Google relaunching Android One phones to hit $50 ‘sweet spot’
Google is rebooting its much-hyped Android One project that’s supposed to bring low-priced smartphones to emerging markets. The company’s managing director in India, Rajan Anandan, told the Financial Times that the program has “not delivered to expectations,” due to shortages of the devices. In addition, they have cost as much as $100, limiting their appeal in the price-sensitive region. Of course, Google’s ultimate goal is to increase its search business in huge emerging markets by getting connected devices into consumers’ hands. It’s now going to focus on hitting the pricing “sweet spot” in India — between $30 and $50.
At launch last year, Google revealed Android One handsets from Indian companies like Micromax, Karbonn and Spice Mobile. The devices were basic, but decent with 4 to 5-inch displays, 5-megapixel cameras and recent versions of Android. Google hasn’t said yet who would build a sub-$50 device, or whether it would maintain the same specs.
When we have a billion Indians online we think that’s going to make a huge difference to the global internet economy.
The search giant is also planning “very large-scale” investment in content designed for India’s culture and language. Google’s existing products target mostly English-language speakers, and many don’t work well in the bandwidth-challenged nation. As a result of all those issues, Anandan said that local search is one of “several battlegrounds where we are not winning” in the nation. The company is obviously willing to be patient in such a potentially large market, however. “We’re here really because 10 years from now a billion Indians will be online and when we have a billion Indians online we think that’s going to make a huge difference to the global internet economy.”
Filed under:
Cellphones, Google
Source:
Financial Times
Tags: Android One, Emerging markets, google, India, inexpensive, smartphones
Dreamify uses Google’s Deep Dream to turn your photos into eccentric art
Google’s Deep Dream project aims to help developers understand how neural networking works and classifies elements within an image. It was purely an educational concept, but us normal users also found great interest in the odd effects this process gave images. Some of them looked awesome, some trippy and others downright creepy.
Regardless of your reaction, these images were something you couldn’t just look away from. The only issue is it wasn’t very simple to use these tools on your own images, so all we could do was enjoy the processed photos developers and more savvy users provided.
Such is no longer the case. A new app called Dreamify now automates the process, using Google’s own code to create your very own crazy imaging. All you have to do is select your effect and upload an image. One can even share results, either within the app or through any other service of your choice.
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I used the application for a while and only encountered one issue – one of the photos couldn’t be converted. A message told me the “custom parameters combined with this particular image caused an error with the Deep Dream algorithm”. The same notification then states the team will take a look at it and fix it. The finished photo should show up as soon as that happens.
Other than that, the application is pretty straight forward and easy to use. What’s even better is that it doesn’t cost a single penny! Just download it from the Google Play Store and give it a go. My friends are already saying I am in some kind of psychedelic hallucinogen and making weird art. Here are some of my creations, share some of yours!
Download Dreamify from the Google Play Store
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Android Authority this week – August 9, 2015
Android fans, this week brought us more reports about the upcoming Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge Plus, rumors about the next Nexus phones surfaced, Sony launched the new Xperia C5 and Xperia M5, OnePlus was in the news thanks to its notorious invite system, Xiaomi teased the release of a new version of MIUI, Asus introduced the 5,000 mAh Zenfone Max, and we all discussed the latest – and biggest – Android security scare yet.
Inside AA HQ
Android Authority this week is where you can get all your essential Android news and keep up with your favorite (we hope) Android bloggers, but if you’re more of a video guy or gal, we now have a weekly post where we highlight the best videos from the AA YouTube channel and more. Check out this week’s installment here.
There’s been a lot of talk this week about how secure (or how insecure, depending on whom you ask) Android really is. You can learn about Stagefright and what you can do to protect yourself as much as you can, but it’s important not to fall prey to doomsayer tendencies. Is the problem serious? Yes, by all means. Is it an impeding catastrophe? Probably not – there’s usually a big gap between the theoretical reach of a vulnerability and its practical impact. In other words, do follow basic precautions. Do not freak out (just yet.)
Yes, the OnePlus 2 is controversial. But is it a great phone? You bet! This week we’re giving away a OnePlus 2 to one lucky AA reader. Head over here to get your ticket, and good luck!
The stuff you shouldn’t miss
- How to: Time to dump that iPhone. Here’s how you can switch to Android with minimal hassle
- First impressions: Matt looks at the Galaxy A8 and brings you his first impressions
- Review: How does the Galaxy S6 Edge hold up in time? Nirave answers
- Opinion: Is Google Plus dying? Probably not, but it’s definitely changing
- Review: Bailey reviews the popular Lenovo K3 Note
- Opinion: How Motorola transcends Android without actually changing it
- Review: The long anticipated new Moto G is here, and this is our review
- First impressions: Josh unboxes the OnePlus 2 – does it hold up to they hype?
Top news of the week
Galaxy Note 5 & Edge Plus
- Samsung Galaxy Note 5 leaks yet again, showing off new Air Command menu
- Samsung begins teasing its upcoming Galaxy Note 5
- Samsung teases Note 5, Galaxy S6 Edge Plus, and what could be a new tablet
- Exposed: the Galaxy Note 5 is leaked in-full, packaging and all
New Xperia phones
- Xperia C5 Ultra offers two 13MP cameras and a “near borderless” 6-inch display
- ‘Super Mid-Range’ Sony Xperia M5 announced
OnePlus 2
- OnePlus Carl Pei: another phone by Christmas & NFC is overblown
- 30,000 OnePlus 2 handsets sold in 64 seconds in China
- (Update 2: Hacked yet again) How one user ‘hacked’ the OnePlus 2 invite system
- OnePlus is auctioning OnePlus 2 invites for charity
- OnePlus 2 on sale through OppoMart for $459, no invite required
Xiaomi teasers
- Xiaomi to launch MIUI 7 alongside a new product on August 13th
- Xiaomi may unveil Redmi Note 2 alongside MIUI 7 next week
Stagefright, oh my
- How is Google fixing the Stagefright vulnerability that affects 95% of all Android phones?
- (Update: multiple Samsung devices, too!) Stagefright patch now rolling out to the Nexus 6 and Nexus 5 as build LMY48I
- Samsung to release monthly security updates to its Android devices in wake of Stagefright exploit
- Google to roll out security-focused updates to Nexus devices on a monthly basis
- Worried about Stagefright? Here’s what you can do for now
New Asus Zenfones
- Asus announces the Zenfone Max with 5000 mAh battery
- ASUS launches the ZenFone 2 Laser, ZenFone 2 Deluxe and ZenFone Selfie in India
Nexus rumors
Sound off
We always want to hear your feedback. Whether it’s criticism or praise, feel free to tell us what you think about Android Authority’s content, design, and community. Comment here or get in touch with us on our social channels:
Happy Sunday!
ICYMI: Kids abusing robots, solar powered balloon and more
Today on In Case You Missed It: A piece of robot news out of Japan has us riveted, mostly because it’s internationally understood that kids can be jerks. Researchers there studied how children treated a robot left to roam in a mall and basically, they just beat it up. Also out of Japan, a new heavy-duty piece of construction equipment can break down concrete debris with it’s massive pinchers and also has it’s own VR app for Oculus Rift. And the UK just launched the first ever solar-powered hot air balloon, which heats regular air with the sun’s rays rather than Google’s helium, which is found in Project Loon.
And then we do a wrap-up of the week’s big news and guys, there was a lot. The Japanese ruling saying bitcoin can’t be owned is a blow to that industry and India banning porn (and then undoing most of it) was a potentially misguided but overdue step in that’s country’s efforts to stop rampant violence against women.
If you come across any interesting videos, we’d love to see them. Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag @engadget or @mskerryd.
Filed under:
Displays, Misc, Meta, Peripherals, Robots, Transportation, Wearables, Wireless, Science, Internet, Apple, Google
Tags: apple, engadget daily show, engadget video, google, icymi, In Case You Missed It, Indian, International Balloon Festival, Japan, Japanese robot, Japanese robot study, kids abuse robot, Oculus Rift, Robovie 2, solar-powered, solar-powered hot air, Super Guzzilla, UK news, video
Twitter hires Falcon Pro developer to make its Android app better
If you’ve been disappointed with the progress of Twitter’s official Android app, there may finally be reason for optimism. Joaquim Vergès, developer of the popular third-part Falcon Pro app on Android, announced this evening that he’s joining Twitter’s Android core UI team next week. In a tweet, Vergès said he wants to “make a killer official app with full API and a modern UI.” He plans to keep Falcon, and use it for experiments, so those who’ve paid for it should still have new features to look forward to, while the rest of us benefit down the line in the official app. Five years ago Twitter acquired the makers of Tweetie, a popular iOS Twitter app, and used it as a base of their software on that platform, so there’s already a framework for what we might be able to expect.
Guys, big news. It’s finally official. I’m joining the @Twitter Android core UI team!
— Joaquim Vergès (@joenrv) August 7, 2015
Falcon stays with me. IMO It’ll be a great place to try new experiments without the slowness of a big company.
— Joaquim Vergès (@joenrv) August 7, 2015
But I’ve grown tired of all the third party limitations. I want to make a killer official app with full API and a modern UI.
— Joaquim Vergès (@joenrv) August 7, 2015
Filed under:
Internet, Software, Mobile, Google
Via:
The Verge, Android Central
Source:
Joaquim Vergès (Twitter)
Tags: android, FalconPro, google, hiring, mobilepostcross, twitter
LG joining Samsung and Google to combat Stagefright
LG has announced that it will join Samsung and Google in an effort to combat Stagefright.
Stagefright is a vulnerability in Android that exploits how the operating system handles MMS. When an MMS is sent, some messaging apps automatically download the video files as soon as they are received in order to make them immediately ready to be opened. And while the OS does this, the system involved with processing video can be attacked.
In relation to the issue, LG stated,
LG will be providing security updates on a monthly basis which carriers will then be able to make available to customers immediately. We believe these important steps will demonstrate to LG customers that security is our highest priority.
This is certainly welcome news, and hopefully, other OEMs will take part in this initiative against Stagefright. However, how effective will this be with carriers involved? After all, carriers are known for being slow with OS updates, which provide their own improved security over those currently installed, until they are certain their own services function properly.
Should you be concerned about this uncertainty, check out this post for how to detect if you have Stagefright and how to defend yourself against it.
Source: Droid-Life
The post LG joining Samsung and Google to combat Stagefright appeared first on AndroidGuys.
LG commits to monthly Android security updates
In the wake of the Stagefright bug, LG has reportedly committed to posting monthly security updates to protect its Android smartphones. It’s the third company in two days to pledge to ensure that its devices aren’t left wide open for hackers, since Google and Samsung both said the same yesterday. The announcement was reported by Wired, who quotes an unnamed LG source as saying that it’ll provide the updates on a monthly basis. Unfortunately, these updates will still have to be passed fit for purpose by the carriers, who frequently drag their feet when it comes to getting them out to consumers.
The problem, as both Motherboard and MIT Technology Review have recently pointed out, is based around how Android works. Rather than being a product that’s worked on in a lab at Google and then pushed out to all users, the operating system is forked, tweaked and altered by every company, and carrier, that uses it. That means that, instead of one version of the software, there are hundreds of minor variations, which makes universal security patches all that more difficult to distribute. That’s why the Stagefright bug is so terrifying, since it threatens anything up to 950 million devices with little chance of a one-size-fits-all solution being created. We’ve reached out to LG so that we can confirm that it will commit to monthly security updates, but have not had a reply by the time of publication.
Filed under:
Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Google, LG
Via:
Android Police
Source:
Wired
Tags: Android, Bug, google, lg, mobilepostcross, Patch, Security, Stagefright
Verizon nixes phone subsidies and simplifies its data plans
Following the lead of alternative carriers like T-Mobile and Google Fi, Verizon announced today that it will be doing away with phone subsidies (the precise opposite of what it said last October) and rejiggering its data plans beginning August 13th. Don’t get excited just yet, there’s no guarantee that your revamped service charges will be any less than what they are now.
Basically, every month you’re going to pay $20 for each phone, $10 for each tablet and jetpack, and $5 for every smartwatch on your plan as well as one of Verizon’s four data buckets — 1GB for $30, 3GB for $45, 6GB for $60 and 12GB for $80. Any data usage over your bucket limit will cost $15 per gigabyte, though you will be able to share the contents of your data bucket amongst 10 devices. The company is also doing away with offering discounted phones with a two-year service agreement, a la T-Mobile. Instead, customers will be expected to either pay for the new device up front or have that cost amortized over a set period and be tacked onto the monthly bill, which was formerly known as Verizon Edge.
[Image Credit: Invision for Verizon Wireless]
Filed under:
Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Apple, Google, Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, Blackberry, T-Mobile
Via:
RE/Code
Source:
Verizon
Tags: apple, att, blackberry, buckets, data, dataplan, google, mobilepostcross, phones, sprint, subsidies, t-mobile, verizon
Microsoft has iOS devs building the ‘bridge’ for Windows 10 apps
It’s no secret — even with its fast start, Microsoft needs more apps on Windows 10, across PCs, tablets and phones. Many of the most popular ones are already built for Android, iOS or even older versions of Windows, but supporting another platform can be tricky. To solve that problem, in April Microsoft announced “Windows Bridge” tools to make it easy for those developers to reuse already written code in new Windows apps. Now it’s ready to live up to that promise, and is releasing an early look at the bridge for iOS today. More importantly, it’s even opening up the source code (Github) for the Bridge tool itself so the people who will use it can help make it better. If you’d rather use apps than make them, then this doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll see ported over iPad or Android apps simply running on your PC, just that developers won’t have to change so much of the stuff in the background to make them work.
If you speak Objective-C (the language many iOS apps are coded in) then the SDK is ready for you to take a look, although there’s no mention of whether Microsoft will make a similar tool available for the Swift language Apple is moving developers to. An Android version is available by invite only, with a public beta planned for the fall. The bridge for Classic Windows apps won’t arrive for public testing until 2016.
Filed under:
Software, Apple, Microsoft, Google
Source:
Github, Building Apps for Windows Blog (1), (2)
Tags: Android, apple, bridge, google, iOS, microsoft, Objective-C, opensource, SDK, Windows10
Google Maps on iOS won’t blind you at night anymore
When you’re using Google Maps in the dark, the iOS app’s blinding bright white display can kill your night vision. Good thing then that a new update addresses that and adds a few other welcome improvements. Now you can label waypoints on your map and in search suggestions according to the patch notes, and even alter captions for photos that you’ve added as well. Of course, there’s the usual bug fixes along for the ride as well, but it’s not like those will keep you from going blind on your way home from the bonfire you checked into via Facebook.
Filed under:
Cellphones, Transportation, Software, Mobile, Google
Source:
iTunes
Tags: app, google, googlemaps, gps, ios, maps, mobile, mobilepostcross, nightmode, transportation, update
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