Google Wallet Mobile Payment Portfolio Grows From 2 Phones to 4

Google Wallet Mobile Payment Portfolio Grows From 2 Phones to 4

Like the T-1000 standing in a sea of Arnolds, the Galaxy Nexus is better, faster and smarter than any other Android phone on the market.

Not that current Android phones fall short in machine power. Rather, much like the androids of the silver screen, the operating system has been the weak point. Previous versions of Android have lacked some intangible spark. A human element, perhaps â€" a missing je ne sais quoi that has been keeping many critics and users from fully engaging with the platform.

It’s a debatable point, but I’d argue that “special something” can be found in Android’s biggest competitor, Apple’s iOS. Siri, the voice-activated digital servant on the iPhone 4S, is a great example of a feature that marries technical prowess with a human touch: We speak to “her”, not to “it.”

Android, on the other hand, has always been sold on the strength of its robotic nature. Power, hardware specs and hackability were the reasons why we were supposed to buy an Android. It’s not a posh concierge, it’s a Swiss Army Knife.

But with the Galaxy Nexus, Google has put a little soul into the machine.

The Galaxy Nexus is a collaboration between Google and Samsung, and the device runs the purest, most “true” representation of Android 4.0 you can get your hands on.

The smartphone, available Thursday for Verizon’s 4G LTE network, runs Android 4.0, aka Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest iteration of Google’s mobile OS. To date, it’s only shipping on this phone â€" the Galaxy Nexus is a collaboration between Google and Samsung, and the device runs the purest, most “true” representation of Android 4.0 you can get your hands on.

Ice Cream Sandwich brings a collection of subtle touches and flourishes to the OS, all of which add up to an enormous leap forward.

Gestures play a much larger role, and this goes a long way towards humanizing the interface. The settings menus inside of native applications, once only navigable via inscrutable, nested lists, are now neatly tucked off to the sides of the screens. By using your thumb to slide the screen to the side in most native apps, you can bring up (and dismiss) these hidden menus. Pinch-to-zoom is incorporated more intuitively into apps, too. In the calendar, for example, reverse-pinching on a list of the whole day’s events zooms in on a specific block of hours. Touch-typing has also been revamped to receive user input more accurately.

The opacity of certain elements like the notifications area has been reduced, making the slider translucent so you can always see what’s going on beneath it. The phone’s contacts menu is smarter, as it now pulls info from all of your synced social apps. All this leads to fewer taps, swipes and squints.

Even Android’s system-wide typeface was reimagined, giving the OS more personality. “Roboto,” Android’s new official font, permeates all parts of the OS. Google’s Android user experience chief Matias Duarte tells Wired the font serves a dual purpose, staying “modern, yet approachable,” but with mechanical forms underscored by a “cheerful demeanor.”

Though they may seem like insignificant changes, these things are the meat, the true stuff of which “soul” is composed. When a device cooperates with you more fully, you develop a stronger emotional connection with it. You start to smile as you notice all the little details and flourishes.

Don’t get me wrong. Android hasn’t gone all soft.

Hardware-wise, the Galaxy Nexus is still a beast. Unlike the previous Nexus model, the phone’s display measures a sizable 4.65 inches, one of the largest of all smartphones on the market, period.

And it’s packing the requisite Android-worthy firepower, complete with 1.2-GHz dual-core processor backed by a gigabyte of RAM.

But strangely enough, it doesn’t feel beastly. Almost teardrop-like in profile, the Nexus has a wide bottom that tapers as the eye moves upward, still retaining the slight plastic lip on the lower-back part of the handset. And despite its girth, the phone doesn’t possess any large degree of heft, feeling airy in hand while still slim enough to slip into a tight pair of jeans.

Surface hardware is minimal, with the tooling taking a backseat to what Samsung does well: the display. Similar to last year’s Nexus S, the plastic bezel wrapped around the Galaxy Nexus’ screen is incredibly thin, with nearly every square inch of the phone’s face devoted to fine glass construction.

More importantly, the ICS home screen just looks right on the phone’s tough Gorilla Glass exterior. The newly revamped interface is replete with cool blues, metallic grays and lots of subtly swishing animated effects. Much of that enchanting vibe would be lost on an inferior display, but the 1280 x 720 Super AMOLED screen delivers all the crisp, clear image quality that makes hardcore mobile enthusiasts flock to Samsung’s perfect pixels.

The Galaxy Nexus’ facade is entirely button-free â€" virtual software keys have sprung up in their stead. They’re unobtrusive, anchored modestly to the bottom of the screen, yet shiftable to the side if, say, you tilt your phone into landscape mode to take a photo.

And with the new Nexus, you’re expected to be shooting a whole hell of a lot of pictures. Image captures are lightning-fast, with very little lag between hitting the button and snapping the frame.

Unfortunately, with the increase in speed comes a loss in quality. Image resolution is pretty crummy, and unless you’ve got a steady hand, you’ll probably need to snap three or four shots to get a truly non-blurry picture. Still, I’ve missed countless precious moments over the years due to sluggish shutters; I’ll take a slightly fuzzy photo over nothing at all any day of the week.

It’s obvious that Ice Cream Sandwich is the star of this particular show, so it’s smart that the hardware basically gets out the way and doesn’t try to impress us with flash and flair. It works very well, and it looks great doing it, leaving the spotlight to fall on ICS.

Under that spotlight, we can see the whole of what Google is aiming for with the new Android. Visually, it’s stripped down, subdued and sleek. But beneath the calm surface, there are unmeasurable intricacies, performance tweaks and tiny improvements that aim to inject a little bit of humanity into this robot’s brain.

WIRED The best Android phone to date, hands down. Improvements in Ice Cream Sandwich make it much easier to use. Super AMOLED screen is bright and crisp. Cool features like Face Unlock and NFC-powered Beam take phone-based parlor tricks to a new level. Data Usage tool provides granular graphs for us OCD types to obsess over.

TIRED Some apps not fully optimized for ICS, bringing out annoying bugs. Snaps pics way faster than a Polaroid, though image quality is twice as crappy. Awesomely shiny screen makes for less-than-awesome battery life.

Google Wallet Mobile Payment Portfolio Grows From 2 Phones to 4

Acer Iconia Tab A500-10S16u 10.1-Inch Tablet Computer (Aluminum Metallic)

Set your eyes on the large 10.1-inch screen size with 16GB of internal storage for your videos, pictures, files and endless other data. The Acer Iconia Tab A500-10S16u XE.H60PN.002 Tablet performs on a 1280 x 800 WXGA resolution display and contains multi-touch features that make it easy for you to navigate through a variety of applications and online browsing. The Acer Iconia Tab A500-10S16u XE.H60PN.002 Tablet comes with the Android™ 3.0 Honeycomb™ operating system and a NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2 Dual-Core Mobile Processor. Communicate with friends face-to-face and in real-time with built-in front and rear facing webcams that are perfect to engage in a conversation and also show your surroundings.The Acer® Iconia Tab A500-10S16u provides the ultimate tablet experience with a gleaming 10.1" touch-screen and attention grabbing metallic design fueled by top-of-the-line technology and the latest build of Android "Honeycomb" OS. The A500 delivers powerful tab let performance and effortless multimedia enjoyment in a flash! Have fun with Google Apps like Google Movies and Google Music, connect to social networks, play full-version games in console-quality, browse the Web in accelerated speeds and so much more.

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Key Features

  • 10.1” HD Multi-Touch Display: (1280 x 800) resolution, 16:10 aspect ratio
  • NVIDIA® Tegraâ„¢ 2 Dual Core Mobile Processor
  • 1GB DDR2 Memory
  • NVIDIA® GeForce® GPU
  • eMMC: 16GB on board
  • MicroSD memory card up to 32GB
  • Dolby® Mobile Technology
  • Dual Analog Microphone
  • Dual Speaker
  • 802.11b/g/n Wireless(802.11n 2.4GHz only)
  • Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR
  • 1- Micro USB 2.0 Port
  • 1- USB 2.0 Port
  • 1- Micro HDMIâ„¢ Out (support Dual Display)
  • 5MP Rear Facing Camerawith Auto Focus and single LED flash
  • 2MP Front Facing Camera
  • Sensors:G-Sensor, E-Compass, L-Sensor, Gyro-meter
  • Rechargeable Lithium-ion polymer Battery
  • Up to 8-hours battery life


Learn More

The Latest Android Tablet Experience!

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Experience crisp, clear HD content anywhere!
The Acer® Iconia Tab A500-10S16u is designed to maximize content enjoyment, providing a rich and vibrant experience on the user-friendly 10.1" multi-touch screen display, while the orientation-less design ensures optimal on-screen viewing from every angle - up and down or left to right.

The latest build of Androidâ„¢ Honeycombâ„¢ Operating System combined with Acer UI brings a whole new level of interactivity- you can personalize your Tab by easily resizing apps widgets that are most important to you! In addition, the Android Market lets you choose from thousands of apps and games, making your Tab uniquely yours.

This latest OS now supports Google Apps! Rent the latest flicks with Google Movies and listen to your personal play lists with Google Music in great Dolby Sound! Port this whole entertainment experience to your big screen TV in full 1080p HD glory through the micro-HDMIâ„¢ port.

Experience crisp, clear HD content anywhere! The 10.1" HD multi-touch display features an astounding 1280 x 800 resolution, 16:10 aspect ratio and advanced flash support, displaying all your HD content in crystal-clear form.

Thanks to the USB 2.0 port and the Micro-SD slot, the Iconia Tab gives you the ability to connect USB flash drives, USB media card readers and even a portable hard drive. The expansion opportunities are endless giving you more time to be a master multitasker.

The Power to Play

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Enjoy console-quality gaming and fun with preloaded full versions of games!
NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2 brings the fastest, most visually-rich tablet experience, and extreme multitasking for effortless multimedia enjoyment. Enjoy the best Web experience with accelerated browsing with full Adobe® Flash® support* and get your heart racing in console-quality gaming with an NVIDIA® GeForce® GPU.

Are you ready for serious gaming? This is the first mobile device to bring an arcade-like gaming experience with 10 point multi-touch control for high-level gaming that’s on par with the best game consoles. And with preloaded full versions of top games like Electronic Arts ‘Need for Speed: SHIFT’ and Gameloft ‘Let’s Golf’, let the fun begin immediately!

The battery provides up to 8-hours of cable-free battery life giving you the freedom to experience the web, email, view photos and HD videos, play high-end games and read ebooks wherever you may be!

Stunning Design & Unique Extras

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Stay fully connected with friends and the latest buzz wherever you go.
Stand out with the Iconia Tab A500 designed with an aluminum casing that provides a cool, metallic tactile sensation, while the high-gloss anodized finish with textured engraving portrays sophistication. Additionally, the smooth, rounded surface ensures comfortable handling.

Snap photos, record videos or enjoy online chats with the 5MP autofocus rear-facing camera and 2MP front-facing camera the easily share on line.

SocialJogger puts your social life in one place so you can check updates from your Facebook® and Twitter contacts in a single glance! Enjoy face-to-face video chats and more with the 5MP rear-facing and 2MP front-facing camera.

Acer Clear.fiâ„¢ allows you to manage, store, share, and enjoy media betwee n any Clear.fi enabled devices, in any room throughout your home.

Acer Sync® lets you wirelessly synchronize your contacts, calendar, photos and video clips between your Acer Tab and PC.

USB ports and Micro-SD card allow for expansion and enhance connectivity.
Acer Iconia Tab A500-10S16u 10.1-Inch Tablet Computer (Aluminum Metallic)

more detailed information and comparisons click here

Acer Iconia A500 Tablet Review

A video review of the Acer Iconia Tab A500 Android Honeycomb tablet. Check out our full review at: www.mobiletechreview.com This is a relatively affordable 10.1" tablet with a capacitive display, 1GHz Tegra dual core CPU, 1GB RAM and 16GB internal storage. It has a microSD card slot that's enabled, front and rear cameras and an attractive aluminum casing. It competes with the more expensive Motorola Xoom WiFi only model since the A500 lacks 3G.

What acer laptop batteries will fit an acer 9300, I have a sneeking suspicion a acer g70 batt will do the job?

I wish to check because there is a battery that will work mine, I just don't know if it will fit. If it will then I can get a battery at the fifth of the going ate for acer 9300 batteries

Answer by Frank B
Here is one here: http://www.batteriesplus.com/products/548-0/3750-Notebook-Laptop-Batteries/103970-Acer/Aspire-9300/1.aspx When you go into details about the battery, you'll see all kinds of models it replaces...

What acer laptop batteries will fit an acer 9300, I have a sneeking suspicion a acer g70 batt will do the job?, Add your own answer in the comments!