Tag: Google

The first maintenance update to Android Nougat will be hitting devices by the end of this year.  The update, Nougat 7.1, is scheduled to be released as a technical preview later this month with a final release coming in December according to a post on the Android Developer site.

Initially, we’ll offer the Developer Preview for Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, and Pixel C devices, extending to other supported devices by the end of the preview. At the final release of the Android 7.1.x platform, due in early December, we’ll roll out updates to the full lineup of supported devices — Nexus 6, 5X, 6P, 9, Player, Pixel C, and supported Android One devices — as well as Pixel and Pixel XL devices.

Google announced earlier this year that they would be moving into a more consistent maintenance cycle with Android which will over new features, security and other fixes with each release.  With the new Pixel line up running Nougat 7.1 out-of-the-box, it was just a matter of when other devices would start seeing the update.  Now we have a rough timeline from the company.

As is often the case with new phones, the question is always “how can I get that wallpaper?”.  The Google Pixel and Pixel XL are no exception to this question and now you can get it.  Thanks to some engineering folks who have extracted it from the phone’s ROM, you can now download it and put it on your current device.

The wallpaper measures 2154 x 2560 so you can use it on your current Android phone or tablet and likely on most laptops without much pixelization.  I have added to below the break for those interested and you can download it along with hundreds of other wallpapers on the Wallpaper page here on the site.

This week Google introduced a lot of new hardware to us.  In one two hour window we saw the likes of two new phones, the Google Pixel and Pixel XL, a new Wi-Fi solution, Google Wi-Fi, and a connected home device, Google Home.  With Google Home and the new Pixel phones, we also saw the scope of what Google plans with Google Assistant.  Google Assistant is an artificial intelligence driven tool designed to give you information, both general and personal, just a voice command away.

The question facing us, as humans, is how do we adapt in what is clearly a shift to an Artificial Intelligence world?  Google by their own admission have 70 billion data points in their knowledge graph.  That is anything from a point on a map to a restaurant that is tied into OpenTable to when you are traveling to London next.  It is a vast amount of information.  Equally, if there is one truth to artificial intelligence it is that it always wants (needs) more information.  The more information the better because it gets smarter, more personal and more accurate.

With so many companies driving AI, not just Google, the question isn’t a matter of if it will happen.  It is a question of how fast it will progress.  I dare say it will be neck-breaking fast.  What we see in Google Home and Google Assistant today will be far richer and more knowledgeable in just 12 months from now.  By 2018, AI will be so intertwined with our world that we will no longer think about it being there.

Perhaps the more accurate question then is if you trust Google’s AI?  I say yes.  If there is one company that truly understands the power of information and personal data, it is Google and while they will surely use that data for profit, they equally understand that any leak of that data would be catastrophic for the company.  They are the best equipped not only to provide the best AI experience but protect us and our data from those who want to dismiss it.

Google has begun accepting pre-orders for the new Google Home device.  The smart speaker-meets-smart home device is aimed at being the center of the home with Google Assistant being a voice command away.

Aimed at competing with the Amazon Echo, Google Home brings the power of Google Artificial Intelligence to give you detailed information about your day, upcoming events, search information, travel information and the like.   And it is for everyone in the family.  Like Google OnHub and Google Wi-Fi, Home is aimed at sitting out in the open and doesn’t look like a piece of techno-kit sitting on a shelf.

A few weeks ago I posted the Pixel Launcher which you could sideload to your current Nexus or other Android device.  For now, that may be the only way you can get onto your device.  The new launcher will be exclusive to the new Google Pixel and Pixel XL for now although according to Android Police, Google is considering bringing it to other phones.  The new launcher as you have likely seen by now, is a significant departure from the Google Now launcher with a slide up App Drawer and the Google “G” pill at the top to activate searching.  Personally I’m a big fan of the new look but as a Nexus 6P owner, I may be waiting a while.

[Update] – The Google OnHub team has now sent out emails to OnHub users indicating that Google Wi-Fi will work with OnHub.  This is good news for sure as it means it isn’t a throw-away item but further development of OnHub itself is highly unlikely.

Today Google announced their newest home wireless network solution, Google Wi-Fi.  Designed to be a modular solution to cover any size home, Google Wi-Fi brings optimized networks to give you the best wireless experience in your home available.

Sound familiar?  It should because that is exactly what the company said Google OnHub would bring.  That product, after months of frustration for users by the lack of development by Google, appears to have gotten its death warrant today.

Last year, we introduced OnHub with partners TP-LINK and ASUS to create a better Wi-Fi experience, focusing on design and simplicity. Google Wifi, built on the strengths of OnHub, is our next step towards ensuring that our homes can have great Wi-Fi everywhere we need it.

This new Google Wi-Fi is built on what they learned from OnHub but as for OnHub itself, it is game over by all indications.