The Android 4.2.1 update, which began this morning for the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10, is also pushing to Google’s Nexus 7. The 7-inch tablet was the first Jelly Bean device to hit the market and isn’t taking a backseat to the newer Nexus devices released earlier this month.

Users can expect the same minor update (build JOP40D) that reached the 4.7-inch smartphone and 10-inch tablet, a bug fixer that most notably restores the ability to associate a contact entry with a date in December. Previously, Google’s calendar skipped the month, going straight from November to January.

[Thanks, Keith!]

It started making its way to the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 earlier today, and now it’s available as part of the Android Open Source Project. The code for the latest version of Jelly Bean, Android 4.2.1 (JOP40D) is now available for download.

As we typically point out, the source will be of little use for the average Android user, but it provides the ROM makers that many of us depend on with all the meat they need to craft custom Android builds based around the latest release. And, yes, the month of December is included.

The factory images of Android 4.2.1, which should be of a bit more use to most, will be available in the coming days, according to Android codemaster Jean-Baptiste Queru. Head on over to the Android Building group to snag the source code today.

Update 2: Google has placed a banner notice on the Play Store informing customers that the Nexus 4 is in fact not sold out, however high traffic is creating issues with the ordering process. The phone is indeed listed as available for purchase, but it’s definitely worth noting that the shipping time is now listed as 4 to 5 weeks, which isn’t much better than being completely sold out in the first place.

Update: Yes, the Nexus 4 is once again sold out. It took all of about a minute, from the sound of things. Add in an overloaded Play Store that has created headaches for those trying to check out and today’s re-launch of the Nexus 4 has gone off no more smoothly than the first.

Some users are still reporting the ability to add the phone to their shopping cart after spending some time refreshing the page, but there is no guarantee you will make it through the whole process. And at this point any successful purchases could soon be greeted with a backorder notice.

Note to Google: get it together, guys!

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After two grueling weeks, the Nexus 4 is once again available from the Google Play Store. The Android 4.2 flagship starts at $299 for the 8GB model. The 16GB version is $349. So why are you still reading this? We’ll wait while you go order yours.

Back? It’s been quite the wait for those folks who missed out on their chance to pick up the phone on its November 13th launch date. As we’re all too well aware, the phone sold out in mere minutes after going on sale at 9AM PST. Google hasn’t made any guarantees about how many devices will be available to ship today, but hopefully they have a bit more stock than the first run. It’s also worth checking to see if the official bumper case is back in stock.

We’re eager to hear about the experience of our readers making a second go at picking up the Nexus 4. The initial launch was plagued with Google Play bugs that resulted in the device being oversold and some buyers being notified later that their handsets were on backorder. So who got one? Was it a painless experience or were there any unexpected complications?

While we’d love to live in a perfect world without obtrusive ads and such on all these new-fangled websites, the truth is that some users just don’t want to see them. Moral issues aside, plugins have existed for years to help folks disable them as easily as they could disable anything, and the biggest of such a tool is AdBlock Plus. The plugin, which can be had in the form of browser plugins on desktop, has now made its way to Android.

The app will block ads for most browsers that can be had in the Play Store, and you don’t have to be rooted for basic functionality over WiFi. 3G and 4G will be a bit of a problem if you don’t have root access on your device, though, so keep that in mind before damning it in the Google Play Store if it doesn’t appear to be working. In fact, keep this full list of compatibility issues and restrictions in mind:

• Rooted: Blocks ads over Wi-Fi and 3G
• Non-rooted with Android 3.1 or later: Blocks ads over Wi-Fi
• Non-rooted with Android 3.0 or earlier: Some manual configuration is required. Please visit our website to learn how to setup your own proxy: https://adblockplus.org/en/android-config#proxy
• Also, Android does not allow ads to be blocked on SSL encrypted websites.

Co-founder Till Faida says mobile users should be able to control their browsing experience and block intrusive ads just as easily as anyone else:

Mobile devices have exploded over the past few years, and as usage of these devices has increased, so has advertising, which is becoming more and more intrusive. Mobile devices can feel more ‘personal’ than online browsing via a desktop device, making advertising on these devices even more intrusive and annoying when they interrupt browsing. And by blocking ads from rendering, Adblock Plus users can experience up to 40% faster browsing on their Android devices.

Trying it on my Nexus 7 proved effortless. I used the latest version of Firefox with the ever-so-easy EasyList and not a single ad got through. Your mileage may vary, but the app shouldn’t give many users problems as long as they take heed to the aforementioned list of exceptions.

Unfortunately there doesn’t appear to be any options for white-listing, but we imagine that functionality will be added in future upgrades. We’ve pinged the AdBlock team to be sure and we’ll update this post with anything they’re able to share. Go ahead and try the free app in the Google Play Store.

The exact numbers vary depending on which report you read, but the consensus is the same. Cyber Monday sales reached a record high this year as holiday shoppers scrambled to find the best deals on the web, and mobile contributed on both ends. According to a report from the Adobe Digital Index, mobile devices accounted for 22 percent of Cyber Monday purchases. IBM’s data says 18 percent of shoppers accessed retailer websites with their smartphones and tablets.

Adobe’s figures say Cyber Monday sales were up 17 percent from last year to reach $1.98 billion. IBM puts the number even higher at 30.3 percent, though the average cost per order was down from $198.26 in 2011 to $185.12 this year. Breaking down the data further, 4.5 percent of shoppers made purchases from their Android device, lagging behind those buying on an iPhone (6.9 percent) or iPad (7.1 percent). Did you count yourselves among them?

Cyber Monday shopping surpassed the total number of online sales made on Black Friday by over 36 percent, proving that the unofficial shopping holiday still reigns supreme when it comes to the best deals on the web. And there were plenty to be found.

We’re eager to find out about the Cyber Monday shopping experience of our readers. Let us know in the poll below if (and how) you shopped yesterday. And, yeah, go ahead and brag about all the sweet swag you saved tons on in the comments below.

Take Our Poll

Lenovo seems to be coming to market with a new phone — the Lenovo P770 — and this one is going to turn a few heads based on a couple of different factors. Let’s start with the specs, shall we? Those who eventually opt for one can look forward to a 4.5 inch display with qHD resolution, a 1.2GHz dual-core MediaTek processor, a 5 megapixel camera, a VGA front-facing camera, 4GB of internal storage, Jelly Bean and more.

But it’s the battery that’s going to jump out at you. This thing challenges the Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX HD with a 3,500mAh battery, a kit that Lenovo says will deliver 29 hours of talk time. Whether or not those claims are accurate remain to be seen, but even if you shave a few hours off of that it’s still quite impressive.

Even more impressive is the price Lenovo’s putting on the P770. The device will cost ¥1,699 in China, which is just over $270 here in the states. Sure, MediaTek is no Qualcomm or NVIDIA but we’d be damned if we could find another phone in this range for this price. Well… the Nexus 4 is a more attractive offering for just $300 but you can’t quite get a 3,500mAh battery inside that thing even if you wanted to.

Unfortunately Lenovo has a history of skipping out on launches outside of Asia so those of you who want to snap this thing up will have to find a way to import it once it becomes available.

[Lenovo via Unwired View]

As Google looks to integrate Google+ with pretty much all of its services we expect to see new features added almost every week. We’re still waiting on the bombshell that should be the death of Google Talk and the subsequent birth of Google+ Messenger integrated in Gmail, but for the time being another Google site has gotten the Plus-heavy treatment.

The Google Play Store is the site I’m talking about, and while there’s been minor cross-functionality before Google has added another level of integration that has us pretty excited. There isn’t much to do right now, but if you notice the reviews section in the screenshot above you can see that the names of each reviewer are replaced by “A Google User.”

It looks like Google will eventually allow users to link the Play Store to their Google+ accounts and have their profile, name and icons available for those looking through reviews. For now it just displays “A Google User,” and we imagine the names were tossed out so Google could restore some control of privacy to users while they fully implement the rest of this.

We wouldn’t be surprised to see Play Store prompts asking whether or not you’d like to link your Google+ account to your reviews in the future, but for now there doesn’t appear to be anything more to it than making the reviews anonymous.

Most users should be noticing the changes by now as there’s no Play Store APK update for this particular change. It looks like the changes are more on the level of account information so be sure to check it out on the web Play Store or in the Google Play Store on your Android device.

There’s nothing useful to be done with any of it yet, but it’s nice to fantasize about what’s to come. And if you just want to see how your own review would display for the time being why not see how a review of your own would look by downloading the Phandroid News app and submitting a review? You’ll be feeding your curiosity and getting a great tool to help you read Phandroid on the go at the same time — win win, from where I’m standing.

Google has just begun notifying customers on their Nexus 4 watch list that the handset will be back on sale today, November 27th, at 12:00 noon PST via the Google Play Store. For the East Coasters too lazy to do math (like me), that’s 3PM EST.

Here’s the pertinent text from the email:

“Nexus 4 will be available for purchase later today!
Order yours from Google Play starting today, November 27 at 12:00 noon PST (U.S. only).”

The Nexus 4 initially went on sale on November 13th and sold out in record fashion. The phone has been unavailable direct from Google since, though those willing to sign a wireless contract could pick up the device from T-Mobile. As the above email states, the newly available Nexus units are reserved for US customers only. Google has not announced any availability plans for other regions just yet.

Google’s handling of the Nexus 4 launch has left more than a few customers miffed. Hopefully a replenished stock will come with an improver customer service experience, but there are no guarantees. You will want to act fast if you plan on buying. There are still plenty out there just itching to get their hands on the flagship Android 4.2 device.

[Thanks to all who sent this in!]

With the final days of November winding down, Android 4.2 users have been anxiously waiting to find out if December really exists. Thanks to a timely update from Google, all of their worries should be eased. Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 devices have started to receive Android 4.2.1, a minuscule software patch that restores the ability to associate a date in the year’s 12th month with a contact entry.

The new software brings the Jelly Bean build to JOP40D and changes little otherwise. Other tweaks or bug fixes are taking place below the surface, and we likely won’t have confirmation until the release of an official changelog.

There are no reports of Nexus 7 owners receiving the new software yet. The same goes of the Galaxy Nexus. As with all over-the-air updates, Google will be rolling this one out in phases, so expect it to reach more devices as the week drags on.

[Thanks, Mike!]

Huawei looks to be readying their next 10-inch Android slate, according to documents filed with the WiFi Alliance and Bluetooth SIG. Dubbed the MediaPad 10 Link, Huawei was even nice enough to include a picture of the tablet. While the majority of specs remain unknown, the new 10-inch MediaPad looks to carry over the high-definition IPS display of its predecessor.

Three different model numbers have surfaced for the device (S10-201w, S10-201U, and S10-202U), which likely designate the various connectivity configurations that will be available. Expect a WiFi-only model and a couple of cellular data-enabled versions.

The overall appearance of the slate keeps in line with the MediaPad 10 FHD, which we reviewed earlier this year. The best guess is we are either looking at the direct followup to that particular tablet or a low-cost take on the original setup, nixing some of the device’s high-end features (the presence of the HD display might suggest otherwise). Unless it’s announced sooner, the MediaPad 10 Link could be barreling toward a CES 2013 debut.

[via NotebookItalia]