According to the Wall Street Journal, Google is going to give multiple smartphone and tablet manufacturers early access to the latest builds of Android to build devices and then sell those directly to consumers through the Play Store. Google will supposedly have these devices ready in time for the launch of the next version of Android, code named Jelly Bean, which is ser to bow in November.

In the past Google has selected one company to make its “Nexus” devices. Most recently, that company was Samsung. Recently, Google began to sell the Galaxy Nexus directly through its Play Store and had a page of the store dedicated to devices plural. This, of course, begged the question as to what other devices were going to be sold there. Perhaps this new development answers that question.

According to the Journal’s source, this new plan would give Google “more control over the apps that run on smartphones and tablets powered by Android, thus reducing the influence of wireless carriers over such devices.” Gotta say, that sounds pretty good as I think carriers have way too much influence as it is.

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It’s a great day for Android and Samsung fans as the company has officially announced their brand new smartphone, the Galaxy SIII, at a press conference in London. The new device features all the latest goodness including a 4.8″ HD Super AMOLED display, 8MP rear camera, 2MP front camera, 2100mAh battery, NFC, 16/32GB on-board storage, up to 64GB of expandable storage and Android 4.0 (aka Ice Cream Sandwich). All that and it’s only 8.6mm thick.

In addition, it does seem to have physical home buttons and will be released in Europe at the end of May. A late June release for a 4G version in the U.S. is currently planned, although that could change.

Check out the full specs after the break (curtesy of the fine folks at Droid-Life). We’ve also got a coupe videos from Samsung including a hands-on as well as their new commercial for the device.

Check it all out after the break. So, anyone excited for this new device or are you all sticking with your iPhones?

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As with all cutting edge technology, something else comes along to displace the “new hot thing” very shortly after the new hot thing comes out. Case in point this time around is the flagship Android smartphone known as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

Today, the contract-free price for the device has dropped to $399.00, down a hundred bucks. It’s now available from Google’s online Google Play Store for that price.

In case you haven’t been following the rise of this particular device, it was originally released last October and launched on Verizon Wireless in mid-December. But even though it’s been around for several months, it’s still got some very good specs.

Some of these specs include a 4.65-inch 720p Super AMOLED display, a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 16GB of internal storage, 1GB of RAM, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and GSM/HSPA compatibility with both AT&T and T-Mobile.

The best part is that this phone is unlocked and you can take advantage of some pretty good SIM only deals from AT&T or T-Mobile. At this price, it’s pretty tempting indeed.

Even though we love Apple’s iPhone here at The Flickcast, that doesn’t mean we don’t occasionally look at offerings from the Windows and Android world. In fact, if there was a phone other than the iPhone we would use, it would probably be the Galaxy S from Samsung.

Mostly due to the tight integration with Google and the Android OS, the Galaxy S is a smartphone we can see taking the place of, or being side by side with, our beloved iPhones. But up until now, we’ve resisted the temptation.

However, thanks to the diligent folks at BGR, we now know that the Galaxy S III is coming soon and we also know that the specs on this new device are going to be even harder to resist. Here’s the specs:

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As owners and users of all sorts of Apple gear, we understand that others who don’t “get it” could misunderstand our love for all-things Apple. So, in the interest of presenting some counter-points to our Apple fanboy/girl nature, we’ve got this video from Samsung that sheds some light on those that don’t use Apple’s gear.

The video pokes fun at the Apple faithful and how we buy whatever Apple is selling, regardless of how good (or bad) it is. This video is actually an ad for the Samsung Galaxy S II, which is billed as the free thinker’s alternative to Apple’s iPhone “sheep.”

Of course, the add fails to mention that Apple’s most recent iPhone, the 4S, has pretty much flown off shelves and is the biggest selling smartphone of all time. I guess that point didn’t make it past the ad guys and gals at Samsung. Why mention the truth, right?

It’s always fun when those at the bottom pick on those at the top. Let the fun continue after the break.

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Yesterday during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Verizon unveiled a bunch of upcoming devices built for its 4G LTE network. Some of the devices include smartphones, tablets, laptop computers and mobile hotspots. Here’s a quick rundown of each 4G device covered during the announcement, compiled by the folks at BGR:

• HTC ThunderBolt – HTC Sense 2.0, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 4.3-inch WVGA display, 8-megapixel camera with HD video recording, DLNA capability, video chat support

• LG Revolution – 4.3-inch touchscreen, Android 2.2, video chat, mobile hotspot support (up to eight devices)

• DROID Bionic 4G – Android, video chat, rear-facing 8-megapixel camera, 4.3-inch display, HDMI connectivity, dual-core 1GHz processor, 512 DDR2 RAM

• Unnamed Samsung Smartphone – Android 2.2, 4.3-inch Super-AMOLED Plus display, 1GHz processor, rear-facing 8-megapixel camera with LED flash, video chat

• Motorola XOOM tablet – 10.1-inch display, Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS, 1080p HD video, front-facing 2-megapixel camera for video chat, 5-megapixel camera with video capture, mobile hotspot capability (up to five devices)

• 4G LTE-enabled Samsung Galaxy Tab – 7-inch TFT display, Android 2.2, 1.2GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird processor, rear-facing 5-megapixel camera, front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera

• Novatel MiFi® 4510L Intelligent Mobile Hotspot – 3G and 4G LTE compatibility

• Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot – 3G and 4G LTE compatibility

• Compaq CQ10-688nr – 10.1-inch display, Intel Atom N455 processor, up to 8.5 hours of battery life, multi-format digital media card reader, webcam and multiple connectivity options

• HP Pavilion dm1-3010nr – 11.6-inches, HP CoolSense Technology, up to 10.75 hours of battery life, 320 GB of storage, multi-format digital media card reader, HDMI port, Dolby Advanced Audio and GPS for mapping and navigation

Click through to check out the full press release from Verizon. But take note, its pretty massive.

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It must be nice to work for a site where people send you info about all kinds of interesting new gadgets and gizmos like they do over at The Boy Genius Report. Hopefully, we will start to get that kind of stuff around here soon enough or maybe even over at The Clickcast as well.

Until then, we will just have to bring you items of interest given to other sites we like and read. Case in point is the news that the Samsung Galaxy Tab, which we told you about previously, has now been “officially” leaked and is appearing on Verizon’s internal sales website.

The above image of the device was sent to BGR and pretty much shows that the Tab will be announced as a new Verizon device on Thursday. Good news for those of you waiting for a competitor to the iPad to appear on your favorite carrier. In case you’ve forgotten, here’s the specs for the new device, just to get you excited:

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With Apple’s recent announcement of the new Apple TV, the competition for your living room is heating up once again with Google set to soon jump fully into the fray. Announced in May, Google TV has officially been given a launch date here in the US.

According to the report, Google will launch its TV service in the United States this autumn and worldwide next year. CEO Eric Schmidt said the service, which will allow users to browse the Internets via their televisions, would be free, and Google will work with a diverse group of content providers and electronics manufacturers to bring it to consumers.

Companies such as Sony and Samsung are already looking at including the service in their devices. More are sure to follow suit, if only to try and secure a better deal for themselves then Apple has traditionally provided.

The real question is do people want to use the Internet on their TV’s? I suppose they do considering I do it every day by watching something like Hulu or Instant Netflix on my TV via the XBox 360 or PS3.

Although, I wouldn’t exactly call me a “typical consumer” so what I do with technology might be more than most people are willing, or able, to do. That said, if Google TV does end up having those features, I might be more interested.

Want to know more about Google TV? If so, check out the official video explaining it after the jump.

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After a bit of a wait it looks like the folks at Samsung have decided to officially let out details regarding their Galaxy Tab tablet. Now that they have, we’ve got the specs (and an official trailer for the device) to share with you:

• 1 GHz Cortex A8 processor
• HSUPA 5.76 Mbps / HSDPA 7.2 Mbps radio (900, 1900, 2100 MHz)
• Quad-band GSM
• 7-inch WSVGA screen with multitouch
• Android 2.2
• Wi-Fi a/b/g/n
• Bluetooth 3.0,
• GPS
• Flash 10.1
• 4,000 mAh battery
• 3 megapixel rear-facing camera with flash
• 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera
• Full HD video playback at 1080p
• MicroSD card slot with support for up to a 32 GB card
• Weight 13.4 ounces

Not a bad set of specs, except for the pretty tame camera. Who has 1.3 megapixels these days? Oh well, better than the iPad’s 0.0 megapixel camera. The Samsung Galaxy Tab will be launched in Europe in mid September, and in other markets including Korea, the US and Asia later. No word yet on pricing.

Check out the trailer after the jump. So what do we think? Will this be a serious competitor for Apple’s iPad?

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As we mentioned a few weeks ago, for those users lucky enough to get the invite, Hulu Plus is currently in it’s preview period.  As promised, Hulu has begun enabling the applications on various devices, including the much anticipated PlayStation 3 update.

In a coup for all you Playstation 3 defenders, Hulu Plus has chosen the Playstation 3 for limited console exclusivity through the end of the year. And for those of you who were concerned, no you don’t need a CD to play it like Netflix, you just need to download the free app from the PlayStation store.

The program looks almost identical to the Hulu desktop, and the video streams in beautiful 1080p (as long as your internet  and TV can handle it). Unfortunately, in order to access the preview you do need to be a PlayStation Plus member. Aside from Hulu Plus, said membership allows access to free or discounted add-ons, themes, avatars and games.

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A new report from comScore on U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share reveals some interesting statistics for both domestic cell- and smart-phone users. For fans of Google’s open-source Android Platform, the good news is that Android is continuing to grab ever-larger shares of the U.S. smartphone market. With the sheer number of outrageously great Android-based smartphones being released in 2010, it makes sense that devices based on Google’s OS would jump a healthy 4.0% over the previous period.

Over 234 million Americans age 13 and older are currently using mobile devices and comScore’s report ranked mobile equipment manufacturers (OEMs), smartphone operating system (OS) platforms in the U.S. according to their share of current mobile subscribers, and finally mobile content usage (how mobile device owners used their devices).

In terms of top manufacturers of mobile devices, manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 22.4 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers, up one percentage point from the preceding three month period. LG ranked second with 21.5 percent share, followed by Motorola (21.2 percent share), RIM (8.7 percent share, up 0.5 percentage point) and Nokia (8.1 percent share).

Of all mobile device users, 49.1 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in May, up 8.1 percent from the corresponding February period. RIM, with their business-friendly Blackberry phones was the leading mobile smartphone platform in the U.S. with 41.7 percent share of U.S. smartphone subscribers, followed by Apple with 24.4 percent share and Microsoft with 13.2 percent.

Google saw significant growth during the period, up 4.0 percentage points to capture 13.0 percent of smartphone subscribers, while Palm rounded out the top five with 4.8 percent. Despite losing share to Google Android, most smartphone platforms continue to gain subscribers as the smartphone market overall continues to grow.

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