-Googlicious.
So delicious.
-What's up?
I'm Brian Tong and welcome to Googlicious for everything Google that we can pack inside of a show each week.
Let's get to the show and this week, there's going to be a whole lot of [unk] in the tech space.
We know about Apple's event, but Google is also sending out invites for an October 24th event in New York called a "night out with Google Play".
All right, so that doesn't sound like the hottest
date.
But according to Android and Me sources, there will be no hardware at the event even if the timing is perfect for some Nexus 5 or KitKat action.
And speaking about Nexus 5, it's probably the worst kept secret right now after full high-res images and a $349 price point appeared on the Google Play Store for the 16 Gig version of the phone.
It came with the caption: "Capture everyday and the epic in fresh new ways," suggesting the camera feature improvements that we've talked about in KitKat.
And the Nexus 5
may not be coming in just black after images that first appeared at Underkg.com, leaked online showing packaging of a possible white Nexus 5 as well.
And really this could be a total fake but the idea of a white Nexus 5 would be pretty slick.
And a new report from Tudou, Android claims that the Nexus 5 will only sport a 2,300 milliamp/hour battery opposed to the rumored 3,000 milliamp/hour battery based on the amount of internal storage available for the battery, but there's still nothing official on that front.
All right guys, a new Android tablet is shipping now and it's the latest from Amazon with their Kindle Fire HDX 7-inch that starts at $229.
So let's check it out with our hands on with what it has to offer.
-The HDX is smaller, thinner, and lighter than the company's previous 7-incher and has a 1920x1200 resolution screen.
Both the power button and volume rocker have been moved to the back and while the buttons are easier to find and press compared
to the previous Fire, having them on the back takes a little getting used to.
I do think it's really comfortable to hold in one hand though.
It's well-balanced, light, without feeling too airy.
The new version of the Fire OS is more a refinement over last year's than something completely new.
The carousel returns but swiping up from the home screen now brings up and an array of your installed apps.
And thanks to the higher-resolution, all menu items can now fit on the screen at once.
The Web experience has
finally been fixed- now feels fast without the bugs and sluggishness that plagued previous iterations.
Mayday is Amazon's new customer service feature for Kindle Fire owners.
If you're having trouble with something, tap the Mayday button and within 15 seconds- at least that's Amazon's goal- a real-time video chat window with customer service rep will appear.
-Thank you for using Amazon [unk].
Thank you for remaining [unk]-
-The rep can't see you but they can take control of the system.
They can also draw on it in order to illustrate how to do whatever it is we need to do.
It's a pretty cool feature but we'll have to see how well that 15-second response time holds up when thousands are tapping the button daily.
X-ray for music lets you sing along accurately to your favorite songs.
An X-ray trivia is a pretty effective way to learn more about your favorite movies or TV shows.
It seems Amazon finally got the horsepower-to-interface overhead balance just about right.
Thanks to the new Snapdragon
800 processor, pages and menus are accessed near immediately.
Gaming performance hits about Nvidia Shield level maybe a bit lower, but definitely trumps the new Nexus 7 in frame rate.
There are plenty of other small tweaks and changes I haven't even mentioned, we're still waiting for a few new features to be ready like Goodreads and the video fling feature before we can give them a fair assessment.
-Thanks, Eric, and I can't say it's a tablet for everyone but if you're really locked-in to the Amazon ecosystem, it's well
worth it.
All right, HTC- they might have had some tough earnings recently but that's not stopping top HTC executives who spoke with the Financial Times and said that wearables is a critical segment for us and that they're excited about it.
And in fact, HTC had already been working with Microsoft on a smartwatch device several years ago, kinda showing what they're thinking.
Then they also talked about a return to the tablet market that will be something nice and disruptive after their poorly received tablet lines in 2011.
So just stick with something, you know,
along the lines of the HTC One design and I think you guys might have something there.
All right, last week we asked you to send us your comments in favor of or against curve screen so here are some of them.
Ronit Roy says: "I don't think it's useful at all.
No curves." Michael Stanton Tweeter says: "Unnecessary manufacturing cost, with little gain." And Peter Vasquez says: "Smartphone screens with curves would probably feel better in your front pocket.
The curved design might hug your leg nicely."
So you know what?
I'm just gonna start calling this trend of phones the "thigh phones".
All right, that's gonna do it this week.
Email us as googlicious@cnet.com or tweet me @briantong and we'll answer what we can.
Thanks so much for watching all the Google goodness and we'll see you next week for another fix of Googlicious.
-Googlicious.
