LG G Watch Hands On

We are at Google I/O 2014 and got our hands on upcoming LG G Watch which is the first Android Wear based smart watch from the Korean company.While we had heard about the G watch before , it is the first time the company is actually showing it off publicly.Google even confirmed that it would be handing it out to attendees at Google I/O and also it is currently available for purchase on the Play Store.The main functionality of the watch is that it acts like an extension of Google Now on your phone but now on your wrist. You can see your messages , calls, calendar items, Google Now cards such travel, weather and you can also see the time. Check out the hands on video below :-

The G Watch follows a square design philosophy for the smartwatch and has a 1.65 inch IPS LCD as the main interaction point.It is available in 2 colors – black titan and white gold and the straps are changeable.

Powering the watch is a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chip paired with 512MB of RAM. There is 4GB of inbuilt storage and the battery is rated at 400mAh.

The G Watch runs on Android Wear and is not only compatible with LG android phones but any smartphone running android 4.3 and above.

The watch can be charged by means of the pin based connectors on the back of the device

The G watch is dust and water resistant and can stay in water up to meter deep for 30 mins

Google announces Google Fit platform for fitness and health tracking

Google officially announced its own health and fitness tracking platform that competes with Apple’s recently launched Healthkit. Dubbed as Google Fit, the platform will aggregate and collect your fitness data at one place. It will help users monitor their fitness activities like heart rate, blood sugar, steps taken etc on this platform.

The basic idea is that Google is creating a single set of APIs which will allow fitness/health tracking apps and devices to share data with the aim of building a more “complete picture of the user’s fitness”. Users will be given full control over sharing their information with apps and will be able to delete data at any time.

Google Fit partners already include Nike, HTC, LG, Withings, Motorola, Noom, Runtastic, RunKeeper, Adidas, Mio, and Polar. Nike also announced that it will integrate its popular Fuel points system into Google Fit for other apps to use. Adidas is also developing a line of sensor-based health wearables that will integrate with the Google Fit platform.

Google updates Drive with Microsoft Office editing and more new features

Google announced several updates and enhancements to Drive at the I/O developer conference. For starters, users can edit Microsoft Office files through the cloud-based platform. This mean users can view, create and share documents, spreadsheets and presentations on both mobile devices and the desktop in their native format.

Google is also adding offline support to Docs, Slides and Sheets which will enable users to work on documents without an internet connection on their mobile and desktops. The company has also rolled out a standalone Slides app which helps users make presentations from the mobile. Currently, the app is available for download on Google Play Store and will soon land on Apple App Store. Drive gets a new feature that makes it easier for multiple people to edit the same document.

Google Drive is also getting a “Drive for Work” offering, aimed at the enterprise. It will have unlimited storage and will cost $10 per month, per user. It will have enhanced security and features traditionally important to the enterprise. The company has also added new security features to protect documents stored on Drive as they are encrypted both at rest and in transit to your browser and between Google’s servers.

Google revealed that its Drive service now has over 190 million monthly active users. The product’s user base has grown 85 percent in the last year alone. Google claims that Drive for mobile has become faster and easier which helps hassle free navigation.

Samsung Gear Live Photo Gallery

Samsung, though not part of the initial list of partners associated with Android Wear, surprised everyone by announcing the Gear Live yesterday, which has already gone on sale in the US today, and is no onpre-order in India, for a price of Rs. 15, 900. Following the design philosophy of its other Gear devices, this Android Wear based Smartwatch will be sold along with the LG G watch. Both the Korean giants have their own first Android Wear based Smartwatches out, but lets focus on the Gear live here, which adds the unique functionality to measure heart rate using the hear rate sensor on its back. It looks and feels pretty similar to the other Gear watches, unsurprisingly, so lets take a photo walkthrough of this device, straight from the I/O developer event in San Francisco.

The Samsung Gear Live comes with a stainless steel body and a usual rubbery strap, just like its siblings. It’s basically the same as the Samsung Gear 2 with Android Wear.

It has a 1.63″ touchscreen with a 320×320 resolution at the front and can listen to you using built-in microphones. This will come in handy when using “Ok Google” commands. Internally, it runs on a 1.2 GHz processor with 512 MB of RAM and 4 GB of storage, with Bluetooth 4.0 being the standard for connectivity.

The watch sits in a plastic casing, with charging points and a heart rate sensor housed at the bottom. The charging points connect with the charging cradle and the heart rate sensor is exclusive to Samsung in Android Wear, as other devices don’t seem to have it. There is also a single physical button at the right side.

Running Android Wear, rather than Tizen, the Gear Live will be able to work with all Android devices, running 4.3 Jellybean or above. Here in this picture above, you see a Hangouts notification from the phone, which is interactive. Swipe up for the next notification, or swipe right or left for actions. a better idea of the underlying OS can be understood from our hands on video earlier -

It will also include dedicated sensors to calculate fitness data through its pedometer, its heart rate sensor and so on.

Samsung Gear Live Hands On

The Samsung Gear Live was revealed for the first time by Google during the keynote at Google I/O 2014 and it is Samsung’s first Android Wear device. We managed to spend some time with the device at the event.Here is a short video of the Gear Live watch in action.Under the hood is a 1.2 Ghz processor paired with 512MB of RAM.

Like other Android Wear devices, the Samsung Gear Live provides quick access to information from your phone through Bluetooth.You get access to your messages, mail , meetings and also google now cards such as travel,weather,directions etc.

The most interesting fact about the Samsung Gear Live is that it works with non-Samsung devices too as it runs on the Android Wear platform.This is indeed surprising as most of Samsung’s recently launched products work only with select Samsung devices.

Like on most Samsung devices , the main highlight of the Galaxy Live is the 1.63 inch SuperAMOLED display on the front sporting a 320x320px resolution. My only concern is that the battery is rated only at 300mAh which is even lower than the LG G Watch which has a 400mAh battery.

One of the main features of the Gear Live is the heart rate monitor which was found on Samsung’s Tizen based Galaxy Fit and Gear 2 which were launched recently.

Charging is possible via an adapter which lets you plug in a microUSB cable. The device is water and dust resistant and meets the IP67 requirements.The Gear Live will be sold in 2 colors -  Black and Wine Red and is already up for pre-order on the Google Play store for $199 in the US

LG G Watch Photo Gallery

LG was one of the first manufacturers to announce a Smartwatch based on Android Wear, but yesterday, at the Google I/O developers conference, the device was made available for sale, making it the first Android Wear Smartwatch in the market along with the Samsung Gear live. This being LG’s first watch, unlike Samsung, the approach, although bland, is a bit different. Priced at $229 in the US and Rs. 14,999 in India, where it is currently on pre-order, the LG G watch makes for an interesting first look at the Android Wear ecosystem. Lets take a photo walkthrough of the device in action, but before that, here isour hands on experience of this device, shot on video -

The LG G Watch comes in two colours, black and white, with respect to the straps. The one above is White-gold, with the gold accents being displayed on the body.

The design is a bit bland, as you can see from this photo. The watch is a solid piece of plastic, with a strip of gold coloured metal between the two pieces of the casing that encloses everything inside.

Over at the back, we have the charging connectors that magnetically connects to the charging cradle, which, the LG rep says, is almost effortless. The 400 mAH battery inside will charge to 90% in 30 minutes flat and then slowly charge to 100% in 2 hours, which is actually quite useful for this kind of a device.

Sporting a 1.65″ touchscreen, the LCD screen here sports a resolution of 280×280, a bit lesser than the Gear Live at 320×320. It is powered by a Snapdragon 400 1.2 GHz Quad Core processor underneath, with 512 MB of RAM and 4 GB of internal storage.

Running Android Wear, the watch will be able to connect with all Android devices running 4.3 Jellybean or higher, with Google Now cards support and more. The one you see above is a Google Now card for flight alerts, which will prove really useful, we feel.

Motorola Moto 360 Photo Gallery

Motorola finally showed off the Moto 360 at Google I/O few hours back. The Moto 360 was announcedearlier this year and is powered by Android Wear. Motorola already confirmed that it is water resistant, compatible with Android devices running Android 4.3 or later and uses Bluetooth 4.0 LE to connect to them. Motorola is yet to detail the specifications of the Moto 360, but you can see the smartwatch in pictures below that would give an idea about it.

Even though the Moto 360 looks big, it is not that big for your hand.

It has solid metal build and has a leather strap. It would also come with steel strap.

It has a edge-to-edge screen and has a small cut out on the bottom when displaying some content or notifications.

It can also measure your steps. Since it has a touch screen, you can swipe vertically to switch between notifications, music controls and more. You can swipe horizontally to interact with the screen you are on.

It has solid metal base and also has a button on the side.

The Moto 360 would go on sale this summer. Motorola would reveal more details about the smartwatch at the launch. Check out more images of the gorgeous smartwatch below.

Google announces Android TV

Google has entered into the set-top box space by officially announcing Android TV. The TV service will run on set-top box hardware similar to Amazon and Apple TV.

Google as developed software that helps smartphones and tablets interact with a television to perform a variety of tasks, including searching for videos, controlling playback, and controlling a video game.  Users will be able to stream content from their smartphones and tablets to their TVs using the system, which will also integrate with Google’s Chromecast device. Android TV will rely on the Material Design UI of Android L, which brings in support for HDMI, IPTV, and other sources.

Android TV has a homescreen that is designed to put content front and center. It recommends content to the user and the top of the homescreen shows recently used apps. One of the key features of Android TV is voice control which enables users to find information like TV Shows, Movies, Music etc with simple voice commands. The interface is based on cards which maker searching easy by simple scrolling. These cards are organized into Movies, Shows, Games and Apps sections.

Google is also putting focus of Android TV as users can use an Android tablet as a controller, while an Android game is broadcast on your TV set. All 2014 Sony and Sharp 4K televisions will support Android TV. Google has teamed up with NVIDIA to create a Tegra-powered Android TV development kit that would be available starting today. NVIDIA also offers Tegra K1 Android TV reference design for OEMs interested in building set top boxes or TVs based on Android TV.

This is not Google’s first attempt to get into your living room. The company had forayed into creating TV software with Google TV in 2010 but unfortunately it did not garner any momentum.

Material Design is the new visual language of everything Google

At the Google I/O conference in San Francisco, design played a huge role in the company’s announcements to the public. After getting Android One out of the way, Android and Chrome chief Sundar Pichai invited Matias Duarte on stage. Being one of the highly creative minds behind the critically acclaimed WebOS interface, Matias made his mark on Android with Ice Cream Sandwich. Fondly called Android ICS, the update was and still is one of the biggest visual overhauls for Android, as a platform. “Holo” was the design language spear headed by Matias, who talked up design principles based on clean lines and flatter interface elements. It was the beginning of a more coherent interface for Android, but Google, as a company, was heading in a separate design direction.

All Google products received a “Card” interface treatment, starting mainly with Google Now, which revolves around the same concept as its function. This started permeating other Google products too, including the company’s premiere social networking product Google+, its massively popular mail product and even YouTube. Eventually that trickled down to respective clients in different form factors like mobile, where, at a point, Android had to change itself to look more “Google” than it was, right now. And then Android 4.4 KitKat happened, with several minor changes to bring it in line with other Google products. The use of a cards interface was encouraged, with many third party developers taking a liking. Google’s iOS apps went “cards” style, sometimes even before Android, so a change was set in motion. But it still felt fragmented, as KitKat could not really cover each and every aspect of the operating system seeking a visual overhaul, so something had to be done to unite everything at Google. Enter material design.

The I/O 2014 live keynote had speakers talking in front a massive screen that showed off all their names with a throbbing animation of an expanding circle, in really a cool colour palette. This was material design in action, way before Matias Duarte started detailing it with arguably over reaching statements and a generous use of adjectives. “Material Design” is the name that Google’s design team have given, for the company’s new design language. It will span across all the company’s products, right from Android on the phone to Android on TVs, and from Chrome on the phone to Chrome on your laptops and desktops. Everything that Google does, from here on, will be based on “Material Design”. So, what is material design?

If you want to go by the definition, Material Design is -

We challenged ourselves to create a visual language for our users that synthesizes the classic principles of good design with the innovation and possibility of technology and science. This is material design.

or

A material metaphor is the unifying theory of a rationalized space and a system of motion. Our material is grounded in tactile reality, inspired by our study of paper and ink, yet open to imagination and magic.

Well, we know it’s a bit hard to comprehend, we too were initially dumbfounded by it. So, the first one is all about creating a visual language (a set of rules and properties) that follows the good practices of design (like using whitespace, sticking to grids and so on) and takes advantage of effects realized through technology (like graphical effects of motion, shadow manipulation, light sources etc). The second one is almost the same, except it explains their inspiration behind the language, which is paper and ink, while the mention of tactile reality deals with them following real world properties of motion.

These are three basic design principles behind “Material Design”. We already saw that “Material is the metaphor”, but “bold, graphic, intentional” reveals more about their ideas behind the use of colour, typography and indicators to guide users to the right interface elements. Motion on the other hand deals with the introduction of real world-like animations, involving a lot of movement. These three pillars of “Material Design” define what developers needs to know, to make their apps coherent with the company’s products.

As mentioned earlier, Material Design takes Google’s “cards” interface ahead, leaving Holo behind, so that’s a pretty drastic change for the company’s flagship mobile product. Users will be looking at a new colour palette, a new interface with perspective shadows and of course, cards. This is the final nail in the coffin for all the design inconsistencies the Google of day before yesterday had. While it will take considerable time to roll out, Material Design will be playing the central role to Android’s yet-unnamed L update, which is scheduled to arrive for the Nexus 5 and other newer devices, as a developer preview.

This will help developers with updating their current apps to match the new design language, which already has a robust preview document that details all the changes and thinking behind “Material Design”. It’s a “living document”, Google says, as it promises to keep adding guidelines and good practices. This might also mean that the complete instructions are still a work in progress, which might also explain the delay in the L update this time.

Spanning across Android phones, tablets, Chromebooks and even Google’s web properties, “Material design” will change the Mountain View company forever, as it gears up to offer its customers the coherence they always needed.

Designers looking for more can go here

Google Search update adds “Ok Google” detection from anywhere in the phone

Along with a bunch of announcements at the I/O developer conference yesterday, Google has bumped an update to  Search for Android. The latest update adds the ability for a user to say “Ok Google” anywhere on the device to initiate voice search.

To enable this feature, you have to go into Google Search, scroll to the bottom, tap Menu and navigate to Settings, then Voice, then toggle the “Ok Google” Detection setting. The hotword detection feature will be available on homescreens, running apps and even lock  screen. Prior to this update, users had to be on their phone’s homescreen to access the feature. We have previously seen this  feature on Motorola’s Moto X device and Droid line.

In addition, the latest 3.5.14 version of the app also gets Audio History. This feature helps the app learn your voice and  analyze it from your past voice searches for future accurate searches. Google is also adding  privacy controls to the feature. Users can review their own Audio History, delete individual searches, or simply disable the feature altogether.

Opera Mini for iPhone and iPad updated with new UI, compression mode and more

Opera has updated Opera Mini for iOS devices to version 8.0. This update brings a completely new user interface with a flat design similar to iOS 7, new compression modes, QR code support and more new features. All design elements have been completely re-built from the ground up, to fit in with iOS styling and the familiar user friendliness of Opera’s mobile browsers, says Opera.

New features in Opera Mini 8 for iPhone and iPad

• New design that has been completely re-built from the ground up to match iOS 7′s flat design
• Combined search and address bar offers search suggestions or go to a web address right away.
• QR reader lets you share URLs via QR code
• Option to edit addresses and search terms using a slider
• Switch search providers easily so that you can search on Amazon, eBay and Wikipedia
• Opera Mini mode offers up to 90% data compression that lets you save data
• Opera Turbo mode saves slightly less data than Opera Mini mode, but offers better website compatibility

Download Opera Mini 8 for iPhone and iPad from the Apple iTunes Store for free.

Google Glass updated with 2GB RAM and other software updates

Google has ramped up its hardware offering on Google Glass. The company has doubled the RAM in Glass and now the devices will ship with 2GB RAM which was earlier only 1GB.

The upgraded hardware will ensure that Glass can handle more applications simultaneously. Increase in RAM should lead to improved faster and reliable performance with Google’s wearable. All future Glass models will ship with this upgrade, although it appears that current Glass Explorers will not get a free upgrade to the new model containing 2GB RAM. Google also said that is has improved battery life by over 20%, made voice search 10% faster to Glass.

Google Glass is also getting a number of software updates that will enhance its usage. For starters, Glass will boast of  a viewfinder, that pops up when you say, “Ok, Glass, show the viewfinder.” A viewfinder will appear to help you better frame your shots, at which point you can take a picture by either using a voice command, pressing the camera button, or simply winking. 

Finally, Google is adding new Google Now cards to Glass that will remind you where you parked your car and let you know when packages are being shipped to you.

The update to Google Glass comes only a day after Google launched them in UK.

Google Glass gets 12 new apps including Shazam, Runtastic, Zombies and more

Along with doubling the RAM on the Glass, Google has also added a number of popular apps. The Glassware family is a total of 12 apps that are a mixture of music, fitness and media apps.

Google Glass is getting apps like music discovery app Shazam, personal fitness trainer Runtastic, popular game Zombies Run and 94Fifty Basketball. Moving on there are apps like The Guardian for latest news update, StarChart for astronomy, foreign language tool Duolingo, football news app Goal.com, Livestream app that lets you broadcast live shows. There is also musiXmatch”, an app that identifies music and displays lyrics across Glass

Here is the official list of all the 12 apps

• Allthecooks
• GuidiGo
• Runtastic
• Shazam
• musiXmatch
• The Guardian
• Duolingo
• Zombies, Run!
• Starchart
• Goal.com
• Livestream

Facebook Slingshot now available globally

Facebook officially launched its self destructing messaging app Slingshot last week. The app which enables users to send and receive photos and 15 second videos that disappear after they are viewed was only available in the US. Today, the app has gone global is available for download worldwide for Android(Jelly Bean and KitKat) and iPhone (iOS 7).

Touted as a Snapchat rival, Facebook Slingshot is a bit different. Unlike Snapchat, whose messages disappear after being viewed, users of Slingshot will have to reply with a message before they can see the intended original message.

Since we launched last week, we’ve heard from lots of people around the world who are excited to give Slingshot a try. Starting today, we’re expanding our initial launch and making Slingshot available internationally!

announced Slingshot in a company blog post.

One of the unique features of Slingshot is that is allows users to add captions on photos and videos before sharing them. You can download the app from Google Play Store and Apple App Store

Google unleashes Android L developer preview

After series of leaks and speculations, Google finally announced Android ‘L’ at the ongoing I/O developer conference. As of now the officials are calling it simply L and it is a developer preview and not a final product.

The preview reveals that Google is putting more focus on new design elements including sleek color effects and animations. Android L boasts of a revamped UI, with refreshed and colourful status bar, dialer that has a  ripple touch effect when you touch each tab and much more. Google is also updating the Roboto font so that it works better across different device sizes.

Most important or the heart of the Android L is the brand new “Material Design” which is a cross platform design language that was introduced by Google’s VP Design, Matias Duarte. The Android L is characterized by this Material Design which adds a virtual texture to it thereby making it more intuitive. The entire interface is based on what Google calls a “unifying theory of a rationalized space and a system of motion.

Android L will also boast of enhanced notifications and they are available at one go on the lock screen.  They can be swiped to dismiss them or tapped to open the relevant apps. It will also get a new keyboard UI, a do-not-disturb mode. Apps like Gmail, calender are also getting a new look in this latest version of Android. Moreover, L will have new battery enhancements and optimizations along with a special battery saver mode for optimal battery life.

Google says Android L will have 5,000 new APIs and a fresh new design that will carry Android across not only on phones and tablets, but many other device categories as well. The company is claiming this release the biggest in Android history. The Android L preview SDK will be available at developer.android.com starting June 26th, along with system images for the Google Nexus 5 and Nexus 7.

Check out the video released by Google to know more about Material Design

Micromax, Karbonn and Spice are the first Android One program members

Google just unveiled its new program called “Android One” at their I/O developer event today, in San Francisco. This program, which involved creating attractive low cost Android smartphones using reference hardware and stock software, already has three members. The three OEMs who are the first companies to sign up for Android One are Karbonn, Micromax and Spice, all Indian smartphone manufacturers well versed in making budget smartphones running Android.

The phone we see in the above image is from Micromax, with a 4.5″ screen, Dual SIM functionality, FM radio and SD card support. It has “Android One” written on its back, featured more prominently than the Micromax logo, which indicates how much of an important role it plays. With a retail price of under 100$, which is roughly less than 6,000 INR, this phone is built on reference hardware and stock Android, but also caters to OEM requests like App bundling and consistent update cycles. This will lead to unified experiences on budget Android devices, which is something you can’t get right now. Also, reference hardware will make these smartphones cheaper to make for OEMs, which is just another win for consumers.