Category: Google

Google Brings Hangouts With SMS and Updated Keyboard To Play Store

Google has always added some great application to its Play Store making the user experience great, with the launch of the latest Android aka Kitkat the company has now launched the much awaited application.

The new Hangouts app with integrated SMS that was promised by Google last week is now available on the Play Store. In addition to the SMS and MMS integration, it also adds support for animated GIFs, device status and the ability to share your location in your conversations. The application for the stock Android keyboard has received an update to version 2.0 will only be available to users with the new OS installed on their device. So this will not be of great use to everyone right now, but might come in handy once your device updates to the latest OS.

November 8, 2013
Google Celebrates 125th Birthday Of CV Raman With Today’s Doodle

CV Raman’s 125th birthday has been honored by Google, as the today’s Google Doodle showcases his portrait in the form of Google letters.

Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman was an Indian physicist whose work was influential in the growth of science. He was the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1930 for the discovery that when light traverses a transparent material, some of the deflected light changes in wavelength. This phenomenon is now called Raman scattering and is the result of the Raman effect.

Definition of Raman effect on Encyclopedia Britinnica: When a beam of light traverses a dust-free, transparent sample of a chemical compound, a small fraction of the light emerges in directions other than that of the incident beam. Most of this scattered light is of unchanged wavelength. A small part, however, has wavelengths different from that of the incident light; its presence is a result of the Raman effect. Google continues to please everyone with its Doodles.

November 7, 2013
Google Opinion Rewards, Earn Play Store Credits By Taking Part in Surveys

Google has always been satisfactory when it is about the consumer experience, and it seems the company plans to improve further for its users as Google just announced Google Opinion Rewards a new application to allow users to complete a survey and help them to improve the user experience.

Google Opinion Rewards is a new application from the company which does exactly what the name suggests, the app will give you Play Store credits for your paid app purchases each time you answer a survey. The survey is said to be on weekly basis and will include upto 10 questions, users will have to enter there Google Wallet account details so that the credits reach the right place. Questions will range from, “Which logo is best?” and “Which promotion is most compelling?” to “When do you plan on traveling next?”. However, this application is currently only available to users in United States.

[youtube url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zpKBS9pL-o”]

[Play Store]

November 7, 2013
Google Announces ‘HelpOuts’ Live Video Tutorials

We all are thankful to Google, as it has always helped us for what we want to search. However, now Google hopes that humans can do the same.

Google on Tuesday announced Helpouts, which is a new tool that connects the users through a live video, to the experts who can help the users to solve the questions they have like for cooking, home improvement, Yoga and more. So far, Google has invited 1,000 companies to participate, and plans to keep the marketplace “invitation only” for now, However you can try your luck by requesting for a code.

“With Google helpouts, we can open the whole world to everybody,” said Udi Manber, Google’s vice-president of engineering. “Most of the world’s most useful information still resides in people’s heads.

Ofcourse, not all helps are free, but most of the helps are available free of cost or are charged on per minute basis. Users can choose to set up an appointment with a particular person, or if someone is available, speak to them instantly through a video. Check out the video below.

[youtube url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-VFC9AQM1k”]

November 6, 2013
The New Nexus 7 32 GB LTE Listed On Play Store At a Price Of 25999 INR

The much awaited tablet from Google the new Nexus 7 is now listed on the Google Play Store with a tag of Coming Soon. The new Nexus 7 is listed as a 32 GB LTE/WiFi/HSPA+ variant and is priced at 25999 INR.

However, other variants of the tablets seems unavailable as the price is not mentioned in INR and if you try to click on any of them which are Nexus 7 16 GB WiFI or the Nexus 7 32 GB WiFi they have prices in USD and are not available in India. This can surely hint that the new tablet will hit the shelves soon.

The Nexus 7 tablet features a 7 inch full-HD display (1920×1200 pixels), with a pixel density of 323ppi. It is powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor clocked at 1.5 GHz, and is equipped with a 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of inbuilt storage which is not expandable. The new Nexus 7 also sports a 5 MP rear camera and a 1.2 MP front-facing camera.

For more information check out are unboxing, Gaming, Benchmarks and the full review below:

[youtube id=”Dq6MCDLmKXI” width=”100%” height=”300px”]

[youtube id=”8FAzR1TjrxM” width=”100%” height=”300px”]

[youtube id=”yFROkb4Qc7c” width=”100%” height=”300px”]

[youtube id=”qXVCnqszDOM” width=”100%” height=”300px”]

November 4, 2013
Android Jelly Bean Now On 52.1% Of Active Devices

According to Google’s monthly Android OS distribution chart — which tracks devices that actively visit Google Play Store — Jelly Bean (OS 4.1 to 4.3) now makes up for 52.1%of all devices, up from 48.6% last month. Every other OS dropped in usage, most notedly Android Gingerbread by 2.2% to run on 26.3% of Android device . This is still a huge number as the OS was introduced almost 3-years ago (December of 2010).

Next month will be interesting as we’ll see the uptake on the new 4.4 KitKat, plus those stats might also give a peek into early Nexus 5 sales.

November 2, 2013
Google Maps With Indoor Mapping For iOS and Android Now Available in India

Google’s indoor maps was launched some time back, but was not available in India. However, what we noticed now is that Google indoor maps is now available in both the platforms Android and iOS.

Google added this feature to Maps in the month of July 2013, but as said before it never made its way to India. iGyaan discovered that the Google Indoor maps is now available in India, for instance users can search for any store in the mall you are in and the application will guide you the floor and the way towards it. Check out the images above which demonstrates the availability of indoor maps on iOS and the image below shows the Google indoor maps on Android.

November 2, 2013
Is Your Phone Eligible To Android 4.4 KiKat? Check here!
Everyone of us are aware, but if in case anyone missed it out, Google just launched its flagship Nexus 5 in the markets globally. The device is coming soon in India and is already given a price tag of 28999 INR for the 16 GB model.

Nexus 5 features the latest Android operating system 4.4 KitKat, its the first device to run this version of the OS. However, after the official launch other phone makers are working hard to give there users a great experience with the latest software update. Here is a list of Smartphones which will soon get the latest Android update soon:
- Samsung Galaxy S4 will get the latest Android update soon.
- HTC One Play Edition will get the update withing 15 days,
- Whereas, the standard HTC One is said to get the update in 90 days
- Nexus 4
- Nexus 7
- Nexus 10
- Sony Xperia Z1 might get the update as per the latest tweet.
These are the devices which are likely to get the update soon, while there could be some more. We will keep you updated with the news for getting your smartphone a taste of Kitkat!
November 2, 2013
Android 4.4 KitKat To Be Available Soon On Nexus 4, 7, 10, HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4

After the recent availability of the Android 4.3 to some of the flagships like the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S4, Google seems to have a real treat for everyone as these devices are soon getting the KitKat taste of the Android OS.

With the launch of the much leaked Nexus 5, it is the first device to feature the latest Android OS. The device is now available on Google Play in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan and Korea (and coming soon to India), starting at $349. The device is priced at 28999 INR for 16 GB variant.

In some part of the press release issued with the launch it notes:

Android 4.4, KitKat, which comes on Nexus 5, will also soon be available on Nexus 4, 7, 10, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One Google Play edition devices in the coming weeks.

Whereas, HTC says that the HTC One Google Play edition will be update in 15 days, and the standard HTC One will be updated within 90 days.

November 1, 2013
Android 4.4 KitKat Users Can Say ‘Ok Google’ to Search Without a Single Touch

Google has announced the “oh so leaked” Nexus 5 officially and this time around it has popped up on the Indian Play Store as well. The Nexus 5 has a lot of specs similar to the LG G2 a 2.2 Ghz quad-core Snapdragon 800 and 2GB of RAM, a 4.95-inch 1080p display.

However, what we are going to talk about is the benefits of the latest Android 4.4 aka KitKat. Google has added a plenty of useful features to the its latest version of Android, the Android 4.4 will have a new immersive mode which will hide everything in the background and will just show your up what you want to see, be it reading a book watching a movie or even playing a game. The Google Hangouts have been talked about lately and will supposedly allow to send and receive messages, all the SMS and MMS will be kept in the Hangouts app so that you do not miss any important message, claims Google.

‘Okay Google’, these Touchless Controls are a part of the new Android, although these are not new but are advanced. With the Nexus 5 launch, users will have the ability to set hot keywords as a means of activating or “waking up” Now voice search. Which means you will be able to link any word you’d like to start voice commands on Google Now. Overall, speech recognition is said to be made 25% more accurate and manual access to Google Now can be triggered by a swipe to the left.

Google Cards will be improved, as it will now display information based on a user’s current activity, for example if you are near a theater it might show up with ticket availability, or if you search for any TV show it might give you updates for the show itself.

[youtube id=”6QHkv-bSlds” width=”100%” height=”300px”]

November 1, 2013
Google announces the Nexus 5 with Android 4.4, 16 GB for Rs. 28999

Google has announced the “oh so leaked” Nexus 5 officially and this time around it has popped up on the Indian Play Store as well. The Nexus 5 has a lot of specs similar to the LG G2 a 2.2Ghz quad-core Snapdragon 800 and 2GB of RAM, a 4.95-inch 1080p display.

The Nexus 5 retains wireless charging and goes on sale in the US today for a price of US$ 349. You’ll also find LTE, Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11ac WiFi and NFC on the Nexus 5, along with Google’s latest Android KitKat (Aka 4.4). The front of the Nexus 5 is quite similar to the LG G2, and the bezels appear to be made of aluminum.

Considering India a key market, in the official press release Google mentioned :

Nexus 5 is available today, unlocked and without a contract, on Google Play in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan and Korea (and coming soon to India).

Pricing seems a bit higher compared to the US$ variant, however that has been the case since the launch of the first Nexus Device.

[toggle title=”Press Release”]Android for all and the new Nexus 5

Just in time for Halloween, we have two new treats for Android fans. First, we’re excited to unwrap our latest platform release, KitKat, which delivers a smarter, more immersive Android experience to even more people. And second, we’re introducing Nexus 5-a new Nexus phone developed with LG.

The first thing you’ll notice about KitKat is we’ve made the experience much more engaging: the book you’re reading, the game you’re playing, or the movie you’re watching-now all of these take center stage with the new immersive mode, which automatically hides everything except what you really want to see.

Bringing more Google smarts to Android
Behind the polish on the screen is the power under the hood. Take the Phone app, which for most people hasn’t really changed since the days of flip phones. Now, we’re making calling easier than ever, by helping you search across your contacts, nearby places, or even Google Apps accounts (like your company’s directory), directly from within the app. And with the new Hangouts app, all of your SMS and MMS messages are together in the same place, alongside your other conversations and video calls, so you’ll never miss a message no matter how your friends send it. This is just a small taste of KitKat-learn more on our site.

Google has always focused on helping users get immediate access to the information they need, and we want to bring this same convenience and power to users on Android. With the new Nexus 5 launcher, Google smarts are deeply integrated into the phone you carry around with you, so getting to the information you need is simple, easy and fast. Swipe once from the home screen to get Google Now literally at your fingertips. Put Google to work for you by saying “OK, Google” to launch voice search, send a text, get directions or even play a song you want to hear. And in the coming weeks, we’re enhancing Now with important new card types that bring you information about contextual topics that interest you such as updates from a favorite website or blog.

Reaching the next 1 billion users
Building a platform that makes mobile phones accessible for everyone has always been at the heart of Android. Until now, some lower-end Android phones couldn’t benefit from more recent Android releases due to memory constraints. With KitKat, we’ve slimmed down Android’s memory footprint by doing things like removing unnecessary background services and reducing the memory consumption of features that you use all the time. We did this not only within Android but across Google services like Chrome and YouTube. RAM (or memory) is one of the most expensive parts of a phone, and now Android can run comfortably on the 512MB of RAM devices that are popular in much of the world, bringing the latest goodies in Android 4.4 within reach for the next billion smartphone users.

Introducing Nexus 5
Along with our sweet naming tradition, we also introduce a new device with each platform release to showcase the latest Android innovations. For KitKat, we partnered with LG to develop Nexus 5 — the slimmest and fastest Nexus phone ever made. Its design is simple and refined to showcase the 5″ Full HD display. Nexus 5 also keeps you connected at blazing speeds with 4G/LTE and ultra fast wifi. The advanced new lens on Nexus 5 captures more light for brighter night and sharper action shots. And with optical image stabilization, you no longer have to worry about shaky hands and blurry pictures. A new HDR+ mode automatically snaps a rapid burst of photos and combines them to give you the best possible single shot. Learn more on our site.

Nexus 5 is available today, unlocked and without a contract, on Google Play in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan and Korea (and coming soon to India), starting at $349. Just in the time for the holidays, Nexus 5 will be available soon at the following retailers: Sprint, T-Mobile, Amazon, Best Buy and RadioShack.

Android 4.4, KitKat, which comes on Nexus 5, will also soon be available on Nexus 4, 7, 10, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One Google Play edition devices in the coming weeks.

How’s that for a treat?

Posted by Sundar Pichai, SVP, Android, Chrome & Apps[/toggle]

[Play]

November 1, 2013
Android 4.4 KitKat To Be Optimized For Low Memory Usage

Though we’ve seen plenty leaks of the Nexus 5, little is known about the next version of Android itself — other than its chocolate bar-related name, of course. Now, Amir Efrati of JessicaLessin.com has detailed a number of key upgrades to KitKat, based on a confidential document Google sent to its OEM partners.

In it, Google outlines key enhancements to low-memory devices such as entry-level handsets from Huawei, Samsung, ZTE and others. OEMs have traditionally been reticent to update older devices because there are performance considerations with newer versions of Android, especially as graphics acceleration becomes more ubiquitous throughout the OS. The other side of the coin is that, however easy Google makes it for OEMs to update, they’re still unlikely to spend the time, money and effort to do so, especially in the cheaper market.

KitKat is also purportedly optimized for wearables, which coincides nicely with the rumour that Google is readying a smartwatch for later this year or early 2014. KitKat is expected to support three new hardware sensors, according to Efrati: geomagnetic rotation vector, step detector and step counter. The latter two are important if you consider that many new devices are likely going to emulate the iPhone 5s in keeping track of users’ steps and elevation throughout the day.

Android 4.4 is also expected to improve NFC connectivity with certain types of hardware. That, and Bluetooth, are usually serviced by the OEMs themselves, leading to disparate and often incompatible executions of the same idea. This has lead to some wearable technology, like Fitbit’s line of health monitors, to have limited compatibility with Android hardware.

KitKat may also unify the IR stack for hardware manufacturers, bringing a uniform experience for virtual remote controls and other uses of infrared blasters.

We will likely know more in the coming days (or hours) so stay tuned!

October 31, 2013
Google Now Selling Accessories to Explorer Edition Owners For Google Glass

While Google Glass is still away from people, the developers have been trying new ways to use it and enhance its usability. So, the Glass was available to the developers way back and now Google has also started selling out accessories for the wearable device.

The option in the store are, a visor like protection for the Glass or may be your eye which is priced at $75, also what is listed is an ear-bud for $50 but is not available as it says out of stock. This can be great for developers as these accessories might come handy for them for researches before Google makes Glass Public. However, this step from the company hints the public availability of the Glass soon.

October 31, 2013
Nexus 5 Might Launch On 1st November in Black and White Color

We have been waiting for some official news for the Nexus 5, the wait continues as what we are going to talk about is still not official but does gives us a hint of when this much awaited phone can be official.

The latest leaked render from evleaks shows Nexus 5 with a white back, the post shared on twitter says “In white. 11/1.” It’s definitely an unclear statement, but if we consider the previous leaks and the Google Play Store listing this might just be the right time to launch the Nexus 5. As per the rumors the smartphone will feature a 4.95 inch Full HD 1080p display, and will be powered by a 2.3 GHz Snapdragon 800 CPU. The device is said to be available in both 16 and 32 GB variants with a black and white color options and ofcourse the leaked pricing of $349 which can undoubtedly make this phone a hot seller once it is available in the market. Stay tuned for more news on Nexus 5!

October 28, 2013
Google Doodle: The First Parachute Jump Was In The Year 1797, try the Doodle

Google has always done something interesting with its Doodles. The 216th anniversary of the world’s first parachute jump is the inspiration behind today’s interactive Google Doodle.

Garnerin made the jump on 22 October 1797 using a silk parachute. He had made the jump from a height of 32,00 feet. Garnerin was the inventor of the parachute and also appointed as the Official Aeronaut of France. The Google doodle depicts a parachutist going up in the air with the help of a balloon and making a descent as he goes into clouds and flying birds. The direction of the parachute can be changed with the navigation keys, you might land up in different places like, a land, in water, on the snow along with some penguins.

October 22, 2013