Chromecast can finally mirror your Android device’s screen
Which is better, huddling around a 5-inch screen or a 50-inch TV? Google is making that answer a lot easier with a few upgrades to its HDMI dongle. Chromecast can mirror your device’s screen to the flat-panel in your living room. The stage demo included using Google Earth and even Android’s video camera app. Even more than that, the HDMI dongle is getting a little more personalized too. What’s more, you know those pretty-looking images that populate your TV screen when you’re using the device? They’re about to get a little more tailored to you. You can customize the images of that ambient feed (seen when idle) with your own personal Google+ photo albums.
Not happy with your own pics or just don’t use G+ for photo storage? You can enable geographically filtered pictures from Google’s vast image catalog, too. These albums are curated by Google, so they’re ensured (in theory) to be safe and high quality. The feature is dubbed Backdrop, and it’s rolling out to all users this summer. If you’re still not happy with those choices, the search giant says it’s working to open this up to third-party developers, too — the likes of Flickr and 500px images are about to go prime time.
Mountain View’s HDMI dongle add-ons aren’t stopping there, either. Google announced today that other users can cast to your TV without being on the same WiFi network now, too. This is pretty neat if you don’t want to give out your password or go through the arduous process of getting a long, mixed-character sequence right. All your pals will need to do is enter the PIN on the screen; Google determines that they’re in the same room by location. Seems pretty simple.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Mobile, Google
Google Drive for Business now offers unlimited storage for $10 per month, per user
You didn’t think we’d go through the whole keynote without a little Google Drive love do you? To celebrate an impressive 190-million Drive users (that’s active within the last 30 days), Google has just added a more compelling “Drive for work” proposition — unlimited storage for just $10 per month, per user. It’s not just the price that’s better, there’s a few key updates that got some stage time too. One is that users can now encrypt data within Drive. As for creating documents of your own, that’s getting more seamless too. In the past, when you worked on a word document, it would be converted to a doc file, now it’s all handled natively within Google Drive (of which Docs is now part, of course), and a native Word file is only created as and when you need to send it on to users over email etc. Sundar Pichai made a big noise on stage at I/O about the number of corporates and Universities that were going “all Google,” could this be enough for you to go all green in the office too?
Android for Work lets your personal and business data coexist on one device
If you’ve bemoaned the inability to use your personal Android phone for company business, Google has some heartening news. It just unveiled Android for Work, a code platform that lets your business and personal info coexist on a single device. The technology (derived from Samsung’s Knox) keeps the data types separate without requiring any changes to existing apps. Every major Android manufacturer should have Android for Work certification in the fall, with promises of both guaranteed updates and full security. The office-friendly feature is baked into the Android ‘L’ release from the start, but don’t despair if you’re toting an older device — Google is promising an app that works on Android gadgets running Ice Cream Sandwich or later.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung, Google
Google Fit is Android’s answer to exercise and health tracking
Google Fit is Google’s new health initiative. It’s a service that’ll track all your health metrics — sleep, steps, etc. — and it’s built into the next version of Android. But what does that mean? Well, it means that Google’s Android platform is getting the same kind of life metric tracking that Apple’s iOS users are getting in iOS 8 with HealthKit. More importantly, it means that the health devices you’re already using will play nice with the myriad Android devices out there. It also means that all your health data ends up in one place, in one app, rather than spread across a variety of software applications.
Adidas, Nike, Withings, Intel, RunKeeper and a variety of other fitness companies are involved with Android Fit. Nike’s FuelBand wearables were specifically given a shoutout on-stage at Google’s I/O event this afternoon, where the initiative was announced.
What we didn’t see from Google today is a dedicated app that collects all your data, like Apple’s Health app. Rather, the Fit initiative sounds like a platform for health device manufacturers trying to make their devices interface with Android. Google product manager Ellie Powers described it as using a single set of APIs for all health products, meaning all devices could technically work with all health/fitness software. While it isn’t the whole cloth approach that Apple’s taking in creating its own app, it’s the kind of open-source approach that we expect from Google.
LG’s G Watch has a smartphone processor inside and goes on preorder today
Google thinks it’s finally time for smartwatches. Its Android Wear collaboration with LG goes on preorder today in 12 countries, including the US, Canada, UK, Germany, South Korea and Japan. The G Watch might only be a wearable, but inside beats the heart of a smartphone… processor. Behind the 1.65-inch (280 x 280) IPS display, there’s a substantial Snapdragon 400 chip — the same Qualcomm processor found inside the Galaxy S4 Mini. Below, we’ve got the whole spec rundown, although we’d really love to hear that all-important price tag.
LG is hyped about the voice recognition and Google Now integration. Speech-to-text will substitute for tapping texts out your smartphone screen, while sensors encompass a nine-axis gyro, accelerometer and compass — a few of those are probably going to come in handy for fitness apps. Storage weighs in at 4GB, with 512MB of memory for support, although we’re not quite sure what we’ll use those four gigs for, given that the Android Wear device doesn’t seem to record or store anything. There’s a 400mAh battery (making it bigger than Samsung’s Android Wear device) and it’s all IP67 dust and water resistant, hewn from stainless steel and paired with matching silicone bands — black for the Black Titan model and white for the White Gold one. If you’ve got a fancy leather band that’s aching for a taste of the future, however, any 22mm strap will work, and LG says it’s launching its own collection of bands in the near future.
Filed under: Wearables, Mobile, Google, LG
Source: LG
Google I/O 2014: Android Auto announced, SDK releasing later Today
Google took the wraps of the Android Auto UI for your car. Integration is through your device, and it is not independent in the car. Meaning, that Android Auto will pop up on your compatible in dash touch screen system once you plug your phone in. That leaves all updates to compatible apps handled through […]
Samsung Gear Live, LG G Watch, Moto 360 availability announced
Hopefully you’ve all been watching Google I/O! If not, Google have updated us on the availability of some of the upcoming Android Wear devices.
The LG G Watch, if you haven’t yet preordered it, will be available on Google Play later today. They’ve also announced the Samsung Gear Live, Samsung’s take on a watch running Android Wear. There are no specifications released for the watches quite yet, but we’ll definitely have some more info later in the day.
And now for the Moto 360. Unfortunately, this is the only Wear watch that we know of that isn’t available today. The only info we have about it is that it will launch “later this Summer.”
Pricing is yet to be released for any of the watches, so we’ll update you as we get the information.
Image: Engadget
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Google I/O 2014: Emerging Markets with AndroidOne
Quick snippet about a new program, AndroidOne. Targeting emerging markets like India to reach the other 4 billion users in the world. Set of reference hardware platforms. Quality parts that are affordable. The software on AndroidOne is by Google. Full automatic update from Google. MicroMax partnerAndroid One under $100. Launching in India, Micromax, Karbonn and […]
By the numbers: Google boasts Android explosive growth
Not that this is exactly new to many of you but Android is big and it’s getting bigger by the moment. Google today announced that there are now 1 billion active (within last 30 days) Android users. And, with the upcoming Android One, Android TV, Android Wear, and Android Fit stuff we should expect that figure to shoot even higher.
- 30-day active users grown to more than 1 billion
- 20 billion texts every day
- 93 million selfies every day
- 1.5 trillion steps per day
- 100 billion times per day to check our phones
- Android tablets account for 64 percent of global market share – does not count Kindle and other branded experiences
- App installs are up 236% year over year
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Google announces Android One
Google has just announced that they will release Android One for developing nations. Android One devices will be updated directly from Google just like Nexus devices. The first Android one device is coming from Micromax and will feature a 4.5 screen, FM radio, dual sim, and a SD card port. The device will also be under $100. Well have more on Android One and the un-named device from Micromax as more news is revealed
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