Samsung's Galaxy Nexus banned in the US

Following the news earlier this week that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1  has been blocked from sale in the US due to a patent dispute filed by Apple, the Samsung-made Galaxy Nexus has been taken off the market in the US by way of a judge's order while the heated Apple-Samsung patent disputes continue.

Apple was granted a preliminary injunction barring the sales of the devices. Apple has cited Samsung as 'slavishly copying' the design, functionality and look and feel of its iPhone and iPad products.

A report from the BBC states that, "US District Judge Lucy Koh said Apple 'has shown a likelihood of establishing both infringement and validity'. 

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh stressed that Apple had made a strong case that Samsung was infringing on a variety of patents, including but not limited to technology for simultaneously searching multiple databases.

This is a function found in Apple's "Siri" voice-automated assistant program used on the iPhone 4S. The Siri personal assistant is  the marquee feature of the latest iPhone.

The injunction will go into effect once  Apple delivers a bond of about $95.6 million. The bond will be used to offset Samsung's losses if the court resolves that it did not infringe on Apple's patents as claimed.

The outcome of this critical patent lawsuit is likely to affect the future product offerings of competitors in the smartphone and tablet markets. The case is set to go to trial in late July.

Source: BBC.co.uk

Google launches $199 Nexus 7 Android tablet with Jellybean OS, targets Amazon's Kindle Fire

If you are an Android tablet manufacturer that has a 7-inch product that costs more than $200, take heed. Google just released their Nexus 7 tablet which boasts a quad-core or 12-core processor, runs the latest Android 4.1 Jellybean OS and is deeply integrated with their books, media, gaming and now magazine strategy. If you are Amazon, maker of the profoundly popular (in the US only) Kindle Fire, take heed. The Nexus 7, made by ASUS, will be available to the US, Canada and UK.

Nexus Tablet photos leak ahead of Google I/O

Could this be the upcoming Google Nexus Tablet expected to debut at Google I/O this week?  As a report posted on Gizmodo Australia states, "the Nexus 7 tablet will feature a 1.3Ghz quad-core Tegra 3 processor, a GeForce 12-core GPU, a 7-inch display, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and 1GB of RAM. The ASUS-built device will apparently be available in two different models that vary by storage capacity — an 8GB version will launch for $199 and a 16GB model will cost $249."

Google I/O, which takes place June 27-29 in San Francisco and is the developer event for all things Google. Stay tuned for our remote liveblog here of the event and the corresponding announcements. Products released in previous Google I/O's include the Nexus smartphones, GoogleTV and the Google Chromebook.

Source: Gizmodo Australia

             BGR

First Impressions: Google Galaxy Nexus

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

I just came from the briefing on the Google Galaxy Nexus, the first Android smartphone in the market with the new and unified Ice Cream Sandwich OS from Google. Exclusive to Bell and Virgin Mobile in Canada until Q1 2012, the device will start shipping early December.  Here are our first impressions.

I've bought and owned both the-HTC made Nexus One and Samsung's Google Nexus S as my personal devices, which were the 'hero' smartphones that exemplified what an Android device should be. In terms of specs and unadulterated Android experience, these two smartphones were months ahead in features and functionality. 

Today, we spent some time with the Nexus Galaxy during a 30 minute briefing and here is our rundown of impressions.

• I was told that Samsung and Google collaborated on this from the start and that it was designed from the ground up for Ice Cream Sandwich (Android OS 4.0)
• It is much like a larger but slimmed down Google Nexus S, similar contoured shape but much more refined and it is light. As Samsung's Director, Wireless Product Realization Vlastimir Lalovik said, "it weighs as much as a Kit Kat."
• The device is mostly plastic although the rear is finished with a grippier design so it isn't as slippery as the Nexus S. That being said, our first impression is that HTC's Raider and Amaze smartphones and even Motorola's Droid RAZR feel more substantial because of the integrated materials. Again, nothing too different from many of the previous and current Samsung smartphones. Still, it feels very well put together but we would definitely get a case for it.
• 16GB capacity and no expansion for microSD which is unfortunate for such a multimedia savvy device but all the Nexus Samsung phones were not expandable. Seriously though Google, would it kill you to put a microSD slot in these things?
• There is deep integration with Google+ and the web browsing experience has also been substantially made faster.
• It loads pages quickly and the pinch to zoom experience is instantaneous, one of the best we've experienced, very responsive and rendering and resizing of complex webpages (with animated banners and videos was fast)
• The  4.65" high-definition sAMOLED display is stunning and not sickeningly saturated like earlier AMOLED screens. Lalovik told us it has been optimized for text and for reading plus it should be better for viewing outdoors. This has an edge-to-edge 720p screen high-definition playback capability, great for video details.
• The NFC capability as well as the software has been updated for bumping info back and forth.
• The 5 megapixel camera is quite good, fast to deploy and the zero shutter lag works as advertised, almost as fast as the iPhone 4S. The sweep panorama feature stitches sequential photos really fast, faster than Photosynth on iOS 5. Now, the fact that is a 5 megapixel camera on a flagship device where older devices have an 8 megapixel camera might be an issue for some, but good photos aren't about megapixels per se...we look forward to testing this camera overall.
• Ice Cream Sandwich has been optimized to take advantage of the 1.2GHz dual core processor which might result not only in noticeably faster performance all around but also improved battery life and system management.
• We liked that the Galaxy Nexus has no dedicated home, back and menu buttons, these are now soft buttons that are part of the screen and adjust depending on the orientation.
• Accessories include car docks as well as a multimedia dock for playing back video or music.
• Overall, the Galaxy Nexus is like a spiffed up Galaxy S II without the TouchWiz and with a more contoured and swooping design.

Stay tuned for more updates during the week.