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‘Google Nexus One’ Category
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Google To Provide With Voice Support For Nexus One Smartphone
Google Inc., which recently launched its Android based Nexus One smartphone, has started customer support operations for the users of Nexus One with a goal of providing technical support in a timely manner.
However, the move didn’t come as a surprise as recently Google had posted a job opening ad for a “Phone Support Program Manager, Android/Nexus One,” to be based at the company’s Mountain View, California headquarters
Earlier, when Google launched Nexus One, its online support forums were filled with hundreds of customer queries as Nexus One users were experiencing technical and shipping problems.
At that time Google had redirected the confused customers to HTC and T-Mobile, Google’s hardware and telecom network provider partners for Nexus One.
But this time, Google is willing to attend to customers suggestions and solve their problems directly by starting a 24 hour customer support hotline which was till recently only limited to paid customers of Google Apps.
A Google spokesperson, commenting on Google’s new Live Phone support operation, said in a statement that ”Our approach with our new consumer channel is to learn fast and continue to improve…Live phone support from Google, combined with an optimized on-line support experience, enables a superior Nexus One customer experience.”
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Unlocked Google Nexus One Smartphone Goes On Pre-order At Play.com
Google’s latest smartphone, the HTC-built Nexus One, is currently being offered for sale at Play.com for a jaw dropping £599.99 including delivery. The phone is due for release from the retailer from the 16th of February 2010.
Play tends to charge significantly more for some top of the range smartphones like the iPhone 3GS which it flogs for £746. Buying the PAYG version from O2 and unlocking it from the mobile phone network for £15 brings the bill to £464, 38 percent less.
The device – which is interestingly is sold as the HTC Google Nexus One – is expected to be unlocked and SIM-free. In comparison, you can get the phone direct from Google for as little as £370 (or $580) and if even if you include VAT, you’d pay around £450, 25 percent less than the £600 Play wants to charge.
With the £150 you save, you might as well get 10 months worth of communications if you choose one of the many deals from our “8 SIM Only Deals From £15 For Google’s Nexus One” article.
The Nexus One comes with a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, a nice 3.7-inch capacitive AMOLED touchscreen with a WVGA resolution, a 4GB microSD card, 512MB RAM and 512MB ROM, a camera and Android OS 2.1.
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Google Quietly Introduces Multitouch Support For Nexus one
Google has rolled out an official software update for its newly launched Nexus One smartphone, which will now sport multi-touch capabilities after the update is carried out.
The multi-touch capabilities, which were earlier missing from the smartphone, will now allow Nexus One users to pinch the screen to zoom while using the Google’s browser, gallery and maps applications.
By adding this feature, Google’s Nexus One joins the ranks of Apple’s blockbuster iPhone, which offers smooth and interactive multi-touch capabilities to its users. The software, will also add updates for the phone’s 3G connectivity and Google Maps feature along with Google’s Googles application.
The fix for the phone’s 3G connectivity will help users, who have experienced minor glitches in connectivity, to sort the problem out, according to a blog posted on the Nexus One blog.
Google Maps will be updated by Google Maps 3.4 which will allow users to synchronise starred items with maps.google.com and offer night mode in Google Maps Navigation along with other things.
Interestingly, the Google Googles feature, which was first showcased in December 2009, will allow user to perform a visual search of the photo clicked by user from the phones camera. The update will be gradually provided to users over the air by the company.
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Google Nexus One Set To Join Apple iPhone On AT&T
While there is incessant buzz that the Google Nexus Phone is coming on T-Mobile’s mobile network in the UK, the search engine giant seems poised to pick out AT&T for the launch of the 3G version of the device in the US, it has been emerged.
Google is apparently drawing away from its initial marketing strategy of selling the device direct-to-customers, presumably after the inaugural edition of its smartphone failed to work with the AT&T’s 3G networks.
In a bid to deal with this, the search company had reportedly filed an application with the US Federal Communications Commission for launching a 3G iteration of the device compatible with AT&T’s networks.
Incidentally, recent reports are suggesting that the Commission has already given a nod for such a version of the Google’s highly-talked about Nexus One.
The 3G version of the smartphone will soon be made available. In addition to this, reports are also doing rounds that a Verizon edition of the Google phone is expected to hit the shelves by spring this year.
A Google spokeswoman said: “At this point we don’t have any comments about specific new products or launches. More generally, our strategy continues to be to grow our new consumer channel through the addition of more phones, operator partners, and countries
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T-Mobile To Get The Google Nexus One In The UK?
Deutsch-Telekom owned mobile network, T-Mobile, is in talks with Google to launch the Nexus One smartphone first in the UK and possibly in Germany according to Robin O’Kelly, the Head of Corporate affairs for T-Mobile UK.
T-Mobile has historically been Google’s preferred partner in the UK, an alliance that goes back to a few years ago when Google was the launch partner of Web’n'Walk, the original mobile internet bundle launched by T-Mobile.
O’Kelly also confirmed earlier last week that the network, which is on track to be absorbed by Orange, will be launching the LG InTouch Max GW620, the Samsung Galaxy Portal and a 15-inch, Tegra-powered tablet.
Google had already announced that Vodafone would be selling the Nexus One and it looks therefore that there won’t be any exclusivity deal as the phone gets launched in “early spring”.
When we previewed the Nexus One back at the beginning of this month, we found out that it was an evolution, unlike the iPhone 2G when it was launched.
The phone comes with a 1GHz ARM-based chipset, a 3.7-inch capacitive touchscreen, a 5-megapixel camera with Autofocus and a LED flash, A-GPS, Bluetooth and WiFi. The phone is sold unlocked in the US for around £340, direct from Google.
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Google Nexus One Automatically Censors Swear Words
Reuters has discovered that Google first consumer product, the Nexus One Android-based smartphone, is quite family friendly as it automatically censors obscene words.
The online news outlet found out that the device’s voice to text feature filtered the most obvious words out and replaced them by a series of ###### or hash characters.
Google told reuters that they zap potentially offensive or inappropriate results because they want to avoid situations where they might not recognise a spokem query and return profanity when the user said something completely innocent.
Unfortunately, you won’t be able to turn their censorship mode off, at least not now although someone might come up with a hack fairly soon.
The censorship function of the Google Nexus apparently filters out words like butt but not balls or crap-spackle (whatever that means). So, Google blanket filters all content, ingoing and outgoing, for profanity and many have questioned whether Google is not simply acting like China on this one.
The Nexus One has been a bit of a hit and miss although, as one commentator highlighted, this particular issue is not worth losing sleep over. There are significantly more urgent and critical issues to be dealth with.
Now let see whether Google Nexus will start learning inuendos, subtilities or whether they will start censoring us when we look for expertsexchange.com
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Google Slashing Nexus One Upgrade Costs By $100
It might be too early for Google to feel the heat but somehow, the search engine giant and T-Mobile have decided to cut the price of the Nexus One by $100 and refunding that amount to existing customers who upgraded early.
From now on, those looking for upgrade will be charged only $279 after a number of so-called early adopters complained about the relatively high price of the handset. $100 rebate cheques will be sent to those who ordered the phones.
According to PCWorld.com, only T-Mobile customers who are either regular or individual customers and who have been with T-Mobile for at least 22 months will quality for the $299.
The phone costs $179 with a new two year contract and $529 unlocked. We’ve done an early preview of the UK with a Nexus One handset that we’ve purchased direct from Google US.
Google has yet to say how many phones have been sold over the past nine days or so since the Nexus One went on sale although some estimates put it at 20,000.
Vodafone – which has flogged more than 50,000 iPhone during the 24 hours following the launch of the smartphone – will sell the Nexus One in the UK in the first half of this year.
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20,000 Google Nexus One Handsets Sold To Date?
All the hype surrounding Google’s venture into the smartphone arena with its newcomer Google Nexus One handset has apparently not been able to attract that many eager customers, according to its first week sales as estimated by the research firm Flurry.
The analytic firm has reported that only around 20,000 units of the handset have been sold during the first week of its release.
The sales figure seems to be considerably modest when compared against the first week sales of 250,000 units of Motorola Droid, an Android-powered handset released in November on Verizon Wireless, as well as 60,000 units of T-Mobile myTouch 3G, another Android-powered device.
Furthermore, the sales count is minuscule when put against the first week sales figure of Apple’s blockbuster iPhone 3GS, which stood at a whopping 1.6 million units in its first week of launch.
The lukewarm start of the handset will possibly increase the level of scepticism about the search engine giant’s venture into retailing; Google decided to sidestep the exclusive carrier stores and depend on its own marketing instead.
As of now, Google is offering the unlocked version of the smartphone for $529, while it comes with a price tag of $179 when purchased along with a 2-year T-Mobile contract, exclusively through the search giant’s website.
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Google Nexus One Users Complain About 3G Access
Just a few days after its US launch, Google’s newcomer in the smartphone arena, dubbed as ‘Nexus One’, has reportedly been experiencing difficulties in accessing 3G networks.
The search giant’s support forum has been filled with hundreds of Nexus One users complaining about the sudden dropping of their 3G connections to T-Mobile’s rather sluggish 2G Edge network, according to Dow Jones Newswire.
On top of the issue, several customers have complained that they didn’t exactly know where to go for the customer support: the smartphone maker HTC, the network carrier T-Mobile, or Google.
Citing the same, one user reported: “I cannot get any 3G service as of yet. Don’t know what the problem is. T-Mobile and HTC support weren’t able to help”.
Early buyers of the handset that many said would be a potential iPhone killer have been dealing with a couple of galling issues including substandard 3G reception and lack of adequate technical support.
Incidentally, the customer support for the handset involves email-only customer service, under which the customers are promised to be reached back within two days after the query was delivered.
As of now, Google’s foray into the hardware development has been under some serious pressure, but going by its mammoth resources and finance, customer support wouldn’t be a problem in the near future.
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Google Nexus One Parts Cost Only $174 Says iSuppli
A report by hardware analysis firm iSuppli found out that that bill of materials (BoM), that is the total cost of components, of the Google Nexus One is roughly $174.
The smartphone, which was released last week, costs $529 unlocked, which means that the gross profits after components are accounted for is around $350.
Similar reports by iSuppli found out that the Apple iPhone 3GS cost $179 to build while its predecessor the iPhone 3G came up at around $173.
The costs though do not take into consideration other significant factors such as the actual cost of manufacturing, the packaging, marketing costs, the development of software – Google Android is free – and other related costs such as accessories and royalties.
Out of the 17 or so components that make up the Nexus one, the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor accounts for around a sixth of the price or $30.50.
The 3.7-inch AMOLED display, manufactured by Samsung comes next with a pricetag of $23.50 (adding capacitive multitouch features increases the price to $41) followed by a multichip package, again from Samsung comprising of a 4Gbit NAND Flash and 4Gbit Mobile DDR DRAM memory for $20.40.
The digital camera, a five-megapixel model with autofocus, costs only $12.50 while the 4GB microSD card comes in at a whopping $8.50, significantly more than what you’d expect to pay in retail.
Google manages to keep costs low by slashing the amount of non volatile memory onboard. Competing smartphones like the iPhone have up to 32GB onboard which adds to the cost.
But the search giant did not forego the cost of having a machined aluminium unibody which greatly increases the overall quality and makes it both sturdy and resistant.
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