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16GB Nexus 7 UK price cut ahead of Google event
With rumours abound that Google will launch a 32GB Nexus 7 tablet on Monday, UK retailers have trimmed the price of the 16GB model.
With the base, £159 8GB tablet possibly about to disappear, Currys has reduced the price of the 16GB version to £189, while Comet has knocked off a further tenner, making it at £179.
Google has been selling the higher-storage model for £199, but official pricing may be about to change as of Monday afternoon.
Making a statement
The company seems highly likely to introduce a 32GB version, and potentially a 3G-enabled iteration of the device at its 'Playground' event on October 29, where the LG Nexus 4 is also slated for launch.
With the iPad mini costing a higher-than-expected £269, Google has a great opportunity to make a statement by announcing a new 32GB model for £199, while reducing the 16GB tablet to just £159.
Keep it locked to TechRadar for full news and reaction from the New York event, which kicks off at 3pm UK time.
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Sprint starts Jelly Bean roll out for Samsung Galaxy SIII
Sprint became the first U.S. wireless carrier to offer an Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean upgrade to its Samsung Galaxy SIII customers Thursday.
The update is already rolling out to SIII owners, the company said in a press release. When users become eligible for the over the air upgrade, their devices will automatically start the download.
Once the download is finished, all that's left to do is approve the install and watch it load, a process that does render phones disabled for a few minutes.
Samsung announced last week Jelly Bean for S3 was hitting the U.S. in the coming months, but stayed vague on specifics. Sprint, it seems, was finally ready to spill the (jelly) beans.
Features
The upgrade bumps the Galaxy SIII up with a bunch of new features, including an enhanced TouchWiz experience.
Google Now, expandable and "actionable" notifications that let users perform functions directly from the notifications shade and Android Beam are all part of the upgrade.
Camera enhancements like a new live camera and camcorder filters - ranging from "warm vintage" to vibrant "color highlights" - are also accessible from the main camera screen.
Another photog feature is a low light camera mode that utilizes the SIII's high dynamic range capabilities and creates an optimized mode for low light and indoor photos.
Easy Mode - aimed at first-time smartphone owners - provides large home screen widgets that focus on the essentials, while Blocking Mode can disable incoming calls, notifications, alarms and LED indicators for as much time as users desire.
Jelly Bean on the SIII also supports the AllShare Cast Wireless Hub, which lets users wirelessly mirror their phone screen to any HDTV or HDMI display, plus offers support for licensed content TV and movie playback.
Last but not least, the upgrade also includes NFC One Touch Pairing Support that pairs the device with NFC Bluetooth accessories "in a single touch."
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Rumor: LG preparing Open webOS Smart TV for CES 2013
The open source webOS may make a surprise big screen debut at CES in January, with new a new report claiming LG will use the software to underpin a new Smart TV platform.
The webOS Nation website has heard from sources at Gram (the remaining HP/Palm employees still overseeing the software) that LG has picked the operating system to replace the ageing NetCast SmartTV interface.
The Korean manufacturer, according to the report, is also looking to sever its relationship with the unpopular Google TV platform largely due to an apparent displeasure with Google's terms of use.
Now, it looks as though the aim is to have an Open webOS Smart TV set available to parade at the annual tech showcase in Las Vegas in January.
Deal in place?
LG has apparently signed an agreement with HP (which gifted webOS to the open source community in late 2011) to use the service earlier this year.
To that end, engineers at the two companies have reportedly been working together and LG has allegedly sent its dual-core L9-powered motherboards to webOS employees to test in-house.
Naturally, the challenge for both parties is to ensure the lack of apps - a problem that has plagued webOS since the promising days of the "Palm Pre iPhone killer" - don't spill over into another venture.
The report claimed that popular Smart TV applications, like Netflix, will be rebuilt using the Enyo software used for making HTML5 apps.
The future
While the latest rebirth of webOS would definitely be one of the most intriguing stories to emerge from CES, it doesn't seem likely that a full launch will be possible in the show's immediate aftermath.
Late last month, HP announced that the first version of Open webOS was complete and released it to the public, while the company is also looking to boost the team with 54 new job openings.
These developments point to a lot of work ahead for webOS to get it ready for a main stage debut as big as entering people's living rooms.
The company has also said it still plans to use the operating system for future tablets and smartphones, despite the expensive failure of the HP TouchPad and Palm Pre 3.
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