It’s official, the smartphone that sparked the great Android hardware race — the Google Nexus One — will not be getting an update to Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS).

Reason being? Hugo Barra, the Product Management Director for Android at Google says that the Nexus One’s hardware is simply too dated to support the latest version of Android.

Launched in January 2010, the Nexus One was the model Android smartphone and — arguably — it started a full-on arms race amongst Android device manufacturer, all eager to kit each one’s flagship device with the latest and greatest hardware. Up till today, one could say that it is this constant and rampant hardware updates that make Android devices so widely appealing, and we tend to agree.

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	Android, Mobile Devices, Mobile OS, Nexus One
	Android, Android 4.0. Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, google, Google Nexus One, Google Nexus One Ice Cream Sandwich, HTC Nexus One, Ice Cream Sandwich, Nexus One

Like everything else that you buy, there’s a cost involved in manufacturing a mobile phone. That’s very obvious. But what is not so obvious is how much of this cost goes to where — as in, how much does a manufacturer spend per component in the device.

Data and visualization experts at Tableau have put together a very interesting visualization of how much each component costs in some of the more popular smart phones in the market. Tableau is quick to point out that the number presented in the table are estimates and does not include marketing and other costs.

Some interesting points to ponder from the data:

• Apple spent more on the housing for the iPhone 4 than any other manufacturer spent on ANY other component
• On the same note, Apple spent a decent amount on reception components in the iPhone 4 but still there were issues with reception. If the quality is top-notch, is the installation of said components to be blames for the antennagate?
• The BlackBerry Torch is the cheapest to produce in terms of components. In fact, the processor in the BlackBerry Torch is the second cheapest component in the device with the display being the most expensive
• The 12MP camera on the Nokia N8 is the most expensive camera component in the device lineup. The camera alone costs US$31 or close to RM100. In comparison, the N8′s processor is the cheapest of the bunch

So what do you think? Are the cost of the components in the device listed justified?

Hit the link to checkout the info in detail.

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	BlackBerry, iPhone, Mobile Devices, Nexus One, Nokia
	apple, blackberry, BlackBerry Torch, component cost, device component cost, google, iPhone, iPhone 4, Nexus One, nokia, nokia n8, rim, Tableau

Now we have seen yet another Nexus S “leak” by a sample video uploaded by its field testers. Earlier on, we were teased by sample photos uploaded to Picasa and now we can see its 720p video capabilities.

The video doesn’t look impressive perhaps due to bad lighting condition indoors. Plus the portrait recording doesn’t really help at all. Check out the sample video after the jump.

There are rumours that Android 2.3 Gingerbread might just make its official appearance tomorrow. Let’s see if that does come true as we believe it should be launched before Christmas.

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	Android, Mobile Devices, Mobile OS, Rumour Mill, Samsung
	Android, gingerbread, google, Nexus One, Nexus S, Nexus S Video, nexus two, Samsung

XDA Developers has more details and pics of the upcoming Nexus S ahead of Thanksgiving. This looks like the same device which was earlier previewed by Eric Schmidt.

They can confirm that it runs on the upcoming Gingerbread OS and it looks like our usual Samsung Galaxy S except for the additional curves and different chrome frame around the camera. It is also mentioned that the device offers following specs:

-ArmV7 CPU  Could be Dual Core
-Open GL ES Supported
-512 or 328MB Ram (Not 100% known)
-1GB or 2GB Internal Memory (Not 100% known)
-800×480 Screen Resolution
-4? Screen Size
-SuperAmoled2 Possibly
-720P HD Video

Check out more pics over at XDA.

In case you missed the earlier video of Google’s CEO showing off the Nexus S, click here.

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	Android, Mobile Devices, Mobile OS, Samsung
	Android, gingerbread, google, Nexus One, Nexus S, Nexus S pictures, nexus two, Samsung

Earlier this morning, the buzz was all on the upcoming Nexus S device which was briefly teased by Google CEO Eric Schmidt. He also revealed that the next Nexus One successor will feature NFC which allows mobile payment from your mobile device. When questioned about his statement that Google is not making a Nexus Two device, he responded that he said there would never be a Nexus Two but that doesn’t mean there won’t be a Nexus successor at all.

Watch the full 44 minute video after the jump.

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	Android, Mobile Devices, Mobile OS, Samsung, Video
	Android, Eric Schmidt, gingerbread, google, Nexus One, Nexus S, nexus two, Samsung, Video

Attendees at the Web 2.0 summit had a glimpse of the rumoured “Nexus S” and it was showed off by Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt himself! He was giving a breif sneak peak of Gingerbread to the crowd with an “unaccounced” Android device from an “announced” manufacturer. From the pics, it is no guessing that it came from the same guys who did the Samsung Galaxy S. If you take a closer look, it looks closely the same as the “Nexus S” showed by Engadget earlier on.

According to Engadget, the phone was seen running on T-Mobile’s network and is revaled that it features NFC which potentially allows mobile payment. Since it is based on the Galaxy S, we note that they didn’t include any trackball/touchpad of some sort which we felt is a necessary feature for text selection. Hopefully the Gingerbread OS itself offers better on screen text editing than the Galaxy S.

If you could remember, a few months back the CEO had mentioned that there won’t be a Nexus Two. When asked to comment, he jokingly said that yes, it was correct there won’t be a Nexus Two. The new device will be called the Nexus S.

Check out more pics over at Engadget.

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	Android, Mobile Devices, Mobile OS, Samsung
	Android, Eric Schmidt, gingerbread, google, Nexus One, Nexus S, nexus two, Samsung, Samsung Galaxy S

So what’s new with the rumoured Nexus Two / Nexus S? Samsung has denied it and the big November 8th event was none other than the Samsung Continuum. Now Engadget has some leaked images to fuel the speculation.

The new Samsung device which carry the model number GT-i9020 above is said to be Nexus S. Not surprising that it is based on the already popular Samsung Galaxy S and some might argue that this could be another variant for telco exclusive.

It looks more curved at the corners but the back isn’t what Gizmodo had described earlier which bulged towards the top.

Check out the full gallery at Engadget.

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	Android, Mobile Devices, Mobile OS, Rumour Mill, Samsung
	Android, gingerbread, google, Nexus One, Nexus S, nexus two, Samsung, Samsung Galaxy S

Word has it that the next Android OS version 2.3 nicknamed Gingerbread is coming to Google’s Nexus One. This came in a form of a tweet by someone from the leadership team of Open Handset Alliance. His tweet was translated as “Prepare your Nexus One (Developer version) for Android OTA update 2.3 (Gingerbread) in the next few days”. It is believed that Gingerbread will make its debut on 11th November which is just a few days away. Of course this doesn’t come as a surprise as the Gingerbread guy has already been standing at Google campus for couple of weeks now.

Now who says having an Nexus One being backdated. This Google developer phone has always been the likely candidate to receive latest Android updates as seen previously when they rolled out Froyo updates.

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	Android, Mobile Devices, Mobile OS, Nexus One, Rumour Mill
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Last week there was a lot of speculation on the Nexus Two which is rumoured to be developed by Samsung. Now a new story by a Korean news site had reported Samsung denying such speculation and rubbishs the mock design above as nothing but a rumour.

With the big Samsung event happening on the 8th, it is now believed that the new device is more likely the new Samsung Galaxy S based Continuum that comes with a dedicated 2nd screen for time and various status.

However that doesn’t mean that a Samsung developed successor of the Nexus Two is impossible. We would just have to wait and see if there are more sightings or possible leaks on the rumoured device.

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	Android, Mobile Devices, Mobile OS, Rumour Mill, Samsung
	Android, gingerbread, google, Nexus One, Nexus S, nexus two, Samsung, Samsung Galaxy S

It has been rumoured that Google is about to release a Nexus Two despite its earlier statement that they won’t make a successor device for the Nexus One. Right now the Nexus One is sold as Google’s developer phone.

Just recently, there has been a lot of chatter online that Samsung has been engaged as Google’s partner for a possible Nexus Two or Nexus S device based on the popular Samsung Galaxy S. Gizmodo had a source that claims to have a first ever hands-on with the Nexus Two device. From the story, it seems that the Nexus Two is a mere “rebadge” of the Galaxy S but runs on the next Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS.

We can’t be sure how true the story is but it is something worth looking forward as the Galaxy S does offer one of the best hardware out there for an Android device. Looking at how Google has erected its Gingerbread figure and Samsung announcing something big on November 8th, it is possible that the Nexus Two might be announced soon.

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	Android, Mobile Devices, Mobile OS, Rumour Mill, Samsung
	Android, gingerbread, google, Nexus One, Nexus S, nexus two, Samsung, Samsung Galaxy S