Google’s Nexus Attach any USB Peripheral

A Nexus One Android phone normally won’t let you run any other peripheral device. But if you hack the phone to run on “USB Host mode” you can plug in all sorts of USB peripherals. USB Host mode lets you to external hard drives, digital cameras, external monitors, etc. to your Android phone just like a regular computer!

The Android hack shows how to enable USB Host mode by tinkering the Android firmware. With the USB Host mode enabled, a Nexus one can be used like a standalone workstation. As the video above shows, you can play movies, start a webcam, connect a keyboard, and even a large monitor display. The hack is for the Android 2.2 platform but it may work with version 2.1 also. If you give it a try, let us know how it goes in the comments.

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LG: Google Nexus 4 at $200 Limited Supply

Google made a bold move late last year by announcing its flagship Nexus smartphone for an unsubsidized price starting at $300. That's a big deal when comparable devices are selling for twice as much and the upfront cost for most last generation phones with a two year contract is only slightly cheaper at $200. But ultimately Google failed to deliver -- both figuratively and literally -- as it missed shipping deadlines and had to pull the device from sale due to problems with supplies.

Last month, the company pinned the blame on "scarce and erratic" supplies from manufacturer LG, while also admitting that their communication had been flawed.

But LG has a different story to tell. In an interview with French website Challenges, Cathy Robin, director LG Mobile France said they built precisely the number of phones that Google requested, it's just that the Internet giant's sales forecasts were wildly inaccurate. Estimates were based on sales of the Samsung-made Galaxy Nexus, which meant there were too few handsets available and too many shipped to the wrong regions.

Robin noted that despite the setbacks, the partnership between Google and LG is still going well, and in fact they expect to ramp up production of the Nexus 4 by mid-February to address the shortage.

Last week, LG's senior vice president James Fisher also said that the Nexus 4 was "the first of many" products the Korean firm had planned with Google, sparking rumors that the firm could be in charge of its successor. - source

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iPhone 5 vs Galaxy S3 vs Google Nexus 4

Google has finally unveiled its next generation of Nexus smartphone – the Nexus 4, which is built by LG and designed by Google. The Nexus 4 features a 4.7-inch 1280 x 768 IPS display, a 1.5GHz Quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 2GB of RAM, 8 megapixel rear camera and a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera. The phone will come in two variants – 8GB for $299 and 16GB for $349, unlocked and without any contract. Surely this phone is priced very attractively and is a powerful offering from LG and Google.

The Nexus 4 is LG’s first attempt on building Google’s flagship – Nexus branded phone. The technical specs of this phone matches to that of the LG Optimus G smartphone but the Nexus 4 is priced more competitively.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the LG Nexus 4, Samsung Galaxy S3 and the iPhone 5.

The Nexus 4 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro clocked 1.5GHz and Samsung is powering their Galaxy S3 by an Exynos 4412 1.4GHz. Apple on the other hand powers iPhone 5 with the 1.2GHz dual core A6 processor, which means that the iPhone lacks the same processing power as its Android rivals.

The Google Nexus 4 debuts with the latest version of Android – the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. The 4.2 version is still called as Jelly Bean, which can be considered as an upgraded version of 4.1. Samsung’s Galaxy S3 will soon be upgraded to 4.1 Jelly Bean and the Apple’s iPhone 5 already comes with the iOS 6 – Apple’s latest mobile operating system.

Talking from the storage point of view, then the Google Nexus 4 comes in both 8GB and 16GB variants and doesn’t comes with any microSD expansion. The Samsung Galaxy S3 comes in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB variants and it also offers support to expand the memory up to 64GB via a microSD card. The iPhone 5 offers three variants – 16GB, 32GB or 64GB and doesn’t allows support for microSD card.

One thing that is missing on Nexus 4 is 4G LTE, whereas the Galaxy S3 and iPhone 5 comes equipped with 4G LTE. But then again, by looking at the price of the Nexus 4 at $299 SIM free for the 8GB model, we cannot complain much. For this price, you are getting a Quad-core processor, big screen and the latest version of Android. Surely Nexus 4 seems to be a budget-user’s dream of getting their hands on Android. - source

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