Blog Archives
Google Acquires Motorola Mobility – Officially It’s Done
In a discreet blog, Google announced “We’ve Acquired Motorola Mobility”.
In a battle that has been waging on and off for the last 12 months, Google have now cleared the final obstacle, which was the Chinese Regulators, and have cleared and completed the USD$12.5Bn dollard acquisition.
This is a large turn for Google who has always been a software maker, and now cements them as one of the largest Android handset manufacturers in the World, certainly the #1 choice in the USA.
Google CEO Larry Page was quoted, “The phones in our pockets have become supercomputers that are changing the way we live. It’s now possible to do things we used to think were magic, or only possible on Star Trek—like get directions right from where we are standing; watch a video on YouTube; or take a picture and share the moment instantly with friends.
It’s why I’m excited to announce today that our Motorola Mobility deal has closed. Motorola is a great American tech company that has driven the mobile revolution, with a track record of over 80 years of innovation, including the creation of the first cell phone. We all remember Motorola’s StarTAC, which at the time seemed tiny and showed the real potential of these devices. And as a company who made a big, early bet on Android, Motorola has become an incredibly valuable partner to Google.”
The more interesting and no doubt valuable asset, is Motorola’s 17,000+ mobile hardware and software patents (and another 7,000+ pending), that are now owned by Google and Android.
This is certainly a move to block out Apple and any other competitors’ access to the highly prized patented systems.
But what will the future hold. This is a bold move for Google, who have relied on both Motorola and more recently Samsung to produce their vanilla, flagship Nexus range of phones.
Will Google also succeed in hardware innovation as much as they have in software innovation? We’d like to bet yes, but only time will tell.
Source: Google
When Will Your Phone Get ICS?
We are sharing this excellent information from Android Australia, as we felt it was just what the Doctor ordered and is right on the money!
So thanks to Josh Berg from Android Australia, here is the complete and concise list, right up to date!
Now without further to do, here it is:
HTC -
Official statement has been made stating that certain phones will receive the much sought after update. This includes:
- Sensation - rollouts to begin in March 2012.
- Sensation XL
- Sensation XE - rollouts to begin in March 2012.
- Velocity 4G - Update received!
- EVO 3D
- Desire S
- Desire HD
- Incredible S
- Explorer
- Rhyme
If you’re in America or have an American phone, HTC will also offer support for the
- Rezound
- Sensation 4G
- EVO Design 4G
- Amaze 4G
- Vivid
- Thunderbolt
- Flyer
- DROID Incredible 2
- Incredible S
Let’s hope Telstra’s newly announced 4G phone, the HTC Velocity, will have an upgrade heading its way. For the first 4G phone in Australia it would be preposterous if it were to miss out on some Ice Cream Sandwich UPDATED: HTC Velocity 4G to be updated to Android 4.0 ICS.
Please read our article about the future of HTC Sense and Android 4.0
SAMSUNG -
Sadly the Samsung Galaxy S and the original Galaxy Tab will not be receiving the update. However, Samsung has made up for the bad news with a long list of devices to be updated -
- Galaxy S II - Vodafone are in testing, while Optus and Telstra have stated an early April roll out. European countries and Korea have begun receiving the update!
- Galaxy S II 4G
- Galaxy S II HD
- Galaxy Note
- Galaxy R
- Galaxy Tab 7.0
- Galaxy Tab 7.7
- Galaxy Tab 8.9 - said to receive the update shortly (as of March 15th)
- Galaxy Tab 10.1 - said to receive the update shortly (as of March 15th)
Samung’s updates are expected to be rolled out to phones at some point in Q1 2012, with rumours circulating that most upgrades will arrive around April.
MOTOROLA -
Motorola have a relatively ‘quiet’ list, with only three devices expecting (one already receiving!) updates.
The -
- RAZR - rollouts begin in Q2 2012.
- BIONIC
- PRO+
- MOTOLUXE
- XOOM WiFi – rollouts begin in Q2 2012.
- XOOM WiFi + 3G
- XOOM 2 – rollouts begin in Q3 2012.
- XOOM 2 Media Edition – rollouts begin in Q3 2012.
- ATRIX
- ATRIX 2 – rollouts begin in Q3 2012.
ASUS:
The newly released quad-core Transformer Prime has already been issued the upgrade. The original Transformer (TF101) has also now received the tasty goodness of Ice Cream Sandwich.
ACER:
According to Tablet Online (in Polish), the A100, A101, A500 and A501 tablets will be upgraded in early 2012. UPDATE: The Australian sector of ACER have also confirmed that the A200 will be receiving the Ice Cream Sandwich update.
HP:
The HP TouchPad has life again! Although ICS on HP’s abandoned device doesn’t do any more than boot up at this point, it is still something! For all of you who grabbed one for $99 in the famous fire sale, I envy you!
A more stable and refined ICS edition for the TouchPad is expected in the first half of 2012.
SONY:
Sony have stated they will be rolling out the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update to the entire 2011 Xperia line.
This includes the:
- Xperia Arc
- Xperia Arc S
- Xperia PLAY
- Xperia Neo
- Xperia Neo V
- Xperia Mini
- Xperia Mini Pro
- Xperia Pro
- Xperia Active
- Xperiaray
Sony have also announced that the Sony Tablet S will be receiving the update in Q1 2012.
Source: Android Australia
