The Verge - Google's future now: LG Nexus 4, Samsung Nexus 10, and Android 4.2

Nexus 4 wireless charging orb finally selling through Google Play for $59.99

2013-02-11T18:47:27Z

The elusive Nexus 4 wireless charging orb — one of the most striking features of Google's Android flagship — is finally on sale through Google Play, a few months after the phone's launch. It's currently selling for $59.99 in the US, with shipping times quoted as around a week; we're not yet sure of overall international availability. The Nexus 4 itself has only recently come back in stock on the Play Store, after Google apparently massively underestimated initial demand, so this is fairly good timing. We've also seen longer delays on some other Google accessories, like the Nexus 7's dock. The Nexus 4 orb recalls the now-discontinued Palm Touchstone, and Nokia's Lumia 920 has also incorporated wireless charging based on the Qi...

Android 4.2 for Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 7 available to download now (update)

2012-11-13T09:05:21Z

Today's the day the Nexus 4 goes on sale, but if you're a Galaxy Nexus owner not quite ready to upgrade to Google's latest flagship phone, don't worry — there's still something to look forward to. We're seeing evidence and tips of an over-the-air rollout of Android 4.2 for the Galaxy Nexus, although it appears to be limited to certain users of a certain variant: the unlocked HSPA+ model that was made available through the Google Play Store earlier this year.

However, Phandroid points out that if you're comfortable with flashing a ROM yourself, you can download the necessary files from Google right now. We've contacted Google for comment on when the latest version of Jelly Bean will be made available to other Galaxy Nexus handsets, but...

Free scan and match coming to Google Music November 13th in Europe, 'soon after' for US (update)

2012-10-29T16:57:41Z

Offering a viable music locker in the cloud is tough when you require users to manually upload every file in their library, but thankfully that won't be the case for Google Music much longer. As part of its Google Play announcements today, the company revealed that it will finally bring scan and match functionality — already available from both Apple and Amazon — to its service starting November 13th. Matching will debut alongside Google Music in Europe for those in the U.K, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The rollout will extend to the US "soon after" according to Google.

Google's solution works virtually identically to those offered by the competition: Google Music will scan your library for content that's available in the...

Slow lane: why Google's new Nexus 4 doesn't have LTE

2012-10-29T16:38:38Z

By Dieter Bohn and Nilay Patel

The Nexus 4 is an impressive smartphone that ticks off every modern spec checkbox you could ask for, save one: LTE. Instead, the Nexus 4 will only come unlocked with HSPA+ radios. It is a disappointing omission, driven by both Google's complex philosophical desire to build open devices as well as the fairly simple economics of building a halo product for a small niche of early adopters.

For Google, Nexus is a flagship brand that represents the best of Android, with Google leading by example to show other hardware manufacturers what Android can be. And though partners build the hardware, Google wants direct control of the software on Nexus devices with no carrier intervention. That alone means Google can't...

Inside Android's next wave: Building the Nexus 4, Nexus 10, and Android 4.2

2012-10-29T16:16:38Z

Google's campus in Mountain View is a weird place — a sprawling, flat expanse dotted with angular, gray buildings. And lots of colorful bikes. It feels like an island, a place with its own set of rules, and it's easy to feel out of joint if you don't know the handshake. In some ways it's like a corporate realization of Hakim Bey's Temporary Autonomous Zones... save for, you know, the corporation. It's the kind of place where the uniquely Silicon Valley meshing of childish whimsy and a fervent, quasi-religious work ethic is in full swing. A place where coding ideas and how-tos for relaxation are printed and hung in the men's bathrooms above the urinals. It's charming and bizarre in equal parts.

The last time I had trekked across the...

Android 4.2 adds gesture typing, wireless TV display, multiple user support on tablets, and more

2012-10-29T16:14:58Z

The new Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 aren't just new Android devices — they're showcases for a new version of Android. Google's calling Android 4.2 "a new flavor of Jelly Bean" to reflect its essential similarity to Android 4.1, but there are some major new features in the mix.

The highlight is support for Miracast, an industry-standard Wi-Fi display sharing protocol that allows new devices like the Nexus 4 to stream audio and video to TVs. (Think AirPlay with broad industry support.) Miracast boxes for existing TVs are expected to go on sale from a variety of companies soon, and Google expects them to cost well under $99. And Miracast will soon be built directly into TVs, which is pretty exciting — LG's already committed to building it...

Google's Wireless Charging Orb for Nexus 4 takes inspiration from Palm's Touchstone

2012-10-29T16:14:21Z

One of the big features of the new Google Nexus 4 smartphone is support for wireless charging, and so alongside the phone Google is releasing the aptly-named Wireless Charging Orb. Shaped like a sphere sliced crosswise, it bears more than a passing resemblance to Palm's Touchstone. The face of the dock is set at an angle so you can easily see the phone, and it's finished with a soft-touch plastic that should ensure that it won't mar the glass back of the Nexus 4. Google tells us that it's using the Qi wireless charging standard, so charging pads designed for Nokia's Lumia phones should also work on the Nexus 4.

Google's Wireless Charging Orb takes inspiration from the Touchstone in several other ways. As mentioned above, the phone sits...

Google Now: behind the predictive future of search

2012-10-29T16:13:02Z

For decades, visions of the future have played with the magical possibilities of computers: they'll know where you are, what you want, and can access all the world's information with a simple voice prompt. That vision hasn't come to pass, yet, but features like Apple's Siri and Google Now offer a keyhole peek into a near future reality where your phone is more "Personal Assistant" than "Bar bet settler." The difference is that the former actually understands what you need while the latter is a blunt search instrument.

Google Now is one more baby step in that direction. Introduced this past June with Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean," it's designed to ambiently give you information you might need before you ask for it. To pull off that ambitious...