In my previous post on the Nexus One I wrote that that the Nexus will take sometime in beating the ever present iPhone, I still maintain this. But let me for a change say this that the way things are going (in the Google world) competitors need to feel threatened. What made me think so? well to begin with was the Google’s new approach to buying a Mobile Phone which gives one the ability to explore a mobile phone in ways that were previously unimagined. Impressive is the word that comes to one’s mind followed by “Ingenious”. Imagine holding your hand next to the screen in order to compare it with an editable image and then see how the Nexus One would look in your hand.

The Android today is running on at least 20 devices, in 19 languages, in 48 countries supported by 59 mobile companies. All this happened just a year back! That’s good going so far. Google now is selling the Nexus One on a Google hosted web store and the first device to be sold will be the Nexus One off course. This is quite different form the previous practice and welcome indeed. According to Google they want to “make the overall user experience simple: a simple purchasing process, simple service plans from operators, simple and worry-free delivery and start-up.”

Google further goes on to say that this class of devices is being dubbed not as smart-phones but as “Superphones”. What makes this different is the possibility of having a voice enabled keyboard which lets users speak in to text fields, Live Wallpapers and 3D photo galleries to name a few. The inevitable Google app like Gmail, Google Maps and Google Voice come bundled in. Try out the Google Web Store and see for yourself, this may impress you as one can see a live demo of the various applications by clicking on the icons on a life size Nexus One device. You can also make purchases there, depending on where you are located.

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It’s a Google Google world, that’s for sure. The Google Chrome browser has some very good extensions lined up for users. The various categories are Alerts and Updates, Appearance and Functioning, language & Translators, Music, Videos and Photos, Tabs etc etc. The basic purpose is very similar to that of add-ons in Firefox, making certain required actions easier by making them a one click effort.

In order to use these extensions one will have to upgrade to the Google Chrome 3.6b or maybe to some other Beta, depending on the type of extension you want to install. This shouldn’t be a problem, just download and start using. However, you will be asked if you want to participate in a survey which will notify each time your browser crashes. Adding an extension is as simple as downloading and installing it, again a one click process. After it is done you will see a small icon of the extension in the top right corner adjacent to the address bar. Extensions that do not shop up can be viewed/accessed from the “Extensions” in the Tools menu. Some of the extensions are really good and promise to make our lives easier. The selected ones are posted below, do try them out.

Custom Colors. For those of you who are tired of watching the same colors scroll by in the Google browser try this extension out. It will give the Chrome a new look and feel. This makes your browsing experience good and the change is definitely worth the effort. Link Custom Colors.

Forecastfox. This is a popular Firefox extension which has now been made available for the Chrome. Installs in seconds and will give you an extended weather forecast of any major town or city of the world in your preferred units be it Celsius or Fahrenheit. A must have for anyone. Install from here.

Google Mail Checker. What would we do without Gmail? So now this little buttons sits tightly in your browser and tells you each time you get a new Gmail. One click and it takes you directly to your inbox. Install it from here.

Google Translate. Why visit Google translate page to translate pages in alien languages, now just click the button and let Chrome handle it from there. It will identify the language and automatically open up a new page after translating the present one. and by the wat this things works real fast. Installs here.

Google Wave Notifer. If you happen to be from those million plus people on this planet Earth who have somehow managed a Google Wave account for themselves well you can get notified of a new Wave by installing this extension. This is the link you have to follow.

Facebook for Google Chrome. This is it, this has to be my personal favorite. The little thing lets you make a post on Facebook, view Live feeds, see your Wall and notifications in a small window. A must have for facebook addicts and junkies. Add it from this page.

Chrome Bird. Tweet a little, twitter a lot? Well most of us do. Why visit the Twitter page every now and then. simply add this extension, sign up for once and begin tweeting in a small window. It will let you follow your timelines, navigate through your tweets in a chronological way, let you create short URLs, will notify you on new tweets, see read/unread tweets, compose, retweet, reply add to favorites and even delete tweets, whoa! say Goodbye to the Twitter page for now. Install from here.

Happy Surfing!

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October 2009 happens to be a very important month, somehow. We have Microsoft releasing Windows 7, Ubuntu releasing Karmic Koala and now it is HTC’s Android based Hero Smartphone hitting the shelves on 11 October in connivance with Sprint. The Hero is no ordinary phone, it is smart by all standards. Upon release and further use it will become clear how it fares against the iPhone, Blackberry or even the Windows Mobile 6.5 based devices. The phone has WLAN, GPS, a 5 MP camera, 3.2” screen, 2 GB memory (expandable via microSD card), USB support, Bluetooth, handwriting recognition, trackball, ability to sync with Google services like Gmail/Google maps, push email, music download from Amazon’s mp3 store and stereo Bluetooth to name a few.

It seems Android is going strong, if the media reports are anything to go by. We have Motorola’s Cliq coming out somewhere in November, Samsung’s Moment, and even Dell planning an Android based device in collaboration with AT&T, besides Sony eying the Android. As if all this wasn’t enough there is even talk of Google and Verizon teaming up for more Android based gizmos. This sounds really good for Google, things are looking up we guess. Dell’s party may also include T-Mobile. The buzz is that Google is coming out be a strong contender for iPhone, in the coming years off course. We are keeping our fingers crossed, everything takes time!

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Google has now made it easy for users to view formatted PDF documents in the browser. This news was published on Google’s official Blog. The documents now carry a “Qucik View” link which when clicked opens the document in the browser (See captured screenshot below). However, minor losses to formatting, pictures/graphics and tables are to be expected. This is better than opening a PDF application inside or outside the browser for simple viewing of the intended files. Google has previously been giving an option for users to view PDF files as HTML, this is now the reverse. It is pretty much the same thing which has been built in to Google Docs and Gmail for similar purposes. The company plans to include this feature for even more file types for viewing. The viewing option is presently available in a little more than 50 % of the PDFs indexed by Google.

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Visited Yahoo recently? Well I mean during something like the past 12 hours or so? The portal has be revamped anew, the looks are great and the content is even better. The most outstanding feature though is the ability to add your favorite stuff on the main page, this hits you right in the start. The total number of websites offered to me for addition was something like 72 and included everything from Facebook, Gmail! (oh my God, aren’t Yahoo and the Big G rivals?), Flickr, Yahoo mail, weather and off course your own personalized stuff, besides oodles of unwanted stuff. This indeed is quite different from what it used to be sometime back. The ads come as usual to the right and news items in the center. A simple muse over displays the contents of the website that you want to view. Gmail when clicked asked me to click only if I trusted Yahoo, further stating that Yahoo and Gmail were not partners…naturally I shied away. Let business rivals be rivals. Anyways a good change form the usual since this thing facilitates viewing the intended content in one place. Have a look at the image below or better still give it a try at Yahoo.

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The latest Smartphone by Motorola; MOTOCLIQ is Android based, and is laden with applications that match the likings of Samsung Star, Tocco,  or even the Nokia’s N97. The device is expected to hit the markets later this year. It features Android based technology called as the MOTOBLUR. It is a 3G phone with 3.1” screen, a 5 MP camera, 2 GB memory expandable up to 32 GB, Wi-Fi, flip out Qwerty keyboard, Video capture at an amazing 24 fps. The screen will be adorned with widgets that integrate with Face-Book, Twitter, Gmail, Yahoo and MySpace etc. Over the air synchronization and backups ensure that all data and contacts etc are held in one place. The device will be  available initially on Telefonica, America Movil, and Orange networks. Motorola is calling it “the first phone with social skills”.

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