Google have updated their Google Search for Android app, bringing a better search experience to users of Android handsets running older versions of the operating system.

The new look Search has a cleaner UI, which helps deliver a faster, smoother performance when searching the web on your phone. Additionally, the updated app also includes:

- Suggestions for your search grouped by type, with web suggestions at the top
- Country specific suggestions and search results for all countries that have their own Google domain
- Long press to remove history items.

The update is available for Android handsets running Android OS 2.2, 2.3 or 3.x, which is going to be the large majority of devices. The updated app is available to download now from the Android Market, or by scanning the QR Code below:

Via

Rumours are abound that Apple and Google may enter into the bidding for Premier League TV rights, when the contract goes out to tender before the end of the season.

The Daily Mail report that Apple could see the Premiership as a key element in establishing the Apple TV service in the UK.

Additionally, Google are also reported to be interested in bidding for Premiership rights, which could be offered via their YouTube platform. The increased competition for the rights to Premier League matches will be welcomed by the sports governing body, coming at a time where many sports are seeing reduced income from TV rights.

It may end up that Google and/or Apple team up with existing majority Premiership provider BSkyB, or possibly ESPN, who are expected to go for more Premier League games. Al Jazeera are also expected to enter into the bidding for the rights, having recently secured the French rights to live Champions League football from next season.

In America, Apple has agreements in place with the NHL, MLB and NBA; adding Premiership football rights in the UK would be a major coup. Currently, viewers can view football matches from Sky on the Apple iPhone and iPad via the Sky Go app, whilst goals and highlights from games can be seen with the ESPN Goals app.

The rights to Premier League games won't be cheap, with Sky having paid £1.6 billion for rights, back in 2009. The package that ESPN has was originally awarded to Setanta Sports, which was picked up by ESPN for around £90m when Setanta Sports went into administration.

It seems that Google has not forgotten about owners of the previous Android flagship phone, the Nexus S, with many Google employees commenting via various social media platforms that they are testing Ice Cream Sandwich on the device.

Ice Cream Sandwich, the codename for Android OS 4.0, was first seen on the newest Google Android phone, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. At the time of launch Google had suggested that ICS would become available for the Nexus S, and now it seems that the release is imminent, subject to successful testing.

The lack of a coherent upgrading system for newer versions of Android has often been cited as a source of frustration for many owners of Android devices, with multiple versions of the operating system in use at any one time. This can also cause issues for developers, who need to ensure apps they release through the Android Market are compatible with a wide range of OS versions.

Many manufacturers have already stated their intention to bring Ice Cream Sandwich to their handsets, including LG, Sony Ericsson, HTC and Samsung. One way in which owners of the Nexus S will benefit is a lack of operator modifications in terms of UI layers, which should mean once the update is ready to rollout it should hit all Nexus S handsets within a few days of release.

The Galaxy Nexus S is available on various networks, with contract deals starting from just £25.53 a month. For the latest offers, see our Nexus S deals page. If you want to try Android 4.0 now, the only device currently on market with that OS version is the Galaxy Nexus. The Galaxy Nexus is available from £24.38; for the latest offers, see the Samsung Galaxy Nexus deals page.

The software bug on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus that caused some users to experience complete loss of volume has been well documented, and now Google has confirmed that the software fixed is currently being rolled out.

In a statement, Google said: “We are currently rolling out a fix for the volume issue which will reach everyone in the coming week.” The update will be sent out Over The Air, and users will be notified on their handset when it is available to download. However, you can perform a manual check by going to the settings menu on your phone, selecting About Phone > System Updates > Check Now.

The problem was experienced by some users when transferring data on a 2G connection, and it would result in the volume of the phone being lowered completely, affecting all outgoing audio. That meant no volume for music, incoming call, text and email alerts, and incoming audio on phone calls.

The update is fairly small in size, so should download fairly quickly, and it is advisable for all users to download the update, even if their phone hasn't suffered the volume problem.

To check the latest offers for Galaxy Nexus, head on over to our Samsung Galaxy Nexus deals page

Google has responded to reports of a volume bug being found on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and has announced that a fix will be issued shortly to affected users.

The volume bug has been reported by many users on forums and social networks, effects all audio on the handset. The volume on the phone will decrease for no apparent reason, meaning incoming call alerts, text and email alerts and incoming voice calls cannot be heard on the phone.

Once the volume has gone to zero, it cannot be raised up again with the volume rocker key, rendering the phone almost useless for anything other than a spot of web browsing. The issue is supposed to be caused by an issue with the 2G network, although this isn't confirmed.

Owners of the Galaxy Nexus should be receiving an alert in the next few days, prompting them to download and update the software on the phone. It is advisable for all owners of the Galaxy Nexus to download the update when prompted, even if the volume bug has not occurred on a particular device.

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is the first Android device to be launched running the latest version of the Android operating system, Ice Cream Sandwich. Despite the volume bug, which has affected only a small number of users to date, the handset has been receiving favourable reviews since its release.

For the latest offers on this device, head on over to our Galaxy Nexus Deals page.

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is creating headlines following its release, unfortunately not all of them positive. It seems there is a bug on some devices that causes all audio volume to drop, meaning users miss calls, incoming text and can not hear callers when on call.

The problem happens of its own accord, and appears to be related to the device connecting to 2G networks. The volume on the handset will drop, no matter what process is being used on the phone at the time, even if on a call.

After the volume has gone down to zero, the volume button becomes unresponsive, so it is not possible to raise the volume back up to normal levels. The problem will effect all audio output on the device, effectively placing the handset into permanent silent mode.

Many forums have users who have purchased the device complaining about the problem. It is thought Samsung and Google are working on a fix, which will be rolled out as soon as possible.

If you have picked up a Galaxy Nexus in the last few days, and you have experienced the bug with the volume, let us know via the comments.

Google has announced that its Google Music service is now fully operational, and available to all to use. As long as you live in the US, that is.

The service has lost its beta tag, and invite only status, and gives users an easy to use way of managing their large music libraries on the go.

Subscribers can upload up to 20,000 of their own songs to Google Music, which can then be streamed to a compatible device, and Google are also selling songs that can be added to a user's collection of tunes.

Music tracks are purchased through the Android Market, alongside the books, movies and TV shows that Google have made available for a while now. Google states that it is able to distribute over 13 million tracks from a huge number of independent music labels, and also has agreements in place with major labels, too.

Currently, around 8 million of those tracks are available, with the remainder to be added in the coming months. Google will be offering a large number of music tracks for free, and will feature artists each week, running special promotions, and adding a new track each day, for free.

Google has enabled sharing features within its Google Music service, which lets users share tracks via Google+, or via email.

Click here to view the embedded video.

To sign up to the service, head on over to music.google.com, and then download the Google Music app from the Android Market. Non Android users can still enjoy Google Music from the web interface, whilst for iPhone owners Google have a HTML5 webapp that formats the web service for viewing on an iOS device running iOS 4 and above.

When Google released the Gmail for iOS app first time round, it was quickly pulled from the Apple App Store due to a serious bug, that broke notifications. Now hopefully fixed, Google have re-released the app and it is available to download now.

Along with fixing the notifications bug, Google have taken time to do some further tweaking to the Gmail for iOS app, so that it now has improved handling for images in HTML messages, which resizes images to fit the screen.

Anyone who managed to download the app when it was first available will need to uninstall the app before installing the update, to ensure there are no complications.

The new app offers many Gmail specific features that cannot be replicated in the default iOS email client, and gives support for multiple accounts, mobile signatures, as well as improved notifications. Google state that this is just a beginning, and aim to add more features in the coming months.

Click on the button below to download Gmail for iOS from the Apple App Store:

The Galaxy Nexus is the latest device in the Google Nexus range, manufactured by Samsung, as was the previous device, the Nexus S. Offering some nice hardware upgrades, the Galaxy Nexus is also the first device to ship with the latest Android OS version, Android 4.0, also popularly known as Ice Cream Sandwich.

The Galaxy Nexus has a minimalistic look, with few buttons and ports around the casing. In fact, the handset has no hardware buttons at all at the bottom of the display for controlling navigation, instead the device makes use of software buttons that appear at the bottom of the display when needed.

The display on the Galaxy Nexus is stunning, probably one of the best displays on a smartphone to date. Measuring a large, 4.65 inches, the Nexus uses a Super AMOLED HD capacitive touchscreen, supporting up to 16 million colours and with a pixel resolution of 720 x 1280. The display is covered with an oleophobic surface, which leaves less trace of fingerprints on the screen, which can be a real problem when using a touchscreen phone in the sunlight.

Weighing in at a manageable 135g, the Galaxy Nexus measures in at 135.5 x 67.9 x 8.9mm, with the thinness of the phone helping to make it feel comfortable to hold, despite the large size. Around the phone there are very few hardware buttons and ports. Down one side of the phone is a connecting point for a docking station, as well as a lock screen button, and on the other is a volume rocker key. There are no ports across the top of the device, which means the 3.5mm audio jack is rather annoyingly located on the bottom of the phone, along with the Micro USB port and microphone.

Across the bottom of the phone, underneath the screen is an LED notification area. This will glow when you have a missed call, or when you receive a text, or when the battery is starting to run low. The battery is a lithium ion 1750 mAh, which is fairly large for an Android phone, but unlikely to supply more than a day with average usage, which is becoming the norm for a modern day smartphone.

There are two choices of internal memory capacity on the Galaxy Nexus, you can choose a device with either 16 GB or 32 GB of internal memory. Unfortunately, that is all you get, as disappointingly Samsung have neglected to include a Micro SD card slot on the handset.

The camera on the phone is 5.0 Megapixel, which seems pretty basic when compared with other top smartphone devices these days, however the speed at which the camera operates is pretty impressive, with Samsung claiming there is no lag between press and capture of the image. The camera supports autofocus and touch focus, as well as face detection and geotagging, and is capable of recording 1080p HD video at 30 frames per second. On the front of the phone, located next to the speaker, is a 1.3 Megapixel camera, which can be used for video calls and self portrait shots.

The Galaxy Nexus is a quad band GSM device, offering global support for roaming, and also supports LTE 4G networks where available. HSDPA on the device is possible up to 21 Mbps where the network supports it, and also includes HSUPA at up to 5.76 Mbps. WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/ support is included, as is DLNA for easy WLAN integration, and also WiFi hotspot, which makes it easy to turn the handset into an impromptu wireless hotspot, allowing WiFi enabled devices to connect to the web via the phone.

Powering the Galaxy Nexus is a dual core 1.2 GHz processor, which should ensure that the handset is capable of handling even the most demanding of tasks quickly and easily, removing any noticeable lag when using the phone. The handset includes a GPS receiver with A-GPS support, and has support for NFC Near Field Communication.

The hardware is just half the story with the Galaxy Nexus, of course, as there is much to enjoy on the phone thanks to the inclusion of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The new Android OS is more than just a slight upgrade, in fact there are so many new features it is a pretty major overhaul.

The lockscreen on the phone allows simple, quick access to the camera, making it even easier to ensure you don't miss those special moments. Sliding the unlock circle to the right unlocks the phone, otherwise sliding it to the left towards the camera icon immediately launches the camera. The Galaxy Nexus also includes a rather cool way of unlocking the phone, by using face recognition. It is also possible now to access the drop down menu notification bar even from the lockscreen, so you can view incoming alerts without having to unlock the device.

There are multiple homescreens available on the Nexus, which are easily accessed by swiping across the screen, where you can store application shortcuts and widgets as with other Android phones. One new feature lets you resize certain widgets, making it even easier to customise the display as you want it to be. Android 4.0 makes use of an entirely new font, known as Roboto. The font is very clear and easy to read, and the phone even converts text on websites when browsing with the phone to the new font, too.

A welcome addition to the features of Android with ICS is the inclusion of a screenshot option. Til now taking a screenshot of an Android device generally meant connecting to a PC, but now a screenshot can be taken straight on the phone. It may be of little significance to some, but for many people a screenshot feature is very handy, and a welcome addition.

There are many other updates with Ice Cream Sandwich, such as a new style contacts list. The phonebook is now known as People, and has a lighter background than with previous Android versions. It is much easier to gain access to your favourite contacts, and contact images are a larger size than the thumbnails used before.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The web browser on the phone has been updated, making web browsing faster than before, plus there is an offline mode for reading content later on, and there is a desktop option, which allows you to view the desktop version of a website you are browsing as opposed to the mobile version. The calendar is also updated, as is the mail client. Instead of having an option for Gmail, and an alternative for everything else, you can now access all email via one inbox.

The updates throughout Android 4.0 are numerous, these are just few of the more noticeable ones. Combined with the hardware capabilities of the Galaxy Nexus, you are presented with a very desirable smartphone. From the amazing display, dual core 1.2 GHz processor, 1080p HD video and high speed data support, combined with Android Ice Cream Sandwich, it would seem that the Galaxy Nexus is set to be a very popular product.

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is set to launch in the UK during November, and will be available across a range of networks.

With the launch in the early hours of this morning of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, we also saw the launch of the latest version of the Android operating system, Android 4.0, which carries the ludicrous codename, Ice Cream Sandwich.

According to Google, the main idea behind Android 4.0 was to create a mobile operating system that would work on both phones and tablet devices. Ice Cream Sandwich comes with a new font which has been optimised to display better on HD displays, like the one the Galaxy Nexus comes with, and the OS is designed to use adaptable software control buttons, removing the need for hardware buttons on the handset.

Ice Cream Sandwich delivers to end users an improved notification system, making notifications more interactive, allows for resizeable widgets, and offers an improved native keyboard over previous Android versions. Of course, one of the benefits of Android is the option to install an alternative keyboard should you wish, such as the offering from Swype, or Swiftkey. It is this level of customisability that gives Android a real competitive edge over the competition.

The web browser on handsets running Android 4.0 has been given a makeover, bringing swifter delivery of web pages, and an improved tab manager. For users of Google Chrome, it is possible to synchronise your desktop bookmarks with the handset, so if you add a bookmark to your home PC or on the phone, it will appear on the other device.

Gmail has been given a facelift, offering a new design that allows quick swiping through the inbox, and delivers an offline search facility, too.

The contacts section of the OS is improved, with better connectivity to social networking contacts, and you can now store HD photos for contacts. Photos and videos captured on the Galaxy Nexus can be instantly uploaded to Google+, Twitter or Facebook, after they have been tweaked with the onboard imaging editor. The camera on the Galaxy Nexus offers zero shutter lag, making it easier to capture that special moment, whilst a panoramic picture application makes it easy to capture amazing panoramic photos. Simply scan the camera to capture the images, and the software on the phone automatically stitches them together for you.

With Ice Cream Sandwich comes Android Beam, which takes advantage of the NFC capabilities on the phone to share content with other NFC enabled devices. It is possible to share web pages, Maps, YouTube videos and apps by simply tapping two compatible phones together. A new feature to be included on the OS is facial recognition technology, which can be used to unlock the phone, simply by looking into the camera.

It is three years since Google launched the G1, the very first Android device. The Android platform has come a long way since then, and with improving hardware, Android handsets have become amongst the most popular smartphones in the world, with over 550,000 Android handsets activated on a daily basis.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The first device to launch with Android OS 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich installed will be the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, which is scheduled to launch in November 2011. The handset is already confirmed for Vodafone, Three and O2. To sign up for details on the phone, head on over to our Samsung Galaxy Nexus deals page.