Android 4.2.1 Fixes December Bug

The December month miss bug on Jelly Bean' 4.2 version seems to have been fixed with the latest 4.2.1 OTA of Jelly Bean. This new update is being rolled out to Nexus 7 and 10 and includes the Galaxy Nexus (no news for HSPA devices though) devices as well. The update is only a small one with a size of 1.1Mb so no expectations of any other major fixes.

The OTA started rolling out from Tuesday on-wards and comes in just in time so people using the People app on their devices running 4.2 could now see the December month on the app. The bug however didn't affect the Calendar app in the first place. Although the other issues reported on 4.2 like the Bluetooth connectivity issue are also being heard to have been fixed with this new OTA, but some users are in fact seeing speed/performance enhancements as well, especially on the Nexus 7 devices. The Android Team after realizing the miss of the last month of this year said this in a post before the OTA was made available a couple days back:

"We discovered a bug in the Android 4.2 update, which makes it impossible to enter December events in optional fields of the People app (this bug did not affect Calendar). Rest assured, this will be fixed soon so that those of you with December birthdays and anniversaries won't be forgotten by your friends and family."

The OTA has just started do its OK if your devices(that are in the list to receive the update) haven't still got the system update pop up on the devices. You could either wait for the OTA to come to you (that should be very soon) or try a manual check in your settings area. For those interested in a manual update here are a few links that you may check out:
Download link for Android 4.2.1 for Nexus 7
Download link for Android 4.2.1 for Galaxy Nexus

Please be careful while you choose the manual updates. We don't guarantee a success and a wait is better than a brick ;)

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And Now Gmail With Cloud

Tried sending mail attachments only to find Google complaining of size limit of the attachment? Seems Google has provided an integration feature just in time for Christmas and New Year shares. The maximum size you can now use is 10Gb, a full 400 percent than the previous size limit (which is still the case however in a traditional attachment w/o the Drive integration).

All you need to use the feature is upload your file(s) first to your Google Drive and then you will be able to attach the file(s) from within the compose of your Gmail. Not like the traditional attachment though, you will now see a new icon on your compose box, as in the screen capture below:

The icon of the Google Drive is a new one below the compose box. Any big fat files (not more than 10Gb) that you need to attach (like videos, pics, excel for that matter) will need to come from Google Drive. This is yet another product integration that we see from the search giant.

Besides being able to share the large files, Google has done it well specially when it comes to the permissions on the files that you may be sharing. If you happen to attach a file which as per the permissions is not visible to one or more of this mail recipients, the system will be making it sure you know it so you could either change the permissions on the file or change your To list in the current mail.

The feature that was announced this Tuesday is still rolling out and is available with Gmail's new compose system that Google introduced some time back.

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Play Store Inside Google Plus

If you think Google was over and done with its product integration strategy that it has into lately, you were obviously wrong. Google+ has been the main talking point in the company apart from Android, search, panda and penguin and.. OK you got the point ;) . So the new thing or the integration rather, that the search giant have come up with this time around with their social network is the making it easy for its users to install the apps from the Play Store.

If you have been an Android user for some time now, you must have notice that you could directly install any app from the web version of the Play Store to your Android device (of course the app has to be compatible with your device) while you are logged in to Play Store on the web version. The app gets installed to your device (your device obviously needs to be connected to internet) and all this without you getting to touch your device at all. 

Cool? Yes we think so too. But now Google has integrated the Play Store inside Google plus as well. From a shared post about any app on Play Store you will now be able to install the app directly from within the post. Here is a screen capture about the look of the shared post:

You still, however, will need to head over to Play Store to check out the ratings/reviews about the app if you are not sure of them already. For a app that is very popular or you already know about it, this feature integration is sure to save a few clicks and seconds for you. Enjoy the small yet beneficial feature integration from the search giants.

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Android 4.2: Nexus S Support And The Bugs

While we still are having the news of Nexus S missing the 4.2 Jelly Bean update as Google seems to have decided it was all but over from a support point of view; the new version of Jelly Bean being shipped with Android smart-phones is having a rough ride already. It seems Santa Clause and new year party eve will be missed out for the people using this version of the Android OS.

Google already made clear about the 4.2 version that the Nexus S and Motorola Xoom devices are currently not supported by the 4.2 AOSP released for Android devices. This should be a heartbreak for all the Nexus S owners but as per Google' update they do not provide support for smart-phones that are more than 18 months in to their launch. Nexus S was launched in December 2010 so it's pretty much out of that support duration window. But as we and many users would also know that Nexus S has the hardware that could support all the features being packaged in Nexus S. So this comes as a surprise from the search giant. Although looking at the updates that JBQ provided on the group thread, it may  not be a miss on the longer run but only "currently". So when JBQ commented:
"I can't comment on the future of Nexus 4 in AOSP, sorry. "
He meant:
"It means that right now you can't build AOSP for either of those 
devices in a way that results in a functional device. And that's all 
it means."
Feel free to create a meaning of yours here ;). There would be a little wait before someone creates a working 4.2 ROM for Nexus S anyway. 

In the meantime, Android 4.2 is getting its share of criticism. This newest Android version (4.2 - Jelly Bean) is reported to have many bugs. The report first comes through via AndroidPolice. The major of the bug is miss of December month from the people app from the OS. The Calendar app is however doing OK but with People' app the rollover happens from November 2012 straight to January 2013. The other bugs reported are related to battery drain and random reboots.

Holding a device that is getting 4.2, don't worry; since Google has already acknowledged the December month miss it won't be long till it gets fixed!!

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Android Completes 5yrs

Did anyone think it will create a stir of this magnitude in under five years? Well whosoever did, they hit the nail right on the head. In case you are wondering what, Android completed 5yrs of its existence. On 5th November 2007 the Open Handset Alliance introduced Android to the world; an open source smart-phone OS. But it wasn't till G1 was launched nearly a year after that the people saw what Android was. The major stir was however created by Motorola Droid a couple years later.

Android now boasts of a 75%  smart-phone share in the market. According to the reports published by IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Android was found to be on 3 out of every 4 smart-phones shipped during the 3rd quarter of this year. IDC specifically reported that of the 181.1Mn smart-phones that were shipped worldwide in Q3 of this year, a total of 136Mn phones(75%) were Android devices. And this is not all, while overall' market YoY growth rate has been 46.4 percent; Android is sitting pretty at a whopping 91.5 percent as far as reports from IDC are concerned.

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Apple Provides iOS6.0.1

Apple launched iOS6 with iPhone5 in September and now before even completing 2 months the company has send an update of the newest and supposedly biggest iOS version, iOS6. The new update which is version-ed at 6.0.1 and was released by Apple last Thursday is supposed to be carrying a fix for a software bug on iPhone5 and some other software fixes in the iOS devices.

As per Apple, the update will fix:

• bug which prevents the current iPhone5 from installing updates available via OTA
• the horizontal lines that appear on the screen keyboard
• issue with the camera flash (doesn't go off at times)
• a security issue that made Passbook accessible from the lock screen occasionally

The fix upgrade comes quickly enough and we are not surprised. As the post from foxnews.com points out, people haven't been as happy as Apple initially would have expected. There are criticism and users have been demanding the ability to downgrade the update from iOS6 to iOS5. For these users the miss out on Google Maps has been an utter disappointment especially since they don't seem to be much happy about the new Apple maps. While others are happy to live with the small bugs, provided the fix is on its way soon. may be with iOS6.0.1 they will be happy that much more. Although we hear the Wi-Fi issue is still there, at least for some users.

How are you finding the new update? Would you rather stay on iOS5 or don't mind some small bugs here and there?

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Google Wallet on Smartphone

It would be easy guess that users aren't that keen on purchasing experience via their smart-phones. The checkout process is cumbersome already with the system and the checkout process requiring users to input a lot more information that people would prefer using the small screen keyboards and touch screens. And it obviously doesn't help much when you have to scroll through multiple pages before you finally done. And like Google says, its wonder up to 97% of mobile shoppers abandon their mobile shopping carts.

Starting yesterday, Google starts helping users in this mobile shopping area, still considered to be a no-favourable zone. Making purchases on mobile phone has been made a little easier by the search giant's Google Wallet. Sites that support and accept Google Wallet, will help users leave the hassle of entering too much than required information and too little steps as well. So while shopping on an e-commerce platform if the site supports Google Wallet all you need to do is:

• click the "Buy with Google Wallet" button
• log into your Google Wallet account and
• click to complete your order

That's all, and you are done!

Currently a few sites support Google Wallet. So you can buy flowers and gifts at 1-800-Flowers.com or use your account on Rockport.com and FiveGuys.com (at select locations). Google details that with Google Wallet you could:

• Pay without entering your credit or debit card number, billing address, or other payment information — it’s already securely stored in your Google Wallet. 
• View your credit and debit cards, shipping addresses and transaction history conveniently in one place at wallet.google.com/manage. 
• Set a default card for future purchases on your Google Wallet account, making future transactions even faster. 
• Shop with confidence as all your payment and related information is encrypted and stored on secure servers and not shared with anyone.

And just as they did with Google Checkout, you get $10 off when you use Google Wallet to shop at 1-800-Flowers.com and $20 off at Rockport.com. Hopefully more retails online will join the group so you all get a seamless and quick shopping!

Google, Google Wallet, Google Checkout, Mobile Shopping
Google finds a few retailers who start accepting Google Wallet as their checkout option on smart-phones/mobiles. With Mobile shopping still in infancy, how much time you think it will take for Wallet to get going?

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Share From Google Drive To Google+

Integrating all its products in to one single stream that lets user experience be the best in class. That' what Google is trying to do with all the seamless integration that we are seeing it do since the launch of their social network, Google+. That's pretty what we see them doing now also. This time a little tweak to an already existing feature makes it worth for friends and even professionals to share and be at ease with the network.

While previously users were able to share their stuff from Google Drive to Google plus, all you had on your stream for your shared network was a link that would open the stuff in another window on the Drive. Not now. Google announced on their blog, that now you can share a presentation, for example, sitting in your Google drive with your Google Plus circles and the people (whom its being shared with) will be able to view the PPT right on the stream without ever leaving it!

So in between the company network if you are using Google apps account, you can now share stuff (PPTs and Docs) with your team and they will be able to go through the documents without having to leave your shared post. And it sounds more beneficial if you are working on a shared project. Here is the official announcement from Google on their social network stream, feel free to participate in the discussion with others :)

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