Category: Google

Here’s why Android One is great for the budget smartphone market

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One of the many significant announcements at the recent Google I/O developers conference was Android One. The program was formally unveiled with one central goal in mind, reaching the next 5 billion people in the world. These are the ones without a smartphone, mostly in emerging markets like India, China and so on. Google will be partnering with companies in the supply chain to provide a turnkey solution for many OEMs that are currently driving the budget smartphone segment in emerging markets. Android One involves a combination of affordable reference hardware, handpicked by Google, and stock Android software, with updates directly from Mountain View. The first three OEMs to sign up for this program are from India, which has familiar, but rather important, implications for the budget smartphone market.

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Google Drive 2.0 for Android gets new UI for detailed file info

Google Drive 2.0 for Android

Google updated Drive app for Android to version 1.32 earlier this month with new UI and new animations. At the Google I/O earlier this week it announced updates for Google Drive for Android and iOS with support for editing Microsoft Office files. Recently the Google Drive app for Android got updated to version 2.0 that brought several new visual changes that lets you access all the new features easily. Continue reading “Google Drive 2.0 for Android gets new UI for detailed file info”

Google and LG team up to bring Project Tango tablet in 2015

In addition to several announcements at the I/O developer conference, Google confirmed that Project Tango is coming to consumers next year. The company revealed that it is working on the tablet with LG and the device will be ready for consumers in 2015.

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Google not axing Nexus lineup: Google Exec

Google is not bidding adieu to Nexus devices and will continue the program. Reports had surfaced online that Google is killing the Nexus line of devices for Android Silver. However, Dave Burke, head of engineering at Android and the Nexus program has stated that just because Google is launching Android Silver, it doesn’t mean that Nexus is going away.

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Google shows off Project Ara prototype, launches developer challenge

Google showed off its Project Ara prototype on the second and final day of the I/O developer conference. Paul Eremenko, the head of Project Ara gave a peek about the company’s modular phone project that was announced in February.

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Did Google accidentally reveal HTC-made Nexus 9 render?

Last week a leak suggested that HTC is making Google’s next Nexus tablet. Dubbed as HTC Volantis, the tablet will pack a 8.9″ display with a resolution of 2048×1440 pixels.

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Android L developer preview now available for download

Google launched Android L developer preview at the I/O conference two days back. Today, the company is making the preview available on Nexus 5 and Nexus 7  (2013) Wi Fi. The software developer kit is now available for download through the Android SDK Manager.

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Google Search update adds “Ok Google” detection from anywhere in the phone

Along with a bunch of announcements at the I/O developer conference yesterday, Google has bumped an update to  Search for Android. The latest update adds the ability for a user to say “Ok Google” anywhere on the device to initiate voice search.

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Material Design is the new visual language of everything Google

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Yesterday, at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco, design played a huge role in the company’s announcements to the public. After getting Android One out of the way, Android and Chrome chief Sundar Pichai invited Matias Duarte on stage. Being one of the highly creative minds behind the critically acclaimed WebOS interface, Matias made his mark on Android with Ice Cream Sandwich. Fondly called Android ICS, the update was and still is one of the biggest visual overhauls for Android, as a platform. “Holo” was the design language spear headed by Matias, who talked up design principles based on clean lines and flatter interface elements. It was the beginning of a more coherent interface for Android, but Google, as a company, was heading in a separate design direction.

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Samsung and Google collaborate to integrate KNOX into Android L

Samsung and Google have teamed up to integrate KNOX technology into the next version of Android announced at the I/O developer conference.  The move comes from the duo with an aim to allow more security to enterprises and IT administrators such as a separate container to manage and secure business data.

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Samsung Gear Live Hands On

Samsung Gear Live-8

The Samsung Gear Live was revealed for the first time by Google during the keynote at Google I/O 2014 and it is Samsung’s first Android Wear device. We managed to spend some time with the device at the event.Here is a short video of the Gear Live watch in action.Under the hood is a 1.2 Ghz processor paired with 512MB of RAM.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21ujuyjB7jM

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Google updates Drive with Microsoft Office editing and more new features

Google announced several updates and enhancements to Drive at the I/O developer conference. For starters, users can edit Microsoft Office files through the cloud-based platform. This mean users can view, create and share documents, spreadsheets and presentations on both mobile devices and the desktop in their native format.

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Google announces Google Fit platform for fitness and health tracking

Google officially announced its own health and fitness tracking platform that competes with Apple’s recently launched Healthkit. Dubbed as Google Fit, the platform will aggregate and collect your fitness data at one place. It will help users monitor their fitness activities like heart rate, blood sugar, steps taken etc on this platform.

google fit platform

The basic idea is that Google is creating a single set of APIs which will allow fitness/health tracking apps and devices to share data with the aim of building a more “complete picture of the user’s fitness”. Users will be given full control over sharing their information with apps and will be able to delete data at any time.

google Fit

Google Fit partners already include Nike, HTC, LG, Withings, Motorola, Noom, Runtastic, RunKeeper, Adidas, Mio, and Polar. Nike also announced that it will integrate its popular Fuel points system into Google Fit for other apps to use. Adidas is also developing a line of sensor-based health wearables that will integrate with the Google Fit platform.

The Google Fit Platform Preview SDK will be available in the next few weeks.