The CNET crew is poised to bring you complete coverage of the launch of Samsung's Galaxy Nexus smartphone, along with Google's Android Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, from the companies' joint event tonight in Hong Kong.
There's hardly a need to guess at the design, thanks to a trigger-happy Samsung employee, who seems to have briefly published the top-secret Web page on Samsung's site hours before the event (see photo above). (P.S.: It looks like the preorder Web site will live here when Samsung publishes it.
Our hardworking team from CNET Asia in Singapore will be on-site with the rest of the news and hands-on impressions. Meanwhile, we follow along stateside with the official YouTube stream, embedded below. Join us here for all the news, and stick around CNET for plenty of finger-licking commentary.
The event kicks off tonight at 7 p.m. PT (that's 10 p.m. ET and 10 a.m. in Hong Kong).
So let's recap what went down in the world of Android yesterday.
At Motorola's New York City event, the company had two products to show. First up was MotoActv, a watch-like device that's all about fitness. It plays music to help motivate you, sure, but it also tracks your heart rate and how far you've walked, run or biked. On-board GPS will keep you from getting lost during those hikes in the woods (as well as keeping tabs on your daily routes). There's a website component (motoactv.com) to monitor your improvements and do the usual social stuff. You can add a wireless headset, too. An 8 GB model is $249 and 16 GB goes for $299.
So that was quite a surprise, but the other product, the Droid Razr smartphone, was pretty much just what everyone anticipated. Let's run down the specs: A dual-core 1.2Ghz TI OMAP 4430 processor, 1 GB RAM, a 4.3" Super AMOLED, 960 x 540 display (with Gorilla Glass to protect it) and a Kevlar backplate! Camera is 8 megapixel and capable of 1080P video recording. 16 GB of onboard storage and 16 GB additional on a MicroSD card. The phone is just 7.1mm thick (though a little thicker at one end where the camera is) and in the US it'll be on Verizon with LTE support.
The (potentially) bad news is that it's running Gingerbread, not Ice Cream Sandwich, and the battery isn't removable. The Droid Razr is going up for pre-sale on Oct. 27th for $300 with a 2-year contract, and it's expected to ship in early-mid November.
The Xoom was notably absent from the Motorola event.
So that was exciting, but then last night we got to watch (poorly, the video quality wasn't very good) the Google/Samsung event. As promised, this was the roll-out of Android 4, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich [ICS], and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the first phone to debut with ICS installed. As with other Nexus phones you're getting stock Android without any kind of carrier-provided overlays or bloatware.
Specs for this device are once again a dual-core 1.2Ghz processor (this time the TI OMAP 4460), 1 GB RAM, a 4.65" Super AMOLED display running at 720P. Camera is only 5 megapixel but Samsung promises "zero shutter lag" and 1080P video capture. It isn't as thin as the Razr but it's still pretty thin: 8.94mm. Both 16GB and 32GB versions will be available but I haven't seen confirmation on a MicroSD slot yet. It's possible there isn't one. LTE here too, though there will also be an HSPA+ model.
A few nifty new features that come compliments of ICS are a facial unlock system (point the phone at your face and it recognizes you and unlocks) and "Android Beam," a way to share content by touching two phones together (this works via the NFC feature of the Nexus). Less sexy but extremely useful was a way to monitor data usage on an app by app basis and even turn off the ability of specific apps to use data unless the phone is on a WiFi network.
No official price was offered but the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is shipping in November. Earlier leaks say it'll be $299 with a 2-year contract on Verizon in the US. I'm going to guess that would be for the 16 GB model.
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Hamas and Israel exchange prisoners
The first phase of a prisoner swap deal between Hamas and Israel has now concluded, with over 400 Palestinian prisoners released by Israel in exchange for the handing over of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who was captured by Hamas five years ago.
Shalit was handed over to Egyptian officials at the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, and was then taken by Israeli officials to the Tel Nof air base.
The release prompted the release of 477 Palestinian prisoners by Israel to Gaza and elsewhere.
In an interview with Egyptian television at Rafah, Shalit said that he hoped that the deal that allowed for his release on Tuesday would help Israelis and Palestinians achieve peace.
Click here to follow our Gaza Live Blog
"I will be very happy if all Palestinian prisoners are freed so they can go back to their families [...] I hope this deal could help reach peace between Israelis and the Palestinians and strengthen cooperation," he said.
He said that he feared that he would be in captivity for "many more years", but was "very excited" to be headed home.
Shalit was in Israeli hands for the first time in five years and four months, reported Al Jazeera's Cal Perry from Jerusalem.
He was received by Israeli army officers and doctors, and was in "good and stable health" a statement from the Israeli army said.
He was allowed to speak with his family over the telephone at an Israeli army base near the crossing point, and then flown via helicopter to the Tel Nof air base in central Israel, to be reunited with his mother and father, and to meet with senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the statement said.
PM Netanyahu warned the released Palestinian prisoners that if they were deemed to have returned to violence, they would be punished.
"We will continue to fight terror and every released terrorist who returns to terror will be held accountable."
Shalit later will be flown to his home in northern Israel.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Mark Regev, the Israeli PM's spokesman, said that his government had allowed the Red Cross regular access to Palestinian prisoners, adding "they didn't look like [Shalit], who's come out of five years living in a hole under the ground".
"We are releasing today people who are guilty of the most heinous crimes against humanity. People who blew up bombs in restaurants, killing families, killing children," he said.
On Shalit's comments regarding his hope that the swap will help in any negotiations regarding peace, Regev said:
FACTBOX: Where are the prisoners going to go?
1-131: Homes in Gaza Strip
132 - 186: Homes in occupied West Bank (oWB) or East Jerusalem
187 - 241: Under security in oWB or East Jerusalem
242 - 281: Abroad
282 - 299: Gaza Strip (for three years)
300 - 444: Gaza Strip
445 - 450: Homes in Israel
451 - 477: Homes in oWB, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem
473: Home in Jordan
474: Home in Gaza Strip
For the list of the first phase of prisoners to be released click here
"I think Gilad Shalit was expressing the hope of all Israelis, that we hope to live in peace and reconciliation with our neighbours. [...]
Shalit was handed over to Egyptian officials at the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, and was then taken by Israeli officials to the Tel Nof air base.
The release prompted the release of 477 Palestinian prisoners by Israel to Gaza and elsewhere.
In an interview with Egyptian television at Rafah, Shalit said that he hoped that the deal that allowed for his release on Tuesday would help Israelis and Palestinians achieve peace.
Click here to follow our Gaza Live Blog
"I will be very happy if all Palestinian prisoners are freed so they can go back to their families [...] I hope this deal could help reach peace between Israelis and the Palestinians and strengthen cooperation," he said.
He said that he feared that he would be in captivity for "many more years", but was "very excited" to be headed home.
Shalit was in Israeli hands for the first time in five years and four months, reported Al Jazeera's Cal Perry from Jerusalem.
He was received by Israeli army officers and doctors, and was in "good and stable health" a statement from the Israeli army said.
He was allowed to speak with his family over the telephone at an Israeli army base near the crossing point, and then flown via helicopter to the Tel Nof air base in central Israel, to be reunited with his mother and father, and to meet with senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the statement said.
PM Netanyahu warned the released Palestinian prisoners that if they were deemed to have returned to violence, they would be punished.
"We will continue to fight terror and every released terrorist who returns to terror will be held accountable."
Shalit later will be flown to his home in northern Israel.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Mark Regev, the Israeli PM's spokesman, said that his government had allowed the Red Cross regular access to Palestinian prisoners, adding "they didn't look like [Shalit], who's come out of five years living in a hole under the ground".
"We are releasing today people who are guilty of the most heinous crimes against humanity. People who blew up bombs in restaurants, killing families, killing children," he said.
On Shalit's comments regarding his hope that the swap will help in any negotiations regarding peace, Regev said:
FACTBOX: Where are the prisoners going to go?
1-131: Homes in Gaza Strip
132 - 186: Homes in occupied West Bank (oWB) or East Jerusalem
187 - 241: Under security in oWB or East Jerusalem
242 - 281: Abroad
282 - 299: Gaza Strip (for three years)
300 - 444: Gaza Strip
445 - 450: Homes in Israel
451 - 477: Homes in oWB, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem
473: Home in Jordan
474: Home in Gaza Strip
For the list of the first phase of prisoners to be released click here
"I think Gilad Shalit was expressing the hope of all Israelis, that we hope to live in peace and reconciliation with our neighbours. [...]
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