Posts Tagged ‘Nexus’

Samsung Nexus S for $100 at Best Buy

Some feature phone users might argue that smartphones are still rather expensive, but just for those saying such bad and evil things I say REPENT! No, just kidding, but in all seriousness, Best Buy managed to put up a killed deal for the Samsung Nexus S. If you wish to get the device, which still boasts some seriously cool specs, make sure to head over to Best Buy and get it for the low price of $100 with a two year contract from T-Mobile.

The low price tag of $100 dollars with the two year contract for the Samsung Nexus S will however be only on up until the 23rd of March and those wishing to get it must be signed up for the Best Buy Reward Zone in order to get the deal.

Samsung Nexus S

Google’s Samsung Nexus S ( yeah, I know that it comes out a touch on the weird side ) is probably one of the best devices out there featuring Android 2.3 Gingerbread. This is mainly due to the fact that what you get is Android 2.3 Gingerbread. And that is it. There is no Motoblur killing your battery, there is no TouchWiz wanting to be friends with you or wishing you to share tweets with your mother ( no matter how nice she is ), just the good old fashion Android experience. For those thinking about getting one of these beats up, here’s a quick rundown of the specs:

Samsung’s Nexus S comes with a 4 inch WVGA Super AMOLED display, which does look great although there might be some issues with Android 2.3.3 update messing that a touch up. Powering it is the 1 GHz Hummingbird processor from Samsung and 512 MB of RAM. The Samsung Nexus S also comes with dual cameras, a 5 megapixel rear camera with LED flash and 720 x 480 recording at 30 frames per second ( yes folks, no HD here ) as well as a front facing VGA camera. Connectivity wise you’ll get all the standard perks of Bluetooth 2.1, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and 16 GB of on board storage ( no micro SD card slot available though ).

For those of you wondering about the Best Buy Reward Zone Program, it’s basically there to work as a form of mileage points received for credit cards and the membership is free. Besides, you can get free shipping as well as 45 day extended return period on your purchases. The only drawback of the deal would be the fact that you are stuck on T-Mobile for 2 years as the operator did receive rather bad ratings lately. Still, for $100 it’s worth a shot.

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March 12th, 2011 Catalin Mengheris

Posted in Android News

Android OS update – Android 2.3.3 live on the Nexus S

The awaited Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread update has started rolling out for users of the Samsung Nexus S so if you have one keep on reading because I’ll try to give you boys and girls a quick run on how to get this update on your device. In order to manually upgrade your Samsung Nexus S to the latest version of the operating system you’ll have to follow the following few steps.

First of all get your hands on the OTA package HERE. Once you download it make sure to rename the file to update.zip, although this step is not exactly necessary for the Nexus S booloader, it does help to simplify things in the following few steps. Copy the file to your Nexus S and once finished copying the file, make sure to power off the device. When the device is powered off, hold the volume up and power button to reboot to the bootloader of the device. Now in order to navigate through the menus use the volume key and once you reach the recovery button, use the power button to confirm your selection. Once you get to see the warning triangle and arrow, hold down the power button and tap the volume up button and this should bring you to a menu. From the menu you now need to select “apply update from /sdcard” and chose the previously copied update.zip file from your list.

Now simply let the updater start installing and update your system, your radio and other partitions. Once this step is finished select reboot system now and there you go, you’ve successfully applied the Android 2.3.3 update to your Samsung Nexus S. There are some point you’ll need to take into consideration when updating the device though as there seems to be an issue with the new color scheme Google introduced in this update.

The issue with the Android 2.3.3 update for the Nexus S is referring to some users having their screen appear discolored. To be more accurate, colors seem to be washed out or on some displays they even get a yellowish tint. You might be tempted to play with the brightness and color settings of the device, but this won’t help as others have tried that method as well. There is an official statement given by Ry Guy via the Google forums and the change is intentional. This is his reply :

“With your new OTA complete, you may notice a slight difference in the way colors are displayed on your Nexus S. For Nexus S, we have adjusted the color temperature settings to more accurately reflect darker colors at all brightness levels. The Gingerbread UI being darker, we found that the colors were not as accurate when the device was being used at lower brightness levels. For example, some users reported that the initial color temperature was too high leading to some darker grays having a reddish tone; with the new color temperature this is no longer the case.”

It seems that this modification has been added to improve the colors in certain light conditions and I’ll make sure to add up some screenshots gathered to see what it looks like. In my opinion it’s not as bad as it may sound, but I think it all depends on a users viewpoint. Until next time, drop a line if you experienced any issues with your update and if your screen looks the same.1

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February 28th, 2011 Catalin Mengheris

Posted in Android OS

Android 2.4 OS spoted on the Samsung GT-i9023

I think it’s safe to say that most Android smartphone users and Android enthusiasts (me being one of them) spend a great deal of time speculating. We live on speculations, we strive on promises and we always hope that a new version of either a smartphone will hit the market or a new software update is released and that our existences will finally be complete. Ok, I might have gone too far with that but hear me out on this one. First of all, unlike our Apple counterparts, we do get tons of new updates every year and the amount of manufacturers battling it out for the top spot sure makes it an interesting group to be part of, yet this means that we are almost always assaulted by leaked shots of an upcoming device or that we get the chance to dream about a new update for our devices.

This time around it’s Samsung’s turn to tickle our curiosity with the Samsung GT-i9023. Some of you might know that the Google Nexus S, the World’s first Android Smartphone to be running Android 2.3 Gingerbread out of the box, had a similar name, with GT-i9020. Now this newest Samsung device has reached the FCC and the image showing the device off makes us believe that it looks a lot like the Nexus S. Now the question which pops up is – is this the follow up for the Nexus S? Also another thing which started the intrigues was the release of a video by the German site BestBoyZ which apparently is showing of this newest handset.

The largest element which jumped in was the fact that the software version displayed for this device is Android 2.4 and there would be no reason to send a device with only small modifications to the FCC as this device has already appeared on some European web pages with the name of “Black Silver” Nexus S, yet I don’t think you need FCC approval for a simple new color scheme on your device, so there has to be something more to this. This device just recently also received Wi-Fi Alliance and Bluetooth SIG certification, which didn’t give any more information on the subject though. Some people have compared the shape of the GT-i9023 to the Vibrant 4G which was announced at CES, yet because of the roundness of the shape, I must say that it looks rather alike to the Nexus S, so that’s why my vote goes for – this is a follow up to the Google Nexus S which might come with a new color scheme and an update to 2.3, but as previously stated this is speculation at this point.

For those with some German knowledge, there will be more news regarding this device in the following weeks. I for one don’t think we will just see an update color for our Nexus S but maybe Samsung will add HSPA+ for T-Mobile, yet still we are just speculating. Until next time, I’ll be looking at the video a few more times and maybe I can translate more of it.1

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January 16th, 2011 Catalin Mengheris

Posted in Android News, Android OS

Google Android Phone – Nexus S

Ever since the Nexus One, the question lingered in my head, how the follower will look like ? What will it do ? How will it be different from the rest of the devices out there ? The Nexus S is the follow up for the Nexus One but the information regarding  its specs, its manufacturer are so tightly wrapped that it took quite a while to try and sort out the information regarding this device. Although the smartphone was presented at “Web 2.0 Summit” by Eric Schmidt, CEO for Google, any information regarding who makes the device, what any of the specs are, have not been revealed. The only sure piece of information given out by Google’s CEO was that it will be running version 2.3/3 of Android – Gingerbread.

Another fact which was rumored by several online sources was the fact that this device will be a “Google experience” device, meaning that it will not have any of the fancy UI’s manufacturers squeeze into the Android platform running on the device. The Android version running on it will be unaltered and optimized for Google, making sure the experience is unaltered in any way.

One of the largest issues circulated around Google’s next Android phone is the fact that the Nexus S is being produced by Samsung and it actually is somehow related to the Samsung Galaxy S2. This is truly related to the launch of the Nexus One and HTC Desire – we are talking about 2 different phones but with highly similar specs and simply different branding.

The specs of this new device are the reason for a large number of heated discussions. One of the most consisted rumor was regarding the internal storage space which will be (according to most Android web pages out there) most likely around 16 GB. The processor is rumored to be a 2GHz processor / a 1 GHz dual core; the display will be a huge 4.3 inch super AMOLED, capable of screen resolutions of 1280 x 720; the internal memory is most likely somewhere around the 1 GB of RAM and the main camera will be able to shoot pictures at 8 MP, while giving the ability to record small movies at full high definition – 1080p.

Unfortunately none of this is actually 100% sure. Most web pages  don’t give any further details either, or maybe just don’t try to make assumptions at all. Still, these stats and most of the other Google Android phone related issues are the ones which keep popping up the most. Will the new device have any of the above mentioned features one launch will come ? Will the new Nexus S truly be made by Samsung and will it somehow be connected to the Galaxy S2 ? No one wants to say yes, and to be honest, neither do I.

Still the launch of this new device is closing in, as Eric Schmidt did confirm its launch in the following weeks along with the much awaited Android 2.3/3.0 version of the all to famous operating system. Until then, enjoy your Nexus Ones.1

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November 23rd, 2010 Catalin Mengheris

Posted in Android News
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2013-05-20 11:58:57