Android seeks to make smartphone smarter.
New Delhi:This week, Google wrapped up its I/O annual developers conference and other than the much-hyped future version of the Android OS, codenamed Android M, the search giant unveiled a series of new and improved products and services at the two-day event in San Francisco.SAN FRANCISCO — Google fired the latest salvos in an escalating arms race among tech’s Big 5 for the hearts, minds and coding of developers at its developers’ conference this week.Google’s updated Android mobile software seeks to make the smartphone smarter, while keeping the search titan relevant in a world where people rely on apps on the go.
At the eighth annual I/O conference in San Francisco, Google laid out a futuristic road map to a throng of 5,000 software developers, its infantry in the war against Apple, Amazon.com, Facebook and Microsoft. At its annual Google developers conference Thursday, Google offered a preview of Android M, due for release later this year, with an upgraded version of ‘Google Now,’ the voice-activated assistant which competes with rivals like Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana. The OS focuses on six key areas which include customisable app permissions, smoother app-to-web experience, enhanced app-linking capability, Android Pay, fingerprint support, and better battery management.
The tech titans are locked in a worldwide skirmish to make devices of all kinds smarter — whether smartphones and tablets, wearable devices, Internet-connected televisions, cars or virtual reality. With most people on the planet within an arm’s length of an electronic device, these five are vying to become the primary vendor-supplying technology underpinning five key battlefields — the Internet of Things, autos, virtual reality, mobile payments and wearable devices — worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Google Photos: A new standalone product by Google, Google Photos is an element segregated from the search giant’s own Google+ social network but with added features. Now on Tap responded by showing the artist along with online information about him and the band. ‘You can get information instantly,’ Chennapragada said. ‘The article you are reading, the music you are listening to, the key is understanding the context of the moment. You are able to get answers to quick questions.’ Broadening the reach of Now also lets Google’s money-making services tag along with smartphone users shifting from using web browsing programs to accessing online services directly from individual applications.
Android Pay, the company’s answer to Apple Pay, lets users make purchases with their connected devices, as payments generally shift away from cash and even plastic and toward secure mobile options. Developers will essentially be letting Google index applications learn more about people’s habits and behaviors to better target ads and keep people loyal to its online services, according to Current Analysis research director Avi Greengart. ‘This helps Google at least as much as it helps developers,’ Greengart told AFP at the gathering. ‘At the end of the day, it feeds into Google advertising. Cars from automakers such as Audi and GM were on display at I/O showcasing Android Auto, hammering home the point that car manufacturers today sell their models more on their interconnectivity than their horsepower.
According to Google, Brillo extends the Android platform to all the connected devices, so they are easy to set up and work seamlessly with each other and your smartphone. With Apple Watch capturing most of the wearable spotlight these days, Google was keen to point out that some 3,500 apps are now available for a range of smartwatches powered by Android. •Internet of Things.
It was buttressed Thursday with the announcement of Brillo and Weave, new Internet of Thing protocols aimed at making it easier for developers of connected devices to have their gadgets work seamlessly together. •Virtual reality. In what just might be the biggest “wow” of the keynote, Google unveiled an upgraded Cardboard project that intends to bring virtual reality to the masses. I/O is a chance for the Internet giant to showcase its latest innovations and enlist software developers to work on its Android software, which commands 78 per cent of its market, compared to 18 per cent for Apple’s iOS operating system, in the first quarter of 2015, according to researcher IDC. That drives more visitors to Google and gives the company more opportunities to sell ads. “This was really all about Android, where previous I/O keynotes were all over the place — Glass, self-driving cars,” says Holger Mueller, principal analyst at Constellation Research. “It was badly needed. YouTube Offline: Google also announced offline functionality to its YouTube, and Maps which lets users keep a YouTube video offline for up to 48 hours or search for location on Maps without an Internet connection.
Analysts say Google will have to prove that it can attract consumers to new platforms after pulling Google Glass and mixed results for devices that run Android Wear. “(Intelligent personal assistant) Google Now and Photos reflect a true breakthrough in artificial intelligence and deep learning,” says Mark Hung, an analyst at Gartner. “The use of contextual information was impressive.” Project Jump: In partnership with GoPro, Google announced that it will be developing a virtual reality device with 16 camera modules that will allow anyone to create a 360-degree virtual reality video. 10.