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Nexus One finally gets some color into its trackball

Ahmet — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 18:19:38 +0000

If you are one of the Nexus One owners who doesn’t quite understand why the device has a trackball, but wish that it could at least add something cooler to the device, your prayers have been answered. The trackball can shine in colors other than white (Google showed that off at its launch event), but for whatever reason it’s never been properly implemented.

Luckily, some extremely talented people of the modding community have been working hard on not only allowing the functionality of the other colors, but as well as working on modding the current live wallpapers. And even better, it’s been added into the most recent CyanogenMod ROM for the Neuxs One, which was released today! Check out video the colored trackball in action after the break. [via Redmond Pie]

Google Phone / Nexus One Site Goes Live

Ahmet — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:50:46 +0000

Head on over to http://www.google.com/phone/ right now (unless you caught it when the support portion was briefly available) to see 3D demos of the Nexus One, order one of your very own (complete with engraving) for $529.00 + Tax, and generally bask in the glow of a Google website that shows they’re now completely and totally serious about the mobile phone space. Non-US citizens: we’re sorry, but it looks like you’re going to have to wait.

Looks like they’ll be adding options to purchase the Nexus One with T-Mobile or Vodaphone soon-ish, not to mention the Droid on Verizon. You check out with Google Checkout and can have it FedEx’d overnight – though when it ships is (on my order at least) still a little fuzzy. Check out our Liveblog for more info

Nexus One gets another hands-on

Ahmet — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 00:10:15 +0000

Guess this really makes the Nexus One from Google as unofficially official as something can get: Engadget has a device in hand (more so than even Gizmodo did) and is giving it the what-for, along with a hands-on video. The long and the short: It’s fast, it’s sleek, it feels good in the hand, but it’s not revolutionary for an Android device, though it gives the Motorola Droid a run for its money.

And the specs are as we’ve seen thus far: a 3.7-inch 480×800 display, 512MB RAM/512MB ROM, 4GB microSD card, animated wallpapers and the like. The apps drawer has given way to a sort of Rolodex of apps, which is a nice change, and there’s a bit of a card metaphor going on. (Don’t tell our friends at PreCentral.)

Needless to say, we’ll be seeing lots more of the Nexus One before the expected Jan. 5 launch. Stay tuned. [Engadget]

Unsubstantiated rumor says another Nexus One may come with AT&T 3G

Ahmet — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 18:04:45 +0000

File this under "Don’t know … Could be … Who knows … Take with a grain of salt … Maybe …" and any other number of qualifiers, but the Boy Genius Report says it’s heard that there may be a second unlocked version of the Nexus One, and that it would sport support for AT&T’s 3G (that’s the 850 and 1900 MHz bands, if you’re playing at home). That’s it for now. Could just be rampant speculation, could be more. We’ll find out something in three days.

Nexus One not even officially released, is already rooted

Ahmet — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 22:55:46 +0000

What’s that, you ask? The Nexus One, set to be announced by Google next week, has already been rooted? Don’t be too surprised. It’s an HTC device, after all, and there are enough of the in the wild that this was bound to happen. We’ll let Paul from MoDaCo explain:

Superboot is a boot.img that when flashed, will root your device the first time you boot (installing su and the superuser APK). No need to flash the system partition, no need to use ADB, no messing with the contents of your data partition, no overwriting the shipped ROM on your device, just flash the boot image using the instructions below and you’re done!

That’s it. So all you need now is for the damn thing to actually become available, and then you have to scrape up the $530 (or $180 if you sign with T-Mo) to buy it. [MoDaCo via Redmond Pie] Thanks, Taimur!

Nexus One reportedly $530 unlocked, $180 if you roll with T-Mobile

Ahmet — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 01:06:14 +0000

Let’s just get down to it: Gizmodo got some leaked screen shots that show Google selling the Nexus One Phone (looks like that’s gonna be the official name, btw) for $529.99 fully unlocked and $179.99 with a two-year T-Mobile plan. And if you do go the T-Mobile route, you’ll be signing up for an $80-a-month plan, data included.

Also, the desktop dock that we’ve seen go through the FCC will run for $39.99, and the car dock we just saw will cost $49.99.

More fine print from Giz:

Existing T-Mo customers can’t keep their current plan if they want a subsidized phone.
The subsidized price only works on accounts with single lines. Family plans, Flexpay, SmartAccess and KidConnect plans must buy the phone at the full $530 unlocked price.
You can onliy buy five Nexus Ones per Google account.
Looks like it can be shipped outside the U.S.
It’ll be sold at google.com/phone.
And if you buy the Nexus One at the subsidized price and cancel before 120 days have passed, you have to pay the difference — $350 — or return the phone to Google.

One big question we have involves availability. Will the Nexus One be available at brick-and-mortar stores? Hopefully we’ll find out before the Jan. 5 event.

Update: Engadget has published the entire terms of sale — note that it’s for the "Passion," so that question also is answered. (Warnings: pdf link; and legalese ahead)

Update 2: More discussion and a poll going on in our forums.

Google Android event set for Jan. 5

Ahmet — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:47:43 +0000

Gee. I wonder what Google could possibly be announcing on the day we expect the Nexus One to officially become official. And right as CES begins, no less. It’s gonna be a long week. [via Engadget]

Nexus One Bluetooth car dock saunters past the FCC

Ahmet — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:58:43 +0000

Who’s ready for more Nexus One accessory news? We’ve already seen a desktop bluetooth dock make its way through the FCC; now it’s a car dock’s turn.

Also of note is that the "trade name" for the Nexus One is listed as "Google Phone." Maybe that’s a tell, maybe it’s not. We’ll just have to continue waiting. But probably not much longer. [FCC via Engadget]

The Nexus One will be sold by Google, with T-Mobile as the carrier

Ahmet — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:41:30 +0000

Not that we really need more unofficial confirmation that the Nexus One from Google is headed to T-Mobile, but here it is. Above is a shot from the internal Streamline network, clearly showing T-Mo support for the nexus one. Note the bullet points:

Support for this device including troubleshooting and exchanges wil be managed by Google and HTC.
T-Mobile will offer service support including billing, coverage, featuers and rate plans.

and …

Stay tuned for Additional details and StreamLine content to support the Google Android phone in early January.
Keep all information regarding this launch confidential until a formal announcement by Google is released.

So T-Mobile definitely will be the initial carrier, but it’s looking more and more like Google will be the one actually selling and supporting the device. T-Mo news is saying a 9 a.m. Jan. 5 release date is confirmed, and you can only order through Google. No word on pricing.

Via T-Mo News

Another five (blurry) minutes with the Nexus One

Ahmet — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:08:20 +0000

As we continue to wait for the eventual public launch of the Nexus One, we’re starting to see more and more of the infamous HTC device. After the break is a new five-minute video with the phone that is expected to be Google’s second reference device (the G1 was the first).

The video is regrettably shaky and blurry, but it is another good look at the Nexus One. And we’ll take all that we can get. Click on through. (Thanks, Thomas!)