From AI to enhanced security, here is what's new in Google Android 9 Pie OS

The Android 9 Pie also brings native gesture-based navigation control that would allow phone manufacturers to remove aged old key-based navigation

Search engine and technology giant Google on August 6 announced the Android 9 Pie, a next iteration of its operating system for smart devices. The new OS is currently rolling out as an update to Google Pixel phones and other phones from brands such as OnePlus, Nokia, Xiaomi, Sony, Oppo, Vivo and Essential would get it by this fall.

The Android 9 Pie brings major improvements in terms of usability and user interface. Importantly, it brings native support for artificial intelligence, which learns usage patterns to predict tasks, optimise battery consumption by apps and show relevant information. The new OS also bring native gesture-based navigation control that would allow phone manufacturers to remove aged old key-based navigation.

Here are the key features of the Android 9 Pie:

Artificial Intelligence

The Android 9 gets native AI support that learns usage patterns to adapt phone’s settings. The operating system comes with features such as adaptive battery, which learns the apps you use most and prioritises battery for them, and adaptive brightness, which learns how you like to set the brightness in different

The Android 9 also helps you get things done faster with App Actions, which predicts what you would want to do next based on your context and displays that action right on your phone. For an example, on early weekdays for an office goes, the OS would suggest actions like navigating to work on Google Maps or resuming an audiobook with Google Play Books.

Gestures support

The Android 9 Pie introduces a new system navigation featuring a single home button. This is helpful as phones grow taller and becoming difficult to operate using with one hand. With new gesture-based navigation, you can swipe up to see a newly designed overview, the spot where at a glance you have full-screen previews of your recently used apps.

The Android P also brings a redesigned quick settings, a better way to take and edit screenshots, simplified volume controls, an easier way to manage notifications and more.

App dashboard

The Android 9 Pie would also get new features in future that would allow users control the time they spend on different apps. These features include a new dashboard, which shows how much time you spend on each app; an app timer that lets you set time limits on apps and greys out the icon on your home screen when the time is up; the new Do Not Disturb, which silences all the visual interruptions that pop up on your screen; and wind down, which switches on night mode and Do Not Disturb and fades the screen to grayscale before bedtime. These features were first introduced at the Google I/O 2018 and would roll out as a part of Android 9 Pie add-on features later this year. Read more

HomePod is no match for Alexa. Is Apple losing the smart speaker plot?

HomePod isn't really a smart speaker - not yet at least. Siri currently can't deliver on one of the three most critical abilities

The war for your digital home is waging. Apple has finally followed Amazon, Google and Microsoft by launching a smart speaker with a voice-controlled artificial intelligence assistant. Yet even though the “ Apple HomePod ” is another technological marvel, there’s a chance Apple is already losing the battle.

The competition isn’t just through the sound quality of the speaker – but the other things that users can do with it. The most common requests to AI personal assistants such as Apple’s Siri are reportedly to play music, read the weather forecast and set timers or reminders.

But the capabilities of these assistants are increasing at lightning speed. This doesn’t just rely on the sophistication of the artificial intelligence involved but also what other technology the assistant can link to. And given Apple’s tendency to reject open connections to other company’s systems, it may find it has some serious catching up to do.

Apple’s HomePod is entering an already busy marketplace. Probably the most famous smart speaker is Amazon’s Echo, which runs the AI assistant Alexa. Because Amazon opened up its system for anyone to write software programs for it, Alexa now has over 25,000 specific capabilities or “skills” in its US version alone, up from 5,000 just over a year ago. It can now read out recipes, order a pizza, turn on the lights or tell jokes. Partly because it was the first major smart speaker released, Echo has a greater depth of capabilities than any of its rivals.

Google Home, which features the creatively named Google Assistant, can link to multiple Google accounts so you can check your calendar or manage reminders. But it also links to your Android phone so you can make calls through the speaker or view on a screen the results of internet searches you ask it to make.

Microsoft has partnered with electronics manufacturer Harman Kardon to create a speaker called Invoke powered by Microsoft’s Cortana assistant. It also allows you to check your calendar and reminders, as well as make Skype calls, but only for one Microsoft account. Its AI capabilities are also not nearly as developed as either Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa.

Apple is taking a different approach to its rivals, hoping to corner the higher end of the smart speaker market and encourage consumers to part with more money, as it has done very successfully with its other products. The HomePod delivers high quality sound using seven physical speakers arranged in a circle to create a virtual stereo effect, directing different parts of the sound in different directions.

Honor View10 review: A smartphone that aces the mid-tier flagship race

Priced Rs 29,999, the Honor View10, with the company's latest Kirin 970 processor boasting a neural-processing unit for artificial intelligence wizardry, comes with 6GB RAM and 128 GB internal storage

Chinese smartphone maker Huawei unveiled the Mate 10-series, powered by its flagship artificial intelligence-based Kirin 970 system on chip, in its home country last year. Like the previous Mate-series devices, the Mate10-series phones were released in only a handful of markets – and the price-conscious Indian smartphone market was not one of them.

However, Huawei’s online sub-brand Honor has launched in India the View10, an affordable version designed on the footprints of the Mate 10-series, at Rs 29,999. The View10 is Honor’s third launch at this price – the Honor 8 and Honor 8 Pro were the previous two.

The Honor View10 features the company’s latest Kirin 970 processor, which boasts a neural-processing unit for artificial intelligence wizardry. The phone comes with 6GB RAM and 128 GB internal storage packed inside a sturdy metallic body reminiscent of the Honor 8 Pro. The key attraction of the device is its dual-camera set-up on the back and the futuristic 18:9 aspect ratio screen.

Business Standard reviewed the View10 to test the phone’s hardware and software prowess, besides the overall smartphone performance. Here are our observations:

Design and display

Despite a 5.99-inch screen, the View10 is narrower than the Honor 8 Pro, which had a 5.7-inch screen; in terms of height and thickness, it has retained the dimensions of the predecessor. The screen has been stretched to fit the 18:9 aspect ratio which leaves limited space for bezels. The screen resolution has been reduced from quadHD (1440 x 2560) in the Honor 8 Pro to fullHD+ (1080 x 2160) in the View10. That does affect the pixel counts of the otherwise capable display.

Talking of the overall design, the front is now dominated by the 18:9 aspect ratio screen and a fingerprint scanner embedded under the home key, which is placed on the limited bottom bezel space. While the front sees a major improvement and looks better, the back looks a tad bland, reminiscent of the Honor 8 Pro design. The protruding camera lenses, coupled with prominent antenna lines on top and bottom, temper the overall design theme.

Camera

Honor has a history of using dual-camera set-ups; it is among the first few smartphone manufacturers to introduce the concept in mobile phones. Besides, the company has a dedicated series of smartphones – the P-series – that boasts industry-first dual-camera set-up co-created in partnership with imaging experts ‘Leica’. (more)

AI will not cut jobs but create different kind of jobs: Intel India head

As many as 50 billion devices (like phones, smart TVs, smart refrigerators) would be connected by 2020

Dismissing the argument that Artificial Intelligence would lead to job losses, a technology expert today said it would in fact create different ones.

"Many people argue that with the advent of Artificial Intelligence, our people will lose jobs. No. I do not believe we will lose jobs, we will create different kind of jobs," Nivruti Rai, Country Head, Intel India, said here.

Artificial Intelligence does jobs which are repetitive in nature, where humans tend to make mistakes, and also where a lot of memory is required, she said, speaking at an event jointly organised by FICCI and the Telangana government.

"Who will identify where can AI be leveraged? It's us. But, that technology is absolutely critical, because everything that we do, use, wear is going to become smarter tomorrow and impact the lives, including our health," she said.

Predicting that as many as 50 billion devices (like phones, smart TVs, smart refrigerators) would be connected by 2020, she said 5G would be essential technology to make it a reality.

Also Read : Making a career out of your interests: How to find a job that you love doing

"It is important because the amount of data that will be floating in the air tomorrow is going to be so much that your 4G LTE technology will fail," she said.

It is important to re-skill oneself to rise above Artificial Intelligence rather than worrying about what AI will do, Rai said.

Noting that India is at the cusp of digital transformation, she wondered which other country can boast of the digital identity of more than one billion people stored with Aadhaar.

"We have all kinds of digital information...What we together collectively have to do, is to leverage this generation of digitisation and see how can we empower our citizens," she said.

Indian IT firms to generate fewer jobs in next 6 months: Report

Professionals asked to upskill themselves as the industry gradually turns to automation

Indian IT services companies would create fewer jobs over the next couple of quarters as more companies are focusing on shifting towards digital technologies, said a survey report released by human resource firm ManpowerGroup on Tuesday.

The report, Experis IT Employment Outlook Survey, stated that 50 per cent of the IT services companies expressed their interest to hire people during the period between October 2017 and March 2018, since the industry is re-inventing itself to automate a lot of processes using artificial intelligence and machine-learning technology.

In fact, the survey report said India would see pink slips being handed over to an increased number of senior-level professionals across Indian IT firms, on account of digitisation and a surge in recruitment of junior and mid-level professionals.

A slower job growth in the $154-billion services industry is, however, in stark contrast to other sectors in the country and captive IT units of global businesses will hire more people during this period, said the report, which surveyed around 500 Indian IT employers.

Also Read : Making a career out of your interests: How to find a job that you love doing

The industry has been witnessing a slowdown in traditional software maintenance services- a segment that has been acting as a core revenue generator for nearly three decades now. The slowdown was attributed to the increased demand of digital technology-based services on the part of the businesses.

“Net layoffs that are being contemplated by the IT giants are way higher than what the Indian IT industry has ever witnessed and this trend is likely to continue for the next 6-12 months,” said ManpowerGroup India.

IT professionals should look for opportunities to upskill themselves during this period, noted the report.

“Today technologies continue to rapidly shape the business landscape. A rise in new enabling technologies, such as software as a service (SaaS) offerings and cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, along with artificial intelligence’s (AI) unprecedented speed, accuracy and cost efficiency are significant in terms of maintaining a competitive edge that are driving businesses now. (more)

Google launches AI-powered Pixel smartphone; will cost Rs 57,000 in India

Google launches AI-powered Pixel smartphone; will cost Rs 57,000 in India

With an aim to lead the world of Smartphones with its artificial intelligence (AI)-based technology, Google on Tuesday launched much-awaited Pixel — a new premium device completely designed by the tech giant with Google Assistant built right-in — at a special event here.

India is among the first six countries where Pixel is being launched. Starting at Rs, 57,000, it will be available for pre-order in India starting October 13 on e-tailer website Flipkart and at over 1,000 plus multi-brand retail stores, including Reliance Digital, Croma and Vijay sales, among others.

The launch also ended the Nexus branding under which the company has always released phones in partnership with other original equipment manufacturers like LG (for Google Nexus 5) and Huawei (for Google Nexus 6P).

Although HTC has manufactured the smartphones, the new device bears Google branding.

With curved sculpted edges and a unibody made up of combination of aerospace grade aluminum and glass, the device comes in two sizes — 5 and 5.5-inch with 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protected super AMOLED display. Pixel is available in two — quite black and very silver colours in India.

Pixel is first smartphone with Google Assistant — a built-in AI programme that works as an intelligent personal assistant and knowledge navigator.

With the Google Assistant, users can have a natural conversation with Google to find answers or get things done on the go. Say "Ok Google" or touch and hold the Home button and the Assistant is ready to help.

"Ask it for a brief update on your day or to play a video on YouTube, look up traffic on the way home from work, find photos or when the nearest pharmacy closes. The Assistant can also offer help with what's on-screen in any app. So if your friend texts you to meet up at a new restaurant, you can just say 'navigate there'," the company said in a statement.Read more