With the Latino population growing faster than ever, it certainly doesn’t come as much of a surprise to see a partnership like this form. While we think it’s a smart partnership, this is hardly the announcement that we were expecting to see come from Verizon this CTIA. At best, we were hoping to see a Voice Over LTE announcement or something to that extent and what we got was quite different.

Verizon devices will exclusively be offered by Viva Movil, but the retail locations have J-Lo all over them. J-Lo has helped to pick store layouts, locations, fonts, and a line of fashionable phone accessories. Stores are also said to have play areas for children, inviting customers to bring family and friends.

The first Viva Movil location will open on June 15th in New York, with 15 stores to open by the end of 2013 in Los Angeles, Miami, and more.

For more information about Viva Movil, be sure to check out the official website right here!

• Novatel Wireless MiFi 500 LTE – offers sleek and compact styling, and the ability to connect up to 10 devices with the same 3G or 4G LTE connection. It comes with a 1,800mAh battery with an average of up to 10 hours of use on a single charge; as well as GPS functionality over Wi-Fi, multiple security protocols and other advanced features required by many corporate customers.
• NETGEAR Zing Mobile Hotspot – Sprint’s first CDMA/LTE mobile hotspot to boast international roaming capabilities via GSM, and also the first LCD touchscreen hotspot in Sprint’s portfolio. It has a 2,500mAh battery (good for up to 10 hours of operation) and the ability to connect up to 10 users on Wi-Fi capable devices.
• NETGEAR 341U USB Modem – with a built-in LCD screen display to monitor connection status, signal strength and data usage with a quick glance.

In addition, Sprint also said that smartphones from Samsung and LG with tri-band capability are expected to be available before the end of the year.

[Image from Engadget]

While the device is has a nice aluminum body, don’t think it to be a weighty piece of kit. It’s rather lights, and it’s 4.5 inch PureMotion HD+ fits in the hand very nicely. The rounded edges surrounding the device also help this great in-hand feel. While the pack plate of the Lumia 925 is polycarbonate, it’s certainly “metal enough” to get the quality feel we’ve come to expect. This isn’t a HTC One, of course, but no phone can really compare to it in the in-hand feel department.

The sides of the 925 are simple, leaving the most important bits. You’ll find the volume rocker, power/lock button, as well as the dedicated camera button on the right side, leaving the left panel of the device clean. Nokia also felt the need to cram the micro SIM card slot, Micro USB port, and 3.5mm headphone jack at the top of the handset, leaving the bottom of the device clean as well.

The back of the 925 is a feast for the geeky eyes. Living within the polycarbonate backing is a large speaker grill, as well as the 8.7MP PureView camera, and the Nokia logo in between the two.

Windows Phone has seen some great handset designs from Nokia and HTC, but the Lumia 925 takes the great design we’ve seen from previous handsets and gives it a great build quality to match the beautiful design.

It’s going to be a tough call between the Lumia 925 and 928 if you’re looking for the next greatest Nokia Windows Phone handset. Still, while the very-plastic 928 has its advantages, it certainly feels nowhere near as great in the hand as the beautifully designed and crafted Lumia 925.

Check out the gallery below!

Call Snap adds a new option on your phone’s call menu when you receive a call. It’s a simple slider that will initiate a Call Snap. When you slide the icon over, a text is immediately sent to the person that says you’re busy and to expect a Call Snap Photo. The “Call Snapper” takes a photo (like the one you see below) of  what they are doing and it will be sent to the caller.

For what Call Snap is, it’s a pretty nifty application and is a nice alternative to the auto reply texts one normally gets from declined calls. We wouldn’t necessarily call it game changing, either.

There are two versions of the application. The free version of the application does exactly what you’d expect it to do, but the premium version ($0.99) allows for some extra features.

Expect to see the addition of videos, and more feature further down the line from Call Snap.

Grab Call Snap (Free) right here

Who could forget, the Google Play Games multiplayer demo fail, the John Hamm look alike in the Android hat, that Google Glass shower guy’s question getting shut down by a sad Larry Page? So many classic moments I could never mention them all. I feel like we all shared something very powerful. We laughed, we cried, we came up with snarky tweets.

Kidding aside, Google dropped some pretty incredible updates to its services. To name a few, there was the aforementioned Games update, Google’s Spotify style “All Access” streaming in the new Google Play Music, a totally revamped Google+, and the really impressive update to Google Maps. We wrapped everything up in our reaction piece here, if you want to get a summary. We’ve also reported more in depth on each of the big announcements.

But there’s nothing like experiencing the entire behemoth of a press conference for yourself. So get yourself some popcorn and settle in for a long, strange trip. Especially long. It’s very, very, very long. Of course, you can skip around to the parts that interest you but that would be cheating.

We are still not sure what to expect from Android 4.3, and we will most likely not see any huge major improvements over Android 4.2. The Android 4.3 update will most likely include bug fixes and speed improvements, and support for Bluetooth Smart.

The white Nexus 4 is expected to be sold on June 10th for $299.

[Via: Android and Me]

From the +Google TV Developers page:

Today, Google TV is moving to the latest version of Android (Jelly Bean, 4.2.2), and we’ve refactored Google TV so that our TV OEM partners can update to future versions of Android in a matter of weeks rather than months. For developers, this means you can build TV experiences using the latest Android APIs, including the NDK.

The latest version of Google TV also brings with it the latest version of Chrome and it will get the same six-week update cycle that the current desktop browser receives. With the update, Adobe Flash support for Chrome has officially been squashed. The Flash experience on Google TV (and Android in general) was never a beautiful solution, even though it was one of the “showcasing” feature of the TV service when announced.

What seems to be lacking, and what I was personally hoping to be a focus, is gaming with the updated version of Google TV. With dedicated Android-gaming consoles set to be released in the very near future at some insanely low prices, many could opt for something like the Ouya instead of a Google TV box. Still, the latest update will make way for a much greater application selection for the service, and with more frequent updates going forward, we could see Google TV turning into an Android gaming console as well.

We’ll get some hands-on time with LG’s Google TV running Jelly Bean soon, but be sure to watch the video demo below to tide you over for now!

Read LG’s full press release here.

[via: Engadget]

For the past few years, the Google I/O keynote has been rather consumer focused, even though this is no doubt a developer’s conference. The Nexus 7, Google TV, and Nexus Q all debuted at the I/O conferences in previous years, but Google decided to keep its keynote this year very developer focused. We can’t really blame them, either. There were so many announcements spanning many different Google services this year, it was a bit of a head spin.

Given that we’re obsessed with mobile, some of us were a bit bummed out with the lack of hardware and updates to seemingly languishing services, like Google TV.

Here’s what the IntoMobile team had to say:

Blake

It’s a bit hard to say I wasn’t just a little disappointed that Android didn’t have a greater focus this year at the keynote. That said, I really enjoy Android 4.2.2 on my Nexus 4 and I don’t see it needing much of an update, especially if it’s just one more version that most manufacturers will be behind on. The “Nexus Experience” Samsung Galaxy S 4 was a nice surprise, and I wish that Google would work with manufacturers to provide flagships handsets with a similar treatment. The idea of a “Nexus Experience” HTC One almost makes me pee a little.

What I was most excited about was the potential of a Google TV update. After remaining silent about GTV last year, we were pretty sure that Google would unveil a nice software update or new hardware for TV, but there was no mention of the service. Then again, there are two more days to Google I/O and anything could happen. If an announcement for Google TV is made within the next few days, I’m really wishing for some Google Play Games integration and a higher base version of Android running the show.

Overall, the keynote was aimed at exactly who it should have been for: The developers. That’s certainly not a bad thing and Google has unleashed quite a few new tools for developers to take advantage of.

Kelly

Unlike previous years, Google used this year’s I/O to unveil developer centric products and to introduce improvements to its software platform. Hardware was almost nonexistent — we didn’t see a new Nexus device or new tablets. Also notably absent was any announcement about Google TV.

For developers, Android is a bit more attractive now that there’s Android Studio and support for beta testing in the development platform. For consumers, the changes that Google did introduce to products like Maps and Google Now were pretty significant. I won’t rehash them here, but I will say that the changes set a new bar that may be difficult for competitors to meet. Google+ also got a boost and Google Music is intriguing, but these two services are not yet market leaders. The take home message — it’s clear that Google is a technology leader, and this I/O conference only helps to solidify its position.

George

The Google I/O 2013 keynote was a weird mix of interesting, boring, and incredibly tedious. The highlights of the day for me were definitely the revamped Google Maps (the mobile app and for desktop) and the standalone Hangouts app.

Hangouts is the first major solution to multi-party video chat that works well and is totally free. I’ve been excited about it from day one, but thought its restrictive home on Google+ was bringing it down. Google Maps, on the other hand, has become an excellent competitor to the likes of Foursquare with today’s news. Plus, Google clearly knows what it’s talking about when it comes to maps.

I’m disappointed more of the news wasn’t dedicated to Android or Google TV as many had anticipated. At least 50 percent or more of the keynote just flat-out wasn’t interesting to me. Many of the announcements were very minor, and certainly not worthy of taking up time in a 211-minute presentation. It’s apparent that Google is innovating, but I’m not sure if all of it is the innovation people wanted.

Charles

This year’s keynote went down the way I expected, but with a slight twist. I originally thought that the Google would take the safe and predictable route when it came to hardware. However, aside from the Samsung Galaxy S 4 Google Edition (which is awesome), we heard nothing else in regards to hardware — no Glass, Nexus 4, or Nexus 7. Most of the industry expected to see reboots of all the current Nexus devices.

I did nail one thing, though, but it was presented kind of half-assed by Google. The long rumored Google “all-in-one” messaging service that was originally rumored to dawn the Google Babel name, ended up being a stand alone Hangouts app. It was not done the way I wished it would have been; we didn’t get the total integration of ALL Google’s messaging services: Voice, Talk, Hangouts, etc. Instead, what we got was a renamed GTalk app with tighter Google+ integration. An app that could tie into SMS would have been better.

All in all, it was an okay event. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad either. It was in between. Google definitely needs to consider shortening the keynote; come on, three hours?!

Ian

This was my first Google I/O, and I was very excited to see what Google had to offer this year. All of the rumors were suggesting some pretty exciting things: a new version of Android, 4.3; a revamped Nexus 4; and a Samsung Galaxy S4 with stock Android. While the Google Galaxy S4 was indeed a reality, we saw hide nor hair of a new version of Android 4.3 or an update to Google TV. The claims of the keynote being focused more on developers were a reality however, which for me (and most viewers) seemed a little underwhelming.

The one thing that I did enjoy was Google’s new Music All Access feature, which will take on the likes of Spotify and Rdio in the streaming music arena, and Pandora in the realm of finding new music for users. Google’s Hangouts (previously rumored as Babel) is also very interesting, but something I probably won’t use much. The search features really caught my attention though, as it seems that Google has finally made the Star Trek computer a reality. Google Now has been around for a while, but the speed and accuracy of the new improvements blew me away.

Yes, the three-hour keynote was a bit long (especially considering the amount of coffee I drank) and Larry Page’s Q&A session, while a good idea, seemed to drag on forever. Overall, the keynote was a bit underwhelming, but enjoyable nonetheless. Even though there were no big hardware announcements, it is clear that Google is focusing more on software developments and strengthening its already amazing relationship with developers.

Wade

This year’s Google I/O Keynote was a mixed bag. Some incredible things were revealed, and we’d expect nothing less from Google. But there were some surprising omissions as well. No device revamps, no Google TV, no mention of the future of Glass (Larry Page even avoided Glass-related questions during his post keynote Q&A). At times it seemed a little thin. But for everything that seemed to be missing, Google had another exciting innovation to present. Major upgrades to Google Plus, Maps and Photos were all very impressive and the new voice searching looks leap years above anything else.

Personally, I’m  most excited about Google Play Game Services, even if it didn’t have the wow factor of some of the announcements. The interface looks good, it should function well (despite a classic demo fail!), and it allows for the achievements and leaderboards that console gamers are used to. Most importantly, the multiplayer matching looks great. This is going to take Android gaming to a new level, and bring in more hardcore gamers!

To start, it has a brand new user interface that, according to Google, is easier to use and faster. It’s nothing dramatic either — you still search and swipe through results very quickly. Tap a specific result and that’s where you’ll notice some more changes. Maps now has built-in Zagat integration, which will put Zagat scores and editorial reviews for specific restaurants on display. Additionally, you’ll be able to view Google Offers right within the app. The demo used half-off Starbucks Refreshers as an example.

Another big addition is the new Explore feature. It reminds me quite a bit of Foursquare’s Explore functionality, but you can be the judge as to whether it’s better. It comes in handy when you’re not looking for a particular venue. Instead, you just want to browse what the area has to offer. You tap Explore in the search field to bring up main categories like Eat, Drink, Shop, Play, and Sleep. From there you can find top-rated places for each category and of course get more information once you tap them. This is going to be of great use to frequent travelers.

Lastly, Google made some improvements to the core navigation functionality of Maps as well. When you’re driving along a route, you can get live traffic alerts as they occur. Building on top of that, if a faster route becomes available than the one you started taking, you’ll be notified and asked if you want to reroute using the new route.

The Google Maps update comes for Android and iOS this summer. There’s also some great things happening on the desktop side of Maps, which you can check out on Google’s preview page.

We’ve been talking to our devices for a while and but never in such a conversational way, and never with such powerful results. Also, Google Now-like featutres are also rolling out to Chrome too. Google’s improved search will let you search anything and then find related emails and calendars, etc. So, on any device that uses Chrome, people will be able to say “Okay, Google,” and request information. This is similar to the concept of Siri, but it works and it’s fast!

Google’s vice-president of Search and Assist for Mobile, Johanna Wright gave us a live demonstration of these new features.  She started out by saying, “I have never tried hotwording in a room with so much ambient noise.” But it wasn’t an issue at all, as she planned her next trip to Santa Cruz, California with Google Now, down to which of her children were tall enough to ride a rollercoaster. She never typed a single word, and everything work incredibly well in real time.

Impressive stuff. Apple, your move.

The new photo service will help you better manage your photos by backing up your photos (15GB of full-size photos, unlimited for scaled versions) and auto-highlighting those that are most important to you. Google also added a new auto-enhance feature that’ll automatically improve your photos on the fly by adjusting brightness, contrast and more. It’s like Snapseed for your photos online.

There’s also support for facial recognition built right into the tools that’ll apply filters to improve your selfies by softening skin tones, blurring wrinkles, removing red eye and more. There are five auto awesome effects that MIX, HDR, Smile Motion and Pano, which is for panorama shots.  These enhancements are optional, and you can easily switch between the enhanced photo and the original. You can also turn off the auto-enhancement feature entirely.

[Via Google]