Google has somewhat tackled the problem of fragmentation by releasing its core apps as separate applications in the Google Play Store, but it is only a small towards a very big problem. According to Engadget, Google is working on a separate Camera application for Android smartphones that it will soon launch on Google Play Store.
Continue reading “Google is rumored to be working on a new Camera app for Android”
Samsung Galaxy S5 and the HTC One M8 had “Powered By Android” logo at the bottom of the boot screen. Google has made it mandatory for all the Android devices as a part of Google Mobile Services agreement, according to a report from Geek.com. All the devices that are part of GMS has Google Play Store, Mail etc. Logo placement also has its own separate set of guidelines from Google. Continue reading “Google reportedly makes ‘Powered By Android’ boot logo mandatory”
Google is definitely considering the wearable market as its next battleground and it is equipping itself in the process. Earlier in 2013, Google announced that they will be launching the Explorer Edition of Google Glass for $1500 and eventually it will come to the market at a much lower price point. Last week, they announced Android Wear SDK for wearables(read smartwatches).
Google has been targeting audience with great products at affordable products through their Nexus line up. The smartphones – Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 are an example of that. Each of the device offers the best in class performance for a considerably affordable price point. They did the similar thing with the tablets as well – Google Nexus 7 and Nexus 7 2013 – offering great features for an affordable price. It looks like things could change.
Continue reading “Google rumored to be working on a 8.9inch Nexus tablet”
Google has added new voice commands to Google Search for Android that lets you launch the camera app to take a photo or record a video by speaking respective commands. Google Search already has an option to open apps just by saying “Open Instagram” or “Open Facebook”. With the new “take a photo” or “take a video” commands, Google Search will launch the camera app in the preferred mode. Continue reading “Google Search for Android gets voice actions to launch camera”
We had unboxed the Nokia X a while back, right after it launched in India. Only a few weeks back, Espoo’s first bold entry into the low end Android smartphone segment was revealed at MWC. The phone might be running Android, a Google owned entity, but is completely devoid of anything that resembles Google services. Nokia completely forked the open source variant of Android, just like Amazon did, by choosing not to include Google services and apps, which are obviously a conflict of interests for the company. But being open source, the malleable Android is always willing to bend to our will, and soon enough, enterprising developers who got their hands on the Nokia X, devised a way to install Google apps and services onto this neat little device. We followed their path, and made a video, so that willing users can take advantage of it too –
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_smAYnH6A64
Continue reading “How to root Nokia X and install Google Play Apps”
Google just announced Android Wear, its first Android platform for wearables, as it promised earlier this month. This would let manufactures create smartwatches based on Android wear. This offers useful information to users when they need it, and respond to spoken questions and commands, just like Google Now. It can also monitor your health and fitness and lets you access and control other devices such as phone and TV. Continue reading “Android extends to wearables with Android Wear”
Google introduced Play Games as a competitor to Apple’s Game Center, but it has hardly caught up in the race. The Google Play Games still lacks in features like how you cannot properly use gift codes and also the free to paid app transition is troublesome. Google has just announced an update to the Play Games service in the form of new developer options and also ability to gift in the game.
Continue reading “Google updates Game Gifting and new Game Developer Tools”
Earlier this year, at the CES 2014, Asus announced the Transformer Duet which ran Android and Windows side by side. This was probably designed for those who wanted the best of both the worlds and it was quite a hit at the CES 2014. Even an Indian manufacturer – Micromax, announced a similar dual boot device – Micromax Laptab which was supposed to be available in February.
Google has started rolling out a new Google Play update for Android, that brings option to always require the account password for purchases, option to batch install applications from the my apps section and more minor changes. It also brings option to force update the app to check for the latest version. Continue reading “Google Play v4.6.16 brings require password option for in-app purchases and more”
Google Drive service was started by Google to tackle the many cloud storage companies like Dropbox, Box. Now it is one among the important Google products and is closely tied to your Google Plus profile and GMail. Each time you open a GMail account, you get 15GB free storage option that includes the size of your attachments and your files in Google Drive. Beyond the free 15GB, users had to pay to get more storage from Google.
Continue reading “Google slashes Google Drive prices, likely starting a price war of cloud storage”
Rumors about the Google Smartwatch started few months back, but the existence of Google Smartwatch became strong when Android Chief Sundar Pichai recently announced Google would release Android SDK for wearables later this month. Continue reading “Google Smartwatch made by LG rumored to sport 1.65-inch (280×280) screen, more specs surface”
Ever since the Sundar Pichai, Head of Chrome, took over Android, things have hinted that Google is moving more towards a Chrome centric future rather than an Android centric future. But as a turn of events, Sundar Pichai has announced that Google will be releasing an Android SDK for wearables in two weeks time.
Continue reading “Google to launch Android SDK for wearables in a couple of weeks”
Google Now is Google’s idea of a personal assistant and it is very useful in countries like USA and Canada where all your travel data sync with Google. In India, all you could was weather updates and updates about your favorite football team. But it looks like things are about to change pretty soon. Jet Airways, one of the leading airline companies in India, has announced that it is integrating its flight booking details with Google Now.
Continue reading “Jet Airways is the first Indian Airline to integrate Google Now”
When Google announced their $35 HDMI dongle in 2013, everybody saw a lot of potential for Google Chromecast. But Google had been little slow in opening up the SDK for the developers and it looks like it is slowly catching up. As of March 2014, you can now stream the videos from a webpage on your Google Chrome browser to your TV.
