What Is Google’s End Goal With Android One smartphones?

Google recently launched the Android One program, which Sundar Pichai says will conquer ‘The Next Billion’. While the program is ambitious, I feel that the western media is blowing it out of proportion and giving Google way too much credit. At the risk of giving out anti-Android vibes, let me say it out loud - this is not about targeting the next billion.

Let’s be clear, when Google said that it is launching Android One program for developing countries, it’s not fooling anyone. The program has been designed for the Indian market, which is why local OEMs like Micromax, Karbonn and Spice are the partners.

Android One

Google has launched this program to standardize the low end smartphones brought into the market by these local OEMs, which are actually causing trouble. Google is great at identifying problems early on. It knows that when a person buys a low end smartphone, they are more likely to upgrade to a better specs one the second time around if they feel that their current device has helped them in any way. And here, the low end smartphone makers are troublesome for Google. If they don’t get a seamless experience, consumers are not only going to blame the brand but also Android. These users would not upgrade into the same ecosystem. And these are the consumers Google would care about. Let me explain.

Let’s say Micromax actually comes up with a decent phone at $100, which at current rate would be Rs 6,000. I am pretty sure these users won’t be able to completely enjoy the smartphone experience. Let’s assume the quality of performance of these Rs 6,000 would be of what current phones at Rs 12,000 provide. I am currently using one, Xolo Q1000 which I bought for around Rs 12,000 last year. At the max, I am able to install 15 apps, above which it throws me a storage full error.

Anyone who uses a smartphone would agree that apps are the essence of a smartphone experience. From what I saw at the Google I/O, the Android L is going to be an issue. All those new animations in the app, are going to make the app bulkier and thus leading to even less amount of storage. I really hope to be wrong here, for the sake of my own smartphone experience.

That said, the number of Google apps that come uninstalled with an Android device are increasing day by day, which is again making the device sluggish. There’s also redundancy in the apps. For example, I have an SMS app by the OEM and Google Hangouts, then I have a gallery and Google Photos, and two browsers. This is going to bring down the Android experience.

Now that’s one point. Secondly, Google wants us to use Android so that we can use these apps or Google’s service. This enables them to collect a lot of data from users and give it to advertisers to earn some cash. Are the target users, who can’t afford a one time price of Rs 10,000 going to pay Rs 250+ per month for data packs? The answer is no.

Funnily enough, I’ve seen instances where people buy devices like Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and don’t subscribe to any data packages. Such kind of users would be of no use to Google.

Having said that, the western media just sees that India has a population of more than a billion. What it ignores is whether this billion strong population can afford or even need a smartphone? When you consider this, you’ll realize that the target audience is not that huge anymore.

In my opinion, irrespective of what Sundar Pichai said at the Google I/O, Android One is not about conquering the next billion users but more about putting a leash on OEMs that are providing a sub-par experience.

Tc & Be Safe :)


#Android #google


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Top 5 Android Launchers

Android is the number 1 operating system today and there’s no doubt that it is the preferred choice of many. You often tend to get bored with the user interface post the passage of a certain period of time. This is where the Android launchers come in. The launcher is your home screen and app drawer and barring the usual way Google meant it to be, you can customise the way you use your home screen and app drawer too. Here are the top 5 Android launchers for your smartphone and tablet:

Nova launcher

Nova launcher is easily one of the most popular Android launchers out there. The availability of various themes alongside a slew of customisation options such as the ability to change the colour scheme, icon themes, customisable application drawer, Subgrid positioning which allows you to snap icons or widgets half way through the desktop grid cells. It is quite an animated unit and still manages to keep things pretty fast too. It tops our list as a choice of Android launcher (personal choice too). The paid version adds features such as gesture controls and the likes but the free version gets the job done just as well too.  You can download it here.

Buzz launcher

Buzz launcher is a highly personalised android launcher courtesy of the customisation options on offer. It provides the user with over 4,50,000 themes to customise your device which is the maximum on offer by any of the launchers out there. You can even create your own homescreens with the help of it. It gets everything right courtesy of its wide array of themes and widget features made available to the user. You can also share your homescreen with others and it works pretty fast too. Homescreens can be downloaded and implemented in merely 5 seconds. The transitions are pretty fast and there are gesture controls on offer too. You can download it here.

Google Now Launcher

How could Google Now be left behind when talking about Android launchers. It gives you all the information you seek based on your interests but the only drawback is that it’s compatible with Nexus or Google Play edition devices with Android 4.4 only. It brings voice functionality too and you need to say “Ok Google” when you’re on your home screen to activate it. Faster search – tap the search box and you can enter your query immediately. It provides easy access to Google’s own products and services like Gmail, YouTube, and Maps. It keeps you updated with information about areas of your interest and offers the Android launcher experience the way Google wanted it to be. You can download it here.

Aviate Launcher

Aviate launcher is easily the most intuitive Android launcher out there and it is so good that Yahoo recently acquired it. It keeps on changing through out the day to adapt to your usage.  It transforms your phone into four, easy-to-navigate screens to make every interaction faster and more efficient. It’s everyday functionalities make it quite a nice one to have. When you wake up, it shows you how much you’ve slept and how is the weather outside. When you are travelling to work it shows the traffic conditions and shows you music apps and extra information about the artist/band you’re listening to, like recent tweets, upcoming concerts and bios when you plug in the headphones. It changes according to your interactions and even I am thinking of changing to this one. It can be downloaded here. 

Bazooka Launcher

This is not one of the most popular ones out there compared to the other giants but it is surely among the ones which offer something fresh and new.  It is light weight and provides you with blazingly fast performance.  It provides you with smooth transitions and animations while and has a wide catalogue of downloadable themes on offer. It also supports multiple gestures (swipe up’s and down’s) to reach the most used apps such as messaging, camera etc., right from the lock screen. It offers a wide array of lock screen customisations and home screens too. You can take a look at it here.

All the above listed launchers offer a high level of functionality and customisation. If you want to try something new, Aviate should be the choice as it is innovative and different from the rest. Nova and Google Now are one of the most functional ones. Bazooka and Buzz offer a good launcher too. There are many others out there as Apex, Go and the likes too.

Tc & Be Safe :)


#gotoarif

4 Lies Your Employer May Try To Tell You

While it would be nice to think that managers are always 100% truthful and accurate when talking to employees, the reality is managers sometimes say things that aren't quite true. Sometimes this is because they've been misinformed and don't actually know the correct information, but sometimes it's because it's easier to shade the truth.

Here are four things that managers often tell their workers that just aren't true.


1. "You can't discuss your pay with your co-workers."


Fact: Companies regularly tell employees they're not permitted to discuss pay with each other. But this is a direct violation of the National Labor Relations Act, which says that employers cannot prevent employees from discussing wages among themselves. The law, which protects employees' ability to organize and collectively bargain, reasons that employees wouldn't be able to organize if they were forbidden from talking with each other about pay or other working conditions. (One important note here is the prohibition on banning salary discussions doesn't cover every employee; it exempts management-level employees, but the vast majority of workers are covered.)


2. "I can't let you do _________ because then I'd have to let everyone else do it              too."

Fact: You might have heard a statement like this if you've asked your manager to let you telecommute, leave early every Friday or otherwise do something outside your office norms. The reality, though, is that managers generally do have leeway to approve special arrangements for one person that they don't approve for everyone else — and they'll often bend in areas like these to keep a great employee happy. What your manager might really be saying with this line is "I'm only willing to go so far to make you happy, and this is past that line."

That said, there are times when "If I let you do it, I'd have to let everyone else do it too" can be true. While no law prohibits managers from giving special privileges to top performers or even just to their personal favorites, it is illegal to dole out privileges based on protected classes like race, religion, sex or ethnicity. So some employers are hesitant to grant special privileges in case a pattern emerges in who does and doesn't receive those privileges, which can trigger concerns about this type of illegal discrimination.


3. "You have to resign."

Fact: Your employer can fire you, but they can't force you to resign if you don't want to. That decision is yours. If you refuse to resign, you might get fired — but some employees prefer that, since it often preserves their eligibility for unemployment benefits. Of course, some employees do prefer to resign when given the choice, to avoid having a firing in their job history. But that's not always the advantage it might appear to be on the surface, since most interviewers are going to be curious about why you quit your job without another position lined up and will assume that something happened that led to your separation.

If your employer does push you to resign, realize that they're asking you to do something for them, which means that you have some negotiating power and can consider negotiating things like severance and what your company will tell future reference-checkers.

4. "Sign this document, but don't worry — we don't really enforce it."

Fact: If someone tells you not to worry about what you're signing, that's a flag that you should read more closely, not less. If your employer truly had no intention of ever enforcing a signed agreement, they wouldn't be asking for it in the first place. That doesn't mean that they're intentionally trying to hoodwink you; they might simply not foresee the situations that would make the document relevant in the future.

In any case, don't believe assurances that a signed document isn't ever going to be used against you. Once you sign, it doesn't matter what you were told or how much the significance of the agreement was downplayed — it's a binding legal document, and you can be held to it.




Tc & Be Safe :)


#gotoarif

Things to do when you lose your SIM?

There are times when you unintentionally lose your phone resulting in the loss of your SIM card, you might just lose your SIM card just like that or you might happen to damage your SIM while inserting it or taking it out too. Today we have for you some tips to help you which can come in handy when you lose your SIM.

• Call your customer care and tell them about your loss of SIM card so that they can block it.
• If you have damaged it, go to your operator’s store, deposit your old SIM alongside your ID proof and apply for a new one.
• If you have lost it with your phone, you need to file a report at your local police station and submit the copy of the FIR along with the identity proof at the operator’s store.
• You need to carry your original proof when you go to collect the replacement SIM card.

It usually takes a couple of hours to block a SIM card. You need to pay a nominal fees to get a replacement SIM and all your previous services will be restored on the new SIM card.

There you go, you can undertake the following steps in case you lose/damage your SIM card. Let me know if you have any other queries.

Tc & Be Safe :)

#lostsim

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How to enable the OK, Google hotword from all screens (rooted KitKat only)

Last week Google rolled out an update to its Search app that brought an awesome piece of functionality – the ability to use the “OK, Google” hotword from any screen, without having to switch to Google Now first.

Unfortunately, Google seems to be enabling the feature on a per-user basis, meaning that you may not be able to activate it, even if you’re on the latest version of the Search app, which is 3.5.15. Also, Google appears to have slowed or possibly even halted the rollout of the feature, leaving many anxious users high and dry.

If you can’t wait to use voice commands from anywhere in the phone, there’s a relatively simple way to activate it manually.Be warned that the method requires KitKat, root access, and you can’t use it on the L release.

The method uses a special app called UnleashTheGoogle, which activates the Debug options in the Search app. You will need the latest versions of Search and Play Services installed.

Here are the steps:

• Install UnleashTheGoogle and grant it Superuser access.
• Force stop Google Search.
• In Search settings, access the “Config Flags” option from the new “Dogfood” section
• In the list of flags, find the “e300_voice_everywhere” and “enable e300” flags and set both of them to ON.
• In the same list of flags, select the “speaker_id_supported_locales” and in the dialog enter “en-US” and then tap OK.
• Scroll down and select “Save Config Settings”. You should now be able to activate the feature.
• In Search settings, select Voice, then “OK, Google Detection”, then check the “From any screen” option. This will launch a one-time training process that will allow the app to recognize your voice. Accept the terms and you are good to go.

If you want to undo the changes, you can uninstall the updates to the Search app from the App Info screen.

Tc & Be Safe :)


#google #Internet


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