Multiple users
Each user of the Nexus tablets will be able
to customize it so that the home screen, apps, games, backgrounds and widgets
are individually tailored for them when they log in.
Android
4.2: Eight awesome features you’ll love
New keyboard
Android 4.2 uses Gesture Typing which
allows you to glide your finger over any letters you want to type, lifting your
digit after each word. It will also predict your next move.
Photosphere camera
You use the camera to take photographs in
various directions and then produce a photo sphere which pieces the whole thing
together. They can then be shared or added to Google Maps.
Google Music
Google’s cloud Music service launches in
the UK with a hot new feature. It will scan your music collection and
automatically add the tracks to your cloud so you don’t need to upload them
yourself.
Screen savers
The Daydream feature allows photo
slideshows, headlines from Google Currents and much more to be displayed when
your device is idle.
Streaming
You can share whatever is on your device
whether it be a movie, a YouTube video or something else on your display with
your high definition compatible television as long as your HDMI-enabled TV has
a wireless display adapter.
Beam
Android Beam has been enhanced so you can
share even more content simply by touching two compatible devices together.
New search
Searching via Google has got even more
intuitive. You can search using your voice and then hear the results read back
to you. The Knowledge Graph imparts precise answers if it feels confident to
give you them. You’re going to love it!
Anatomy of a Nexus 4
What makes this phone so good?
It has certainly led to an interesting
pre-Christmas, opening up a tablet war of a magnitude not seen over the past
two years. Apple has been dominant for so long, but the tide is turning. This
hasn’t been greeted with unanimous praise one developer we spoke to who asked
not to be named said the smartphone and tablet market did not show a new
direction and pointed out the existence of other four-inch and ten-inch Android
devices but the fact Google has attached its name to these new products will
set the market alight.
Generic upgrades they are not, and the fact
Google is selling them so cheap is sure to have an impact. What we’re seeing
here is a re-evaluation of the price of tablets and, more importantly, their
value,” says Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. The Google
Nexus 10 is priced below that of the competition and the Nexus 4 smartphone is
a very competitive device. Where this differs from other cheaper gadgets is the
Google name which people trust and it is why the Nexus 7 has sold more than a
million units to date.
Generic
upgrades they are not, and the fact Google is selling them so cheap is sure to
have an impact.
As part of this new range of Google devices
comes Android 4.2, which brings extra magic not only to those fresh gadgets but
to existing ones too. Asus pledged, just days after the announcement, that the
Google Nexus 7 tablet would get Android 4.2, which was reassuring for the early
adopters.
And it’s a good thing too because this
latest increment brings so much to the table. Google understands that tablets
in particular are not used by just one person and so having the ability for
different people to access their own accounts on one device will ensure that
entire families will be able to make it a focal point of their life. Android
4.2 also has a better notifications system and there is an ability to output
video via Wi-Fi from a device to a high-definition TV. Throw in panoramic
camera options and a much-improved Google Now and you can see where Android is
heading.
Throw
in panoramic camera options and a much-improved Google Now and you can see
where Android is heading.
What Google is doing is producing a content
machine that it wants to place right in the center of everything people do. It
will become the one-stop destination for leisure and productivity.
The Nexus brand is there to represent the
epitome of what the Android operating system can do,” says Charles Golvin, the
principal analyst of Forrester Research. “It’s supposed to be a shining
example. It’s true to say a lot of consumers don’t live and die by gesture
control or panoramic cameras but it matters in that it continues to demonstrate
innovation and leadership.
“The Nexus 4 will appeal to small segments
who want the latest and greatest and it helps that it is very aggressively
priced which could make more of a difference than previous models. The Nexus 10
will have more impact. It’s a much better demonstration of the Android tablet
experience than Nexus 7 and it comes at the right time when there is
competition from Microsoft’s Surface.”
The
Nexus 10 will have more impact.
There will always be some skepticism,
however. Some developers worry about the constant refreshing of software and
hardware going on at the moment. “What is important is that the market settles
down and stops 90 per cent of all development work being a total waste of
time,” says games developer Jon Hare. “Non-centralized technological change is
nearly always bad for development companies as it generates even more work to
put your title to market with absolutely no guarantee of success or long-term
stability to offset the extra risk.”
And yet without this sort of work, there
would never be progress. After all, we’re seeing the ability for UK users to
buy films from Google Play and the introduction in Europe of the brilliant
Music service that allows users to upload up to 20,000 songs to the cloud for
free. These can then be accessed on any Android device or web browser.
“Content is an important part of what the
Nexus phones and tablets are all about,” says Christopher Kassulke, CEO of
HandyGames. “We are more than happy about the new part of the Nexus family. The
price of the devices are outstanding and I personally believe we will see a
huge audience of new users thanks to Google. They offer great quality products.
Supporting Android is the key for the global mass market.”
