Google was founded in 1996 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page. The company started off as a new search engine that became very popular and is the most commonly used to this day. Google began expanding its services by acquiring many companies such as Keyhole, Inc. and YouTube. In September 2008, the G1 was released, made by HTC the G1 was the first smartphone running Google's own Android operating system. Google continues to expand and innovate in several areas with Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) being Google's first operating systems designed for tablet computers. Read on for the latest Google news, reviews and videos:
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by Anton D. Nagy | May 24, 2012 9:30 AMThe latest IDC numbers are in and they seem to further confirm the trends not just only for those who closely follow the numbers but also for those who follow the industry and what happens in this fast-moving world. Not much has changed at the top of the mobile world, in terms of top six smartphone Operating Systems; Android and iOS are sitting comfortably in the highest positions. Google and Apple have both consolidated their position. Android has a market share of 59.0% in 2012 Q1 (growing from 2011 Q1's 36.1%, with increased shipments from 36.1 million units to a whopping 89.9) while App...
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by Anton D. Nagy | May 24, 2012 2:58 AMThere were lots of rumors about the Google-tablet (Google's own tablet) -- some even referring to it as the Google Nexus tablet -- and then they disappeared for a while. Recent reports seem to bring the story back to the spotlight touching on earlier rumors. Asus is allegedly the company that will build Google's slate and it is expected to be a seven-incher (or right there), in order to better compete with Amazon's Kindle, which by the way is now rumored to prepare a 10.1-inch refresh. Recent reports seem to talk about 600,000 initial units of the Google-Asus tablet, which would be released...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 23, 2012 4:41 PMOn November 5, 2007, Google and the other new members of the Open Handset Alliance announced Android. Nearly five years later, we've seen the platform become one of the major players in the smartphone world, and dozens upon dozens of Android-running devices come to market. As that five-year anniversary draws upon us, could Google be planning some special to commemorate the event? A new rumor paints just such a picture, and connects back to some other claims we've heard about Google's plans for the fall. That number five popped-up in a recent rumor about how the next Nexus phone might arrive...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 23, 2012 3:34 PMThe consequences of legal actions within the smartphone world have been getting extra attention lately, with the very visible effect of HTC missing launch dates due to seeing hardware held-up in US Customs. If you've been following such things closely, you'll be aware that a case with even greater ramifications has been taking place elsewhere, with Oracle accusing Google of violating its patents concerning the use of Java in Android. After a lengthy trial, the jury has now returned a verdict in Google's favor, clearing the company of these accusations of patent misuse. While this patent vic...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 22, 2012 11:08 AMGoogle first announced plans to acquire Motorola Mobility all the way back in August of last year, and the time spent since has seen the company seeking out approval after approval in order to finalize the deal. That's included everyone from Motorola stockholders, to the European Union, to the United States Department of Justice. Just over this past weekend, China's Ministry of Commerce gave its nod to the purchase, marking the last obstacle on the road to see this become a done deal. As such, Google and Motorola have now announced that Google's acquisition effort has closed, and the company's...
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by Anton D. Nagy | May 20, 2012 2:43 AMMicrosoft and its OEM partners (especially Nokia, but not only) knew that China is a market to aim for, not just because of the fact that it is now the world's largest mobile market, but because of the specifics of the country. Windows Phone was launched in China on March 21 this year and it is already, according to reports, outselling Apple and its iPhone. Of course we need to be fair and consider that this might have less to do with the platform itself and more (everything) to do with the difference in price between Windows Phones and iPhones. However, Microsoft's platform is now accounti...
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by Anton D. Nagy | May 19, 2012 10:04 AMThe LG Optimus Elite is available on Virgin Mobile since Wednesday for $149.99 and, while its specs aren't of the high-end kind, the phone packs Near Field Communications (NFC), which is a first for Virgin Mobile. As such, the carrier is trying to push both this hardware feature and Google Wallet by throwing in some bonuses. If you purchase and activate an LG Optimus Elite on Virgin Mobile from May 18 to July 18, 2012, you can get $25 credit on your Google Wallet account. You have to activate your Google Wallet and Google Wallet prepaid card within a week of activating the Optimus Elite on ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 18, 2012 12:20 PMFor as many benefits as rooting your phone can bring to users interested in stretching the limits of what their smartphones can do, there are certain situations where rooting just seems to be opening up a hornet's nest of problems. Google Wallet is one of the more high-profile apps that's really been putting up a fight against root. We've been following issues with Google Wallet for months, from when there was first news of exploits for the app that took advantage of root access, to when the app started actively complaining about rooted phones as unsupported devices. Now, the latest Wallet ver...
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by Michael Fisher | May 18, 2012 12:02 PMEvan Blass recently posted an article titled "Will The iPhone's Reign Ever End?" In it, he speculates on the future of the mobile landscape, trying to predict how, when, or if the iPhone will go the way of the RAZRs and N95s of the world. What will ultimately dethrone the reigning king of smartphones? It's a good question. Right across the mobile-device gap, in the tablet space, sits Apple's iPad. Just as the smartphone world offers up some close competition between the Android and iOS platforms, the battle also rages on in the tablet market. It's easy to forget how close that race is -Appl...
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by Anton D. Nagy | May 17, 2012 8:27 AMWhile Android users who also happen to be Sprint subscribers were able to take advantage of carrier billing when purchasing applications from the Google Play Store, there were still some missing features in terms of paying for other content bought from Mountain View's online market. Google recently announced that Sprint is now fully supporting carrier billing for all purchases from the Google Play Store. This means you will be able to buy also books, music, and movies with the costs being added to your monthly phone bill. If you don't have a credit card or you don't want to use it for purch...
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by Joe Levi | May 16, 2012 7:45 PMBack in the day, all the cool kids had a Nintendo Entertainment System -- or an Atari, but those guys were weird. As time passed, gaming consoles got more powerful, more popular, and more competitive. Sega, Sony, Nintendo, and even Microsoft were vying for the top position. Then something changed. Cell phones started getting "smarter". Soon they we were able to install "programs" on them, which eventually became known as "apps". App stores came into being. Developers started writing more complex programs. Instead of kids (and their dads) wanting the latest and greatest consoles, t...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 16, 2012 12:16 PMGoogle Music gives you a pretty flexible means by which to access your music library, supporting both mobile devices and web-based streaming. While there are limitations in place regarding just how many phones and tablets you can tie to your account, the ceiling seemed high enough that it wouldn't be an issue for most users. Some restrictions on how Google Music handles device authorization are now coming to light, and the consequences are generating some concern. Google's limit of tying ten authorized devices to one Music account seems pretty reasonable for most users. Considering you can ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 15, 2012 7:05 PMAfter passing the smartphone-sales torch to retailers and carriers for recent sales of its flagship Nexus line, we saw Google take steps to get itself back into the game last month when it resumed direct hardware sales, making the Galaxy Nexus available for purchase in the Google Play store. A new rumor suggests that's just the start of a push to reestablish control over the Android ecosystem, and we could see the arrival of the next major Android release bring with it some big changes to the Nexus lineup. The Wall Street Journal reports that instead of going with one manufacturer to create...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 15, 2012 12:30 PMFollowing rumors that it was working on some sort of Android-powered glasses, early last month Google gave us our first look at its Project Glass, an augmented reality system built into a head-mounted eyepiece. While it seemed at first that we were talking about design prototypes, subsequent encounters with Google employees sporting Project Glass out in the real world revealed that this was functional hardware, in one form or another. What the story has been lacking so far is much commentary on just what the user interaction with these glasses is really like. Now the picture is starting to com...
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by Joe Levi | May 11, 2012 5:04 PMCupcake, Doughnut, Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich. If this weren't Pocketnow you might think I was trying to figure out what to have for dessert, but you're a smart cookie and you know I'm talking about the different versions of the Android operating system. (Are you hungry? I'm hungry now.) Other than finding out what the next confection is going to be made into a statue and placed on the lawn in front of Google's HQ, do people really care what version of the OS they're running on their phones? I do. I want to run the latest and greatest on everything. I'm so ...
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