Google Play combines Market, Books, Music and Videos

 

Android took a major step today as Google unified it's Google Music, Google Videos, Google Books and Android Market services into one. The new one-stop store goes by Google Play.

Google Play is Google's effort to put all of its downloadable content, be it apps, movies, music or eBooks and make it easily accessible using Cloud syncing. This would allow you to easily get any music tracks, videos and eBooks you purchase to all of your Android devices, just like with the apps from the Android Market so far.

To make the switch from Android Market to Google Play, the search giant will release an update for the Android Market app on devices running Android 2.2 or later over the coming days. So, from now on, it's officially Google Play, Google Play Music, Google Play Books and Google Play Movies.

How much music and videos, you ask? The company says that you can store up to 20,000 of your own songs plus any of the millions available for purchase in the Google Play itself. And with the app and video count growing literally by the minute, you can be sure that Google will certainly target global market dominance.

And to make sure it attracts more and more users, Google Play will be celebrating its launch by slashing prices on a ton of applications, books, music and movies. Sadly, the full power of Google Play will only be available in the United States at launch, while the rest of the world will have to have to sit on the sideline, looking enviously.

Finally, here's Google's introductory video to Google Play.

http://www.gsmarena.com/google_play_combines_market_books_music_and_videos-news-3943.php

 

 

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iOS 5.1 could have Facebook integration

 

Rumors of iOS 5.1 including native Facebook integration first surfaced in January when iMore found a contact field for your Facebook ID within the contacts app in iOS 5.1 beta 3. Now, we have come across some more evidence that should confirm this rumor.

Thanks to some super sleuthing by the guys at Techie Buzz, they have noticed that updates being sent from the native iOS Facebook app once again show up as sent via 'Facebook for iPhone' or ''Facebook for iPad', depending upon your device. If you remember, Facebook stopped showing this message a while back and would only show sent via 'Mobile', which is also what you see when you post an update through the Android app. This happened around the same time when Apple dropped Facebook sharing option from Ping.

But now it seems in preparation for the Facebook integration within iOS, Facebook has changed the way updates sent from the iOS app are being reported. And this is happening just a few hours before the iPad 3 event, where Apple is likely to also announce iOS 5.1. Meanwhile, updates sent from the Android app continue to be shown as sent via 'Mobile'.

So it seems Apple and Facebook have finally put aside their differences and decided to work together. The Facebook integration should come as a welcome addition and will benefit everyone involved, the user, Apple as well as Facebook.

http://www.gsmarena.com/ios_51_could_have_facebook_integration-news-3945.php

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MWC 2012 overview Samsung

 

There was no Galaxy S III from Samsung, contrary to expectations, but they did show a new phone - the Samsung Galaxy Beam, with (you guessed it) a built-in projector. It shared the spotlight with two 10.1-inch tablets, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 and the Tab 2 10.1.

The Galaxy Note 10.1 brings Samsung's S Pen stylus where it belongs - a big screen. We've no talent for painting whatsoever, but couldn't wait to try and sketch something on the Android version of Photoshop Touch.

The Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 should be a more affordable tablet (though pricing isn't revealed yet), with specs comparable to those of the original Tab 10.1. The Tab 2, however, tops the old version with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box and records FullHD video.

Samsung's earlier attempts to combine a phone and a portable microprojector fizzled out, but they're at it again. The Samsung Galaxy Beam is a fairly standard dual-core droid, with the notable exception of the nHD projector. It can project an image with a 50" diagonal.

MWC 2012: Samsung overview - GSMArena.com

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Nokia 701, 700 and 603 to get Belle FP1, same as 808 PureView

Nokia revealed that the Nokia 808 PureView runs Nokia Belle OS Feature Pack 1, which brings a number of improvements. Also, they have some good news and some bad news for owners of current Belle devices too, depending on what device you have.

The good news is that if you have Nokia 701, 700 or 603, then you'll be getting the feature pack soon. The bad news is that other devices (like the older ones that launched with Symbian^3 or the Nokia 500) are not invited to the party.

Here's some more good news/bad news - the 701 and 700 will both have their CPUs bumped to 1.3GHz by the update, matching the 808 PureView. The Nokia 603 will remain on 1GHz.

The Belle Feature Pack 1 update also brings a new, faster, HTML5-capable web browser, the Microsoft Apps and the latest version of Nokia Maps.

Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby Headphone will enhance the audio experience for both music and videos.

Belle FP1 will also improve the user interface though details on that are scarce - the multitasking bar has been updated and the notification bar is "even better". There are 20 new widgets included too.

The release for Belle Feature Pack 1 is planned for som

etime in the next few months.

Nokia 701, 700 and 603 to get Belle FP1, same as 808 PureView - GSMArena.com news

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Mobile World Congress 2012 coverage

The Mobile World Congress 2012 has closed its doors and what a wild ride it was. We saw all sorts of new gadgets and software and we did our best to cover everything interesting in sight. We've written tons of news, blog posts and hands-on impressions and have added many new phones and tablets to our specs database.

To make your life easier and save time navigating the content, we have our complete MWC 2012 coverage at a glance, including phone specs, news and hands-on impressions.

http://www.gsmarena.com/

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Sony releases Android 4.0 Beta ROM for certain Xperia handsets

Sony Mobile has released a beta of the Android 4.0.3 ROM for certain Xperia handsets. These include the Xperia arc S, Xperia neo V and Xperia ray. Compared to the alpha ROM released back in December, the beta enables GSM radio and FM radio functionalities, which means you can make and receive calls and browse the web. However, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth functionalities are still unavailable.

 

The new beta ROM includes features such as the new lockscreen, which includes the ability to control the music player and launching the camera. Sony will also include the face unlock feature found on the Galaxy Nexus in the final version, but it is currently unavailable. Other new features include the ability to bring up a list of messages that you can send after you decline a call and a new dialler app which features the highly useful quick dial mode.

Apart from this you get the usual Ice Cream Sandwich goodies, such as the new multi-tasking view and notification screen where you can use the swipe gesture to remove items from the screen. The beta ROM does not include the usual Google applications, however, such as Gmail, Google Maps, Android Market, etc. but they will obviously be added in the final version.

The ROM is now available for download on Sony's website but before you go ahead and download it do keep in mind all the limitations of the current ROM mentioned above. There are also some issues, such as having to unlock the bootloader, which means you won't be able to download the final version when it comes out a couple of months later. So make sure you go through all the warnings and instructions in the source link below before you install it on your phone.

GSMArena.com - Latest articles

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Acer CouldMobile shown off in a hands-on video

The Acer CloudMobile was recently shown off at an event in Milan, Italy to the press. The folks at Cellular Magazine who attended the event thankfully managed to get a hands-on video of the device in action. Unfortunately, the video is not in English but you can get a decent idea about the phone.

 

The Acer CloudMobile is easily the most interesting phone to have come out of Acer. In fact, it won an iF design award even before it was officially launched. But it's not just the design that's great about it. The CloudMobile also comes loaded with some pretty great features.

For starters there is Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich available out of the box, which instantly earns it major brownie points. Next it has a 4.3-inch, 720p display with on-screen virtual controls, just like on the Galaxy Nexus. The device in the video above also has a separate row of capacitive keys below the display but that can be excused since it is a prototype device. The device shown in the press images does not have these extra keys.

Next there is a 1.5GHz dual-core processor on the inside, 8 megapixel camera, HSPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC connectivity.

The phone is expected to be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress next week, which is when we will find out more about it.

GSMArena.com - Latest articles

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