Google is cramming more gadgets on to get already crowded holiday shopping lists. New devices announced include the latest Nexus smartphone and a larger version of the Nexus 7 tablet. It's also adding celular capabilities to the Nexus 7 and doubling the capacity of the models.
The Nexus 4 smartphone is being made by LG and features a minor update to Google's Android OS, which now powers more than 500 million devices worldwide. A more comprehensive makeover, known as Key lime Pie, is expected next year.
The larger Nexus tablet is being made by Samsung and features a display screen that measures about 10 inches diagonally, about the same size as Apple's top-selling iPad.
Google's introduction of a larger tablet comes less than a week after Apple announced it's making a smaller less expensive iPad, with a 7.9-inch display, to compete with the Nexus 7 and Amazon.com's Kindle Fire.
Some analysts have questioned whether consumers will balk at the iPad Mini's $329 price for a device with 16 gigabytes of storage. Google is widening the price difference between the iPad Mini and its smaller tablet by cutting $50 off the price of a comparable, 16-gigabyte Nexus 7, to $199.The 8-gigabyte version, which had sold for $199, will be discontinued. A Nexus 7 with 32 gigabytes of storage is being introduced for $249 in an apparent effort to discourage even more people from buying the iPad Mini. The cheapest Nexus 7 is still pricier than the Kindle Fire, which starts at $159 for a no-frills model.
The Nexus 10 tablet with 16 gigabytes of storage will sell for $399.That's $100 less than the comparable version of the latest iPad, though the older iPad 2 is still available at that price. Both the Nexus 10 and the new Nexus 7 models will allow multiple users to create separate personal profiles on the devices by using differenet account names and passwords.
The Nexus 4 phone boasts a 4.7-inch screen, larger than Apple's recently released iPhone 5 and just slightly smaller than Samsung's flagship phone, the Galaxy S III. A contact-free version is available for $299 with 8 gigabytes of storage and $349 for the 16-gigabyte model. Google is touting the Nexus 4's wireless charging capability as a major selling point.
Besides adding more hardware to its online store, Google is expanding its music library to include Warner Music Group's catalog. Warner had been the only holdout among the major music labels when Google began selling music a year ago to compete with Apple's iTunes stores.
The Android update includes a faeture called Gesture Typing, which tries to anticipate what words a user wants to enter as they are entering text. The guesses are based on an analysis of typical sentence structures and user's past entries. Another new feature called Photo Sphere stitches together 360-degree pictures of rooms and landscapes. The high-res photo created with this tool are similar to the shots shown in Google's Street View features in its online maps.
The larger Nexus tablet is being made by Samsung and features a display screen that measures about 10 inches diagonally, about the same size as Apple's top-selling iPad.
Google's introduction of a larger tablet comes less than a week after Apple announced it's making a smaller less expensive iPad, with a 7.9-inch display, to compete with the Nexus 7 and Amazon.com's Kindle Fire.
Some analysts have questioned whether consumers will balk at the iPad Mini's $329 price for a device with 16 gigabytes of storage. Google is widening the price difference between the iPad Mini and its smaller tablet by cutting $50 off the price of a comparable, 16-gigabyte Nexus 7, to $199.The 8-gigabyte version, which had sold for $199, will be discontinued. A Nexus 7 with 32 gigabytes of storage is being introduced for $249 in an apparent effort to discourage even more people from buying the iPad Mini. The cheapest Nexus 7 is still pricier than the Kindle Fire, which starts at $159 for a no-frills model.
The Nexus 4 phone boasts a 4.7-inch screen, larger than Apple's recently released iPhone 5 and just slightly smaller than Samsung's flagship phone, the Galaxy S III. A contact-free version is available for $299 with 8 gigabytes of storage and $349 for the 16-gigabyte model. Google is touting the Nexus 4's wireless charging capability as a major selling point.
Besides adding more hardware to its online store, Google is expanding its music library to include Warner Music Group's catalog. Warner had been the only holdout among the major music labels when Google began selling music a year ago to compete with Apple's iTunes stores.
The Android update includes a faeture called Gesture Typing, which tries to anticipate what words a user wants to enter as they are entering text. The guesses are based on an analysis of typical sentence structures and user's past entries. Another new feature called Photo Sphere stitches together 360-degree pictures of rooms and landscapes. The high-res photo created with this tool are similar to the shots shown in Google's Street View features in its online maps.
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