands OR are on Chrome OS. With the finest delivery vehicle for this operating system in the world thus far, Google is encouraging developers – pushing them, basically – to get Chrome on their radar, and to keep it there.

Google Glass Development

There’ve been no shortages of appearances by Google Glass this week at the Moscone Center, each of these happening with devices made available to developers at Google I/O 2012, shipped in the weeks coming up to this 2013 edition of the event user by user. Though there is a massive showing for Glass on one of two levels of developer-aimed presentations here at I/O 2013, there was no mention of development for Glass in the keynote.

Glass was mentioned by Larry Page in his question and answer session at the end of the keynote, but it certainly wasn’t in any way that was planned beforehand. Glass is not, it seems, at a place where it makes sense for Google to make a big deal of it to developers the same way new services announcements are being pushed. It wouldn’t make a lot of sense to continue to update the public on Glass at this moment either since final market-ready units are still a far way off.

Results

The re-adjustment of the aim of this developer conference is clear. It’s here that Google re-humanizes the way they approach public relations, at least through the developers that make this ecosystem so healthy. While in years past it may have seemed that Google was aiming over the heads of developers, exciting the public with massive consumer-based keynotes to encourage these creators of software and services by default, Google is returning to a more solid spot here in 2013.

What do you think? Did you expect to see anything that didn’t end up appearing in the first and only keynote session of the week? It’s without a doubt a turning point – however subtle – for the company, and it’s exciting – among other things – to see the company’s ability to keep their aims diverse.

The Google+ Hangouts app is available for Android right this minute, but should you bring the app to your brand new Samsung GALAXY S 4, you’ll find a notification appearing if a video chat is attempted. The lock in this case is over video chat on mobile data – AT&T relegates the ability to Wi-fi.

UPDATE: AT&T has responded with a statement.

“All AT&T Mobility customers can use any video chat app over cellular that is not pre-loaded on their device, but which they download from the Internet. For video chat apps that come pre-loaded on devices, we offer all OS and device makers the ability for those apps to work over cellular for our customers who are on Mobile Share, Tiered and soon Unlimited plan customers who have LTE devices. It’s up to each OS and device makers to enable their systems to allow pre-loaded video chat apps to work over cellular for our customers on those plans.” – AT&T Representative

SlashGear has tested both an HTC One with AT&T data and the AT&T version of the Samsung GALAXY S 4, both with the same result.

What we’re expecting the situation to be is one of three things. First, it could be that this is a bit of a mistake – the assurance by Google that video chat would be free seemed to be a direct reference to FaceTime’s charges on certain carriers – this might all simply need a software update to fix.

Another possibility is that Google didn’t mean that user would be able to use the video chat feature for free with mobile data – only with wi-fi. A third possibility is that AT&T got in on the deal early, not letting Google know that they’d be blocking any and all voice chat attempts on anything but wi-fi. We shall see!

We’ve reached out to both Google and AT&T for comment and will update this article with their response.

Search through Google Maps will show Sushi restaurants recommended by your friends. You’ll find photos through locations taken by users in Google+. Cards will be appearing similar to what’s seen in Google Now. In short, this system will bring the multi-system that is Google’s personalized experience for teach individual user in once more in the future of Google Maps.

Each user will be working with a unique map, each map based on the users interests as racked-up through their searches as well as their preferences. A map will be built using the same data as appears in Google Now.

A map will be built for “every place” as well, with unique details appearing when a location is clicked – or tapped. If a park is selected, for example, roads will be highlighted that lead the user to that location. Details added with Zagat and by the location owners, and of course by the public, will be available at a level that’s well above what’s offered today.

Google has made it clear that the future will turn the map itself into the user interface. Directions will be able to be accessed with taps on the map, not just through text searches. Multiple ways to access each location will be appearing at a tap.

This system will be rolled out to Google I/O attendees first and will be offered as a preview for the rest of the world later this week. The action will continue throughout the week through SlashGear’s Google I/O tag portal as well.

Google Search expands with several different elements this week, including Knowledge Graph working with statistics, anticipation of comparisons to other elements available in the system, and more. Knowledge Graph works with interesting events and locations in cities, is able to find photos from specific locations, and is able to tie these items together both in mobile mode and on a desktop through a Chrome web browser.

If a user has Google open and asks for information about a location, they’ll get that information along with related bits and pieces – photos, restaurants, etcetera. With Google’s newest update, the user is also able to say something as simple as “how far is it?” Google understands what you’ve been talking about and gives you a map.

This is all part of a system that follows three mainstays:

• Answer
• Converse
• Anticipate

As Google Search hears you, it understands and responds in kind, and also anticipates what you might want to know next. This system also works with Google Now on Android to give you information on your flights, your favorite sports teams, weather information, and the like. This system is bringing many Google Glass commands to Google Now as well.

A user will be able to make the following commands: “Ok Google, send an email to my friend George, I’ll be late today and we’ll have to meet up at 4 PM.” This message is understood by Google and a card appears which the user will then be able to tap to send – or – “OK send” will work as well.

This system will be available to Google Search beta experience users today and will be rolling out to users across the spectrum in users in the near future – stay tuned to our Google I/O tag portal all week long as the announcements and information continue to flow.

“HTC is not currently planning a ‘Nexus Edition’ of the HTC One,” Senior Global Online Communications Manager told us in a statement, when asked if the company had any intention of producing a pure-Android model. So far, the only such device in recent years – running Android but without HTC’s own Sense interface – has been the HTC First, though that is modified with Facebook’s alternative Home launcher.

Speculation about just what HTC might have in the pipeline was quickly stoked just after the Galaxy S 4 Nexus Edition announcement, when one of HTC’s own team seemingly hinted that a similar device might be considered. “So you can pay $649 for a piece of plastic running stock or… You can wait :)” ‘HTC Champion” Jet Leigh took to Twitter to tease.

However, it seems that really was just a tease. Calls for HTC to release its esteemed One hardware but without the Sense 5 it launched with – and with the promise of timely updates to the core, untampered-with Android OS – began as soon as the phone itself was announced.

Samsung’s phone for Google will have the same hardware as the mainstream Galaxy S 4, but will leave aside TouchWiz and the software customizations the South Korean company has developed. Instead, developers – the target market, and likely the only group who will legitimately consider the $649 sticker price – will get an unlocked 16GB phone that also comes with an unlocked bootloader, and one for which Google has committed to prompt Android OS updates.

Whether the appeal of Samsung’s hardware will be enough to distract developers from the considerably cheaper Nexus 4 remains to be seen. The LG-made smartphone has more humble specifications that the Galaxy S 4, but also comes in at around half the price.

This chat system will be available for Android and iOS as well as on the web starting today. This cross-platform initiative works with group video as well as video chat, and all of it without charge. Though this may seem obvious for some, there have been systems similar to this in the past where chatting with your camera cost extra cash – can you name that system?

With Google+ Hangouts, a Google+ account will be needed to chat. This account is the same as a user’s Google account for Gmail and the like, but the social networking sign-up will need to be done.

This system will also be launching with photo storage with Google+ at 15GB at full size. This means that if you want to automatically upload photos to Google+ with your Android or iOS device, you can upload 15GB worth of full-sized photos. If you want to upload limited-size photos, you can upload as many as you like.

Google+ has also been updated with a system that can break down your collection of photos to find what’s best based on a variety of pre-selected criteria. This system as well as Google+ Hangouts will be launching today with Google+ photo enhancement abilities far beyond those available in the past. Stay tuned to SlashGear’s Google I/O tag portal all week long for more developer action as it occurs, piece by piece!

Your information saved in Chrome in your desktop browser will be able to sync with your mobile web browser on Android. This means you’ll fill out a form, for example, with your name, address, payment information, all the good stuff, you’ll be able to save it (as you have been able for quite some time). The big deal here is that this information will be able to be accessed instantly from your mobile Chrome web browser at a tap.

The mobile web browser Chrome for Android allows you to sign-in with your Google account to sync with whichever iteration of Chrome you’ve already signed-in with. A change on one will be able to be brought up on another, history is the same, tabs can be accessed cross-device, and now forms will be able to be filled automatically.

This system will be rolling out for Android in the very near future – at the moment we’re waiting to see how close it is to iOS. Every other update to Chrome mentioned today has been instant and/or cross-device as well as cross-platform. Chrome is being pushed here at Google I/O 2013 as a single system more now than ever before.

This device will be sold straight through Google Play, this implying an unlocked bit of greatness – and indeed that is what it is. The Google Edition of the Samsung GALAXY S 4 will cost users a cool $649 USD and will be coming up on the web starting on June 26th. It should be made clear that this device is not branded with the word Nexus, but is essentially that: unlocked, basic Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, and updated by Google.

This device works with the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor that the normal edition does, and it’ll be coming with essentially the same set of hardware from top to bottom that the normal edition has. This release marks the point at which Google begins selling 3rd-party hardware for Android on their website. Of course you’re able to purchase Chromebooks made by Samsung and Acer direct from Google Play, but this is the first Android to come without Nexus in its name.

Stay tuned as we see how well a relatively expensive device such as this does on the Google Play online store. While the Nexus 4 and the Nexus 7 – and the Nexus 10 to a lesser degree – have been successful in Google Play due to their relatively high value and low price, this GALAXY S 4 might see not quite so easy a time at a price that’s double the Nexus 4. We shall see!

With App Translation Services, developers will be able to purchase translation services straight through Google Play. A translation company will translate text through the developer’s own set of APK strings, paying through Google as with all other systems inside the Google Play store.

Referral Tracking was also added go Google Play’s back-end for developers. Google Play will be showing the user how and from where users are coming from, much like Google Analytics shows how, from where, and why visitors come to webpages. This system allows many of the systems – lots, if not all the metrics available in Analytics will be available in one single place – the developer console.

A system called Fortune Teller will also be part of this Referral Tracking environment, allowing the developer to gain a better understanding of where their cash comes from. Staged Roll-outs are also coming this week for developers – Beta Testing included.

This whole system will be rolling out to developers starting this week – stay tuned while we’re here all week at Google I/O 2013 through our own Google I/O tag portal!

Pichai spoke about The Journey of Personal Computing, noting that Android and Chrome remain two separate systems. Android began, he said, as an open system that is now the most popular operating system in the world. Chrome as a web browser, he reminded the audience, is now the world’s most popular web browser. It’s through this web browser and with this system that Google Play game systems will come to life.

Pichai showed the current level of Android activations in the world – 900 million strong. Comparing this number to 2012′s activations at 400 million, it was plain how the operating system was making waves. 48 billion app installs were announced for Google Play by Google’s Hugo Barra. Google’s Vice President of Android Product Management announced further that the company had already paid out more this year to developers through Google Play than they had the entirety of 2012.

Barra continued with updates for the developer community on Google Services updates with APIs for Google Maps. Activity Recognition, power saving, and ease in integration bring this system into the future. Also on tap was Google+ sign-in. This system allows users to log in with Google+ on-the-fly through a series of websites – and all, in the near future, if Google has their way.

Google+ Cross-device Single Sign-on was made clear – Google+ will now be as easy to sign in with as Facebook is in both apps and on your desktop. Signing in on your desktop computer will also have you signed in on your tablet or smartphone if the app is compatible with this system.

But it was Google Play game services that knocked out the most important update to Android without a doubt. Here you’ll find users able to save their game on one device and pick it up from another place without a problem.

This system is both cross-device and cross-platform. It works for both Android and iOS – Apple devices as well as those made by LG, HTC, and all the rest. Connecting through Google+ and the users’ Google account, multi-player games will also be made a snap over the web – more-so than before, that is.

Google Play game services will be rolling out starting this week and we’ll be having more of a close-up look at it each day. Stick around our Google I/O tag portal to see it all, start to finish.

The first location API they discussed is what they’re called Fused Location Provider, which aims at providing faster and more accurate location data, as well as low-power mode where less than 1% of the battery is used per hour, according to the search giant. After all, if battery power is a huge concern for a lot of users, this should certainly smooth things over a bit.

The second API that Google announced is called Geofencing. This lets you define certain areas around different locations in order to trigger events, something that we’ve seen before in location-based reminder apps, such as Checkmark and Apple’s own Reminders app. Google says that many users have asked for this feature, and finally they’re delivering.

The third API is called Activity Recognition, which helps to track your physical activities such as running, walking, biking, etc. The API uses data from the phone’s accelerometer and can even work without the GPS if you don’t happen to get a signal. It will also learn learn different activities to figure out when you’re walking, running, biking, and driving.

No word yet on when we’ll see these new APIs become available, but they’ll most likely release the APIs this week for developers to get started on as soon as possible. Stay tuned for more coverage of Google I/O, as the keynote has begun!

As the description of the phone would suggest, the Blackcomb is meant for outdoorsmen and adventurers, including those that enjoy sailing, climbing, skiing, biking, snowboarding, kayaking, etc. And since most of these activities occur out in the middle of nowhere, where a cellular signal is usually never to be had, the Blackcomb will come with satellite connectivity for making phone calls and checking email, as well as calling for help in the instance of an emergency.

According to AllThingsD, Adaia consists of 16 employees, where around half of them are from Nokia. It’s taken two years to make the prototype of the Blackcomb, and the company expects to begin testing out the device later this summer. Interestingly enough, the design of the phone was inspired by topographical maps, and the unique rigid design allows for a firm grip on the device, according to the company. However, they’re not letting go of the look of the phone just yet — the teaser image above is all we get.

As for price, the Blackcomb won’t be cheap. It’ll be more expensive than a typical top-tier smartphone, but the company says that it will cost less than all the phones you’ve had to buy as replacements for broken ones. They certainly do make a valid case, and the company is marketing this new phone as the solution to rugged devices.

The Blackcomb is planned to be released at some point later next year, and specific details about the phone aren’t yet known, including the screen size, and the hardware on the inside. However, if the phone isn’t releasing until next year, the hardware that’s running the phone now will certainly be obsolete by the time 2014 rolls around. Then again, rugged smartphones usually don’t come with the latest and greatest hardware in the first place, but if we really wanted a rugged device, we’d rather get an iPhone 5 or an HTC One with an OtterBox case and call it a day.

In second place, trailing Samsung by a huge margin, was LG according to the research firm’s figures. LG took 2.5-percent of the overall Android smartphone profit, or $100m, according to the stats, while a similar amount was shared out between all other manufacturers of phones running the platform.

“An efficient supply chain, sleek products and crisp marketing have been among the main drivers of Samsung’s impressive profitability” Strategy Analytics suggests. As for LG, “it currently lacks the volume scale needed to match Samsung’s outsized profits.”

In fact, the analysis firm argues that Samsung probably makes more revenue and profit from Android than Google itself does, and warns that its dominance could pave the way for a skewing in power dynamics as time goes on. Samsung might “request first or exclusive updates” of the Android OS, it’s predicted, gaining a further advantage over its rivals.

Samsung’s smartphone sales this current quarter could well be even more impressive than Q1 2013, since that period did not include the new Galaxy S 4. That only began shipping at the tail-end of April, with Samsung supposedly shipping 4m units before the month was through. Internal predictions are of blasting through the 10m mark by the end of May.

It’s not only smartphones – the only metric these particular figures looked at – that Samsung did well in last quarter. The company’s profits overall climbed 42-percent quarter-on-quarter, with mobile sales in particular driving performance.

That’s not to say the Galaxy S III had been a slow seller. It too had broken new records for Samsung, besting the Galaxy S II’s 55-days-to-3m achievement, itself setting a new milestone over the original Galaxy S. That first handset, back in the days when Samsung was first becoming properly competitive with Apple’s iPhone, took 85 days to ship 3m units.

According to the Samsung executive, the appeal of the Galaxy S 4 isn’t slowing, either. “As of Friday, we have sold more than 6 million units,” they continued, “and we predict that we could break the 10-million mark by as early as the end of this month.”

It’s worth noting that Samsung’s count is not of sales to end-users – those going into their local carrier store and signing a new agreement for the Galaxy S 4 – but of sales to retailers and operators.

That approach to counting has seen the company come in for criticism in the past, with market analysts arguing that Samsung’s figures aren’t directly comparable to, say, Apple’s sales numbers. In contrast, Apple sold 5m iPhone 5 handsets in its opening weekend, keeping its pole position for initial demand ahead of Samsung, at least for the moment.

Nonetheless, it’s a sign that Samsung is undoubtedly the force to be reckoned with in Android. There’s more on the Galaxy S 4 in our full review.

VIA: Unwired View

This Lumia device works with a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core processor that powers a 4.5-inch display with 1280 x 768 pixel resolution. This display differs ever-so-slightly from the Nokia norm with OLED and PureMotion HD+ technology – we’ll be comparing with the Lumia 920 soon. This device is also slightly thinner than the Lumia 920, otherwise retaining most of its abilities.

You’ll find a 2,000 mAh battery inside, NFC as well as wireless charging right out of the box, and a couple of relatively decent cameras. Up front is a 1.2-megapixel camera while the back employs an 8.7 megapixel camera with Nokia’s PureView camera promise. This doesn’t necessarily mean your photos are going to be PureView 808-quality, but it does mean Nokia means business.

Below you’ll see a set of photos taken with the Lumia 928 both inside and outside on a rather bright and sunny day. And dear readers: Let us know if you’re in need of any specific place or setting for additional sample photos and we’ll make it happen for the final review.

The front of this device works with three capacitive buttons, those being a Windows Phone home button, back, and magnifying glass. The magnifying glass can bring you to Bing or it can explore an app that’s had its abilities built into it. Either way, this is the button Android axed.

You’ll be working with this device with a microSIM card from Verizon right out of the box. This device has a small – but telling – change from past Nokia devices. The SIM card slot is not one you need to jam a pin into – instead it’s a drawer – easy!

Have a peek at the timeline below for more information on the Nokia Lumia 928 and stay tuned as we give this device a full run-down in a review coming up soon!

Nokia is no stranger to the tablet question: even back in April 2011, CEO Stephen Elop was telling slate-hungry press that the company would only wade into the segment when it could bring something “uniquely Nokia” to the form-factor. However, while all has been quiet on that front in the intervening period – not to mention Nokia’s phones topping out at 4.5-inches at most, rather than following the 5+ phablet trend – Weber argues that it doesn’t necessarily mean Nokia hasn’t had a foot in that ecosystem.

“What we said, on the tablet side, is it’s a space we’re eyeing” he explained to us. “I think the reason we bet on Microsoft and Windows is becuase they have a broad ecosystem, across phones, tablets, PCs, even TV, with the same look and feel, same infrastructure, and we believe we can play in that. Whether we have a tablet or not, we can still play in that ecosystem because Windows is the unifying piece of that. So, we’re really excited about what they’re doing on Windows 8, there are some fantastic touch devices coming out … so the ecosystem that Microsoft has allows us to participate, whether we have a tablet or not.”

Still, it looks more than likely that a tablet will be in Nokia’s near future, no matter how coy the company is on admitting that. If the first step to reinvention has been developing a complete, core smartphone range, then fleshing it out with other form-factors and accessories – such as the bluntly-teased ambitions in wearables Harlow and others hinted at back at Mobile World Congress – is the inevitable next step. The important factor, Harlow says, is how usability as it is on Lumia devices today extends to a broader line-up.

“I think the word is experiences. Because as we are investing in experiences in our smartphone range, it’s logical to think that those experiences we would look to take into other types of form-factors, and make them compatible with each other” the smart devices head says. “Obviously what we would want in any portfolio is that there would be some consistency in the experience that consumers have with a Nokia product.”

An outsider might contend that Nokia now has a broad range of phones, a solid portfolio of apps and services, and differentiating hardware features like PureView, and question why scenes like those at the recent Annual General Meeting – at which Elop was harangued for refusing to consider ditching Windows Phone in favor of Android – continue to take place. According to Harlow, that reluctance for people to accept that the Windows Phone strategy was – and is – the best one for Nokia comes down to a broad-strokes misunderstanding about exactly how “open” Android really is.

“[Android] is led by Samsung, and I think you can see the difficulty that others have in standing out from Samsung, even when they have really good devices,” Harlow suggests. “I think first of all it comes down to partnership, and the partnership that we’ve had with Microsoft in terms of bringing new experiences to the platform as well as differentiating experiences, we did not believe we could have that level of partnership with Android. And that’s the key difference.”

As the smart devices chief sees it, Android’s openness is only really beneficial if you’re one company: Samsung. “To a certain degree [Android is open]” she told us. “I think I would characterize the competition in Android as more of a spec race than anything else. And so, there is one partner who is the development partner for any new release of Android, and everyone else comes sometime later. So, it’s open, but that doesn’t make you first, and that doesn’t make you necessarily the most competitive.”

It’s that more granular attitude toward OS – not just the nature of the platform, but how individual roles and relationships within the ecosystem as a whole affect what benefits the platform offers – which Harlow says makes the Microsoft-Nokia deal the best fit. “Partnership and collaboration requires two partners who are motivated to make the partnership work” she concluded. “And that is what we have with Microsoft.”

If there’s a gap remaining, it’s in how Nokia (and its partner) explains those advantages in collaboration, not to mention the fruits for users they engender, against the onslaught of iPhone and Samsung marketing. Both execs acknowledged that Nokia needs to do better at demonstrating its achievements or, as Weber puts it, getting the message right. “We believe in our investment choice on Microsoft,” he points out, “for the simple reason is that they give us the chance to differentiate, to really be able to differentiate.”

Where Apple has elevated the marketing of its iTunes/App Store ecosystem to a fine art, and Google has strength of numbers across flourishing Android installations, Nokia hasn’t quite got the tone right yet. “A lot of these imaging things takes deep partnership with Microsoft,” Weber says. “The second thing is this broad ecosystem: there’s no-one who covers the phone, the tablet, the PC, Xbox, and then what I call these “digital lifestyle services” – search, gaming, mapping, that we bring, all the cloud services – they have the most assets to pull together.”

“So then we say, how do we do that? We have to, one, have a broad portfolo, so this is the first time we’ve really had a portfolio from the low end, to the high end, and everything in between,” Weber listed off. “And then we have to do a great job executing: that’s, how do we work with Microsoft to tell that marketing message above the line; how do we execute at retail, so people see, and touch, and feel the differences between devices?”

That execution will include things like the Nokia low-light boxes, which allow direct comparisons between phone cameras in settings such as retail stores. The pyramidal boxes can adjust the amount of light inside, with a peep hole for your smartphone to snap an image, and be compared to the performance of the PureView alternative, without demanding that retailers physically dim the lights in-store. Nokia is also working on smaller versions, complete with carrier branding, Weber revealed, and says that early indications are that point-of-sale staff are far more likely to recommend Lumia handsets after a small amount of familiarization with the platform and the value-add.

“And so I feel wonderful on the portfolio, I feel really good about our partnerships with operators and customers” he summarized. “Now, it’s how do we go tell that story – how we evangelize the message; how we get people to see, touch, feel the device, the difference – and it’s all the nitty-gritty details. It’s called execution. And it’s really easy to say, and it’s hard to do, but those are the things that are going to matter.”

Amber has already been confirmed to include the Smart Camera app, which brings effects like Motion Focus, Action Shots, and other burst-image-related trickery to the Lumia 925. However, Alakarhu also told us that Amber will expand the supported ISO range of the Lumia 920, just as the 925 comes with support for out of the box.

Nokia Smart Camera hands-on:

Currently, the Lumia 920 tops out at ISO 800; with Amber installed, that will be quadrupled to ISO 3200. The result will be better low-light shots as well as improvements in sports photography and when snapping images of moving subjects.

It’s not only the old flagship which will get a photography polish after Amber. All of Nokia’s Windows Phone 8 line-up will get the newest version of the photo engineers’ algorithms, which will help increase sharpness – particularly in cropped shots, Alakarhu explained – and lower noise, in addition to improvements in exposure. There’ll also be support across the range for remapping the camera shortcut key to the Smart Camera app, instead of the Windows Phone default.

Not all of the Lumia models will see the same degree of improvement, of course. Nokia will adjust the level of tweaking depending on the core sensor; the Lumia 520, for instance, won’t attempt ISO 3200 shots, since the hardware really isn’t up to it. A final decision on what changes will be delivered to each device is yet to be reached, with Alakarhu’s team still working on that ahead of Amber’s expected release in July.

The speed at which Smart Camera clusters of shots open up – something we found to take around 15 seconds with Nokia’s current pre-production software on the 925 – will also be improved, though the photo team couldn’t tell us exactly how fast the process will become. Although it’s slower than how quickly, say, HTC’s One can open up a Zoe set, there’s a good reason for that.

One of our ongoing criticisms of the One is how much space Zoe photography takes up, both on the smartphone itself and in the cloud. Nokia has addressed that by packaging the ten stills together, rather than storing each as an individual frame; the end result doesn’t follow the “ten shots so 10x the size” explanation you might expect, Alakarhu explained. Opening and editing those takes some processing time – in fact, it’s currently the most processor-intensive thing the Lumia 925 is asked to do – but while there are other ways Nokia could deal with the files, the company is wary of diverging too greatly from imaging standards.

“I think what we want to do next is make the sharing super-easy, so that your friends can also enjoy making those changes on Facebook or their own phone” Alakarhu told us. “And so we need to find the right format, the right way to do it. There is currently no industry standard for doing that, and I don’t want to take the proprietary route for doing that, because this needs to be accessed by everyone.”

Exactly how that common format might look is unclear. HTC has opted for Zoe Share, a free – albeit temporary – web-gallery service that One owners can use to show off select stills, video clips, and highlight reels created on the smartphone. Nokia currently has no specific sharing system that preserves the Smart Camera post-processing potential, though you can of course push out the final results as regular photos through the usual Facebook, Twitter, email, and other routes.

“In the 920, we actually did a lot of the foundations” Alakarhu concluded, hinting that there was plenty more photo-centric news to be shared later in the year. “The algorithms we had have, for example. But now we have been able to do that optimization, and the pace of the development has been incredible now that we have that great foundation of algorithms.”

As for the Verizon version, customers will have their pick at either the black or white model, with the white version being a Verizon exclusive. The carrier hasn’t announced any pricing details yet for the new device, but it’s likely that the phone will sell for $250 after signing a two-year contract with Big Red.

As for T-Mobile, they also mentioned a generic June release window, and since the company recently got off the contract bandwagon, you’ll be paying full price for the BlackBerry Q10 on T-Mobile, with a $99 down payment with 24 monthly payments of $20 a piece. This means you’ll be paying $580 for the phone, but like with other pre-paid plans, there’s no contract to hold you down over two years.

As for pre-orders, Verizon said that customers will be able to reserve their own Q10 unit sometime “in the coming weeks.” T-Mobile has yet to announce any pre-order plans, but we’re guessing they’ll let customers get in on the fun early by purchasing a unit ahead of time.

It was rumored back in February that the Q10 wouldn’t launch until this month at the earliest, with June also being a possible release window, and it seems that the rumors were true. We haven’t heard anything from AT&T yet, but they’ve already confirmed that they’ll be offering the new device, so we’re guessing that Ma Bell will release the Q10 around the same time as the other carriers.

The BlackBerry Q5 is being marketed as the low-end brother of the Q10, and it’ll sport the same 3.1-inch touchscreen as the Q10, as well as the physical keyboard that button mashers will enjoy. It’ll also come with BlackBerry 10 on board, meaning that users will have access to new features like Time Shift mode in the camera app and BlackBerry Hub.

The will be launching in three colors at launch, which include black, white, red, and pink. The Q5 is set to launch in regions of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America starting at some point in July. The company didn’t announce a price for the new device, but we’re guessing it’ll be in the lower bracket as far as cost goes.

This is the third BlackBerry 10 device that the company has announced so far. The Q5 joins the Q10 and the flagship Z10 smartphones as BlackBerry’s trio of new devices that the company has announced this year. We know little specs about the Q5 right now, but we should be hearing more on that (as well as the price) when it gets closer to releasing later this summer.

BlackBerry also announced that the flagship Z10 in the US will be getting an update to BlackBerry 10.1 later this month. Exact dates aren’t yet known, as it seems each US carrier will have to decide for themselves on when exactly to release the update to their Z10 devices. As for what’s included in the update, it’s mostly some tweaks and performance improvements to the OS, including notification enhancements, but there’s also a new HDR mode for the camera app, as well as PIN-to-PIN messaging and email support.

There’s something about metal which makes a phone feel great. Apple knew that with the iPhone 5; HTC realized it with the One; and now Nokia has succumbed with the Lumia 925 (previously known as the Nokia “Catwalk”). Specifically, the 127.5 x 70.5 x 8.5 mm, 139g chassis is constructed around a frame of anodized aluminum, which tapers to tactile, curved edges on all four sides. The metal also serves an important purpose beyond rigidity and feel, however; it’s the antenna for the Lumia 925′s pentaband 4G LTE radio (as well as the GSM/UMTS bands), saving space by making it a constituent part of the phone.

On the front there’s a slice of toughened Gorilla 2 Glass, while on the back there’s Nokia’s favorite polycarbonate. Plastic meets metal in a gentle curve at the edge of the phone, neatly dovetailing in a way that feels great nestled into your hand; that polycarbonate also swells – Nokia says “pillows” – to accommodate the camera lens, atop the dual-LED flash. A row of contact points for the optional wireless charging shell are below.

In terms of hand-feel, Nokia is onto a winner out of the gate. Gone is the heft of the Lumia 920, and its slightly toy-like glossy plastic, replaced with premium-feel materials and a more refined design. A 3.5mm headphone jack and a SIM slot punctuate the top edge, along with microUSB connectivity, while the usual volume rocker, power/lock key, and camera shortcut run along the right edge.

Nokia Lumia 925 hands-on:

Up front is another improvement, the 4.5-inch OLED ClearBlack display that debuted on Friday on the Lumia 928. Just as on the Verizon phone, it supports a high-brightness mode for outdoor readability, and super-sensitivity for use while wearing gloves. It’s also stunning to look at: colors are vivid, blacks inky, and the broad viewing angles mean you can glance almost entirely askance at the Lumia 925 and still make out graphics without aberrations. The 1280 x 768 resolution may not be the Full HD we’ve seen on some recent Android devices, but it’s certainly sufficient for text and the like on a 4.5-inch phone to be smooth.

Nokia’s emphasis with its recent Windows Phones has been on their photographic abilities, and the Lumia 925 is no different. Like the 920 and 928, it bears the coveted PureView branding, and in fact it packs the same 8.7-megapixel sensor as they do. The optical image stabilization system – which physically moves the entire camera assembly to match shake and judder – is also the same, as is the dual-LED flash system from the 920.

What’s different is the lens, and here Nokia and Carl Zeiss have cooked up a World’s First on a smartphone: the first 6-part lens. Where the Lumia 920/928 have 5-part lenses, combining five different plastic components, the new Lumia adds a sixth, glass lens, which Nokia claims will improve sharpness and low-light performance.

In fact, Nokia says the Lumia 925 is capable of the “best low light images without a flash” of any current smartphone, with its f/2.0 lens, OIS, and exclusive Zeiss optics. It also uses the 925 to debut Nokia Smart Camera, a suite of effects and post-processing that can replace the default camera app should the owner see fit.

Smart Camera approaches things much in the same way as HTC and Samsung have on the One and Galaxy S 4, respectively: with the assumption that having more photo data to choose from is A Good Thing. In the Lumia 925′s case, that means firing off a burst of 10 frames over the course of 2.5 seconds when you hit the shutter-release, elements from each of which can then be combined or generally modified in different ways.

In the gallery, Smart Camera clusters of shots show up with a single thumbnail, but when you open them (and tap the “Smart Camera” legend) the editing potential is unlocked. First up is Best Shot, which analyzes each of the ten frames and picks out whichever it decides is the best based on sharpness and other details. Swiping left and right allows for a manual override. Swipe down, meanwhile, and you go through the other options: Motion Focus, Object Removal, Action Shot, and Group Shot.

Motion Focus tries to inject some more vigor into your stills. Smart Camera automatically identifies the subject of the frame – you can swipe left and right, and see white outlines of each of the potential subjects that can be used – and then applies one of two degrees of blurring to the background. A similar editing system is implemented in the Object Removal system, with the Lumia 925 identifying potentially unwanted people or objects moving through the frame, and then combining elements from the ten different shots to get rid of them.

Nokia Lumia 925 Smart Camera demo:

Group Shot is the face-combining system we’ve already seen on previous Lumia devices, based on the same Scalado tech as BlackBerry 10 has used on the Z10 and Q10. Nokia tells us its version in Smart Camera is actually newer than what we’ve seen before, another exclusive for the Lumia line-up.

Finally, and perhaps most impressive, is Action Shot. This works best when there’s a moving object passing through a still frame: then, just as with Motion Focus, the Lumia 925 identifies the moving subject and allows you to combine multiple versions of it on top of a single background. A row of straightforward buttons along the bottom allows you to toggle content from each frame on or off, while a fade button blurs out details from all but a single, user-selected frame.

They’re ambitious effects (and Nokia says more are on the way), but they’re also system-intensive. Smart Camera shoots and saves the cluster of ten images swiftly, which is good since we hate missing a great image because of a sluggish phone, but actually using the editing tools demands some patience.

We clocked the Lumia 925 in at 15 seconds just to analyze the frames initially, when we tapped into them from the gallery. That process needs to be completed each and every time you open the same set of ten stills: there’s no caching of the analysis, for instance. Tweaking things like the combinations of Action Shot frames happens instantly, but there’s another delay involved when you export the final result, with it taking around 14 seconds to spit the still into the gallery.

Now, it’s worth remembering that Nokia still has some time to finesse the software – the Lumia 925 isn’t expected to hit shelves until June, after all – but it does take away some of the immediacy of the tweaking process. There’s also no way to just look at all ten frames without jumping straight into the editing suite, which can make browsing through photos a stop-start affair.

It’s a shame, because generally the phone runs smooth and fast. With the same dualcore processor and RAM as the Lumia 920 and 928, the Lumia 925 had no problems running through the browser and other apps that we could find. There’s also Nokia’s own HERE Maps and HERE Drive+, with offline turn-by-turn navigation among other things, and the full array of Windows Store apps to choose from. Nokia Music for free streaming and offline playlists is also included.

If we had to compare the Lumia 925 to the rest of Nokia’s current range, it’s probably best described as the specifications of the 928 with the sleek design of the 720, only with build quality that’s a step above anything we’ve seen from Nokia in recent months. Photos simply don’t do the Lumia 925 justice: you have to pick it up and feel how its careful curves fit into your hand.

True, there have been some compromises along the way – Nokia’s decision not to integrate wireless charging is perhaps acceptable given the dimensions of the phone, and the company’s supposed goal of “meaningful thinness”, but it also should be ashamed that there isn’t a snap-on wireless charging shell included in the box – but overall it’s the most compelling Windows Phone Nokia has made so far.

The full judgment will have to wait until we can spend some more time with the Lumia 925 and see how it – and its camera abilities – fit into our daily lives. That should happen closer to the smartphone’s June 2013 release, with it landing in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, and China initially, followed by the US and other countries.

Exactly when T-Mobile USA will begin to offer the Lumia 925 is unclear. Nokia has said that the smartphone will begin to roll out in June, though that’s for Europe and China. The US release is due sometime after that; T-Mobile says it will detail exact dates and pricing soon.

Whenever it lands, it will have LTE 4G on the carrier’s fledgling network, along with the 8.7-megapixel PureView camera which Nokia is so proud of. There’s also a 4.5-inch OLED display and optional wireless charging with a clip-on back cover.

The camera may use the same sensor as in the Lumia 920 and Lumia 928, but it’s paired with a new lens assembly on the Lumia 925. That has a sixth lens component – glass, rather than the plastic of the other five parts – which Nokia says is good for better sharpness and brightness.

The free update will bring Nokia’s new photography suite to the rest of the Lumia range. Among the improvements are Motion Focus, which can separate out a moving subject from the background, and automatically blur the latter so as to emphasize the feeling of movement, and Action Shot, which allows movement from up to ten burst-frames to be combined in a single image, complete with optional blurring.

The Amber Update won’t be limited to camera tech, however. Nokia says it will confirm the full list of changes – many of which have apparently been prompted by user-requests from existing Lumia owners – closer to the point of release, but it did tell us that the new firmware will also enable dormant FM radio hardware across nearly all of its Windows Phone 8 models.

As you might expect, given the differences in processing power (and other hardware), the Amber Update experience will differ somewhat across the range of devices. The Lumia 620, for instance, lacks the FM radio chip, and so will be the only model not to get that functionality. As for the Lumia 520, that will get a reduced subset of Smart Camera features, in deference to its less capable processor.

Nokia committed to rolling back retroactive updates to its older phones back at Mobile World Congress, with smart devices chief Jo Harlow telling us in February that the company saw the average lifespan of software upgrades to be at least the 24-months of the average phone contract. That notably stands in contrast to Microsoft’s own commitments to Windows Phone 8′s longevity, which the firm has said runs for less than 18-months.

There are a couple of things worth considering. Most important is that the Lumia 925 isn’t due to hit store shelves until next month, and as such Nokia is likely to continue tweaking its camera software in the intervening period. Things like processing may well change between these samples and the end-result. Also, Nokia told us that it purposefully stripped out the EXIF data from the shots, just in case they leaked prematurely and gave the 925 game away.

It’s hard not to be impressed by what the Lumia 925 achieves. Nokia is billing the phone as being capable of the best low-light performance, without a flash, of any current smartphone. While it fell short of comparing the Lumia 928 with the HTC One, our current king of low-light abilities, when it made similar boasts last week, the company tells us that it will show no such reserve when it comes to comparing the Lumia 925 with rivals.

In fact, Nokia says, both it and Microsoft plan to be more aggressive in their comparisons between Lumia Windows Phones and rivals, whether they run iOS, Android, or something else. A glance through the sample shots suggests photography isn’t a bad place to start, either. Close-ups are crisp, colors look great – without the cartoonish over-saturation some phones tend toward – and though there’s clearly noise and grain to be found in images taken in lower-light conditions, they’re nonetheless impressive.

As for Nokia’s Smart Camera, with the right subject we can see effects like Action Shot – which pieces together time-lapse images from multiple frames – and Motion Focus being popular. They’ll require some forward planning, maybe, though given Nokia will allow Smart Camera to be set as the default photography app, there’s perhaps no real downside – barring the impact taking ten frames each time will have on the non-expandable 16GB of storage – to always shooting in the new mode.

Nothing quite satisfies like running a camera through its paces yourself, so we’ll reserve our full opinion on the Lumia 925′s camera skills until we can spend more time one-on-one with it. That said, Nokia’s own samples have certainly left us hopeful that this could be another bar-raising option for mobile photography.

Up front there’s the 4.5-inch OLED PureMotion HD+ display we saw on the Lumia 928, running at 1280 x 768 resolution and using Nokia’s ClearBlack technology for improved contrast. It also packs the super-sensitive touch system which allows for gloved use, though is thinner and lighter than the 928, measuring in at 127.5 x 70.5 x 8.5 mm and 139g. Above is a 1.2-megapixel front camera for Skype calls, among other things.

Where the Lumia range has previously been all-plastic, the Lumia 928 uses an aluminum frame for lightness and structural strength. That runs around the edge of the phone, and also serves as the handset’s antenna. Inset on the rear is a non-removable polycarbonate plate, available in three color finishes.

On the back, there’s an 8.7-megapixel camera, using the same optical image stabilized CMOS as on the Lumia 928 and the dual-LED flash of the Lumia 920, but here paired with a brand new, 6-component f/2.0 lens. Unlike the 928 and 920, which each use 5-part plastic lens arrays, the Lumia 925 adds a sixth, glass lens which Nokia says provides greater sharpness and allows in extra light.

That should come in handy with Nokia’s new photography software, debuting on the Lumia 928. Nokia Smart Camera is the next generation of Nokia Smart Shoot, and can be used interchangeably with the regular camera app, or set as the default for everyday use. Somewhat similar to HTC’s Zoe system, Smart Camera automatically fires off ten 5-megapixel frames over the space of around 2.5s: they can then be edited in a number of ways.

Normally, Smart Camera automatically picks out what it believes to be the Best Shot – by sharpness and other factors – though that can be over-ridden. There’s also background object removal, and moving object removal, with the Lumia 928 automatically identifying what it can delete. Motion Focus, meanwhile, separates the subject from the background, and automatically applies blur to the background so as to emphasize the movement in the frame.

Then there’s a new version of the group shot tool, which allows different facial expressions from multiple images to be combined into a single frame. Previously, that was based on technology Nokia acquired from Scalado – and shared with BlackBerry 10, which licensed the system – but in Smart Camera it’s apparently an all-new version.

Most impressive, though, is Action Shot. That takes moving details from the ten frames and combines them into a single image, great for showing the movement of people through the picture for instance. A string of buttons along the bottom of the screen allows content from each of the ten burst-shots to be included or hidden, while a fade control picks out one of the parts to be solid while the rest are faded out. Nokia Camera Lens will continue to be available as a separate app, including Cinemagram for creating partially-animated GIFs, while Nokia has also confirmed that Hipstamatic is coming to Lumia.

Windows Phone 8 – and all the camera apps – runs on Qualcomm’s 1.5GHz dualcore Snapdragon S4 chip, paired with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. Connectivity includes pentaband LTE, WiFi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, and NFC, and there’s A-GPS and Glonass, and a gyroscope. The 2,000 mAh battery is fixed and non-user-accessible; Nokia will offer wireless charging as an option, enabled with clip-on shells that also protect the rear and corners of the Lumia 928, and which will be available in red, yellow, black, and white finishes.

The Nokia Lumia 928 itself will be offered in three finishes: brushed silver metal with either white or grey polycarbonate, or black metal with matching black polycarbonate. It is expected to begin shipping initially in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, and China come June, with the US and “other markets” following on later. Pricing will be around €469 ($608/£398) pre-taxes and subsidies.

Gingrich says that most people would call these devices “cell phones,” but he’s not so sure. With all of the things that you can do with a modern handheld device, Gingrich thinks that “cell phone” is obsolete, and we need a new name for what Gingrich calls “handheld computers,” although he thinks that specific name is a bit “misleading,” since the real power of these devices is in the “networking” rather than its computational power.

Gingrich says that “if it can take pictures, then it’s not a cell phone.” He also lists off other examples, such as if it can access a McDonald’s app, YouTube, Wikipedia, and Google, then it’s not a cell phone. So, if it’s not called a “cell phone” or a “handheld computer,” then what is it called? Gingrich wants your help.

However, as expected, many commenters have chimed in saying that “smartphone” has been the agreed-upon name for these devices for several years now, with some commenters stating that fact more nicely than others, but nonetheless, it looks like Gingrich will get his answer fairly easily, and no longer will he have to be puzzled by his iPhone that he holds up in the video.

According to ABC News, though, Gingrich’s press coordinator says that “smartphone” isn’t a viable naming option either, saying that such a device doesn’t offer “a smarter way to make phone calls.” He says that the term “smartphone” still refers to the device as a phone, which isn’t its main function anymore for the most part. Gingrich doesn’t mention “smartphone” in the video, which he probably should have, but either way, we’re not so sure that Gingrich will be able to get the general public to stop calling it a smartphone and call it something else. It’s a term that has been ingrained in users’ heads for too long.

VIA: Gawker