Here is a story I didn’t think I would be writing a year ago. Google is disappointing a lot of Nexus S owners with their inconsistent software updates, as our very own Dustin pointed out earlier this month.

Now JR Raphael of Computer World has graded most of the major manufacturers on their promises to [...]]]>

Here is a story I didn’t think I would be writing a year ago. Google is disappointing a lot of Nexus S owners with their inconsistent software updates, as our very own Dustin pointed out earlier this month.

Now JR Raphael of Computer World has graded most of the major manufacturers on their promises to deliver Android 4.0 updates and the results confirm what others have been saying. Acer, Archos, ASUS, and HTC all received better grades than Google when it came to updating their devices to Android 4.0.

Even AT&T, once billed the worst carrier for Android users, rubbed salt in Nexus S owners’ wounds when it updated the HTC Vivid to Android 4.0 this week.

Last year at Google IO 2011, Google and their partners announced the Android Update Alliance to help speed up software updates, but it doesn’t appear to have had any effect. There have been a lack of updates about the alliance, which led some to write that it failed before it really started.

JR summed it up perfectly when he said, “While Google doesn’t tend to promise explicit upgrade dates for its devices, the company has trained us to know that its Nexus and ‘Google experience’ labels come with certain benefits, and early-and-often upgrades are at the top of that list. Worse yet, Google has stayed silent on the matter and given users no update on what’s going on.”

We have already covered the whole mess pretty extensively, so I don’t really have much to add to the matter. Hopefully Google will improve their communication with the Android community and let them know when to expect these updates.

Until then, what’s the point in owning a Nexus device (if you are not a developer)? Maybe as some have suggested, the Nexus series is coming to and end. But then again, the Sprint Galaxy Nexus has yet to be launched.

Update: Google just announced Android 4.0.4 is coming to the UMTS/GSM Nexus S, Xoom WiFi, and HSPA+ Galaxy Nexus. The Sprint Nexus S 4G, Verizon Galaxy Nexus, and Verizon Xoom 4G should be updated in the “coming weeks.”

It’s been nearly two and a half months since we first laid our eyes on the Acer Iconia Tab A510 at CES, but Acer is finally ready to show the tablet off to the world. The Acer Iconia Tab A510 is the company’s first tablet running on an NVIDIA quad-core Tegra 3 processor and features a 10.1-inch [...]]]>

It’s been nearly two and a half months since we first laid our eyes on the Acer Iconia Tab A510 at CES, but Acer is finally ready to show the tablet off to the world. The Acer Iconia Tab A510 is the company’s first tablet running on an NVIDIA quad-core Tegra 3 processor and features a 10.1-inch (1280 x 800) display, 1GB of RAM, 5 megapixel auto-focus camera, 1 megapixel front-facing camera, 32GB of internal storage, microSD card slot, measures 10.2(w) x 6.9(d) x 0.43(h) inches and weighs just over 24 ounces. In order to compete with the latest high-end tablets, Acer has equipped the Iconia Tab A510 with a battery that’s rated for 12 hours of video playback.

The specs on the Iconia Tab A510 are certainly appealing, but Acer may be stretching things a bit with a list price of $449.99. Those interested can pre-order the Acer Iconia Tab A510 starting today at national electronics retailers in Canada and the USA, though no official launch date for the tablet has been announced. We’re sure the price point will come down by $50 to $100 if Acer decides to release an 8GB or 16GB model of the A510. When is comes down to specs, the Iconia Tab and Transformer Prime look very similar. While the Prime does cost $50 more, the optional keyboard accessory does offer some additional value for those who would want to use the tablet as a replacement for a netbook.

Are any of you are itching to get your hands on another Tegra 3 powered tablet or are you going to wait to see how the $150 Nexus tablet rumors play out?

News travels fast, apparently. Hot off the heels of Acer announcing the entry-level Liquid Glow comes a leaked hands-on video with Acer’s flagship device, the Acer CloudMobile, making it’s glam appearance at Milan’s Fashion Week. The folks at Cellulare Magazine produced the hands-on video of the CloudMobile, showing off the device’s crisp, bright screen and [...]]]>

News travels fast, apparently. Hot off the heels of Acer announcing the entry-level Liquid Glow comes a leaked hands-on video with Acer’s flagship device, the Acer CloudMobile, making it’s glam appearance at Milan’s Fashion Week. The folks at Cellulare Magazine produced the hands-on video of the CloudMobile, showing off the device’s crisp, bright screen and super responsive UI.

The CloudMobile is rumored to be one beast of a device, laying claim to the following impressive, yet incomplete spec sheet:

• 1.5 GHz dual-core processor
• Android 4.1
• 4.3″ HD display with 1280 x 720 resolution
• 8 megapixel rear-facing camera
• NFC
• Dolby Mobile Audio

The Acer CloudMobile is still a prototype device at this point, and won’t launch to the general public until Q3 2012. We’ll be on-hand next week in Barcelona, and will hopefully be able to hunt down and get our hands on a prototype.

While you likely weren’t exactly blown away by the Acer Liquid Glow, how are you feeling about the CloudMobile? Sound off in the comments.

With all the phones being given the unveiling treatment ahead of Mobile World Congress, it’s amazing that people actually bother to go to the show! Today’s early sneak peek comes from Acer, a computer company which has recently dabbled in Android tablets, who is now unveiling their second entry into the crowded Android [...]]]>

With all the phones being given the unveiling treatment ahead of Mobile World Congress, it’s amazing that people actually bother to go to the show! Today’s early sneak peek comes from Acer, a computer company which has recently dabbled in Android tablets, who is now unveiling their second entry into the crowded Android smartphone market.

While the Acer Liquid Glow doesn’t tote the most powerful hardware on the planet, Acer is hoping it will take off with the entry-level crowd. The Liquid Glow will feature a 3.7″ WVGA display, Android 4.0, 1GHz (single-core) Qualcomm 7227A processor, 5 megapixel rear camera with flash, 1GB of storage and 512 MB RAM (rumored from PocketLint), and NFC capability.

Though not a powerhouse by any stretch of the word, Acer’s Liquid Glow is certainly a slick looking phone, with its rounded edges, chrome accents, and color combos (though, we’ll probably avoid the pink variant). If the device makes its way stateside, it’ll probably land on budget carriers with a super-low or perhaps free price tag.

We’ll be stopping by the Acer booth next week to check out some of the Tegra 3 goodness they’re expected to unveil as well as the unannounced Acer CloudMobile phone, which may be the Acer phone to impress the hardcore Android users. While we’re there, I’ll make sure Taylor spends at least a few minutes with the Liquid Glow.

Anyone out there excited about the Liquid Glow? Could be a cool Android phone for the teenager set.

This bad boy was one of the most exciting things we saw at CES. The Acer Iconia Tab A510 was an unannounced tablet then, and it was not a bad one. Well, the tablet has finally been announced at a pre-CeBIT event in Germany. It’s being released in Europe the following April at [...]]]>

This bad boy was one of the most exciting things we saw at CES. The Acer Iconia Tab A510 was an unannounced tablet then, and it was not a bad one. Well, the tablet has finally been announced at a pre-CeBIT event in Germany. It’s being released in Europe the following April at a price of €500.

When we saw this tablet at NVIDIA’s booth, it left a rather good impression on us. The representatives were not able to tell us anything about the unannounced 10.1-inch tablet (1280x800p). We now know that it packs a 1.3 GHz Tegra 3 processor (quad-core), 1 GB of RAM and 16/32/64 GB of internal storage. Ports include a microSD card slot, a mini-USB port and a mini-HDMI port.

Acer has also announced a version with 3G connectivity, called the Acer Iconia Tab A511. It was not mentioned whether this tablet would be released along with the WiFi models or not.

We know 500 Euros is not very cheap, but the tablet should not feature the same price when it hits the States. The tablet market is in the middle of an interesting transition here in the US. Acer has been offering the same specs as ASUS for about the same price, and we assume this tablet will come at a price similar to the $500 Transformer Prime. But it is hard to compete with ASUS offering its 7-inch Tegra 3 MeMo 370T for only $250.

For now, all we can do is sit tight and wait for Acer to announce the A510′s price and availability for America. Welcome to the year of the quad-core tablets. Let’s see what the future holds. What price-point would convince you to purchase the A510?

The Acer Iconia Tab A200 was announced earlier this month, and while we expected it to be released last January 15, it is just now hitting Best Buy stores. When announced, the tablet seemed like just another A500, but the difference seems to lie on its software.

The specs are pretty much what [...]]]>

The Acer Iconia Tab A200 was announced earlier this month, and while we expected it to be released last January 15, it is just now hitting Best Buy stores. When announced, the tablet seemed like just another A500, but the difference seems to lie on its software.

The specs are pretty much what we are used to from any 2011 Honeycomb tablet. It comes with a Tegra 2 dual-core processor, Honeycomb OS, 16 GB/8 GB of internal storage, a 10.1-inch (1280×800) display, 1 GB of RAM and a 2 MP front-facing camera. Not to mention the fact that this device comes with a flurry of ports, which is typical of Acer Android tablets (USB, micro USB, 3.5 mm headset jack, proprietary power port and microSD card slot).

What really makes this better than the A500, though, is the customization that Acer has integrated into this bad boy. If you remember, last week during CES we covered the Acer Iconia Tab A510, which was a Tegra 3 tablet with Ice Cream Sandwich. This tablet had a UI overlay that really caught our attention. And whether you like custom manufacturer UIs or not, it actually brought some rather cool functionality.

The A200 has the same features we saw with the A510, and a bit more. Aside from the virtual command center, Acer has decided to include an HTC Sense-like lock screen. It includes accessible shortcuts that one can activate by dragging the unlock “bubble” to one of the icons. To see what this is all about, check out the video that the guys from Android Central have put together.

The Acer Iconia Tab A200 does not come with Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0), but Acer promises that it will be getting its tasty upgrade in February. If you are interested in purchasing this bad boy, the 16 GB version is now available from Best Buy at $349.99.

Check out the video and let us know what you think. Do you guys like Acer’s UI features, or would you rather stick with stock ICS? At this price, would you rather wait for Asus’ $250 Tegra 3, Android 4.0 beast?

Microsoft has added LG to its list of Android handset makers it makes money off of. Microsoft has inked a patent agreement deal with LG that will have LG pay Microsoft a small fee for every LG Android (and Chromebook) device sold.

Microsoft’s latest deal brings their total up to a massive 70% of Android [...]]]>

Microsoft has added LG to its list of Android handset makers it makes money off of. Microsoft has inked a patent agreement deal with LG that will have LG pay Microsoft a small fee for every LG Android (and Chromebook) device sold.

Microsoft’s latest deal brings their total up to a massive 70% of Android devices covered under Microsoft’s patent portfolio. Microsoft earns significant amounts of money off Android device sales; it was discovered back in August that Microsoft makes more money with Android than with its own Windows Phone 7 platform, which has struggled to gain any traction in the smartphone market.

With Android sales making up nearly 50% of the US smartphone market, Microsoft is making a ton of money off Android and is certainly looking at ways to capitalize on their patent portfolio. (Could Motorola be next in line?) While we hate to see a rival company making money off Google’s platform, we can only hope that money is going into making Windows Phone 7 more relevant. Though, the odds of Windows Phone 7 gaining a following in the US (or elsewhere, for that matter) is mighty slim.

Today Acer announced a new pair of ultrabooks, but the real star of the show was an unnamed Android tablet they teased for about five seconds. No details were provided on the tablet, but we recognized it as the previously-leaked Acer Iconia Tab A700.

The only details that Acer [...]]]>

Today Acer announced a new pair of ultrabooks, but the real star of the show was an unnamed Android tablet they teased for about five seconds. No details were provided on the tablet, but we recognized it as the previously-leaked Acer Iconia Tab A700.

The only details that Acer provided on the tablet was that it had a quad-core processor and 10-inch display with native full HD 1080p. Earlier leaks suggested the Iconia Tab A700 also features 1920×1200 resolution, Tegra 3 processor, 5 MP camera with flash, Dolby Digital audio, micro-HDMI port, microSD card slot, a dedicated rotation lock switch and a 9800 mAh battery.

We got to spend a few minutes of hands-on time with the A700 and found it was running a mostly stock version of Android 4.0. The only addition I saw was a “ring UI” that appeared on the lock screen and allowed you to quickly launch multiple applications. An Acer representative said they don’t really plan to mess with the stock Android UI too much. Instead they will focus on other value-added services like AcerCloud.

No release date or pricing information was revealed, but we should learn more at MWC next month. Check out the gallery below and come back in a few minutes to see the hands-on video. (It’s uploading now).

Gallery

Acer has maintained itself as one of the most competitive in the tablet market. Not because of their great tablets, though most mid-to-high-end tablets had almost identical specs in 2011, but because of their prices. Acer has just announced the brand new Iconia Tab A200, and it looks like 2012 will be a good [...]]]>

Acer has maintained itself as one of the most competitive in the tablet market. Not because of their great tablets, though most mid-to-high-end tablets had almost identical specs in 2011, but because of their prices. Acer has just announced the brand new Iconia Tab A200, and it looks like 2012 will be a good year for affordable tablets.

Later this year, NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang is predicting a price drop for Tegra 3 tablets to under $300. Things are not quite as beautiful yet, but we are getting there. This Tegra 2 device has a 2 MP front-facing camera, a 1280x800p resolution, and also comes with a full-sized USB 2.0 port. Not to mention the fact that Acer is promising an Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update to come during mid-February.

The promise of having Android’s latest and greatest version makes a device much more desirable. What really makes this bad boy stand out from the crowd is its price, though. The A200 will run for $329.99 for the 8 GB version, while the 16 GB version will cost you $349.99. And if those internal storage options don’t tickle your fancy, the tablet also has a microSD slot for expansion.

That is about the most affordable upgrade we have seen. Getting twice the internal storage for an extra $20 is something that we definitely do not see often. Upgrades usually run for $50 at the least.

Regardless, both tablets are very affordable for what they offer. It will be a great deal for those that want Ice Cream Sandwich, but do not want to pocket out $500 for a device like the Transformer Prime, with its quad-core super-guts. If interested, the device will be released coming January 15, so stay tuned for more details. We will probably be playing around with this one at CES.

Who is signing up for one of these?

During this year’s holiday season news slow-down, a time which usually comes towards the end of the year, and is always full of opinion editorial pieces, Android’s manufacturing model has become a hot topic. It all started a little over a week ago now, when news first hit that HTC is planning on releasing [...]]]>

During this year’s holiday season news slow-down, a time which usually comes towards the end of the year, and is always full of opinion editorial pieces, Android’s manufacturing model has become a hot topic. It all started a little over a week ago now, when news first hit that HTC is planning on releasing less devices with a focus on higher quality in 2012. It brought up old questions about over saturation, fragmentation and most importantly, what’s best for consumers.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to do the math. More devices means more choices for consumers, but there is a point where it becomes overwhelming. It also means more devices for accessory manufacturers to pick and choose from (because they certainly can’t cover them all), less innovation, lower quality products and more devices means more custom updates to develop and supply. All of these problems add up to one thing, a bad consumer experience. So how can manufacturers stop all these problems from happening?

It’s easy. They just have to slow down, and release less devices.

Samsung has started to head in the right direction. They still have a ways to go as far as sorting things out, but releasing one high-end Galaxy S device a year has done wonders to their sales numbers. Unfortunately, Samsung is still having problems keeping up. They recently announced that they would not be updating the Galaxy S and original 7-inch Galaxy Tab to Android 4. But after an outpouring of emotions from Galaxy S owners, Samsung has said that they are going to reevaluate the situation, and see what they can come up with.

Realistically, Samsung decided they wouldn’t update the Galaxy S and Tab because they didn’t want to. Their original decision had nothing to do with what’s best for consumers. Samsung has too much going on, and felt they could better invest their time elsewhere. This is where releasing less phones would really help. They’d have less hardware to focus on, and could devote resources to keeping current costumers happy. Not just finding new ones.

Having been met with more failures than success in the past, Acer is going to try the less quantity, more quality approach. Back in mid-December, Acer Chairman and acting CEO J.T. Wang said that his company’s product lineup would shrink by as much as two-thirds in 2012. Today, Acer’s founder, Stan Shih reiterated this, along with squashing any rumors that Acer was bowing out of the tablet and smartphone race.

Considering the much overlapped development of tablet PC and smartphones, a simplified organization is expected to increase operation efficiency, reduce conflicts in product development and consolidate resources for developing niche and competitive products.Stan ShihAcer

Making less devices with an emphasis on quality isn’t going to skyrocket Acer to the number one spot in Android or Windows devices, but it’s a step in the right direction.  It’s one that all manufacturers with a hand in the Android market need to take.

I know we’ve been saying it a lot here at Android and Me lately, but 2012 is going to be an interesting year for Android. Especially if we see more killer devices, and a lot less terrible ones.