Apple's New iPhone Pitch To Parents



In my line of work I'm often called on to think critically about the usability of both hardware and software, especially smartphones. One of my big touchstones, and one that's ignored by a surprising amount of designers — is that stuff doesn't exist in a vacuum.
If your goal is to have thousands, or millions, of people use your thing then you've got to consider how it works when you're riding on a crowded bus or subway, jammed between sweaty angry people. Or how easy it is to use in blazing sunlight, or a car, or while doing something with your other hand.
My appreciation for these 'hardship usage scenarios' only increased when I had a kid. Everything you do is ten times harder when you're trying to help something learn, eat, sleep and just generally not die.
That, I feel, is still a strength that the iPhone has over many other devices. I have and enjoy devices based on other platforms like Android, but Apple's heavy focus on clear, accessible design in both their hardware and software has given the iPhone an edge when it comes to being friendly to the busy, harried, tired and overtaxed.
When you're juggling one, two or ten kids and just trying to get things done, having the ability to twiddle around with your operating system at a system level just doesn't feel as important as having things work right.
That's the premise Apple is tapping with the latest spot in its 'more powerful' series of iPhone ads. The ad, entitled Parenthood, airs this afternoon for the first time and focuses on parents doing parenty things.
The iPhone stars, of course, taking on a variety of kid tasks like baby monitoring, learning to brush your toofers, party games, monster defense and exercise.
One interesting thing I noted: the spot doesn't show the iPhone being used to passively entertain. The apps are all carefully chosen to show things being done, not something that positions the iPhone as a surrogate parent.
The song in the spot is 'Life of Dreams', by Julie Doiran and the apps featured, in order, are Withings WithbabyMy TeethDrawnimal, Pet Manager pro, Kinsa, WemoNike+ Running and Parrot Flower Power.
  • As with its last iPhone spot focused on health, Apple continues to play the hardware angle hard. This isn't too surprising, as its heavily rumored to debut a wearable device with a health focus and just spent a chunk of keynote time at WWDC talking about its new hardware framework HomeKit.
iPhone connected devices featured in the spot include the Withings WithbabyLight deviceTractive collar, Proscope MicroKinsa thermometer and Parrot Flower Power plant monitor.
Note that I'm not saying you can't do this stuff on an Android device. I can do most of these things on my Nexus 5, but they're not nearly as easy or foolproof. It's also a good thing, I think, that Apple is focused inward in these spots, on showing what their devices are capable of.
Contrast that with this grating and tone-deaf spot Samsung posted this week — which also has a 'parental' angle — bagging on the iPhone's camera:
The tone comes off as harsh and defensive, and doesn't even show the supposedly better camera in action. And, given that the iPhone is the most popular camera in the world, with over 515M sold, it's also not attacking a weak point at all.
The Apple spot, once again, focuses directly on what the iPhone can do for you and not on competitors. Usability is a deep strength of the iPhone and Apple knows it, and that usability is held dear by parents more than most other groups.
I also like that the simple LED gets its day in the sun because who hasn't used that thing as a flashlight.
Overall, to quote my wife, “it's pretty cute.”
This article originally appeared on TechCrunch at http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/29/apples-new-iphone-pitch-to-parents/

Google Shapes The Web, And It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Android



Google owns Android, which is obvious. But how the two look so different, Chrome and Android that is, is simply due to the effort not being there, the effort to unify experiences across platforms and form factors. Microsoft was the first to take steps toward experience unity with the release of Windows 8 and the Metro UI, which matched the Xbox's menu system and aligned itself with the tiled interface on Windows Phone OS, creating an obviously united and similar experience across any device or platform. Apple was the second to do this, with the effort being more in what you can do on each device, most of which was unveiled at WWDC 2014 a few weeks ago. Apple moves were functionality across all Mac applications, like being able to send a text through iMessage on your Macbook then pick up your phone and go to class and continue the same conversation and thread seamlessly.
Google is the last of the big three to make its way in the direction of unity, but it isn't a shoddy or 'because we have to'-looking effort in the least. Android, being Google's favorite child along with Chrome, is being worked on and reworked from the ground up for the latest release which is currently named Android L, and Google is taking the chance to redesign the interface and experience on Chrome to line up better with Android. Google's move has a name too, and that name is Material Design.
Material, for short, is a look where items on the screen have depth and are in a three-dimensional plane, instead of just a flat thing where they overlap. Google is redesigning Android to have this depth, and floating interface aspects, and Chrome will likely be the next target after Android L rolls out this fall. The new interface features a colored experience, and revamped menus and multitasking, with the latter looking like the tab management within the Chrome app. What's also similar between Android and Chrome is the coming ability to have a developer build in code so that the Android app can be installed on a Chromebook, and have it run that Android app but on the laptop.
Google is also extending the reach and compatibility of Android, adding watches and televisions as well as cars, so that your phone is essentially the hub for all things you use. With the inbuilt design language of Material, the experience will just resize, reorient, and adjust a few minor things to create a connected single interface and experience. Google is linking into everything that Android is and is based on, and using the tapped-into power to link your world, and all this starts with your phone.

Microsoft hints that Windows Phone will soon let you put apps in folders



Windows Phone already lets you store apps in Start screen folders, but it's a bit of a hack -- you have to use Nokia App Folder to get the feature in the first place, and you're really just opening one app to launch another. Microsoft might be near fixing that discrepancy, though. The company has posted instructions (since pulled) hinting that a future revision of Windows Phone 8.1 will include native folder support. Much like iOS and some flavors of Android, you'll only have to drag tiles on top of each other to make folders and tidy up your home page.
The document suggests that you'll need "Windows Phone 8.1 Update" to see this new trick, although it's not clear whether this is a reference to the finished 8.1 release (expected to arrive this summer) or a patch that would appear sometime later. We've asked Microsoft whether or not it can shed more light on the subject, but it's already safe to say that the company hasn't shown all its upgrade cards just yet.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/29/windows-phone-folder-leak/

Dungeon Madness APK Unlimited Gold Skill Points

Dungeon Madness APK v2.0.1 Unlimited Gold Skill Points

Dungeon Madness APK v2.0.1 Unlimited Gold Skill Points
Requirements: 2.3+
Overview:A wizard has stowed away in this cell. He is plotting to vanquish the world and the main route how to stop him is to slaughter him! In any case don't think it will be simple, a lot of people before have attempted without fortunes. (From what else might each one of those skeletons be made of? Polycarbonate?)

Get submerged in this RPG amusement with wonderful representation. Investigate enormous prison to discover new things, new supplies, take in influential spells and battle numerous types of distinctive creatures. Is it true that you are perplexed about dull? Don't stress, since an apparition dwelling in entryways will turn into your closest companion. Then again not. Who knows?

- Explore 13 separate floors of prison

- Find different things, gear (sword/shield/head/chest) to enhance your character

- You can take in up to 7 spells, each of them has its favorable circumstances

- Level up your character by social affair experience, relegate level focuses to attack/defense/vitality

- Optimized for very nearly all screens

- Have you completed the diversion and need more? Don't stress you can play again with challenge acclimated to your level (exploratory)

2.0.1

- nerfed new zombie supervisor

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Babel Rising Cataclysm APK Unlimited Gold

Babel Rising Cataclysm APK v1.0.3 Unlimited Gold

Babel Rising Cataclysm APK v1.0.3 Unlimited Gold
Requirements: 2.3.3 +
Overview: Babel Rising Cataclysm is a free activity diversion in which you can make people tremble with the tip of your fingers!

In Babel Rising Cataclysm you are God! From high above in the sky, it shows up the people are clamoring about… and building a tower. A tower, what for? To raise themselves to your level? How prideful, how audacious. The time it now, time to show these animals the cost to pay for challenging God!

Utilize your dangerous powers by swiping over the screen through and through, left to right, with one or more fingers. Deal with your forces, upgrade them, utilize them at the right minute, and annihilate the laborers before they finish the last storey of the tower. Reveal to them who's supervisor!

Addition boundless access to Survival mode and various energizing missions.

Uncover or rediscover a the earth, an astonishing sound track, and an arrangement of activitys that are as amusing as ever.

Also considerably more trophies and tests to win, scores to distribute online and records to demolish. There's stand out spot in the sky, and its yours!

Run across the free amusement Babel Rising Cataclysm!

Characteristics :

- A brand-new tower with 2 diverse development ways

- 2 new sorts of adversaries

- 40 missions in Campaign mode

- A Survival amusement mode with boundless tests

- New powers, and also parchments and stelae to support your abilities.

- Facebook/game Center

What's new:

Google Nexus 7 now back

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Elite Force APK

Elite Force APK v1.0

Elite Force APK v1.0
Requirements: Android 2.2 or higher
Overview:
Terrorists are back! Exclusive Force must stop them by and by! Battle off the terrorists and after each one round, you utilize your generally earned cash to purchase new updated weapons and ammunition!

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Galaxy Runes Pro apk Android App

Galaxy Runes Pro apk Download



Center yourself ~ Tune into the wisdom of the ancients ~ Gain insight into any situation

Rune casting has been used for centuries as a way to connect with higher consciousness. Galaxy Runes continues this tradition today. 

Galaxy Runes provides rune casting, rune spreads and the Rune Tome, an encyclopedia of rune meanings and magical correspondences. 

* Draw a single rune or choose the perfect rune spread for your questions. Ten spreads to choose from.

* Browse all the runes by title or rune image and view their individual meanings and magical correspondences.

* Custom sized Rune of the Day home screen widget.

* Save your rune spreads.

* Save your own notes for each rune. An easy way to take your studies deeper. 

* Optional reverse runes.

* Optional Wyrd (blank) rune.

* High definition themes, choose from 7 background, 3 sets of runes, and 2 profile icons.

This is what our users are saying:

"Excellent divination tool!"

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CAD Touch Pro v5.0.6 Apk free download

download (11)


cadTouch is a PRO CAD solution that completely reinvents on-site drawing, giving to professionals in various core fields like architecture, engineering, real estate, home design, and more, the power to measure, draw and view their work on-site. 



cadTouch is really easy to use and it’s fast multitouch interface will give you the precision and flexibility that pen and paper fail to archive, finally you will have the perfect on-the-go companion for desktop software like AutoCAD™, SketchUp™ or Solidworks™ and every other DWG/DXF compatible app. 

This is the full version of cadTouch 5, a professional CAD editor and viewer at your fingertips. 

THIS WEEK ONLY: Get cadTouch for just $6.99, 70% off it’s $20 price, hurry up, if you like cadTouch leave a constructive review or rating! 

cadTouch supports every DWG (up to AutoCAD™ 2013) entities for viewing and editing as it uses industry-proof input/output DWG importers, and you can draw new lines, polylines, rectangles, circles, arcs, points (also by xyz coords), hatches, texts, smart/angular dimensions, sketches, revision clouds, raster image, ruler, move, rotate, scale, trim, delete, mirror, offset, group, explode, grips, OSNAP, line/patterns type, alignments guides, objects library, preloaded library with 20+ blocks, customizable library, info tool to query length/perimeter/area, layers, black or white background and many more features. 

Complete support for decimal and imperial measure units (architectural feet and inches). 

cadTouch requires no internet connection. 

cadTouch is a DWG/DXF drawings editor and viewer, you can open, share and save your work in DWG, PDF and PNG (Pro version only). 

A screen size of at least 4.5″ is recommended (stylus is not necessary, but is well supported by cadTouch).
Please remember to close other apps before running cadTouch (to free RAM). 

What’s New
Version 5.0.6:
- Added setting to turn hovering on/off.
Version 5.0.5:
- Added hovering support for stylus, air view finger and mouse.
- Landscape orientation supported on both sides.
- Fixed some problems when opening a drawing from an external application.
- Corrected minor problems.
Screenshots:
CAD-Touch-Pro-for-Android-2
unnamed (5)

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CAD Touch Pro v5.0.6 Apk free download
  • Size: 39.78 mb
  • Current Version: 5.0.6

5 Important Things To Know About The Smartphone “Kill Switch” Which Could Be Coming To Android

5 Important Things to Know about the Smartphone “Kill Switch” Which Could Be Coming to Android

A few months ago, Apple implemented a “kill switch” into its iPhone to combat iPhone theft.
The kill switch, as you’ve probably guessed from the name, immediately kills the phone once it’s registered as stolen.
Does that sound silly to you? Well, who cares – the smartphone kill switch works. iPhone theft is down almost all across the United States after Apple implemented the kill switch.
Google and Microsoft are both reportedly developing a kill switch of their own for Android and Windows Phone. How does the kill switch work and how will it affect you? Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming kill switch:

5) IT’S JUST A PIECE OF SOFTWARE

“Kill switch” has such an ominous tone. In reality, the kill switch isn’t some doomsday device that causes your phone to blow up when your press a button.
Instead, it’s a simple piece of software installed at the core levels of all new smartphones sold. This piece of software is able to disable a handset that is registered as stolen.
kill switch

4) IT COULD SOON BE ILLEGAL NOT TO HAVE A KILL SWITCH

Apparently, handset theft has grown so bad in American cities that approximately 1 in 3 personal property thefts now involve smartphones.
For years, American legislators have been asking telecom companies to include kill switches – it’s not like they’re difficult to install.
Telecom companies have refused – likely due to the fact that they make millions from stolen smartphones.iphone
However, California and Minnesota could both soon pass laws that make kill switches mandatory on all phones sold within the state. There’s also active legislation at the federal level which could go through.
In both Minnesota and California, the law states that phone users must have access to the kill switch software: in Minnesota, users must be able to install or download it for free, while in California, the law would require users to have the kill switch by default, but could disable it if necessary.
Whether it passes at the state or federal level, the phone kill switch will likely be law in some parts of the United States within the next year or so.

3) THERE ARE SOME SECURITY RISKS

Up above, I mentioned that the telecom companies didn’t want kill switches because they made money from stolen iPhones. That’s only part of the reason.
For years, telecom companies have claimed that kill switches make their devices vulnerable to hackers.
location managerSpecifically, a talented hacker could trick a phone into thinking it’s stolen and effectively kill someone’s perfectly-usable iPhone.
Another security risk is that the American government could kill your smartphone using its infamous backdoors – something that companies like Apple and Microsoft have willingly installed on their electronic devices.
Of course, neither of these things have happened since Apple put the kill switch on its devices, so these fears may be overblown.
One final security risk is when selling your iPhone or Android. Normally, you clear your data, sell your phone, and never worry about it again. But if you’re buying a phone, how do you know the person isn’t going to pull a kill switch on you and claim their phone was stolen? What if they call you and say “I’ll kill your phone if you don’t pay me an extra $50?”

2) IT’S SUPERIOR TO FIND MY IPHONE AND THE ANDROID DEVICE MANAGER

If you don’t know where your iPhone is, you can use your Find My iPhone app. If you don’t know where your Android is, you can use the Android Device Manager.
Both of these services also let you wipe data remotely or lock a phone thief out of your device. More advanced security apps can even take a picture with the front-facing camera so you can bring the phone thief to justice.
However, both of these apps can easily be defeated by anyone who knows what they’re doing. All you have to do is switch off the phone and reinstall the operating system to factory settings.
Once your personal information is removed from the phone, the phone doesn’t know if you legitimately sold it to someone, or if a thief stole it.
With the kill switch, that won’t really be an issue.

1) IT APPEARS TO BE REDUCING THEFT

Most importantly, the kill switch actually appears to be reducing theft in some major cities across the world.
kill switch 2
In San Francisco, iPhone robberies decreased 38% in the 6 months after iOS7 introduced the kill switch.
In London, thefts dropped 24%.
Scarily enough, in both cities, robberies of Samsung devices increased.
Of course, these numbers can be twisted in a number of different ways. iPhone usage is dropping around the world and Android usage is increasing. If theft rates stayed the same across all devices, there would be more total Android thefts and fewer total iPhone thefts.
That may be the case, or the kill switch may actually be working as intended.

3 Android Games That Will Test Your Wits & Entertain You Simultaneously

3 Android Games That Will Test Your Wits & Entertain You Simultaneously

WORD SEARCH PUZZLE

What comes as one of the ultimate most apps for the Word lovers and crossword puzzlers, Word Search Puzzle is an ultimate treat. Remember those days of finding words in the daily newspapers and back of books? Well, they can all come alive now on your Android screen.
This interesting Android game will help you in improving your scanning skills whilst reading will render your searching and scanning skills lethal and formidable. Word Search Puzzle thus is a simple app that consists of a grid with hidden words and these words are to be found amidst a swarm of scattered letters. Bring back memories? Well if it does then the app is the best way to relive what you once enjoyed as a kid.
The Word Search Puzzle app is designed with a solid interface and with a brownish sand colour offers multiple word search features.
The objective of the game is simple and universal. All you have to do look for hidden words and you’re well on track.
The fun element though in the game is that it has something for everyone.
With this being said, the genres of Categories that have words to be searched for range from:-
  • Daily list of words that are updated everyday
  • Dictionary to refine you English while you look for words
  • Hollywood with stars and their names to look for
  • Music with starts and songs and bands to look for.
  • Kids
  • Around the world
  • Personalities
The categories are as listen above and each of them have unique list of words.
On starting the Word Search Puzzle app, these unique words as per their respective category are displayed below the grid that is dull for words.
All you have to do is look at the words and them find and locate them in the list. Once you do so, swipe your hand over the word and the word will colour out indicating that you have spotted the word.
This is similar to when you would draw a circle around the words that you found when you played the same name in the book. Only the case in this game is that the word gets a colour to it and subsequently the word from the list below gets blackened out through a dash, this indicating again that you ticked the word off the list.
You can mark games as well when they appear in the list when you are selecting form within a category.
This meaning that when you are about to start the game a start can be marked showing that this was one of your favourite rounds.
Further to implement the global element of the game, the Word Search Puzzle app is available in multiple languages and not only English so as to attract the native speaking population form countries that speak languages like:-
- Spanish
- French
- German
- Italian
- Portuguese
- Indonesian
Additionally, the Word Search Puzzle app enjoys great support with a promising 4.4 stars average rating on Google Play Store space through reviewers and great comments from users who have played it too.
With thousands of downloads on the app piling up already, don’t be too late to the party and join the clan to become one of the many skilled word searchers.

HANGMAN FREE

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The infamous game that we’ve all been playing right since we were kids and the game was made known to us makes it way to the Android screen. Hangman, the game of guessing and not letting go of your man form hanging through a thin string gets you playing and guessing has now arrived to thrill on the Android space.
The game is quite the time killer but if used correctly, even those apps used to kill time can eventually turn out to be easy and fun to be around with. These can also be used for utility purposes in order to eventually make some use of the time invested in it.
This app created by Optime Software, has an interface just like blackboard in school that gets you remembering the ways you killed time in school as a kid, unless of course you still are a school kid reading this who also uses their phone to play games to kill time.
The game is simple, and gives you an option to either play alone in the one player mode or against another player who could be your friend or just a random opponent.
The interface and look of the app will get you addicted to the game straight from the word go.
You can start a new game from the top right on the bar at the top of the game.
Below that lies your man who hangs above the gallows only for you and your wit and language power to save him from becoming victim to the hungry depths of the unforgiving underworlds below.
Besides that is the name of the two players highlighting the name of the player whose turn it is.
Separated by a vertical chalk drawing lies the word for you to guess and below that in faintly drawn chalk letterings are the alphabets from, well the alphabet.
All you have to do is now to guess the word and save your man and the game is yours.
Before you start off the game you can select the word list that you would like.
This includes the following:
  • Easy
  • Standard
  • Hard
  • Animals
  • Food
  • Geography
  • Holidays
  • SAT
  • TOEFL
So further to the conventional form of the game the developers go that extra mile to get you to learning through the game too so that you can learn and expand your knowledge when your actual intention was to wile away some free time.
What the game also has is the sound effects and the gallows below that actually do exist.
The sound effects accompany you through the game giving you the true feel of hanging above deep abyss and the gallows open up and close.
All of this is happening as per your will and you can turn this off from the setting directly.
The game being about 4.1 MB in size for download, has majority of its ratings in the highest range of 5 stars, giving it 4.1 stars as an average rating.
The graphics and the interface being smooth would automatically make this game a good contender amongst its peers.

IQ TEST PREPARATION

IQ TEST 1
So you’re the brainy kinds and you miss those tests you took as a college student whilst preparing for your exams. You also miss those days when you thought you were way smarter than you are now. In fact for some of you reading this, you may even be in the stage of taking these exams. What do you do when you’re in the mood to sharpen those skills and delve into the cerebral cortex of your brain when you have no books around you. All you need to do is look into your Android device and check out the IQ Test Preparation on Google Play Store.
The IQ Test Preparation app that reinstates the photo of Albert Einstein, the man behind e = mc^2 on the app description on Google Play Store, gets you thinking a lot and eventually leaves you with a few thoughts that makes you think, you were that smart all along.
The app opens up in a brownish interface of pale wood colour that is pretty neat to look at once opened. The following appears on the front page:-
  • About IQ
  • Tips and Tricks
  • Preparation
  • Take Test
  • About the app
  • Exit
The app created by IT Brains, first tells you through the About IQ what the intellectual quotient is all about and what it does to your thinking and how you can improve it, the app being one of the obvious ways of doing so.
The sections and categories that divide the questions within the app are as follows. All of these are from different branches of academia each of which test different parts of your brain so as to get you thinking and improving your skills of thinking in no time.
  • Sequences
  • Mental Arithmetic
  • Logical Reasoning
  • Verbal Aptitude
  • Relationships
  • Clocks and Calendars
  • Directions
  • People and Arrangements
  • Time speed and distance
  • Time and Date
  • Work Profit and loss
  • Age problems
and a whole lot more.
The best part of the IQ Test Prep app is that before you get into it, it allows you to prepare for the tests that you are up for and for this you have the tips and tricks section.
It gives you mighty insightful tips which help you not only for the app but in your daily life as well.
The interface of the IQ Test Preparation app is neat and clean and has graphics that get you on the mood to work and think straight way.
The mental arithmetic tips are extremely easy to understand and this has great intrinsic value too.
The questions appear page by page and you can scroll through it one at a time so that you have enough time to concentrate on each question and don’t get distracted by pictures of the other.
At the end the app explains detailed answers so you know where you went wrong if at all you did.
The result at the end gives you a percentage of the marks and the correct percentage as well.
The report at the end is visible too.
All in all, for a simple 1.3 MB sized, it justifies the 4.5 star average rating and validates the enriching content on it with ease.

Kainy Remote Gaming/Desktop APK

Kainy Remote Gaming/Desktop APK v1.73

Kainy Remote Gaming/Desktop APK v1.73
Requirements: 2.2+
Overview:Kainy is a remote desktop situated for Gaming and Performance.

Stream your recreations from your PC into your Phone/tablet.

Play your PC Games Everywhere (Wifi/3g/4g).

- Hd/native determination.

- About 100 Preset Templates for Controls and UI.

- Up to 60 fps.

- Customize your Interfaces (Buttons and Controls).

- Apply your Custom Pages (Interfaces) for each of your Games/applications.

- Use Accelerometer to control your Games.

- Support Fullscreen, Sounds, Bluetooth Keyboard...

- Authentication/data encryption in 128 bits.

- Use Kainy as Game Controller.

- Optimized for Neon, Tegra2 and Tegra3.

- Multi-Devices associations (Up to 5).

Film Samples:

Super Meat Boy: http://youtu.be/ows43vjjsd8

Multi-Devices associations: http://youtu.be/6i-mbjhqb-Y

Minecraft/xbox Controller: http://youtu.be/eryx_yf9sum

What's New

- Bug Fixed: Mouse cursor cutting.

- Bug Fixed: Mouse cursor not unmistakable (ex: Legend of Grimrock)

- Improvement: Toggle catches discharged if page changed.

- Improvement: Add more details for fps/debug insight.

- Minor bug fixes.

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Google Connects To Your Car With Android Auto

Google Connects to Your Car With Android Auto

At the 2014 I/O Conference, Google announced Android L. Android L immediately overshadowed a number of other cool things shown at the conference – including Android Auto.
For months, we’ve heard rumors about car manufacturers partnering with Android to create an in-car entertainment system based on Android. Apple and Microsoft have made similar efforts in the past – successfully – so Google was behind the curve.
Android Auto will have a few key features that distinguish it from other in-car OS services. Those features include:
It’s not an embedded system
Some in-car operating systems are embedded within the vehicle. Ford’s SYNC and Audi’s MMI, for example, are both infotainment platforms built directly into the cars.
auto 2
Android Auto, on the other hand, is simply an interface you can use over top of your existing infotainment system. It’s a supplementary system which relies on your Android device to run. In other words, there’s no way to access Android Auto without an Android device.
High-end tech in low-end vehicles
Up until now, in-car operating systems were reserved for higher-end vehicles. As far as I know, no vehicles included in-car OSes on their standard models and it’s almost always a luxury addition.
Since Android Auto isn’t an embedded system, it can be customized to work on virtually any vehicle. During I/O 2014, Google showed it working easily on a Honda Civic’s touchscreen.
You can access radio, music, maps, and other useful apps
The point of Android Auto is to make it safer to drive and use your phone at the same time.
You won’t be able to play games over your infotainment system, but you will be able to access features that drivers are expected to use – like radio apps, Google Play Music, and Google Maps.
When you open an app, it will be displayed across your in-car touchscreen much the same way as it’s displayed on your Android device.
auto
It will connect with Google Now
One of the major ways in which Android Auto will make driving safer is through its voice activated technology. Instead of tapping and scrolling through menus, Google aims to make it a seamless voice experience.
Just say, “OK Google” and speak your command to instruct your car to open a radio app, play music, or navigate a detour with maps.
Several major car manufacturers are on-board
Honda was front and center at I/O 2014’s Android Auto announcement. However, a number of other major car manufacturers are also on-board, including Audi, Hyundai, and Chevrolet.
auto 4
We don’t know if this will be a standard feature on all models and price ranges, or if it will be a premium feature on higher-end vehicles, but it will likely be accessible on any vehicle with an existing infotainment system/touchscreen.
There’s no word yet on the Android Auto release date. Expect more details to be revealed over the coming months.
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