Google making high-res video on Chrome suck less
Trying to make YouTube’s new super-high-res 4K 60fps video work? Good luck with that — not only does such video require very fast internet, but also a super-charged computer. Google’s new VP9 video codec helps with the connection speed part, but to make 4K60, 4K or 1080p60 videos play with fewer hiccups, it’s built a new video rendering algorithm for Chrome. To try it out, you’ll need to set a flag in the latest experimental Chromium build, as detailed in Googler Francois Beaufort’s post. That said, an Intel Celeron-equipped PC from 2007 probably still won’t cut it. To put your own machine to the test, try the UltraHD 60fps video below and let us know how that goes.
Source: Francois Beaufort
Google’s Android-for-all program comes to Europe
Google’s bid to democratize Android just reached Europe. The internet giant has announced that Turkey will get its first Android One smartphone, the General Mobile 4G, on May 15th. The device is strictly middling given its 5-inch 720p display, Snapdragon 410 processor, 13-megapixel rear camera and 5-megapixel front cam, but it will be the first Android One device to offer LTE. It’s fairly affordable, too, at about $263 contract-free. There’s no mention of where Google’s initiative will go next, but the company hints that Turkey might not be the last European nation to get an Android One phone — you may eventually find one sitting in a shop near you.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Google
Source: Google Turkey
Android One: now in Turkey
Android One’s entry into Turkey marks the expansion of the initiative to a continent other than Asia for the first time. Overall, Turkey is the seventh market to be supported by the program. Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka are the others.
According to 9to5Google, General Mobile will be the first in the country to carry Android One smartphones, but they will come at a higher cost. It has received word from Re/code that these devices will cost about $260, which is more than twice as much for Google’s target price for hardware.
Nevertheless, Android One devices will cost around a fourth of the price of flagships, and they have the benefit of receiving OS updates for up to two years.
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Google Hangouts not protected from wiretapping
Let’s face it, government surveillance has been a hot button topic thrust into the zestiest since sites like Wiki-leaks come online. The recent past has shown that companies do care about security, at least within their apps. WhatsApp, for example, just added end to end encryption for any communications that takes place on their platform. So, where is Google in all this? Trailing, it seems. In a recent Reddit AMA, Google came clean regarding the state of end to end encryption in their popular messaging app. In short, it doesn’t exist. Any communication handled by Hangouts is in the clear. What does that mean for you, the end-user? I means that the Big Goog can tap right into your conversations. If it happens in Hangouts, it happens in Mountain View.
What’s even more disturbing, is that Google can do this at the behest of law enforcement without consulting their users. You may be asking yourself, “what about off the record?” According to a Google spokesperson this doesn’t offer any kind of extra security. Off the record merely “…prevents the chat conversations from appearing in your history…” Awesome.
According to Google, via its transparency report, there were only 26 wiretap requests from law enforcement agencies since 2103. During this 18 month period, there is no real way to know how many of those requests were directed at communications handled by Hangouts.
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The most important feature for a phone
E
very time a new phone is announced, it seems like it has more features packed into it than the last phone. This constant addition of new features to phones has been going on for a long time, but does it add anything of value to a phone? We have seen companies add things to phones that are totally pointless, but the companies do not seem to care. Consumers do not seem to care either, if they even notice or use the new features at all. However, they begin to complain when their phone slows down or they cannot find something because it has been hidden beneath all those added features. Hopefully this will get phone manufacturers to realize something extremely important, user experience is the most important feature you can put in your phone. We are going to look at some companies that have begun putting the experience of using their product first.
Samsung
The most prominent example that comes to mind is Samsung. Since the original Galaxy S came out in 2010, Samsung kept adding features to it’s Galaxy S series until it seemed to get out of hand. Many of these features were completely useless – I’m looking at you “Eye Scroll” (pun intended) – but consumers kept buying the latest and greatest from Samsung. However, people began to complain when their originally super fast Galaxy phone became sluggish and laggy before their two-year contract was up.
When the S5 was released, something happened that caused Samsung to rethink their strategy…sales declined rapidly. Customers were no longer happy with new, useless features and began to switch to other phones. This year, Samsung released the S6 and the tech world noticed something completely different about this phone. The useless features were cut, the software was streamlined, and they focused on user experience more than anything else. Samsung focused on delivering what customers had been begging for, which was an updated UI and better build quality. The removal of expandable storage and replaceable battery did upset some of the hardcore users, but for the mass crowd, it brought with it the premium design and fluid performance they had been asking for. By doing this, the Galaxy S6 and its curved companion have received great reviews and promising sales numbers, two things that Samsung desperately needs.
Motorola
Motorola might not have the most sales or highest profits, but their Moto X phones have been praised by the tech community on being the easiest to operate and having useful features. The 2013 and 2014 Moto X’s were not cutting edge in the spec department, but Motorola focused more on creating a better user experience rather than faster speeds. That being said, the Moto X is still fast and fluid even though it is running on old hardware.
Motorola also focused on adding features that people would actually find useful. Active Display and Moto Voice are two added goodies of the Moto X that make it really stand out. Not only that, but they are useful daily. When I owned the 2013 Moto X, I used Moto Voice constantly because it was so much easier to talk to my phone than type into it. Keeping the software near stock also allows Motorola to have updates for their phones ready before other competitors. The 2013 Moto X was one of the first devices to run KitKat, even beating some Nexus devices. The Moto X’s clean interface and simple user experience makes it a phone that can last you a full two years.
Google has been making strides over the last few years to make Android simpler to use and easier on the eyes. The last three Android iterations (JellyBean, KitKat, and Lollipop) have each improved drastically over the last. Android has become much smoother and more fluid to use, with lag being reduced almost completely.
Lollipop introduced the most visually appealing (at least to most) update to Android we have ever seen. It focused on looking cleaner and being easier to understand and use. Google’s new design language “Material Design” focuses completely on letting people know where things come from and how to move within apps. It has not been perfect, but it is nice to see Google focusing heavily on user experience. Not only have they made Android much easier to use, but it is also much more fun to use. All of the animations and transitions that happen when you tap different things makes the whole operating system seem alive.
Features are great and help differentiate phones, but when they come before the user experience, then there is a problem. Now that phone specs have reached the level of desktop PCs, we will hopefully start seeing manufacturers focus on their user experience more. Those companies that like to put heavy skins on top of Android need to work on keeping it fluid and offering features that are actually useful. Features for the sake of features is pointless, and will not help a phone or customer in any way. Do you agree that user experience is ultimately most important or is another feature worth more to you? Tell us down in the comments!
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Google delivers news headlines to your Apple Watch
If you were gutsy enough to buy an Apple Watch on launch, you’ve likely been asking a common question: where are the Watch-savvy Google apps? Well, one of them is finally here… although it’s probably not the one you want. The search firm has updated Google News & Weather with support for Apple’s wearable, so you now have a quick way to scan major headlines from your wrist. It’s definitely convenient, although these tidbits take a while to load and don’t include the “weather” part of the iOS app. However, the real question is when the Google apps that you’re likely to use will show up. It’d be great to dictate Hangouts messages or triage an overflowing Gmail inbox.
Filed under: Wearables, Internet, Mobile, Google
Via: ZDNet
Source: App Store
Google, Nestlé come together again to stamp YouTube’s name on 600,000 KitKat packages
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The relationship between Google and Nestlé remains as strong as its ever been. Google released Android 4.4 in 2013 and applied the KitKat name, a product that Nestlé owns and licenses to Hershey in the United States. Now the two are back together to replace the KitKat name with YouTube’s on more than 600,000 packages in the United Kingdom. It is all part of Nestlé’s ‘Celebreate the Breakers Break’ campaign. Also, searching “YouTube my break” on a mobile device will return results with the top four videos trending from around the world. Google and Nestlé want people to make the most of their unused time.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Source: Nestlé
Come comment on this article: Google, Nestlé come together again to stamp YouTube’s name on 600,000 KitKat packages
Nestle and Google team up to re-brand the KitKat bar as ‘YouTube Break’
Ah, that famous jingle, “Give me a break, give me a break, break me off a piece of that… YouTube Break?” Wait… that’s not right, or is it? Apparently, Nestle and Google are teaming up for a new partnership that will see the standard KitKat bar re-branded as the “YouTube Break” for a run of 600,000 candy bars in the UK and Ireland. This marks the second time Nestle and Google collaborated on such a project, the first time obviously being when Android 4.4 arrived as KitKat instead of the oft-rumored Key Lime Pie.
This time around, the re-branding is in celebration of the 10th Anniversary of YouTube and the 80th anniversary of the KitKat bar. So we know it’s too celebrate two anniversaries, but what exactly is the connection between YouTube and KitKat? At least according to Google UK’s David Black:
It’s great to see KitKat consumers are huge fans of YouTube and, along with our 1 billion users, regard YouTube as a favourite source of entertainment. With half of YouTube views now on mobile devices, ‘YouTube my break’ is a fun way for more people to interact on the channel and enjoy the best videos available. With up to 300 hours of video content uploaded to YouTube every minute, the top trending videos are likely to be changing all the time, making each new search as exciting as the last.
In addition to creating the re-branded candy bars, searching YouTube for “YouTube my Break” will also bring up the top four trending videos of the day, alongside a KitKat ad. As far as we can tell, the candy bar side of the promotion will not be seen in other markets like the United States, though we’ll be sure to update you if that changes.
Break me off a piece of that YouTube bar
Remember when Google teamed up with Nestle and went and named a flavor of Android after a four-fingered chocolate bar? Turns out it wasn’t the last we’d see from this unlikely partnership. To celebrate 80 years since the KitKat went on sale, the two companies announced today that 600,000 “limited edition” packs will feature the name “YouTube Break” instead of the familiar KitKat logo in the UK. According to Nestle, it’ll form just one of 72 different “breaks” that will feature on more than 400 wrapper designs. The plan is to produce 100 million packs, with the search giant only playing a small role. That said, YouTube will get involved, allowing smartphone owners to watch the day’s top trending videos with a “OK Google, YouTube my break” voice search. If you didn’t think things could get more sickly sweet, Google and Nestle just proved you wrong.
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile, Google
Via: Nestle
Second-gen Android One hitting Turkey with souped-up specs and a significant price hike
Android One devices are coming to Turkey, with a twist. While Google and its local partners offer Android One phones in India and other Asian countries for around $110, the first Turkish model features better specs and a $260 price tag.
The first Turkish Android One phone is made by General Mobile and its specs include a 5-inch HD display with Gorilla Glass 4, a Snapdragon 410 64-bit processor, 2GB of RAM, a 13MP rear camera, a 5MP front camera and LTE. The device is running Android 5.1.1 and is guaranteed to receive Android updates for two years.
The General Mobile Android One phone is a marked improvement over the first-gen Android Ones released late last year in India. Those came with a 480 x 854 4.5-inch display, MediaTek processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 5MP main camera.
The General Mobile Android One will be available from May 15 for 699 Turkish lira, which is about $260, through retailer Telpa.
Turkey is more affluent than the markets in Southeast Asia where Google has introduced Android One so far, and the superior specs of the General Mobile Android One are probably an adaptation to the higher standards of local phone buyers. That reflects in the price tag, though higher tariffs on electronics could also play a role. A Galaxy S6, for instance, starts from the equivalent of $930 unlocked at Turkish retailers.
Turkey is the seventh country where Google rolls out Android One, after India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
How do you feel about these specs and price for an Android One device?
AIVAnet 