Cortana, Microsoft's voice-based virtual assistant despite being highly skilled, has never received the kind of attention from users that Apple's Siri and Google Now, and Google Assistant enjoy.
In a move, which seems to aim at shaking things up a little, the Redmond-based company has now introduced a new UI design for its Android and iOS mobile apps with its latest update.
As of now, the company has only updated the Cortana app on Android but says that the iOS app will be updated "in coming weeks." Interestingly, the Cortana for Android and iOS updates have changed the primary colour on the mobile apps from blue to purple. Considering that Microsoft's virtual assistant had Blue as its primary colour since its launch, the company is seemingly trying to provide it with a fresh look. Apart from the change in primary colour the company has introduced several new changes to the UI to provide them with a "simplified look", as per the company.
"It's not just the look we've updated. The Cortana app is now faster so you can get what you need more quickly on the go," Microsoft said in its blog post.
Apart from the design changes, the company has also announced that the Cortana mobile apps for Android and iOS will now be made available in the UK as well. They were formerly only accessible in the US and China when launched in December last year.
The Cortana apps for Android and iOS allow users to set reminders, which are updated across platforms and help users remember their appointments. If users are unable to attend a call, the voice-based virtual assistant also sends back text to inform the contact that user is currently busy and will call back later. The Hey Cortana feature, similar to Ok Google, is only available on the Android platform.
The Cortana Android and iOS apps are coming to the UK currently. No details on further compatibility.
Google hardware event started with an enjoyable conversation between Dinesh and Gilfoyle, two main characters from the Valley favourite sitcom, Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley is a popular television show produced by HBO depicting lives of a group of coders running a startup called "pied piper."
Google's "Made By Google" event held at a power station of a chocolate factory in San Fransisco featured some of its best hardware, the expected release of Pixel and Pixel XL, a release date for Google Home (announced in May), and the Daydream VR set. It hinted at Google Action's developments but offered no further details. Oh, and it also announced a new 4K Chromecast. But the Highlight of the event was Google Assistant bot ecosystem.
So, here's the coolest things the company announced.
Pixel & Pixel XL
Google unveiled two brand new phones, the Pixel and Pixel XL. The Pixel line will be replacing the Nexus phones by providing the "pure Android" experience from now on. Surprisingly there was no mention of HTC anywhere during the presentation, making it clear that Google wants to move ahead from the Nexus.
The Google Pixel and Pixel XL are powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor, with two cores clocked at 1.6GHz, and two cores clocked at 2.15GHz. Both the Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones will pack 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM and sport Pixel imprint fingerprint sensor. They sport a 12.3-megapixel rear camera with a Sony IMX378 sensor, PDAF, a large f/2.0 aperture, and 1.55-micron pixels. Both sport an 8-megapixel front camera with a Sony IMX179 sensor, a f/2.4 aperture, and 1.4-micron pixels.
The Pixel phones will also include unlimited photo and video backup through Google Photos. It even saves them at full resolution including 4K. They will be available in 'Quite Silver' and 'Very Black' colours with a limited edition 'Really Blue' version only available in the US on Verizon network.
The Google Pixel and Pixel XL will be up for pre-orders in India starting from October 13, with a shipping date and retail availability confirmed as "end of October". The phones will be available from Flipkart, Reliance Digital, and Croma, as well as smaller retailers.
Daydream View VR
Google unveiled Daydream View, the first VR headset which will be compatible with the Daydream VR platform supported handsets. Currently, only Google Pixel and Pixel XL phones support Daydream VR platform, but more devices are expected to be added to this list. Along with the Daydream View VR headset, a companion controller was also released.
The other half of the headset is the Daydream controller, which was shown as a sketch back in Google I/O. The controller looks like the air remote we see on smart TVs, and it has a circular patch which is clickable on the top and in the centre there are two buttons – one Home and the other Menu button. There are volume buttons on the side and it houses sensors to detect motion. The controller can be slid inside the View’s flap when it is not in use.
The Daydream View VR headset will start selling in November at $79 (approx Rs 5300). The Daydream View will be up for pre-order in the US from 20 October and it will go on sale on Best Buy, Verizon and the Google Store in the US. It is also expected to launch in Canada, the UK, Germany, Australia in early November. India launch date is not known.
Google Assistant
Well, Google had started its event talking about Google Assistant, and honestly, it was the focal point of nearly every product. A lot of Assistant’s functionality is similar Google Now and Google Now On Tap.
You can search for events nearby, make reservations, send text messages, and play music, but Assistant makes it a more conversational experience. For example, you can search for a restaurant, then follow up that command by asking "How far away is it?" and Assistant will understand that "it" refers to the "restaurant".
Developers and the rest of the world will soon be able to make bots that interact with Google Assistant and new Google devices made public.
Google Home
Google first mentioned the Google Home at its I/O Event this year. Now, we have a launch date, November 4th, a price. It will cost $129, and you can pre-order it right now.
Just like the Echo and its companion AI Alexa, Google Home is a speaker with Google Assistant integration. It's a speaker that responds to voice commands, answers your queries, populates your shopping lists and more.
If you have a Chromecast, Google Home can control your TV. If you have Chromecast Audio, Google Home can control your speakers. If you have multiple Google Home devices, Google Home can play and sync music playback across all of them. If you have a compatible smart home setup, Google Home can control your house. The capabilities of Google Home know no bounds.
Google Wifi
Google WiFi is the router that was launched to enable multi-point mesh Wi-fi routing. Google WiFi router can work as a stand-alone router or work with multiple Google WiFi routers to create a sort of multi-point router network inside your home. The Google WiFi is built by improving on the Google OnHub router which Google had announced last year.
The Google WiFi router supports AC1200 speeds along with simultaneous dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz network support. It also uses Bluetooth connectivity for simpler set-up purpose and making the mesh network.
The Google WiFi also comes with a Network Assistant app which works in the background to ensure that you can easily add more routers to the network, have strong signals by optimising the network depending on your movements, and also letting you control the routers in different rooms. A companion app also lets you enable or disable router connections.
Coming in a one-pack configuration for $129 (approx Rs 8,600) and a three-pack variant for $299 (approx Rs 20,000), the Google WiFi will be available for pre-order in the US in November and start shipping in December. There is no idea when it will be released in India as there was no mention of international availability.
4K Chromecast Ultra
Chromecast has been a popular Google device since its first generation. With the latest Chromecast Ultra, Google has decided to go all out and enable 4K streaming. Chromecast Ultra will also support HDR and Dolby Vision.
Chromecast Ultra is around 1.8x faster than standard Chromecast, in terms of loading content due to improved Wi-Fi connectivity says Google. It also comes with an ethernet port which is integrated into the power adapter making is simple to connect to. You can mirror content from your phones or laptops and it is also expected to work with Google Home when it is released.
The Chromecast Ultra continues with its circular design, and it now has a magnetic back where the HDMI cable of the Ultra attaches itself when not in use. It comes with a piano black finish with a prominent G logo instead of the Chrome branding.
Ex- CIA employee and whistle-blower, Edward Snowden warned people about the lack of privacy on Google's recently launched messaging app Allo, and advised them not to use it.
Allo launched yesterday, as the first platform to be integrated with Google's new intelligent agent, Google Assistant. Google had announced at the I/O conference earlier this year that Allo would not be saving messages on its own servers, but that is not the case with the final application.
The reason for saving the communications in Google servers is apparently to improve Google Assistant, which is a win for machine learning, but a loss for privacy. However, upon request, Google can make the data available to law enforcement agencies. These concerns over security prompted Snowden to tweet out a warning against using the newly launched app.
He defined it as "A Google app that records every message you ever send and makes it available to police upon request." He further went ahead and suggested using apps such as Signal for communication purposes instead.
What is #Allo? A Google app that records every message you ever send and makes it available to police upon request. https://t.co/EdPRC0G7Py
The danger that Snowden is trying to point out here is that while Google may be officially claiming to log the chats to improve its own Artificial Intelligence offerings, the choice was made knowing that the private communications would be made available to law enforcement agencies upon request. Allo works as a surrogate mass surveillance system, because Google simply hands over user data when enforcement agencies request it.
Snowden had previously asked for the boycott of Allo in May. He said that the decision taken by Google to disable end-to-end encryption by default in Allo was 'dangerous' and added "Avoid it for now."
Google's decision to disable end-to-end encryption by default in its new #Allo chat app is dangerous, and makes it unsafe. Avoid it for now.
It is worth noting that the app still has an incognito mode, which allows end-to-end encryption on messages sent through the app. The messages sent through incognito are not stored by the company. There is also a timer that allows destruction of sent messages in as little as five seconds. A messaging client such as WhatsApp that by default does not save messages in its own servers is a more secure option, as there is no data saved to comply with requests by law enforcement agencies.
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