The long-awaited update that brings Google Wallet to the Samsung Nexus S 4G on Sprint is indeed here, and the build number is Android 2.3.7. There’s a lack on details at the moment, but the announcement has shown up on an official FAQ page on Samsung’s site informing us that build GWK74 is available.
If you’re a proud owner of the now fully-functional device, you should receive a notification stating that an update is available to deliver the goods via an OTA refresh. We’re not sure how long it will take for this to get pushed out to everyone, so a bit of patience may need to be exercised here as you wait.
The long, winding and increasingly mind-numbing battle between Samsung and Apple has taken yet another turn, this time in Australia, and it’s the other way round.According to The Wall Street Journal, Samsung feels that the iPhone and iPad 2 both “violate a number of wireless technology patents held by Samsung.”
Spokesman Nam Ki-yung stated the following: “To defend our intellectual property, Samsung filed a cross claim for Apple’s violation of Samsung’s wireless technology patents.” The suit is being filed just days / weeks before a ruling will decide on whether the Galaxy Tab 10.1 can be legally sold Down Under, and in related news, Samsung is also appealing a recent ruling back in Germany. If ever the world needed an out-of-court settlement… this one will be so huge.
Seems like we’ve heard this story before — Google buys a bunch of patents to protect its cute little green baby from all the big, bad patent lawsuits. Only this time, instead of buying a hardware manufacturer to expand its patent warchest, team Mountain View merely purchased 1,023 bits of IP from IBM. Covering everything from a method for filling holes in printed wiring boards to a method for file system management, Google seems to have grabbed quite the eclectic collection — one we’re sure Big G will put to work for itself and its buddies in no time. Those looking to see the full results of this latest patent shopping spree can hit the source link below. Right, we’re now waiting for ‘The Revenge of the Droids’!
Dart. Google’s soon-to-be-released computer language for structured web programming. Having hoarded dart-related URLs for the past couple of months, Google’s confirmed the secret project on the Goto International Software Development conference website. A couple of Mountain View’s finest will make the announcement official in the keynote at the event on October 10th, when presumably we’ll find out what it can do. Dart definitely makes a nice addition to Go, JavaScript and Python in Google’s coding bag-o-tricks.
Google’s South Korea offices have been raided once again — this time, over alleged antitrust violations. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) stormed Google’s Seoul offices on Tuesday, amid claims that the company unfairly stifles competition by making its search engine the default option on Android handsets.
South Korea’s largest mobile search operators, NHN and Daum Communications, filed a complaint with the KFTC in April, claiming that Android is “systematically designed” to discourage users from switching to different portals, and that Google excludes competitors by delaying OS certification for phone manufacturers that attempt to pre-load devices with other search engines. Similar charges, as you may recall, fueled an FTC investigation in the US, where anti-competitive allegations have been flying around for a few months, now.
Google neither confirmed nor denied that yesterday’s raid took place, but a spokesperson said the company would “work with the KFTC to address any questions they may have about our business,” adding that its OS does “not require carriers or manufacturers to include Google Search or Google applications on Android-powered devices.”
Got your sights set on the next version of Android, codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich? Everyone knew it was coming near the end of the year, but we now at least have a slightly more specific time frame straight from the horse’s mouth. Google’s own Eric Schmidt revealed in an interview with Salesforce.com’s Marc Benioff that ICS — the highly-anticipated update to Android that will merge elements of Honeycomb and Gingerbread into one universal OS — can be expected to arrive in October or November. This matches up with rumors saying the Nexus Prime will be released in the tenth month, but it’s the first time we’ve heard anything official from El Goog since I/O four months ago.
At present time, Baidu’s a desktop web browser / search engine based in China that’s meant to mimic Chrome (though it’s actually wrapped around IE code). The company, however, has its sights set on conquering the mobile front as well, introducing Baidu Yi OS at its annual get-together.
The new platform is essentially a forked version of Android, which will provide a lot of the same functionality and services we’re used to seeing from Google; Baidu, though, is adding a dash of flavor by throwing in its own bundle of apps — such as native maps, reader, music, web apps, and even a program similar to Google Places — as well as strong cloud integration for backups, storage and sharing.
The new OS will likely be up against intense competition from Nokia, Alibaba, Xiaomi and Windows Phone Tango (amongst others), so the Chinese mobile space may get rather interesting in the coming years.
$12.5bn for tons of patent rights sounds like a bargain to big corporates, but the truth is, it’s not just that. By buying up Motorola Mobility, Google is entitled to not only their patent rights, but also a rebate of $700m tax per year through 2019, which is an insane fire sale. But how so? Well, The Register managed to explain to us laymen the other side of the story, which is the tax.
Google’s pretty good at, um, obeying tax laws to the letter. For example, they’ve paid an entire £8m in UK corporation tax on revenues of some £6bn from 2004 to 2010.
Well, if you thought Samsung was done tweaking the Galaxy S II with three unique versions for each three carriers, you were very mistaken. The Korean company is getting ready to unveil the Galaxy S II LTE at IFA in Berlin this week, alongside an LTE version of its still elusive Galaxy Tab 8.9 — and we’ll be there to get some hands on time. Both devices are sporting an updated dual-core processor running at 1.5GHz, while the S II is also getting a size bump and moving up to a 4.5-inch screen. The Tab remains otherwise unchanged, rocking the same 1200 x 800 screen and super-svelte (8.6mm thick) design. Honestly, we’re not sure what else you need to know — 4G LTE and an over-the-top processor? Now the only thing left would be the price!
Samsung have announced a new Galaxy phone lineup that is to be unveiled at IFA in Berlin. The Galaxy W fears a 3.7inch WVGA touchscreen, 1.4GHz chip and up to 14.4Mbps HSDPA connectivity. Along with the W, we’ll be seeing the M Pro, Y and Y Pro coming next week from Samsung. Are you confused yet? I sure am. Samsung has opted for the new naming scheme to signify (W)onder which is a balance between performance and style, (M)agical which will bring high end handsets to a lower price point as well as (Y)outh for youths and emerging markets. Details are a little fuzzy at the moment, but we’ll just have to wait till next week to have a glance at what Samsung has to offer.
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