Slowly but steadily, all Nexus devices are getting the latest Lollipop 5.0.2 update. Back in November, Google released the newest version of Lollipop for Wi-Fi only devices, and now the company has started releasing the same update for the cellular variants of the Asus Google Nexus 7 (both 2012 and 2013). Google has posted factory images on its official Developers page.
Users can download and install the update from the Google Developers > Nexus Factory Image.
The recent upgrade comes with build number LRX22G on the Nexus 7 (2012 and 2013) tablets. The company has directly jumped from Android 4.4.4 KitKat to Android 5.0.2 Lollipop, skipping Lollipop 5.0 and 5.0.1.
There is yet no information about the OTA (over-the-air) update and but users can keep a check on it by clicking Settings > System Update. The OTA update is expected to roll out soon.
Google launched the new Nexus 7 in the market recently and previously we covered that users are facing problems with the GPS in the tablet, it seems that the Nexus 7 is into the the trouble picture again, as per the new reports the Nexus 7 has some issue with its 1920 x 1200 display.
The video clip below demonstrates the bug , where touch targets are sporadically jumping around the screen, occasionally reversed and sometimes registered as a storm of semi-random taps.
Over the past few weeks, chatter on the XDA Developers and Google Product forums suggests it’s fairly common, with a response from Google on the latter stating: “The Android team is aware of this issue and investigating.”
While Google is still investigating this is the second problem that came up for the Nexus 7.
Google recently launched their new Nexus 7 tablet, and now a number of owners of the tablet have reported issues with GPS.
It seems that some owners of the NExus 7 have been having issues with the GPS system on the device, with the feature working ok for a short time before suddenly stopping. The device then reverts to the searching mode with the GPS icon continually flashing, and some owners have stated that a hard reboot sometimes does the trick but not always.
Some have changed the device for another one for the problem still to occur so it seems the bug is being caused by an issue with the Android 4.3 firmware, and we have already heard of issues with the software affecting other Nexus devices.
If it’s an issue with the Android code, a simple firmware update could squash the bug. If the problem lies with the GPS hardware, the only solution could be to send off for a replacement Nexus 7.
Apparently, Google has acknowledged this and are currently is working on a fix, but we are unsure when this come about. Comments on this situation can be seen over on the Google Product Forums, along with other problems encountered with the GPS signal, while others have said that rebooting the system can sometimes sort this issue out as reported above.
Google has announced the new Nexus 7 today, updating the look with a thinner, taller design and a 1920×1200 pixel IPS display.
The updated tablet is 2mm thinner and 50g lighter than its predecessor, but boasts a bunch of improved specs, such as a quad-core 1.5Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8064 SoC with Adreno 320 graphics and 2GB of RAM, a 5MP rear camera and 1.2MP front-facing shooter, a battery that lasts for 10 hours, and the brand new Android 4.3 software. There’s also dual speakers (on the back), NFC, HDMI, wireless charging and Bluetooth 4.0 on board, in case you needed more reasons to upgrade.
Three versions of the Nexus 7 tablet will be available: Wi-Fi only 16GB and 32GB models for $229 and $269 respectively, and the 4G LTE version launching in the coming weeks. Indian pricing and availability has not been announced yet.
Google has once again tapped Asus as the manufacturing partner for its own-branded tablet, and that’s great news for that OEM as the previous generation of the Nexus 7 was its best-selling tablet by most accounts.
Google’s latest foray into hardware arrives as competition in the tablet space continues to heat up, with options such as Apple’s iPad, Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab series.
Prolific leaker @evleaks has shared some press shots that give us a clear look at the front and rear of the new Nexus 7. The upcoming ASUS-made slate showed up in a BestBuy print catalogue as well.
According to a number of previous reports, the next Nexus 7 will sport 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 7-inch full HD display, wireless charging, 2/4GB of RAM, Android 4.3 and the aforementioned 5-megapixel rear camera and a 4000 mAH battery. We’ve also seen mentions of the upcoming tablet show up in a retailer’s inventory, so really all that’s left is for Google to make the device official.
Perhaps most tantalizing is the possibility that the Nexus 7 redux will offer up our first real glimpse of Android 4.3, unless you count those leaked builds that started trickling out soon after Google began selling its Google Play Edition Ones and S4s.
It would have been nice to see Google stick to the sub-$200 price point for the Nexus 7, however considering the spec sheet on this revised Nexus 7 it is actually a bit surprising that they are managing to hit $229. Safe bet we’ll be hearing more about the new Nexus 7 from Google this week so all will be revealed soon.
It’s also possible that the event will bring the official reveal of Android 4.3, which has been leaking quite frequently lately.
David Chang, ASUS’ CFO, stated last month that shipments of the Nexus 7 were initially slow, popping in around “500K units a month, then maybe 600, 700K.” He then declared October was a breakout month with shipments getting “close to one million.”
With the recent release of the 32GB Nexus 7 and 32GB 3G version you can expect interest to peak, especially at their low-cost price points. News today from an overseas report in DigiTimes claims that their supply chain sources believe that Nexus 7 shipments – all models – will reach 5 million units by year end. That’s not to hard to imagine as the above numbers total 2.8 million, so another 2.2 million in the next couple months is certainly possible.
It’s no secret that a lot of the tablet’s success is down to it’s brilliant pricing. For what you get with the Nexus 7, it’s incredible value for money and a price that no other Android tablet has yet matched. At it’s current pricing, you can get the Nexus 7 with 16GB of storage for $199 and the 32GB model for $249. As of last week there’s the addition of the 32GB Nexus 7 with 3G connectivity for $299, which is pretty cheap for a tablet of its specs with 3G, often the premium for 3G is a lot higher on tablets.
The tablet comes with 7-inch IPS display screen with a 1280×800 resolution and is powered by 1.3GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 processor. Other features of the tablet include 1GB RAM, 1.2-megapixel front camera and 4325mAh battery.
Apparently, an Asus Google Nexus 7 spontaneously combusted as a result of being plugged in to a standard wall charger.
The owner, who posted the set of images in a Chinese forum, claims she left the device to charge for a total of 3 hours using the factory OEM charger before the tablet went up in flames. As we’ve seen before, these types of incidents leave plenty of room for controversy, though it seems as though this particular case is legitimate. In fact, ASUS has already acknowledged the problem and has sent out a fresh replacement free of charge.
According to CNET, the owner will also be getting a free pair of Google Glass upon release, but it seems pretty unlike that Asus is going around promising people Google hardware, and there’s no evidence that Google itself has addressed the incident. Google Glass or no, it looks like Asus is fairly willing to bet this is going to be a one time event by providing a free replacement.
Until we hear something official from ASUS, you may want to make sure your device isn’t sitting next to anything valuable or flammable.
The Google Nexus 7 Tablet will go on sale today in India. Tablet maker Asus confirmed that sale of the tablet would begin today, with an entry level Nexus 7 with 16GB storage priced at Rs 19,990. The Nexus 7 available in India is not the new Android 4.2 variant recently announced but the original Jelly Bean version launched early this year.
The Nexus 7 has a 7-inch screen with IPS (in-plane switching) screen with a resolution of 1,280×800 pixels. The Nexus 7 has a 1.3GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core CPU, which includes a 12-core GPU. It also has a Micro-USB port, 1GB of RAM, and a 1.2-megapixel front camera . The Nexus 7 has been touted as one of the best 7 inch tablets and only stand in competition to Kindle Fire HD and the likes.
The Nexus 7 also has a more enhanced display according to display tech expert display mate. The Rs 19,999 price is for the Nexus 7 with 16GB storage. The same model sells in the US for $199. Until a few weeks ago, this model used to cost $249 while the one with 8GB storage was sold for $199. But on October 29, Google discontinued the 8GB version of Nexus 7. It reduced the price on 16GB model and introduced a new model with 32GB storage. It also launched the 3G version of Nexus 7 with 32GB storage.
Sales of Google and Asustek’s Nexus 7 tablet have steadily increased since its launch, and are now near 1 million units per month.
Asustek Chief Financial Officer David Chang told The Wall Street Journal that Nexus 7 sales have grown from a start of about 500,000 units in the first month. In the latest month of sales, the number was “close to 1 million.”
[quote]David Chang said , “At the beginning, it was, for instance, 500K units a month, then maybe 600, 700K. This latest month, it was close to 1 million.”[/quote]
Even though Apple sold some 14 million iPad for this quarter, 3 million devices for the quarter is a pretty big number for Google’s tiny tablet. Asus also showed a 43 percent jump in net profits — $230 million compared to $160 million last year, says the report.
The Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire face stiff competition from Apple’s new 7.9-inch iPad mini, which will go on sale this Friday. The iPad mini has a starting price of $329, which places it at a premium over the $199 entry price of the Kindle Fire HD and Nexus 7.
Late Monday, Google also released an upgraded version of the Nexus 7. The $199 version now has 16GB space while there’s another 32GB version with 3G for $299. Wi-Fi only 32GB Nexus 7 will cost $249.
The original 8GB Nexus 7 has been discontinued. The new version runs pure Google Android OS version 4.2 aka Jelly Bean.
Google today announced the Google Nexus 4 Smartphone, the Google Nexus 10 Tablet and the 32 GB version of the Google Nexus 7 tablet.
The Google Nexus 4, the newest smartphone in the Nexus line-up from Google, was announced today for availability starting next month in select markets.
[quote]“LG is proud and excited to play this role in helping build the latest Nexus smart-phone,” said Dr. Jong-seok Park, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Com-munications Company. “Users will be delighted by the perfectly balanced combination of form and function with the latest generation of Android.”[/quote]
The specs of the Google Nexus 4 include a 4.7-inch True HD IPS Plus display (1,280 x 768), an 8 megapixel rear camera, Gorilla Glass 2, a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 2GB of RAM and the latest rendition of Google Now. Turn-by-turn navigation via Google Maps is included, as are 3D Maps, Street View and Indoor Maps. The Nexus 4 will be sold unlocked, supporting some 200 carriers that play by the GSM / HSPA+ rules. It’ll be made available in both 8GB and 16GB versions starting November 13 in the US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Spain and Australia, with pricing set for $299 (8GB) / $349 (16GB).
[quote]“This is the first time we collaborated with LG to build a Nexus device,” said Andy Ru-bin, Senior Vice President of Mobile and Digital Content at Google. “They brought an extraordinary amount of talent to the project, and the result is a feature-packed device that feels great in your hand, and blazingly fast under the hood.”[/quote]
[toggle_box title=”Press Release” width=”Width of toggle box”]
LG AND GOOGLE ANNOUNCE NEXUS 4
Sleek, New Smartphone Combines LG’s Best-in-Class Hardware with the Best of Google
SEOUL, Oct. 30, 2012 – Designed collaboratively by LG and Google, Nexus 4, the newest smartphone in the Nexus line-up from Google, was announced today for avail-ability starting next month in select markets. With a sophisticated hardware design from LG, your favorite Google Apps, and the latest version of Android™, Nexus 4 puts the best of Google in the palm of your hand.
“LG is proud and excited to play this role in helping build the latest Nexus smart-phone,” said Dr. Jong-seok Park, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Com-munications Company. “Users will be delighted by the perfectly balanced combination of form and function with the latest generation of Android.”
“This is the first time we collaborated with LG to build a Nexus device,” said Andy Ru-bin, Senior Vice President of Mobile and Digital Content at Google. “They brought an extraordinary amount of talent to the project, and the result is a feature-packed device that feels great in your hand, and blazingly fast under the hood.”
Capture and share your world Nexus 4 comes with a high-performance 8MP camera and takes stunning Photo Sphere images, letting you capture every detail of the world around you. Up, down and all around you, it’s like no camera you’ve ever seen; with Nexus 4, you can snap pictures in every direction that come together into incredible, immersive Photo Spheres that put you right inside the scene. Plus, photos upload themselves with Instant Upload so you’ll never lose a shot.
All of this comes to life with stunning clarity and crisp, natural color on the vibrant 1280-by-768 4.7-inch True HD IPS Plus display supported by Zerogap Touch technol-ogy. Gently curved glass edges allow your finger to slide smoothly on and off the 320ppi screen, while cutting edge display technology means you feel like you’re touch-ing every pixel, protected by scratch resistant Corning? Gorilla? Glass 2.
Built for speed Nexus 4 comes with a cutting-edge Qualcomm Snapdragon™ S4 Pro processor, so you’ve got speed and power to spare. Zip around the web, experience rich 3D graphics and gameplay, and effortlessly switch between multiple apps without ever missing a beat. With 2GB of RAM and the fastest version of Android ever, Nexus 4 is the snappi-est Nexus smartphone yet.
Information at your fingertips Nexus 4 comes with the latest Google apps, putting the best of Google in the palm of your hand. The latest version of Google Now is built-in, which keeps you even more organized – get reminders about upcoming flights, restaurant reservations, hotel confir-mations and even nearby photo opportunities – when and where you need them.
Get to the places you care about quickly and easily with Google Maps™ for Android. With turn-by-turn GPS navigation, live traffic info, and integrated driving, walking and public transit directions, getting from A to B has never been easier. 3D Maps and rich satellite imagery give you a more realistic sense of what’s around you while features like Street View and Indoor Maps make sure you always know what’s in front of you.
Nexus 4 is sold unlocked and is GSM/HSPA+ compatible so it will operate on more than 200 network providers worldwide. Just pop in a supported SIM card and be up and running in no time. It will be available to purchase in both an 8GB version and a 16GB version on Google Play™ starting November 13 in the US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Spain and Australia. Offline availability in Europe, Central/South Americas, Asia, CIS and the Middle East will begin from the end of November.
[/toggle_box]
Also, Google released the 32GB version of the Nexus 7 tablet, signalling an end to the 8GB version. The 16GB Google Nexus 7 has now taken center stage in Google’s Play Store, with $199 netting you a slate that’s currently boasting a “now shipping” status. Those willing to fork out $249 can get a 32GB model (also listed as “In Stock”), while $299 provides access to a GSM-enabled 32GB model that’ll hop onto cellular networks — unfortunately, that one’s listed as “coming soon.”
And last but not least, out comes the iPad rival from Google’s stable, the Google Nexus 10. The new tablet, built in collaboration with Samsung, has one big bragging point — the highest resolution display of any tablet on the market — a 2560 x 1600, 300ppi, 10-inch touchscreen. Google promises about 9 hours of continuous video playback and about 500 hours of standby time. Despite being a Nexus device, the new tablet picks up on the design language of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Note 10.1. It features a pair of front-facing stereo speakers on either side of the display (when it’s held in a landscape orientation) plus an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 1.9-megapixel front camera for video chats. Under the hood, there’s a dual-core processor, 2GB of RAM and built-in NFC. It also gets a built-in micro-HDMI port.
Like the Nexus 4, the Google Nexus 10 will ship with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. One new 4.2 feature Nexus 10 users may enjoy is the ability to have multiple user profiles on a single device. The Nexus 10 will ship on Nov. 13 at a price of $400 for 16GB of storage and $500 for 32GB.
If you jumped onto the Play Store today looking to pick up an 8GB version of the tab in time for the holidays, you may have noticed the $200 8GB has been completely sold out, listed as “coming soon.” So what gives? Well, there have been whisperings that Google could have plans to completely phase out the 8GB version of the Google Nexus 7, in favor of offering the 16GB models for the exact same price.
Google is expected to announce a 32GB Google Nexus 7 tablet, both Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity, at their upcoming “playground is open” Android event on October 29th. Google has yet to confirm the news of a new version of the tablet, but some retails have received stock and unofficially started selling them.
From day one, many have complained that the 8GB version of the N7 simply lacked sufficient storage (5.6GB usable), and dropping it entirely sort of makes sense at this point, particularly with both the iPad Mini and Kindle Fire HD starting at 16GB. The 8GB retailed for $209 and hopefully a massive price drop for the 16GB version is en route…
Of course, it could just come back tomorrow, and we could be wrong, but hey, the timing is right, and our gut instinct here tells us otherwise.
Google announced today that it is rolling out a minor update to Jelly Bean in the form of Android 4.1.2. This minor bump brings performance and stability improvements to the Android Open Source Project, on which many custom ROMs are based, as well as specific improvements to devices like the Nexus 7.
The software update also adds a key feature to devices running the Jelly Bean software: home screen rotation support. Prior to this update, all Android 4.1 devices use portrait mode for the home screens, even when the smartphone or tablet is in landscape mode, making for a disjointed experience.
In fact, upon the announcement it was discovered that the update is already being pushed to Nexus 7 devices all over the world, with the added bonus of bringing landscape support to the stock launcher.
According to Google’s resident AOSP guru, Jean-Baptiste Queru, the update is especially important for the Nexus 7 as it corresponds with a slight hardware change.
[quote]
We’re releasing Android 4.1.2 to AOSP today, which is a minor update on top of 4.1.1. As a note to maintainers of community builds running on Nexus 7: please update to 4.1.2 at the first opportunity. Future variants of the grouper hardware will have a minor change in one of the components (the power management chip) that will not be compatible with 4.1.1.
The build number is JZO54K, and the tag is android-4.1.2_r1.
– Jean-Baptiste M. “JBQ” Queru Technical Lead, Android Open Source Project, Google
[/quote]
It’s expected that Android 4.1.2 will roll out to other Nexus devices, including Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S and Motorola Xoom, over the next few weeks.
Google’s Nexus 7 Tab joins the iFixit list of tear downs, with the tablet being torn apart by the experts. Several discoveries were made during the teardown, including the fact that the display is permanently attached to the gorilla glass front. The 7-inch, 1280×800 HD display is manufactured by Hydis and designated model HV070WX2.
Google has launched their first official Tablet dubbed the “Nexus 7”. Priced aptly or in-fact cheaply at US $ 199 the Tablet will ship with Jelly Bean Android 4.1 out of the Box . The Nexus 7 is made by ASUS and has a 7” 1280×800 HD display (216 ppi), which is a Back-lit IPS display, and has Corning Gorilla Glass front.
The Nexus 7 is powered by a Quad-core Tegra 3 processor and has a 4325 mAh battery, it has a 1.2MP front-facing camera and weighs only 340 grams.
You get two storage options 8 or 16 GB internal storage and Nexus 7 comes standard with 1 GB of RAM. At just 10.4 mm thick the Tablet is pretty slim and has the standard features like, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth. Apart from that the Nexus 7 also has Microphone, NFC (Android Beam), an Accelerometer, GPS, Magnetometer and a Gyroscope.
Dimensions of the Nexus 7 are 198.5 x 120 x 10.45mm and there is a micro USB for charging + Data Sync.
With the Music Manager, you can easily import your entire iTunes music library* into Google Play. Once your music is imported it automatically becomes available on Nexus 7. Take your music anywhere with Nexus 7. When you upload your existing music library to Google Play (up to 20,000 songs for free ) you can stream all your tracks and playlists from the cloud.
Google Now will also come to the Nexus 7, it tells you today’s weather before you start your day, how much traffic to expect before you leave for work, when the next train will arrive as you’re standing on the platform, or your favorite team’s score while they’re playing. The Knowledge database build around your likes and wants and build your phone to become more and more personal over time.
Your Standard Google Apps come preloaded on the Nexus 7, and the Chrome Browser finally exits Beta to come into final release. Everything is designed to work seamlessly on the Nexus 7. Excited Yet? We Are!