Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Nexus One? Nexus Six Is Google Phone You Want
The rumored name for the new Google phone, Nexus One, has some Philip K. Dick fans up in arms. Is it too similar to the Nexus-6 brain unit from Dick's 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Let's compare features; first, the Nexus One smartphone.
(Nexus One photos (rumored))
According to rumors, the Nexus One smartphone will support North American GSM bands (850 and 1900) and T-Mobile's 1700 3G network. Documentation made available to the FTC suggests that the Nexus One will support hearing aids, a microSD card slot, Bluetooth, and 802.11b/g Wi-Fi.
Update 18-Dec-2009: According to a recent post on These Are The Droids, information can be found in the Android 2.1 ROM:
- Proximity Sensor/Light Sensor: Capella CM3602 per sensors.mahimahi.so in Nexus One ROM Dump.
- Accelerometer: BMA150 3-axis Accelerometer per sensors.mahimahi.so in Nexus One ROM Dump.
- Magnetic Compass: AK8973 3-axis Magnetic field sensor/AK8973 Orientation sensor per sensors.mahimahi.so in Nexus One ROM Dump.
- Wifi Radio / Bluetooth / FM: BCM4329 in lib/modules
- In libaudio.so I found “Routing audio to Speakerphone with back mic” reference.
- In libaudio.so I found “Stereo FM speaker” also referenced.
- Audience A1026 Noise Canceling Chip – No link but here is the A1024 found in libaudio.so
- Qualcomm QSD8K Specific hardware libs in lib/hw (QSD8250 Probably)
- Adreno 200 Graphics Core with OpenGLES 2.0 – Part of Snapdragon?
- Camera Info Vague, found some references to auto focus, flash, white balance and anti-banding in libcamera.so
End update.
Now, the Nexus 6 from Dick's 1968 novel:
(Roy Batty debates saving Rick Deckard in Blade Runner)
The Nexus-6 did have two trillion constituents plus a choice within a range of ten million possible combinations of cerebral activity. In .45 of a second an android equipped with such a brain could assume any one of fourteen basic reaction-postures. Well, no intelligence test could trap such an andy. But then, intelligence tests hadn't trapped an andy in years, not since the primordial, crude varieties of the 1970's.
(Read more about the Nexus-6)
Featurewise, you might want to wait for Google's Nexus Six.
On the other hand, the New York Times reports that
"... Isa Dick Hackett, a daughter of Mr. Dick, said in an interview Tuesday that she was “shocked and dismayed” by reports indicating that the Google phone would be named after her father’s famous characters. “We were never consulted, no requests were made, and we didn’t grant any sort of permissions.”"
So, you may never see a Google Nexus Six.
Via Engadget and Phonescoop and New York Times
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 12/16/2009)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 3 )
Related News Stories - (" Engineering ")
Climate Engineering In California Could Make Europe's Heat Waves Worse
'Pina2bo would have to operate full blast for many years to put as much SO2 into the stratosphere as its namesake had done in a few minutes.' - Neal Stephenson, 2021.
Textiles That Harvest Energy And Store It
'The clothes and jewelery drew their tiny power requirements from her movements.' - Alastair Reynolds, 2005.
Coin-Sized Nuclear Battery Good For 100 Years
'...power pack the size of a pea.' - Alfred Bester, 1956.
The FLUTE Project - A Huge Liquid Mirror In Space
'It's area, and its consequent light-gathering capacity, was many times greater than any rigid mirror...' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1934.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Cognify - A Prison Of The Mind We've Seen Before In SF
'So I serve a hundred years in one day...'
Robot With Human Brain Organoid - 'A Thrilling Story Of Mechanistic Progress'
'A human brain snugly encased in a transparent skull-shaped receptacle.'
Goodness Gracious Me! Google Tries Face Recognition Security
'The actuating mechanism that should have operated by the imprint of her image on the telephoto cell...'
With Mycotecture, We'll Just Grow The Space Habitats We Need
'The only real cost was in the plastic balloon that guided the growth of the coral and enclosed the coral's special air-borne food.'
Can A Swarm Of Deadly Drones Take Out An Aircraft Carrier?
'The border was defended by... a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats.'
WiFi and AI Team Up To See Through Walls
'The pitiless M rays pierced Earth and steel and densest concrete as if they were so much transparent glass...'
Climate Engineering In California Could Make Europe's Heat Waves Worse
'Pina2bo would have to operate full blast for many years to put as much SO2 into the stratosphere as its namesake had done in a few minutes.'
Optimus Robot Will Be A Good Nanny, Says Musk
'Nanny is different,' Tom Fields murmured... 'she's not like a machine. She's like a person.'
ESA To Build Moon Bases Brick By Printed LEGO Brick
'We made a crude , small cell and were delighted - and, I admit, somewhat surprised - to find it worked.'
Does The Shortage Of Human Inputs Limit AI Development?
'...we've promised him a generous pension from the royalties.'
Textiles That Harvest Energy And Store It
'The clothes and jewelery drew their tiny power requirements from her movements.'
LORIS Passive-Gripper Climbing Robot
'At the end of each appendage's eight fingers there are tinier appendages...'
Neuroplatform Human Brain Organoid Bioprocessor Uses Less Electricity
'Cultured brains on a slab.'
Drug To Regenerate Teeth In Humans
'We want to do something to help those who are suffering from tooth loss or absence,' said lead researcher Katsu Takahashi.
Coin-Sized Nuclear Battery Good For 100 Years
'...power pack the size of a pea.'
Live Stream With Meta-Ban Multimodal Smart Glasses
'...the bug-eyed, opaque gape of her True-Vu lenses.'
