You might remember Android Instant Apps from last year’s Google I/O, introduced as a new way to allow developers to create lightweight versions of Android apps that don’t require installation.
With Instant Apps, all a user needs to do is click a link in a web browser in order to be granted access to a certain part of an Android app. Back in January the first batch of Instant Apps including Buzzfeed, Periscope, Wish and Viki became available for testing purposes.
Now Google is making available the necessary tools for developers to start designing such apps. To make an Instant app, developers will need to create a modular platform compatible with deep links, so users can navigate to a particular section. Interested parties can check out the Android Developers website and download the Android Studio 3.0 preview and the Android Instant Apps SDK.
Instant Apps require Android 6.0 Marshmallow, although Google promised Android 5.0 support is coming soon.
Following Google’s announcement, one of the first Instant Apps to emerge is Triplt – a travel service that can now be accessed without users having to download the Triplt app on their phone.
Triptl can be used to organizes all travel plans in one place, so the Instant App could prove quite useful when making plans with a friend who doesn’t have Triptl on his/her smartphone.
Google also notes there are more than 50 new experiences available to try out form a variety of developers including HotPads, Jet, the New York Times, Vimeo and One Football.
One of the major topics, Google touched upon during its keynote was the Google Assistant, saying it’s taking steps to make the AI-driven helper more conversational.
The Assistant’s increased potential will soon allow users to have conversations about what they are seeing. Case in point, the service will be integrated with the new Google Lens tool and its built-in recognition technology. This way you’ll be able to get quick access to information about the things you see around you.
So far Google Assistant has been about easily accomplishing tasks by virtue of voice commands. But for cases when you’re in a public space and don’t want to disturb others or be heard, Google is now adding the option of typing in your request. The feature is already available.
Google is also making available the conversation history for Assistant available without the need to navigate to a Google account page. Users will merely need to scroll up to see what they’ve been asking before.
What’s more, Google said the Assistant will soon be able to understand and respond in French, German, Portuguese and Japanese. By this year’s end support for Italian, Spanish and Korean will also be added to the rooster.
Perhaps even more exciting is that the Google Assistant now lets users pay for stuff. The virtual helper works with the company’s own payment system and handles the ordering and payment process without dealing with third-party sites. Google made this possible through Actions on Google – which lets developer work inside the Assistant. Speaking of which, Google also said third party apps and actions created for Google Home will now be available with the Google Assistant.
Last but not least, Google officially announced the Assistant will now be available for iOS users. The company also revealed plans of bringing the AI-driven helper to its Android TV platform later this year, as well to its new Android in-car infotainment system.
During this year’s keynote, Google didn’t say much about its Android One initiative, but that doesn’t mean it has forgotten about low-end devices.
The search giant unveiled Android Go, which can be viewed as a lightweight Android version meant to be installed on affordable phones running on 1GB of RAM or lower. With Android Go, Google hopes to be able to offer a decent mobile experience to customers shopping in the budget segment.
Android Go is basically an optimized version of Android O designed to accommodate the lower specifications and integrate apps that are less 10MB in size and can run smoothly even on devices with a slow processors. Some of Google’s first party apps will arrive on Android Go as lightweight versions carrying the “Go” moniker.
For example, instead of the full-fledged YouTube app, Android Go devices will get YouTube Go (which is currently in beta in India) – a version which allows users to see a preview of the video through a series of screenshots, as well as the exact amount of data consumed by a video and to download videos for later offline viewing. Features like Chrome’s Data Saver will come enabled on default on upcoming Go phones.
Android Go devices will also include a modified version of the Google Play Store which will highlight applications like Facebook Lite, Skype Lite or Line Camera that have been optimized to work on lower-end devices. Additional, the light-weight mobile operating system will come with Data Management and Savings settings feature in order to allow users to see exactly how much data they have left on their plan.
Android Go is part of Google’s ambitious goals of being able to offer better user experience for all Android users out there, not just for those shopping in the $600+ segment.
The Mountain View-based company said all devices with 1GB of RAM or less will get Android Go by default starting with Android O. Expect the first Go-equipped smartphones to arrive on the market in 2018.
Google continues to bet big on machine learning with a new AI-driven product called Google Lens.
The vision-based system will essentially allow your smartphone to understand what is going on in an image. Now if you point the camera at a flower, Google Lens will be able to tell you its exact name.
If you take a photo of a restaurant, Google Lens won’t offer redundant information like “it’s a restaurant”, but instead will pull up the name of the establishment, as well as display ratings, reviews or opening hours.
But wait it gets even better – users can point Google Lens to a router sticker and have it automatically connect to a network. No additional steps need to be taken. Maybe you see a poster of your favorite band around town, just hold up the Assistant, tap the Lens icon and buy tickets to the show right there on the spot.
The new tool will be making it out to Google Photos and the Google Assistant at first, but will eventually make it out on all Google products. It’s mostly likely going to arrive baked into Google’s camera app with the next-generation Pixel phones.
In Google Photos, activating Lens will allow users to see more details about what’s shown in the images.
Google’s new product sounds very similar to what Bixby can do on the Samsung Galaxy S8. Samsung virtual assistant uses the phone’s camera to take a photo and then offer suggestions of related products on Pinterest.
Speaking of which, Pinterest also has a feature also called Lens, designed to help users recognize objects in real time. But at this point, Google Lens seems to be the more advanced.
Google Lens builds on work previously done by Google with tools such as World Lens, which allowed users to hold up the camera to a foreign sign and get the translation, but also on Google Goggles, a service which delivers additional information about paintings, landmarks or barcodes. Expect Google Lens to launch later this year.
If you’re on the market for an affordable phablet today, you might be able to find what you’re looking for at Cricket Wireless. The prepaid wireless service provider announced that starting Friday, May 19 customers will be able to purchase the LG Stylo 3 in rose gold for $169.99.
The LG Stylo 3 is a phablet coming in with a 5.7-inch display with 1280 x 720 resolution and a 1.4GHz octa-core Snapdragon 435 processor living on the inside. Despite being a lower-range affair, the device takes advantage of a fingerprint sensor located on the back, beneath the camera arrangement.
Cricket Wireless will sell the LG Stylo 3 with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot for memory expansion up to 256GB. On the imaging front, the handset doesn’t offer anything too mind-blowing, but the 13-megapixel main camera and the 5-megapixel selfie shooter ensure users can capture the most important moments in their lives.
The phone also comes with 4G LTE and runs Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. We should also mention the phablet offers the services of a a stylus and a 3,200 mAh battery capable of supporting up to 25 hours of talk time.
Any takers?
Cricket also reminds customers, it has recently launched the ZTE Blade X Max.
Developed by Astro Technology, Astro: AI Meets Email is a new app from a new developer who believes there is room to declutter your inbox using artificial intelligence. Having been recently updated on May 11 to version 1.0.5, Astro is very much in its infancy but the developer is working to patch any bugs quickly. Astro is an intelligent, modern email app for Gmail and Office 365 with a chatbot that helps you declutter your inbox and focus on important messages.
What it does
Astro – AI Meets Email has all the modern features you’d expect to see in an email client, including Snooze, Unsubscribe, Send Later, Email Open & Reply Tracking all in a great design. What makes Astro different is the included Astrobot that will tell you what to unsubscribe from, what to archive, and who to make an VIP to help out declutter your inbox.
Astrobot organizes your inbox with a simple, natural language conversation that claims is the fastest way to inbox zero. Astrobot learns how you manage emails, and makes suggestions about messages that can skip your inbox. This helps to prioritize your inbox by making it smarter, putting the emails you want to see in front of you and removing those you don’t.
Why we like it
As someone that gets a ton of emails of which 90% I don’t need to see, the idea of having someone take care of that for me that is constantly learning is extremely appealing to get to inbox zero. Having the smarter inbox management features like email open/reply tracking, and snooze-to-desktop is a great way to make sure I pick up emails that I can deal with on the move but don’t forget about them. As a new app, Astro is extremely promising and I can’t wait to see what new features the developers keep adding as it will only get better.
How to get it
Astro: AI Meets Email is available for free from the Google Play Store. You can download it right here.
Google I/O 2017 keynote just ended, leaving us with a ton of information to digest. And in case you missed the event for whatever reason, here are the most important topics touched on during the presentation:
Google Lens
One of the first new features introduced today is Google Lens – a tool that uses artificial intelligence (AI) in order to allow smartphone cameras understand what they are seeing.
For example, pointing the camera at a flower will provide users with its exact name via the Google Assistant. Alternatively, Google Lens in Photos will be able to identify buildings and locations and even show ratings (in case of restaurants or hotels). The new vision-based computing capability will first become available on Android, Photos and Assistant.
Google Assistant
Not so long ago the Google Assistant was exclusive to a handful of Google devices. But not anymore, as Google made the Assistant’s services available to the majority of Android phones with running Marshmallow or higher. Well during today’s event, the search giant said it’s expanding availability of the Assistant to iOS.
On top of that, it seems like the AI-driven virtual companion will finally allow users to manually enter queries via text, thus spearing us the grief of looking ridiculous in public.
The Google Assistant will also be able to recognize and respond in more languages including French, German, Portuguese, Brazilian and Japanese. Support for Italian, Spanish and Korean is coming towards the end of the year.
Another novelty is that Actions for Google will be expanded to iOS and Android. Actions – which allows users to interact with apps by speaking to the Google Assistant using a phrase like “OK Google, talk to…” – were thus far available on Google Home devices, but will soon work on your phone as well. Also of interest is that Google actions can now make payments via voice.
Google Home
Announced last year during the same keynote, the Google Home has gained a few nifty features. For starters, the voice-connected speaker now supports hands-free voice calling to any number in the US and Canada for free. And with the recently added multi-user support, the Google Home can distinguish between contact books based on the voice issuing the command.
Another interesting new feature to watch out for is Proactive Assistance. Google Home will be able to make smarter connections in order to share information proactively with you. If it sees you have an upcoming appointment, Google Home will light up to let you know you need to leave soon in order to be there on time.
Google Home does not have a screen, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get visual responses to your queries, as users will soon be able to cast to a nearby Chromecast device.
Other changes on the way include Bluetooth support to allow Home owners to play audio from any device, as well as compatibility for Spotify, SoundCloud, Deezer and HBO Now.
At Google I/O 2017 today, the company introduced Suggestive Sharing in Google Photos, a tool meant to improve sharing abilities within the app.
The goal is to bypass the tedious processes of manually selecting photographs and individual sharing them by allowing users to automatically share photos with assigned contacts, suggested by Google’s own advanced machine learning algorithms.
Another new feature arriving today in Google Photos is Shared Libraries. Once a user is granted permission to view a certain image category, that person will be able to receive future photographic updates right on their phone.
Android O
Like last year, Google did not announce after which sugary treat will this year’s Android version be called after. But it did tease some of its upcoming features.
We were told O focuses on two major themes – a fluid experience and vitals. The first one aims to provide a more seamless user experience. We were given the example of Picture-in-Picture which enables users to multitask and switch between apps seamlessly. The example given by Google is of a user watching a YouTube video, who by virtue of a simple tap on the home button can transfer the video into a small, always-on-top window which can be moved around freely.
Android O also aims to change how users experience notifications by introducing the so-called Notifications Dots. These are small badges that get automatically generated following the color gradient of the app’s icon. Users can either long press the app icon and view a small widget which shows them what the notification is all about or just pull down the notification shade.
It also seems that Google Chrome’s “autofill” feature will be ported to Android O. The tool can be employed to remember names, email, and addresses and automatically fill-in the blanks when it detects a registration screen.
Furthermore, Google talked about Smart Text Selection coming to Android O. Once again, deep machine learning algorithms will be employed to allow the system to figure out what a user is trying to select (based on Google’s own research most users try to copy-paste phone numbers, addresses or names). In Android O when a user tries to select an address or a name made up of two or more parts, the new tool will automatically highlight all of it – just double tap on it.
On top of teasing a few Android O upcoming feature, Google also talked about Android Vitals or security, stability, and battery life. Despite Android not having the reputation of a super secure OS, Google aims to change that with Android O by increasing applications security and malicious software monitoring. With this purpose in mind, Google introduced Google Play Protect, a tool which will scan your apps on a regular basis to ensure they are malware free.
What’s more, Android O is expected to add under-the-hood improvements for speedier booting time and application performance. Android O is also becoming stricter when it comes what resources apps use while running in the background. The end goal here is to extend battery life and cut down on overall memory usage.
Google also introduced the Play Console Dashboard, a new feature which will help developers better understand what’s causing battery drain, app instability or a slow UI. The tool displays statistics related to individual apps and displays the issues, as well as provide tips on how to solve the problem.
Android Go
Google didn’t talk about Android One during this keynote, but it doesn’t mean it has forgotten about entry-level handsets. The search giant actually unveiled a new initiative called Android Go, which aims to provide users of low-end handsets with a decent mobile experience.
Under Android Go, Android O will ship with optimizations for handsets featuring 1GB of RAM and less. As for the apps, they will come with new data saving options. We’re told YouTube will soon be offering a new YouTube Go version which will provide users with a series of screenshots, to help them decide whether they should watch it or not.
Lastly, a new version of the Play Store was announced, which highlights apps specially designed to conserve data and device resources. The first Go-powered devices are expected to start shipping from 2018 onwards.
VR
During the keynote, Google announced Daydream support is coming to a few new products including the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ flagships later this year.
Google also mentioned an upcoming LG flagship will also receive Daydream treatment, and while no name was mentioned, we have to assume it was talking about the LG V30.
What was your favorite part of the keynote? Let us know down in the comments.
Google kicked off the keynote for Google I/O today and shared a ton of information about the future of the company and its products. One of the most heavily covered topics of the day was Google Home, the standalone assistant and Bluetooth speaker designed for the living room. Google announced new features and new availability for Home, and we’re excited.
New Markets
In April Google announced that Home would no longer be a US-only product and would branch out to the UK as well. Well, Google took it one step further today and announced availability for Canada, Austrailia, France, Germany, and Japan coming this summer.
Proactive Assistance
If you own a Google Home, then you know that it’s great providing feedback when asked. If you ask what time the game is on or when your next meeting is, it’ll tell you. What Google is trying to focus on now is being more proactive with its reminders. Google says that it will accomplish this by understanding the “context of your daily life.”
Google Home will now light up to give you an indication that it has an alert for you. The example used in the keynote today was a traffic alert pushing up when you need to leave to make your appointment, but we can see a lot of practical applications for this feature like weather alerts, flight changes, and reminders.
Hands-free calling
A phone call is still the easiest and quickest way to communicate with someone and now Google Home is baking in support for phone calls. You’ll be able to call any landline or mobile number in the United States or Canada completely free.
One of the cooler features pointed out during the presentation works around the support for multiple users. Everyone has their mother saved as “mom” in their phonebook so how does Google Home know who to call when you ask to call mom? Well, it can recognize the voice of the person who gives it the command and call that person’s mother. Pretty cool stuff.
By default, calls will be made from a private number, but you will have the option to link your device to Google Home so calls can be made using your number. I know I have people in my life that won’t answer private numbers so this will be especially helpful when trying to reach privacy-minded family and friends.
More services
Google Home is a great Bluetooth speaker and it’s been helped by the integration of services like Spotify and Google Play Music. What has been missing, however, is Spotify’s free service. Until today. Spotify will be adding in support for its free tier of service, in addition, to support for Soundcloud and Deezer.
Not only will you be able to play more music, you’ll be able to play more of everything! Google Home is getting Bluetooth casting capabilities so you can play anything you want through the Home. Previously you would have to cast a service to the device instead of just connecting to it like you would a normal Bluetooth speaker, but soon you’ll have the option to use Google Home just like you would with any other speaker.
Last year Google announced support to cast YouTube, Netflix, and Google Photos to your television using nothing but your voice. Today, Google has announced support for a whole host of new services like HBO Now, Hulu, YouTube TV, Google Play Movies and TV, CBS All Access, Food Network, The CW, HGTV, Red Bull TV, The Travel Channel, Crackle, The DIY Network, Viki, and The Cooking Channel.
Visual Responses
Google Assistant has always been great providing you audio feedback, but now Google has announced support for visual responses too. These responses come in the form of apps like Google Maps or Calendar showing up on your phone or your television. When asking Google Home the next thing on your calendar, you can follow that up with a command for directions and will automatically show up on your phone. Super convenient.
If you have a Chromecast either plugged in or built into your TV, you can get Visual Responses on it as well. A new update will be coming to Chromecasts that enable the Visual Responses for things like checking your calendar, checking the weather, and more. The aim is to be completely hands-free. Support for YouTube’s recommendations and Watch Later lists was also demoed although we aren’t sure if support for your subscriptions will be available at launch.
Go ahead and enter “Bluetooth speaker” into Amazon or Google’s search bar; you will be hit with a ridiculous wave of dozens (if not hundreds) of models to choose from. Some highlight special features, like water-resistance, portability, or some funky shape to get your friends talking.
But in almost every case, you, dear consumer, are just looking for a small, but quality audio product. A speaker that checks off your baseline wish list:
Portable size
(At least fairly) non-descript and classic-looking
Easy and consistent Bluetooth pairing
Great sound; or at least sounds pretty good at louder, outdoor levels
Reasonable price. Ok, cheap.
Well good news, I’ve been testing a speaker that checks all of these plus a couple more! It’s the Nekteck NK-S1 Bluetooth speaker.
It’s a mighty mite that is still more than a respectable powerhouse in terms of usability & audio performance.
“But who the heck is Nekteck?!?”, I hear you asking. In all honesty, I asked the same question when offered to review this speaker by my editors; I had zero interaction with them beforehand. Turns out you can think of Nekteck as a competitor to Aukey or even an Anker: a company that has found its niche in offering various low-price but rather high-quality hardware and accessory products to the consumer masses.
In addition to various Bluetooth speakers, they offer earbuds, wireless/battery/wall/solar chargers, iPhone battery cases, car jump starters (the increasingly popular battery-powered style), solar-powered lights, selfie-sticks, USB/Lightning cordage, screen protectors, and even a wireless doorbell system for your home. There’s even a back & neck massager in its offerings.
The speaker is smaller than I thought when it arrived in its box, coming in at a petite 3″ x 3″ x 7.5″. It feels almost half the size if my Big Jambox. The unit comes in a classy, low-slung black look, with the Nekteck logo low & right. it looks like the sound could come out the unit in a 360° arc, but there are three directions that the speakers fire: front, back, and down.
In the box you get the speaker, USB-to-microUSB charging cable (wall wart not included), a short 3.5 mm audio cable, and a small how-to guide.
The speaker is marketed as a “2.1” unit; meaning you get the normal “2” front-firing channels for stereo sound @ 10 watts, plus there’s an additional “.1” down-firing subwoofer speaker that is meant to add some meat to the low-frequency notes, at an equal 10W. Off this subwoofer are a pair of passive bass radiators front and back to fill out these low-frequency tones.
All the controls are on the top, including:
Power
Mute
Play/Pause
EQ/Equalizer (more on this in a bit)
Volume -/+
Pairing/Bluetooth
Aux
This control layout is just about perfect, in my opinion. It doesn’t overwhelm you with choices, but it doesn’t make it so sparse that you’re left scratching your head as to how to operate the thing.
On the back of the unit is the micro-USB charging port and 3.5 mm aux audio jack, if you feel the need to cable the speaker to your phone or a different audio unit.
(Why would you do this? Well, two reasons that I can think of: 1.) Your device, like an older stereo or TV, may not have Bluetooth, or 2.) You may like the sound coming via a cable that much better.)
After the requisite charging and firing up the speaker, you are greeted with a pretty awful female recording to confirm power is on. As nice as the speaker sounds, this voice-over is pretty bad.
One feature of this speaker I absolutely adored is its ease of pairing with Bluetooth sources I’ve had some speakers that have flat-out refused to pair up, or seem to only when the moon is at a waning crescent….it can be that weird with some units. All you do is press the wireless/Bluetooth button (looks like a wi-fi simple, but it gets the point across), and turn on ‘search’ in your source’s Bluetooth settings. I’ve tried it on a half-dozen devices, and every time the pairing happened within mere seconds (complete with a cringe-worth “Pairing successful!” announcement from the voice-over). My 14-year-old figured it out without a blip, which simply made me smile.
OK, now for the audio performance. In all, I’m pleasantly surprised by the audio chops of this little speaker. It can handle both small room background filler (accomplished with aplomb playing Vitamin String Quartet while preparing a meal), as well as outdoor bass-booming party music (rocking Jock Jams while CRUSHING my middle-schoolers in driveway basketball!).
This speaker has two secrets that allow for this to happen so well.
The first we’ve covered already; the dedicated subwoofer. It fires downwards, and because the speakers sits on wide rubber feet, this down-firing bass can then radiate out in all directions in a reflected fashion. Also, the front and back-facing ‘radiators’ (essentially tubes), allow for any remaining bass to escape laterally, filling the sound in a more direct vector. The overall sound can be just a tiny bit muddy (missing some of the filled-out mids & piercing high notes), but given the size of the unit, it’s completely forgivable. And I must emphasize the tiny bit part, as once you consider this speaker retails for $60, you realistically cannot fault it. Or you’re some kind of audiophile-butthead expecting $500 performance out of a $60 unit. Either way.
The second is that EQ/equalizer button on top of the unit. This switches the speaker between two modes: a low-power ‘clean mode’ and a bass-pumping ‘party mode’. The clean mode is perfect for in the kitchen during cooking, or in the bathroom while you’re
Listening to some very clean string music while powdering my nose….
prepping for the day. The mids and highs are really allowed to shine, and your music comes out extra-crisp here (I also highly recommend this mode when you’re using it as a speakerphone extension….voice frequencies are so much clearer). The party mode pumps up the subwoofer, adding extra “oomph” into all your tracks. Don’t get me wrong, this mode was used in-house on more than one occasion, and worked very well here too; just don’t expect your classical music to really sound great in this mode.
The battery is listed as a 2000 mAH, stating you should get 8 hours of playback and 300 hours of standby. I never did get close of either of these number to really test the unit, but it’s likely close and also probably depends on how loud you blasting your music, as well. The speaker uses Bluetooth 4.1 with a 10 meter rated coverage; I feel safe in giving that claim a thumbs-up as I ran all through and around the house during my time with it and never had a single dropout….it actually performed much better than my bigger (and more expensive) Big Jambox.
Overall I really, really love the Nekteck NK-S1 Bluetooth speaker. I received a great combination of size, audio quality, Bluetooth consistency, and ease-of-use, that I had yet to really grasp in the world of wireless audio. The thing was an instant hit with my family, was quickly became the go-to unit around our house, leaving several other options collecting dust. I can only highly recommend the NK-S1 speaker for you home, too!
There are many weather apps on Android that all tell the weather but very few do it in a way that looks as good as Today Weather – Forecast.
Today Weather is a great weather app that puts the information you need to know right in front of you in a clear and easy to understand way. What makes Today Weather stand out are the vibrant colors and in particular the black background that seems to make everything pop.
There is an easy to use slide-in menu to easily access the weather at your location and also various pre-set locations to get an idea, for example, of what the weather is like at your next vacation destination. There is also a 7-day forecast so you’ll be sure to not get caught out when planning your days out.
Each weather update and location are complimented by crowd-sourced photos that make the weather overview look stunning. Breaking down the weather per day, you’ll see the air quality with UV index, actual temperature, humidity, wind speed, air pressure, and sunrise/sunset times. Simply swipe left or right to move between your many different locations.
The settings for the Today Weater app are super simple and this is what I like about the app, in that you don’t have a ton of settings to tweak and configure; simply set your location and you’re good to go.
The app looks great on the Galaxy S8 because of the black background and display on the device, but the app is just very well designed so would look great across the board. I’d love to see an Android Wear companion for this and hope the developer continues to develop this great app.
Today Weather is free and is ad-supported with in-app purchases available to remove the ads. You can grab it now on the Google Play Store here.