Category: Google

Nexus 5 goes on sale

The Nexus 5 could almost be compared to the Loch Ness Monster.  Several people claim to have seen it, there are pictures and video but it has never been officially confirmed that it exists. That however hasn’t stopped a Dutch site (Belsimpel) from putting it on sale for …

Chromecast App available in the UK, is Chromecast imminent?

Google released the Chromecast in the US back in July where it has been rather well received and as such it is a point of consternation that it cannot be obtained worldwide direct from Google. That however could be about to change, at least here in the UK, …

Google Maps Updated once more…

The updates just keep on coming from Google.  Along with the Quickoffice update, Google Maps is now undergoing a staged rollout, this time to version 7.3 The update contains a few UI changes and several under the hood fixes. Firstly, the notification window now has more detail than …

Chromecast now available for international orders

  One device that is hotly anticipated here in the UK that has been available in the US for months is Google’s Chromecast. The media streaming device that connects directly to your television’s HDMI port and is controlled by your Android, iDevice or Chrome browser has been generally …

Google Play Music All Access reach extended

  It is a continual frustration for those outside of the United States that Google tend to release all of their services for the US first, sometimes leaving the rest of the world to fend for themselves or wait a ridiculously long time for said service to become …

GMail for Android update in progress

As recently confirmed by Google a new version of Android is due to be released rather soon. Around the time that Google releases a new version we often see updates to the major apps that make a fundamental part of the OS. The first of these updates appears …

Happy Birthday Android

I can’t believe it’s been nearly half a decade since I got my hands on the the HTC G1, and I’ve been hooked ever since. Today marks the 5th anniversary of Android. The initial release was on September 23rd 2008 and we covered the launch and the new …

Google makes Quickoffice free for all

  In a move that we predicted last week, Google have made their Quickoffice suite off apps free for all users. Apple’s decision to provide iWork for free on new iOS devices has more than like tipped Google’s hand. Quickoffice was previously free for premium Google Apps users, …

Nexus 4 out of stock as more Nexus 5 pictures appear

The US Google Play Store is now reporting that both the 8GB and 16GB versions of the Nexus 4 is out of stock. The UK site, however, is still showing stock of the 16GB version so grab one quick. Does this mean the Nexus 5 is getting close …

Google Nexus 7 (2013) – Initial Impressions

The original Nexus 7 was something special, up until then small 7″ tablets had either been awful or stupidly expensive. The original Nexus 7 showed us that you could have a well specified device at a reasonable cost. It quickly became the most popular Android tablet ever, I …

OPPO visit The Googleplex and leaked photos emerge

OPPO are leaking like a teabag at the moment, and this time it’s evleaks who’ve published a photo of an unknown device with the Tweet, “Hello, OPPO” accompanying it. What could it be? Here’s the photo: It’s quite different to the current flagship, the Find 5, which is …

Google+ for Android gets an update

Google+ is slowly becoming my social network of choice, Twitter is getting bogged down by API restrictions and Facebook is just….. Well… Let’s just leave it there. Last night Google pushed out an update which added a range of new features. The update has also tweaked a few …

Microsoft re-release that nice YouTube app for Windows Phone

A few months ago Microsoft released a really good YouTube app, it had some great features including blocking adverts and downloading videos. Google didn’t like it though and made Microsoft withdraw it, which they did and last night they re-released it. They sort of did anyway, as there …

Google release factory images for the new Nexus 7

It was only the other day when we thought that the entire Nexus program was going to change forever, people resigning, partitions springing up online, people like me considering not buying the new Nexus 7. But in an interesting twist Google have published the factory images and relevant …

Google Play Music All Access now available in the UK

    Kiss goodbye to your data allowance and prepare for the listenfest (is that a real word?  Bah – Who cares!) that is Google Play Music All Access. The service that launched at first in the US has made its way across the pond and now takes …

Update: Google throwing down the gauntlet…

Regular readers will know that I have long time been a proponent of Lookout. The security suite has been providing millions of Android users with protection from malware and viruses for a number of years now and when combined with the fact you can use the app to …

Find your lost phone with Android Device Manager

On a few of the apparently inferior mobile OSs if you lost your phone you could log into some sort of web service and easily locate where you phone had been mislaid. As long as you turned that feature on then things would be all good. Android users …

Motorola announce the Moto X

Last night in the US Motorola unveiled their latest attempt to stay afloat/relevant in the form of the Moto X, but guess what UK people? It isn’t coming to the UK. More on that later though. This is the opening line in the Motorola press material, it sums …

Android 4.3 Factory Images now available for Nexus devices

Google yesterday released the latest incantation of Android 4.3 Jellybean stating that the the Nexus 10, Nexus 7, Nexus 4 and Galaxy Nexus will all be getting the update over the air (OTA) in the coming weeks. Some of us however can’t wait that long. For those of us …

Images of the new Nexus 7 leak out

A few days ago a load of leaks and pictures of the new Nexus 7 leaked out, if you missed them recap it here. Above is another image of the new Nexus 7 by Asus which has been leaked by @evleaks this time. You can see the rear …

[Opinion] The Moto X is Motorola returning with a bang!

The Moto X phone should be great, an important evolution of the smartphone in some substantial ways and a resurgence for Motorola. How have I come to this conclusion? Let me explain… A couple of weeks ago I bought the Motorola RAZRi which we reviewed here. This phone …

The Android machine plows on and on.

7.4 million phones in 3 months.  That is 2.46 million phones a month. The figure above details Nokia’s handset sales of Windows Phones in 3 months.  not bad going that eh!? Now lets take the city of Birmingham in the Midlands, UK.  At the last census in 2011 …

Nexus 7 successor images leak out

The Asus / Google Nexus 7 is probably the most successful Android tablet ever. It has become the one tablet I actually pick up every day and actually use, rather than just dust off and recharge, like my Surface RT. Google have historically updated their devices annually and …

Is Android 4.3 about to be released?

Back in May Google I/O bought us many changes to some of Google’s core offerings however nothing was announced regarding an update to Android. Whilst the announcements were well received there was an air of disappointment with the fact that Android 4.3 or 5.0 were not released despite …

Goodbye Google Latitude

Alongside today’s Google Maps for Android news, the company has confirmed that Latitude, its location-sharing service, will be closing from Aug. 9. The shutdown affects Latitude in its entirety — on the web, Android, iOs, through badges and the Latitude API. Closure affects Latitude on Android, iOS, the …

Motorola X Phone specs leak – more like a meh-phone?

The Motorola X Phone seems to be a mythical beast. Ever since Google bought Motorola Mobility early last year there have been rumours of some sort of amazing Google phone being produced by Motorola. Would it be a Nexus? Will it be the most powerful phone ever? Will …

Google Cloud Print for Android is released

Printing should be easy, press print and you’re done. It never seems to be the case though. Especially if you’re trying to print from a mobile device. In the past Google Cloud printing has been a matter of setting up your printer and pc and then relying upon …

Google Buys Waze

It has been reported that Google has bought the social mapping/GPS app Waze. Never used Waze? Well, we’ve been tracking it for a while now and reviewed it in 2011. Waze is a free GPS app that’s available on both iOS, Android and Windows Phone, but it’s star …

Google release their own keyboard on the Play Store

Google have recently been unattaching various core apps from the underlying ROM. This basically allows Google and the user to update these apps seperately and with no network/carrier inrerference. So far Gmail, Calendar, Hangouts and YouTube have been published separately. Now with the keyboard Samsung and HTC owners …

HTC One Google Edition coming soon

Where Samsung go, HTC will follow. In a remarkable change of direction, HTC will be releasing a ‘Google Edition’ of the HTC One. This follows almost immediately after Samsung announcing the Galaxy S4 Google Edition. Based on the developer incarnation of the HTC One, the Google Edition will …

All in the numbers: 4.2.2 coming to HTC One

Yes, The One is a contender for this years best Android smartphone, and yes, its been stuck on 4.2 since it came out, but there have been rumblings on the interwebs that all that is about to change. @LlabTooFeR, who is an HTC ROM developer happened to let …

Google I/O – Google Maps updated

Out with the old and in with the new. Of course Google should shed some love on their Maps application and its a rather interesting update indeed. They claim it’s “rebuilt from the ground up” with a lot of new features to give the locations you search some …

Google Hangouts – now featuring SMS?

The dust is settling after the rather long keynote at Google I/O yesterday and as things start to rollout we can start to examine things in a little more detail. One of the big enhancements to the Google ecosystem is the rehashing of Google Hangouts. This unification of …

Google Play Books is updated

As part of Google updating everything last night they updated the Play Books app. Not only have Google updated the interface to be in-line with the other Google Play apps they have also added some new features. What’s in this version: Support for reading your own PDF or …

Google I/O 2013 Keynote Roundup

Google I/O 2013 has arrived and is open for business. The keynote speech (this year there is only one, instead of the usual two) has been made and it was a biggie. Lasting some three and a bit hours and with many of the major players from Google …