Google's Big Day: Android 4.2, Nexus 4, Nexus 10
Well, the hurricane might have cancelled the event Google had planned, but that didn't stop the company from revealing its new wares. And my, what wares they are.
First up, Google has unveiled a 10 inch Nexus tablet to follow up their smaller 7 inch tablet. Basically the inverse of what Apple did just a little bit ago. This new device has the highest resolution of any tablet on the market, with a PPI of 300. That compares to Apple's 'retina' display of 264 PPI. It features a quad-core processor, Android 4.2, a 9-hour battery life when playing back HD video, and a pretty nice form factor. This is probably the best looking Android tablet to date. Best part? It starts at $399.
Then there's the Nexus 4, Google's next flagship phone. The Nexus 4 also features a quad-core processor, clocked at 1.5 Ghz, a, 8 megapixel camera, up to 16 gigs of storage, and a glass back. But rather than go Apple's route and stop at glass, Google decided to etch and layer it. The multiple layers of glass etchings give the back of the device an almost holographic look, one which is quite fetching, to me. And it helps make the device look less cold and clinical, something that recent Apple products have had a problem with. Oh, and there's a 2,100 mAh battery, so it should last you quite a bit.
And then there's Android 4.2. While it isn't a huge departure from Jelly Bean, it does polish the already polished experience. This new version gets support for Miracast, which is basically an industry-supported version of Airplay. The first Miracast devices will be shipping shortly, and many new Smart TVs will come with it built in. The camera gets a new feature, letting it shoot Street View-style photos in a panorama mode. The resulting image globe can either be exported as a flat image, or viewed on Google+ or another Android device. Multiple user accounts are also finally supported, and every user can have their own apps and data. Google has also built in a gesture keyboard similar to Swype, but it seems a bit more accurate. And you can now do more with the expandable notifications on Android. Finally, Google Now got a bit of a nod, with several new types of cards.
Overall, this has been a very successful day for Google. With a bunch of new products, some exciting innovations and lots of hope for the future, Google has just shown that it can be the pace setter for the mobile phone industry.
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