There’s little doubt that Google will be releasing additional information about Android 4.4 KitKat soon, and if rumor holds this week, they’ll be doing so with smartwatch functionality in tow. The watch is on the rise – with rumors of an Apple iWatch persisting through the past several months, the Samsung Galaxy Gear appearing in […]
Google is reportedly in the process of rebranding its Google TV efforts as “Android TV,” according to a new report from GigaOM’s Janko Roettgers. The switch reflects the fact that Google TV is already an Android-based product, and the new name is apparently in use with developer and OEM partners already, pending a formal switch from the old to the new branding.
The use of Android TV is more than just a surface change; GigaOM says that Google will begin using much more recent versions of Android in its TV products, giving manufacturers the chance to upgrade to 4.2 in an effort to make it easier for developers to target smartphone, tablet and television end points for their software and apps.
This would not be a surprising move for Google. When it first launched its Google TV efforts, the Google brand was arguably stronger than Android, and more generally recognizable to consumers. Now, Android has much more mindshare, and the average consumer is probably well aware that Android is Google’s mobile OS. Plus, the Google TV brand hasn’t done much to help further Google’s cause with living room users, and in fact was widely perceived as an early flop before slowly gaining back ground among users and OEM partners.
Android TV would inject some fresh life into the longtime experiment, and would also make it more apparent to developers that Google wants software makers to think of the television as simply an extension of its development platform for smartphones and tablets. Google now recognizes that there’s value in making Android an OS without specific hardware constraints, and we’ve seen their executives note this on multiple recent occasions.
Google CEO Larry Page said during the company’s earnings call in April that the head-mounted Google Glass smart device does indeed run on Android, as many suspected. But he didn’t stop there: Page also noted that Android “has been pretty transportable across devices,” which he said will likely continue in the future. Google also recently acquired Android-based smartwatch maker WIMM labs, so it’s clearly keen to explore how the OS can power those devices. You could even see a stripped down version powering the more advanced Fitbits and other activity trackers of the next generation.
In the end, I think we’ll see Android positioned as the operating system of the future of computing devices. Connected home, connected car, connected industry and retail, all of this represents places Google can gird as Windows and MS fade from prominence. Google has a beachhead staked out with television already thanks to its existing efforts, but a switch to Android TV could really help accelerate their progress in that area.
The Fitbit Force has been revealed – ready to take on the wrists of fitness lovers across the world with a couple of color choices and extreme simplicity. This device works with a tiny OLED display that shows the time and how many steps you’ve taken. This device works very similar to the Fitbit Flex […]
For the first time, motion sensing occurs in a separate processor, which makes constant activity tracking more power-efficient without turning on the rest of the A7 chip. This means we’ll start to see more Quantified Self (QS) tracking apps without …
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The oncoming collection of BWV (body worn video) cameras coming from VIEVU may remind you of Narrative Clip – aka the cameras formerly known as Memoto. But here as the VIEVU team announces a partnership with Motorola Solutions, they push forth a small form-factor, highly secure camera made for security organizations, police, and law enforcement […]
A lot of watches claim to be designed for use by pilots, but just because they have an orange backlight to preserve night vision doesn’t mean they’re truly useful for aviation. That’s not the case with Garmin’s new D2 GPS watch, though. It seemingly puts an entire cockpit’s worth of instrumentation and data on a pilot’s wrist, without looking like a giant monstrosity.
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The smartphone and electronics world is steadily marching towards new form factors for devices that are bendable and flexible rather than the rigid smartphones and tablets we know today. LG Display announced a big breakthrough that will help usher in flexible electronics with a bendable smartphone display that entered mass production recently. LG is also […]
So you’d like to track your child’s whereabouts without surgically inserting a GPS chip into their neck, would you? You’re in luck – there’s a device out there by the name of FiLIP, and the team at AT&T have decided to bring it to their realm of devices. You’ll find this machine to take on […]
This week the folks at Xiaomi have been reported to conjure up the next smartwatch in the ever-growing market category of interest, perhaps taking cue from their recently Google-employed Vice President of Xiaomi Global Hugo Barra. Android’s next move to version 4.4 Kitkat has been tipped to be bringing on features that scale especially well […]
Sure, tech ads repeat the same tropes over and over and over
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