Google throws down gauntlet to Apple with cool innovations
By Zhu Shenshen |
July 4, 2012, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
I was very excited about Google Inc's latest innovations released last week: a wearable computer Google Glass and voice search and assistant tool Google Now.
In my opinion, these are most revolutionary and influential upgrades in the tech industry to date this year, even including the iPhone 4S with Siri.
The Google products represent the cutting-edge development of so-called "human computer interaction," which is probably the biggest wave in the next decade in the information technology industry. It is expected to change the whole landscape of the consumer electronics industry and bring great convenience and efficiency to the daily lives of users.
With human computer interaction technologies, gadgets are better integrated with the ways human beings think and respond and are able to be connected and controlled by voice and eye.
Such cutting-edge technologies have been found in the Samsung Galaxy S3, with its automatic screen lighting adjustment based on sensors for the eye and nearby environment, and with the iPhone 4S voice assistant Siri.
Wearable computer
Google goes further this time with Google Glass.
"It's a wearable computer of our future," Sergey Brin, Google's co-founder, told the annual Google I/O developer conference last week.
The glass, consisting of cameras, sensors and screens, allows people to surf online, take first-sight pictures and use Google tools, including search engine.
It will be an ultimate tool to make information quickly and universally accessible.
Imagine, even a geek takes at least 30 to 60 seconds on a smartphone to find the nearest Starbucks, with the processes of opening up the phone, opening the search tool, inputting Starbucks and getting results. With Google Glass and voice search, it takes only two to four seconds.
Another example is taking photos with children. With Google Glass, you can take pictures while you are playing with them and they won't even notice.
The good news is the glass's availability to consumers.
Developers attending the conference were allowed to order Google Glass for US$1,500 each, to be shipped in 2013. The public is expected to get it in 2014 at a "much lower price," Brin told the media recently.
Besides the slim-lined and sci-fi style Google Glass, another surprise is Google Now, part of the next iteration of Google's Android system. It could be called the Siri of Google, but it's better than Apple's Siri is now.
Based on voice recognition and search features, Google Now is more intelligent and consumer-friendly.
You might compare it with a "housekeeper: that keeps track of you and remembers your frequent searches. It knows your current location and provides customized services on weather, traffic, appointments, travel, flights, public transit, places and sports.
Compared with Siri, Google features a wider range of database and better voice recognition, which has been used in Google Translate and Google Voice search for several years, compared with only one year for Siri.
"Google Now uses artificial intelligence to serve up information relevant to the users' context proactively," said Jan Dawson, Ovum chief telecoms analyst. "It's Google's first serious attempt to reduce both fragmentation and the long delays in getting the latest version of Android onto devices and into users' pockets."
Google's Android is still the world's No. 1 system on mobile devices. At present, Android is activated and used in 310 million mobile devices worldwide, according to Google. It now accounts for a 50 percent share of the global smart phone market, and it's expected to hit 60 percent by the end of this year, according to the United States-based research International Data Corp.
In China, Android's market share was 76.7 percent in the first quarter, up 10 percent from the previous three months. The average price of an Android smartphone was 1,670 yuan (US$265), only one-third of the cheapest iPhone 4s model, according to Analysys International, a Beijing-based research firm.
With the Android's wide coverage, the new Google Now will influence many more people in future, compared with Apple, which now targets high-end consumer groups.
Huge potential
Besides Google, other firms are also tapping the huge potential of the human computer interaction market.
Samsung, Google's long-term partner on Android, has differentiated itself from other Android device makers since the debut of Galaxy S3 in May.
The Galaxy S3 features Smart Stay, which uses the front-facing camera to periodically check if it can recognize a pair of eyes looking at it and if not, it turns the screen off to save power, and Direct Call, which dials a contact's number for you by raising the phone to your ear from the contact details screen.
Apple is still Google's biggest rival in the sector. Just two weeks before Google's conference, Apple announced an upgrade of its mobile system iOS at its own developer conference.
After the update, Siri will support more languages, including Mandarin and Cantonese, and offer greatly improved search results that make it a central and practical tool rather than just an interesting application for fun. Many Chinese people just use Siri to test whether their English pronunciation can be recognized by Siri.
Microsoft, a relatively smaller player in the mobile system market, also announced a big upgrade of its Windows Phone system, which is now used by Nokia.
Immersion Corp, a relatively less well-known but revolutionary firm, offers tools for Android developers to provide users better touch experience. That makes games and other applications more real and exciting. The firm's TouchSence software is now used in more than 400 million phones globally.
Maybe the most interesting question is whether Apple will launch another revolutionary gadget at its coming autumn conference, when the company often unveils the next generation of iPhone.
In my opinion, these are most revolutionary and influential upgrades in the tech industry to date this year, even including the iPhone 4S with Siri.
The Google products represent the cutting-edge development of so-called "human computer interaction," which is probably the biggest wave in the next decade in the information technology industry. It is expected to change the whole landscape of the consumer electronics industry and bring great convenience and efficiency to the daily lives of users.
With human computer interaction technologies, gadgets are better integrated with the ways human beings think and respond and are able to be connected and controlled by voice and eye.
Such cutting-edge technologies have been found in the Samsung Galaxy S3, with its automatic screen lighting adjustment based on sensors for the eye and nearby environment, and with the iPhone 4S voice assistant Siri.
Wearable computer
Google goes further this time with Google Glass.
"It's a wearable computer of our future," Sergey Brin, Google's co-founder, told the annual Google I/O developer conference last week.
The glass, consisting of cameras, sensors and screens, allows people to surf online, take first-sight pictures and use Google tools, including search engine.
It will be an ultimate tool to make information quickly and universally accessible.
Imagine, even a geek takes at least 30 to 60 seconds on a smartphone to find the nearest Starbucks, with the processes of opening up the phone, opening the search tool, inputting Starbucks and getting results. With Google Glass and voice search, it takes only two to four seconds.
Another example is taking photos with children. With Google Glass, you can take pictures while you are playing with them and they won't even notice.
The good news is the glass's availability to consumers.
Developers attending the conference were allowed to order Google Glass for US$1,500 each, to be shipped in 2013. The public is expected to get it in 2014 at a "much lower price," Brin told the media recently.
Besides the slim-lined and sci-fi style Google Glass, another surprise is Google Now, part of the next iteration of Google's Android system. It could be called the Siri of Google, but it's better than Apple's Siri is now.
Based on voice recognition and search features, Google Now is more intelligent and consumer-friendly.
You might compare it with a "housekeeper: that keeps track of you and remembers your frequent searches. It knows your current location and provides customized services on weather, traffic, appointments, travel, flights, public transit, places and sports.
Compared with Siri, Google features a wider range of database and better voice recognition, which has been used in Google Translate and Google Voice search for several years, compared with only one year for Siri.
"Google Now uses artificial intelligence to serve up information relevant to the users' context proactively," said Jan Dawson, Ovum chief telecoms analyst. "It's Google's first serious attempt to reduce both fragmentation and the long delays in getting the latest version of Android onto devices and into users' pockets."
Google's Android is still the world's No. 1 system on mobile devices. At present, Android is activated and used in 310 million mobile devices worldwide, according to Google. It now accounts for a 50 percent share of the global smart phone market, and it's expected to hit 60 percent by the end of this year, according to the United States-based research International Data Corp.
In China, Android's market share was 76.7 percent in the first quarter, up 10 percent from the previous three months. The average price of an Android smartphone was 1,670 yuan (US$265), only one-third of the cheapest iPhone 4s model, according to Analysys International, a Beijing-based research firm.
With the Android's wide coverage, the new Google Now will influence many more people in future, compared with Apple, which now targets high-end consumer groups.
Huge potential
Besides Google, other firms are also tapping the huge potential of the human computer interaction market.
Samsung, Google's long-term partner on Android, has differentiated itself from other Android device makers since the debut of Galaxy S3 in May.
The Galaxy S3 features Smart Stay, which uses the front-facing camera to periodically check if it can recognize a pair of eyes looking at it and if not, it turns the screen off to save power, and Direct Call, which dials a contact's number for you by raising the phone to your ear from the contact details screen.
Apple is still Google's biggest rival in the sector. Just two weeks before Google's conference, Apple announced an upgrade of its mobile system iOS at its own developer conference.
After the update, Siri will support more languages, including Mandarin and Cantonese, and offer greatly improved search results that make it a central and practical tool rather than just an interesting application for fun. Many Chinese people just use Siri to test whether their English pronunciation can be recognized by Siri.
Microsoft, a relatively smaller player in the mobile system market, also announced a big upgrade of its Windows Phone system, which is now used by Nokia.
Immersion Corp, a relatively less well-known but revolutionary firm, offers tools for Android developers to provide users better touch experience. That makes games and other applications more real and exciting. The firm's TouchSence software is now used in more than 400 million phones globally.
Maybe the most interesting question is whether Apple will launch another revolutionary gadget at its coming autumn conference, when the company often unveils the next generation of iPhone.
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