The winner of this week’s Android Central photo contest is August with his picture of a compact in a quiet street scene, taken with his Samsung Galaxy S II using Retro Camera .  This week’s pictures were as amazing as last time around, and picking just one was no easy feat.  It’s the kind of work we all enjoy though, so we love doing it.  Keep an eye on your e-mail August, I’ll be contacting you about getting your battery shipped out.

With so many great pictures, even picking the 10 runners-up was difficult.  We finally settled on them, hit the break to have a look.  Don’t forget, we’re starting up a new round tomorrow, so keep an eye out.  

Brad Klisurich, Verizon Galaxy Nexus

David Morales, HTC EVO 4G

FC3 Kevin Stewart, Samsung Galaxy S II

G. Kinchen, Samsung Galaxy Nexus

Jerron Jorgensen, Samsung Galaxy S II, Epic 4G Touch and edited with Vignette

Jon G, Motorola Droid

Manuel A.C., Nexus One, using Vignette camera app

Mike Gauley, Samsung Nexus S 4G (look in the window!)

Scott Walker, HTC Droid Incredible

Zense, HTC EVO 4G

A Nexus phone on the Verizon network is a pretty big deal.  Plenty of people never thought it would happen (guilty), as Verizon has the muscle to have a bit more control over their network than most, and the Galaxy Nexus may take a bit of that away.  We’re all happy to be mistaken about it though, trust me.  You guys deserve this phone, and have been waiting for this phone since the day everyone realized that Verizon wouldn’t be carrying the Nexus One after all.

So now that it’s official, how many of you are going to storm the gates and grab one ASAP?  There’s other options of course — the Motorola RAZR looks like a hell of a phone in it’s own right, and HTC’s Rezound will turn a lot of heads with it’s sexy look.  And heaven only knows what’s coming around the corner.  We couldn’t make an easy decision ourselves in this case. 

It’s a lot to think about.  It’s also an interesting metric, and we all love interesting metrics.  Take a minute, hit the forums, and tell the world what you plan on doing once the GNex hits the shelves. 

Android Central forums poll: Now that it’s official, what are you doing?

If you managed to survice through the weekend, congrats! You’re just in time to help us celebrate our 500,000th member! Lot’s happening in the forums right now, so if you need help, got something to share or just want to talk Android make sure you check them out!

If you’re not already a member of the Android Central forums, you can register your account today.

Not to be forgotten, the venerable Nexus One got itself a little update overnight. Now at Android 2.3.6, Build GRK39F, the update … does something — the update screen just says “important bug fixes and security patches.” We’ll take their word for it.

Of course, there can’t be all that many Nexus Ones still in use (though we fall in love with it all over again every time we turn it on), and there’s a good chance that if you are rocking one, it’s not stock. But if vanilla’s your thing, look for the update to push down shortly. And should it not, we’ve got manual install instructions after the break.

1. Download the update from here (Google official – d323ca384aaa.signed-passion-GRK39F-from-GRJ22.d323ca38.zip).
2. Rename the file to update.zip. Note that if you’re using Windows, just rename it to “update” (no quotes, of course) because it’s already a zipped file.
3. Copy the update.zip file onto your microSD card.
4. With your Nexus One off, hold down the trackball and press the power button.
5. You’ll be booted into a white screen with three Android robots on skateboards. Select “Bootloader.”
6. On the next screen, select “Recovery.”
7. Your phone will reboot, giving you a picture of the Android robot and an exclamation point inside a triangle.
8. Now press the power button and volume up button at the same time. It could take a couple of tries.
9. Now (using the trackball this time) choose “Apply sdcard:update.zip” and let things run their course.
10. Reboot and enjoy

     Droid Bionic                                Stock Android 2.3.4

In his pre-release hands-on and review of the Motorola Droid Bionic, Joe the Insider also gave us a peek at some web browser benchmarks.  These numbers aren’t the end-all be-all of real world performance, but they do show how the hardware and the software handle things like sprites and math functions while rendering what you see in the web browser window.  And the Bionic looks like it does a fine job handling it’s business.  Compared to a fully stock Android 2.3.4 build on the Nexus One (it’s not even rooted!), the Bionic beats the score hands down, even while running out of the box stock with all the Blur bells and whistles.

We should expect this based on the new hardware, but it sure is nice to see it in handy picture form.  Be sure to read Joe’s thread and get the full details. 

The full scoop: Thoughts after using Bionic, plus pictures

Take a look at the picture you see here.  Clear your head and take a long hard look at it (we’ll wait).  See it yet?  I’ll give a hint — it’s not a Samsung Galaxy S II with a big juicy Verizon logo up top, no matter how bad we all wanted it to be.  When we read the caption attached to this picture uploaded at Amazon, things start to make some sense:

Ordered a Galaxy S II from Warehouse Deals, received a Verizon Galaxy S. Sad that people take advantage of Amazon like this…I hope whoever stole the Galaxy S II gets caught.

Now we weren’t there so we don’t know exactly how this went down, but it sure looks like someone ordered a Galaxy S II from Amazon, then slapped the screen covering on a Samsung Fascinate, threw it in the box and sent it in for a refund.  With stock being low and demand being high, it slipped through and was sent to another customer. 

Feeling a little pissed off yet?  Yeah, I am, too.  It’s not like it was my money, or this happened to a SGS II that was destined for my doorstep, but I can’t help but feel a little outrage.  We’re pretty sure Amazon will make this right — they’re Amazon.  We do have to agree with the gentleman who was expecting a shiny SGS II ready for his AT&T SIM card — we hope whoever did this gets caught.  And maybe sent to some Russian Gulag to atone for his (or her) sins.  OK, maybe that’s a bit too far.

This all goes to show just what hype will do to people.  We keep hearing about how something will be “the best one yet”, and we’ll be getting it soon.  After a while, this has one of two effects; you get jaded and stop caring, or you let it consume you.  I’m here to tell you, there is no best one, because the next one will always be the best one.  I’ve decided I’m not going to ride the hyperbole train any longer and just use what I have, and love it.  My old scratched Nexus One may not have that Super AMOLED HD screen I’ve been crying for, but I dropped my SIM card back in it, and made myself smile.  Do I still want a great new Android phone to use and abuse?  Of course I do.  I’m just not going to worry about when it gets here any longer.

Thanks, intheb0x for the link and pic! 

So what does Google’s acquisition of Motorola for $12.5 billion mean for Android’s Nexus program? (For those new to the platform, that’s Google’s yearly “Pure Google” phone — basically a developer-level phone that’s also refined enough for consumer purchase.) Will the next Nexus be from Motorola? Will they all be from Motorola from here on out. (The first two were the Nexus One from HTC and Nexus S from Samsung.)

Android’s Andy Rubin did give a little insight into the process, and how it’ll work going forward.

Basically, hardware manufacturers bid to become the platform for that year, then work closely with Google for the development of their Nexus device before releasing it late in the year. And that’s not going to change, even with this acquisition. One of the biggest points to remember is that the Motorola end will continue to be run as a separate business. That means it’ll have to go through the same Nexus process it’s presumably been going through, just like everyone else.

Here’s what Rubin had to say on the matter:

We have this strategy where we have this Nexus program, and we have this lead device strategy. That strategy has worked quite well to help focus the team.

What we do is that we select each — around Christmastime of each year — we select a manufacturer that we work very closely with to release a device in that time frame. That includes, also, semiconductor companies and all of the components that go in the device.

Essentially the teams huddle together in one building. They jointly work in these development efforts — they go on for nine to 12 months. And ultimately at the holiday season, or right before it, devices pop out that are based on this effort.

We don’t expect that to change at all. The acquisition is going to be run as a separate business. They will be part of that bidding process, and part of that lead development process. And obviously Android remains open to other partners to use as they are today.

And, no, he didn’t say who’s got this year’s Nexus phone. Hang in there, folks.

Believe it or not — there are still a few carriers out there who have yet to push out Android 2.3.4 for the Nexus One. Until today, Videotron in Canada was one of those carriers but they can now be removed off that list as they’ve now made Android 2.3.4 available for Nexus One owners. If you’ve not already gone ahead grabbed the update through other means, you can fire up system updates and get it now.

Source: Videotron; Thanks, Bryan!

If you’re still rocking an unrooted, Vodafone-branded Nexus One, then you’ll be pleased to hear that today sees the release of the official, Voda-approved Gingerbread update for these phones. The carrier has announced that Android 2.3.4 has begun rolling out over-the-air to its Nexus Ones, bringing these handsets up to date with unbranded Nexii.

Of the many new features in Gingerbread, Vodafone has highlighted the re-vamped UI and keyboard, SIP calling and improved power management in its release notes. It’s an over-the-air (OTA) update, so simply check for updates in Settings -> About phone to grab the new software.

Source: Vodafone UK

It’s been quite a while since Hulu initially announced they’d be bringing Hulu Plus to Android. That wait is now finally over — for some users that is. In order to make use of Hulu for Android you have to have one of the only six devices that are currently compatible. As noted on the Hulu blog:

With the first phase of the Android rollout, Hulu Plus is available on six phones, including the Nexus One, Nexus S, HTC Inspire 4G, Motorola Droid II, Motorola Droid X, and the Motorola Atrix. We expect to add to the number of Android smartphones and will be making additional device announcements throughout the year.

Limited support starting off with further devices being added later on. Sounds familiar right? Netflix chose this route and truth be told — that didn’t really work so well considering it’s up and running on various devices in unauthorized form. If you’re looking to get in on Hulu now and have a supported device you can jump on past the break for download. You’ll get a free one-week trial and after that it’ll be $7.99.

Source: Hulu