nexus

According to "sources familiar with the matter," Verizon Wireless will release the Nexus One on March 23. Tech Web site Neowin.net is reporting that the nation's largest carrier plans to make the official availability announcement on the first day of the annual CTIA trade show in Las Vegas.

Although no Verizon reps are scheduled to take the stage for any keynote address, the carrier will have a booth. As the Google Android handset isn't brand new, a simple press release might suffice for getting the word out.

Last week, a CDMA HTC phone cleared the FCC … Read more

It's been far too long between visits, but CNET reporter Caroline McCarthy is back in New York and joins our sewing circle today on The 404 Podcast. Lately it's been difficult to track down our favorite jet-setter, so Caroline's Dopplr feed comes in handy for locating her.

We start things off with a chat about Caroline's recent travels and why "Up in the Air" brought tears to her eyes. CMC tells us about her two favorite airlines and the luxurious amenities offered to those special travelers who can somehow find a way to sneak in to the executive lounge. We had no idea airports have showers, and we're starting to scheme on how we can match her frequent flier miles.

On the topic of movies, movie-goers might be thrilled or crushed to hear that a "Zoolander" sequel is in the works. Ben Stiller and writer Justin Theroux are both back for the next movie, but my fellow hosts are disappointed to learn that Jonah Hill is close to getting signed to play the villain.

More disappointing news: Owen Wilson has yet to confirm his reprisal of Hansel, who might or might not be so hot right now. However, the entire conversation gets derailed when Caroline drops a bomb on the studio and makes a polarizing comparison to the original "Zoolander" that has Jeff reaching for the mute button.

Caroline also tells us about the wacky citizens of Topeka, Kan., unofficially changing the city's name to "Google" in a sell-out move to be the first city to test Google's fiber-optic technology. As pathetic as it sounds, I guess anything is better than ToPikachu. Also, a side note: you need to click this to witness Caroline's master MS Paint skills. Who needs Photoshop?

The big story in the tech and entertainment world today is "The Daily Show" and "Colbert Report" getting yanked from Hulu after the two couldn't reach an agreement over extended rights from Comedy Central and its parent company, Viacom. Fans of the shows can still watch full episodes on comedycentral.com, but Wilson and Caroline have their own predictions for their final destinations.

Fortify yourself for some frenetic phone-fanboy fighting.

As part of a series of in-depth investigations into the screen quality of the iPhone and the Nexus One, the visual experts at DisplayMate claim that, scientifically speaking, the iPhone's LED-backlit display is a clear winner.

Examine the images for yourself: on the Nexus One's theoretically more advanced AMOLED screen, DisplayMate says, "there are lots of issues, problems and artifacts lurking just below the surface." Thanks go to OLED-Display for a tip-off about the study.

Read more of "iPhone's LED screen is better than Nexus One's OLED, experts claim&… Read more

Though we've known since January that Verizon Wireless is getting a Nexus One, this week we saw the first sign that the handset may arrive soon. A CDMA HTC phone with the ID "PB99300" cleared the Federal Communications Commission's certification process this week. As Phonescoop pointed out, the GSM Nexus One's FCC ID is PB99100, which is pretty close to the new device's ID. HTC omitted the retail product name from its FCC documents, but the consensus is that we have our Verizon model in print. Also in FCC land this week is the … Read more

U.S. mobile operators, , in letters sent to the Federal Communications Commission earlier this week, defended their use of early termination fees and explained how they are informing consumers about their policies.

In January, the FCC asked each of the four major wireless carriers, AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile USA, along with Google to detail how they inform customers of their fees in statements on corporate Web sites, in brochures and sales scripts, and in monthly bills. The companies had until February 23 to respond. Earlier this week, they filed their answers to the FCC's … Read more

One handset we've yet to really tackle on Android Atlas is the forthcoming HTC Incredible. Designed like the Nexus One, the Incredible boasts a 3.7-inch display, 256MB RAM, an optical trackpad, and Android 2.1 with HTC's Sense UI. The screen is said to be "very vibrant" and may be AMOLED, like the recently announced Desire and Legend.

The Incredible appears headed soon for Verizon. We've already seen it in the carrier's inventory system and handsets rarely appear there unless a release is around the corner. With CTIA coming up next month, perhaps … Read more

So turns out Google didn't cancel the Beijing event at which it planned to evangelize its new Nexus One Android smartphone. It couldn't cancel because the company had never arranged to hold an Android event in Beijing in the first place.

Asked to comment on a Reuters report claiming Google's roadshow was skipping the Chinese capital, a company spokesperson told me that the report is erroneous.

"The reports are incorrect," she said. "There was not a Nexus One launch event scheduled in Beijing. Google is hosting 3 Android Developer Labs in Asia over the … Read more

Monday, we wrote about how the HTC Desire's ROM had been hacked into a Nexus One. Aside from Sense UI, one of the added features was Adobe Flash 10.1, which works in the browser to enable Flash content such as videos and games.

Taimur Asad from technology site Redmond Pie shot a video showing the popular Facebook game FarmVille running on the Android smartphone. It appeared to load smoothly, though by his own admission, Asad wasn't quite clued in as to how the game works, which made the demo quite a drag to watch.

If games such … Read more

Who says no to Google? Apparently, Sony Ericsson.

In an interview with Swedish newspaper Sydsvenskan, Sony Ericsson CEO Bert Nordberg revealed that Google first approached his company to build the Nexus One smartphone but it turned the opportunity down, making way for HTC to produce it.

Berg said Sony Ericsson wants to release phones under its own brand only and prefers to rely on its own efforts to make it in the U.S. market. Now, we can certainly admire the company's determination, but come on, Sony Ericsson, there's a time when you have to put your pride … Read more