We have received enough emails from readers who are tired of seeing pixelated photos while thumbing through their contact that we stressed our brains to try and find some fixes.  See, we have this theory that Google’s servers are to blame since their contact system only holds small photos (possibly 125×125). You may take or attach a high-res photo to a contact, but once it syncs with Google, the size is dropped down, hence the poor photo quality that mysteriously shows up on your phone. As you can see in the picture above, we were all high quality for a minute – trust me when I say that the photo is no longer that sharp now that it has sync’d.

So how do we go about getting nice quality pictures in our contact lists?  Well there are a few options out there to try.  If you are looking to pull high quality images from Facebook into your contacts, you can download Friendcaster which claims to allow for syncing of higher quality photos. It’s tough to tell if it actually works well, but if you notice that the pics still look funky, then try turning off your contact syncing with Google so that their servers stop putting the old photos on your device.

And speaking of turning off Google sync, another option is to do just that. Turn off sync and then manually set high-res photos of your friends. Since it can’t upload them to Google contacts only to convert them to smaller, lower-res images to be returned to your phone, you should be swimming in quality. This of course defeats the purpose of having everything sync’d at all times with Google’s cloud.

The other option, is to tell all of your friends to get on Google+ since it appears to use high-res profile images from it by default.

Update: Here is another great option for everyone. It’s called HaxSync and it just hit the Market from an XDA developer specifically for this purpose.  Have at it.

Cheers Eric, Dan, K, Alex, and Thomas!

It is tough to tell, but the extended battery for the Galaxy Nexus is on the left in that picture. It adds just a slight amount of thickness to the device that is hardly noticeable and will definitely be my daily battery going forward. At 2100mAh, it may not add 4-5 hours of extra battery life or anything wild, but knowing that this is an LTE device, won’t you take any extra juice that you can get?

And what if you could snag it for $25 rather than the full $50? Verizon’s online shop is offering it up for just that. When you click on the link below, you will see it appear as $49.99, but once you add it to your cart and checkout, it should show up as just $24.99. Yeah, you will want to get on this one right away.  

When the entire Galaxy Nexus accessory lineup was unveiled in a series of videos a couple of weeks back, the Android world was abuzz over the car dock which had a 3-pin connector and charging ports that were mounted in the base attachment. This would allow for you to dock your device, charge it, use an AUX cable to get audio in your car stereo, and also not have cords dangling out the back like most other car docks force you into. It was a beautiful design.

As the device went on sale yesterday, many of you were extremely interested in picking this accessory up as one that Verizon had plenty of. Some of you picked it up and quickly realized this was not the same dock that we saw featured on video and was essentially a $40 piece of plastic. There were no pin connectors and the back end has been opened up so that your AUX cable and mico USB charging can be inserted through there rather than the base piece. So you aren’t getting the full pin charging experiencing, but you also have to drag  your cords up and out of the side of the mount, making your dashboard look like Lindsay Lohan’s life – a mess. 

Otterbox cases are some of the more famous of all smartphone accessories. For those that are hard on their phones, drop them constantly or have kids, these are essentially “must haves.” Little was known about there being one for the Galaxy Nexus though, well until now. One of our readers cruised into a Verizon shop this afternoon and found himself a Defender Series Otterbox case for none other than the G-Nex. Funny thing here, is that Otterbox doesn’t even have pictures of it on their own site, but VZW has them available to purchase.

Feeling safer already?

Cheers Jason Kline in Indianapolis!

Planned to pick up a DROID RAZR for the holidays? Make sure to check out the impressive set of accessories that play nicely with the device when you do, as Verizon will give you $50 off of them. Well, only Motorola accessories are included in the deal, but that should easily get you into an HD dock or deeply discounted Lapdock. Be sure to bring up the deal during the purchase process though – this deal doesn’t appear to be one that can happen a day or so later. It looks like you have to use the $50 discount at the point of sale.

Cheers ___!

Will the DROID XYBoard (silly name and all) arrive next week at Verizon stores? The most recent MAP list we have suggests so, but also the fact that accessories are now arriving. It makes sense that Moto and Big Red would look to pump out both 8.2″ and 10″ versions before X-mas, especially with the Transformer Prime not landing in the states until the 19th. Anything to get a jump on what should be the hottest non-Kindle Fire Android tablet on the market.

It will be interesting to see if Moto’s second round in the tablet game can be more successful than their first. Both tablets will come equipped with 4G LTE out of the gate, unlike their predecessor who had to wait 7 months before being upgraded. Pricing is another question that will have to be answered, however, we have seen a potential list. The 8.2″ XYBoard will more than likely come in 16GB and 32GB models priced at $429 and $529 on 2-year contract. The bigger 10″ version will have 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models available for $529, $629, and $729 on contract.  

“He doesn’t know how to use the 3 sea shells.” – Demolition Man

Been wondering what the 3 metal prongs on the side of the Galaxy Nexus will be used for? We assumed accessories, but thanks to a series of videos out of MobileFun, we get to see exactly how those accessories will put those prongs to work. A new landscape desktop dock is featured along with a battery charger for those of us that are forced to carry backups because of LTE’s never ending thirst for juice. The portrait and car docks are also featured, which according to our sources, are expected to be at $59.99 and $39.99 respectively.