“The Galaxy S5 Prime really seems intent on appearing in a new rumor or leak every single day.”
Amazon Prime Was Too Good to Be True After All
“The price of “free” two-day shipping is about to go up. That was the message from Amazon executives last week, who said that shipping costs would probably force them to raise the price of the company’s popular Amazon Prime program. Now $79 per year, the cost could go up $20 to $40 more.”
Nova Launcher & Prime for ICS 4.0 for the Win!
Nova Launcher has made it’s way out of the beta stage and into the Android Market. This Ice Cream Sandwich launcher is chock full of features you won’t find in the stock launcher, and comes highly recommended by our own Android Central forums Super Moderator Cyber Warrior. A look at the feature list and we see why:
Custom homescreen grid
Scrollable dock
Scroll effects
Infinite scrolling
Custom folder icons
Backup/Restore
Custom app icons
The paid version offers up even more, like gestures, dock swiping, and the ability to hide apps in your app drawer.
If you found the stock Android launcher in ICS a bit lacking, you should really give Nova Launcher a look. It requires Android 4.0 and both free and a paid $4 version are available in the Market
via Android Central.
Galaxy Nexus for Verizon Wireless hands-on photos and preview
From TheVerge.com: By Dante D’Orazio on December 3, 2011 05:06 pm
We got our hands on a Verizon Wireless-bound Galaxy Nexus today, courtesy of the Samsung Experience store in New York City (thanks to Droid Life for tracking this one down). Unfortunately the price and release date are still nowhere to be found, though we were told that it may be coming in “the next few days.” The phone was identical to the GSM variant that’s been available for a few weeks in many ways, though it was thicker. Not terribly so — around a half millimeter, according to the official specs — but it’s noticeable, particularly if you’re coming from the GSM model as we were.
Other than the size difference, the LTE version has 32GB of internal storage and two pieces of Verizon-branded software: My Verizon Mobile and VZ Backup Assistant. As advertised, they can both be disabled from Android 4.0’s built-in app manager. Unfortunately, we couldn’t test the speeds that LTE offered the device (there’s no SIM card installed), though we did find an LTE toggle down in the network settings. Lastly, a quick peek behind the battery cover showed that things have been rearranged a bit — the SIM card slot is now on the left side. For more details on the LTE Galaxy Nexus, check out the gallery below and our product page!
KEY FACTS
We’ve confirmed that the model on display has 32GB of internal storage.
There are two Verizon apps installed: My Verizon Mobile and VZ Backup Assistant. Both can be disabled by the user.
We’ve heard rumors of Android 4.1 floating around on these units, but the one in the store is running 4.0.1, which is the same version that GSM users currently have.
The Verizon model is roughly half a millimeter thicker than the GSM one, and you can definitely see it when you’re holding the two side by side (in the profile view, that is). We don’t think it’ll bother users in the slightest, though — especially if you’ve never held the GSM model.
The coloration of the body is very slightly lighter than the GSM model’s, but the difference is pretty minor.
Behind the battery cover, the SIM card has moved from the top edge to the left side (looking at the back of the phone), perhaps to make room for LTE guts.
http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/3/2608598/galaxy-nexus-verizon-lte-hands-on
Google, Samsung postpone phone launch event out of respect for Steve Jobs
Google and Samsung have canceled an event planned for next week where the companies were supposed to announce the first smartphone based on Android "Ice Cream Sandwich," a move reportedly made in response to the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
The two companies are said to have rescheduled the event out of respect for Jobs, sources told Ina Fried of All Things D. The companies were originally scheduled to show off the next version of Google’s Android operating system, dubbed Ice Cream Sandwich, along with a new "Nexus" smartphone built by Samsung on Tuesday.
"Sources said the companies just felt it was the wrong time to hold a launch event, as the world continues mourning Jobs, who died on Wednesday," Fried wrote.
Samsung and Google earlier on Friday issued a joint statement stating they would postpone the "Samsung Mobile Unpacked" event during the CTIA trade show in San Diego, Calif. "Under the current circumstances, both parties have agreed that this is not the appropriate time for the announcement of a new product," the press release vaguely said.
The move by Samsung and Apple is particularly interesting because Apple has not changed its plans to launch the iPhone 4S next week. The company began taking preorders earlier Friday for the handset’s Oct. 14 launch.
Both Google and Samsung have paid their respects to Jobs since he died after a long bout with cancer on Wednesday at the age of 56. Google’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, formerly served as a member on Apple’s board of directors.
Teasers for the now-postponed event have teased that the companies will show off "something big." Reports have indicated the new handset will sport a curved screen with a 4.65-inch display, and will be the first handset to run Android 4.0.
via AppleInsider | Google, Samsung postpone phone launch event out of respect for Steve Jobs.
