Google is apparently preparing to give its next major version of Android the iOS 7 treatment, with some cleaning up some of the visual elements offering a slicker-looking overall interface. Jony Ive and the software design team in Cupertino were radical in their redesign and ruthless in their disposal of skeuomorphism, and while it is not thought that Android 4.5 will be quite such a departure from the current configuration, the company is thought to be planning some notable aesthetic tweaks.
It's an accepted fact that Apple changed the face of the smartphone industry with the introduction of the iPhone back in 2007, and even though it has only been seven years, it feels as though we've always been tapping home screen icons and gesturing our way through interfaces. Not only did the iPhone completely turn the market on its head, but Google's in-development Android interface - which didn't, at the time of the Apple smartphone's announcement, support touch input - also had to be completely re-thought.
Google has just announced via the official Android blog that it is in the process of rolling out some additional security mechanisms to the world's most popular mobile operating system. The blog post, which was written and published by an Android security engineer by the name of Rich Cannings, gives a brief overview on some of Android's existing security based positives before continuing to announce that the newly added features will boost the already existing Verify Apps functionality in the going fight against malicious content.
As well as trying to make significant inroads in the field of wearable technology with Project Glass, Google has also demonstrated how it intends to shake-up the smartphone world with Project Ara. In case you happened to miss the previous coverage, the Project Ara team is currently working on the development of modular smartphones, consisting of a skeletal backbone that can be upgraded by means of interchangeable modules. The product, which will likely be intended for the lower-end markets to start with, could eventually challenge the modern day smartphone as we know it, and today, some new images have emerged of the development process in full flow.
Even though the Play Store is moderated to ensure that dodgy, malicious apps don't make it through the gates and onto people's devices, it's not a completely foolproof system. Virus Shield, a relatively new app that claimed to protect users from viruses and other such non-niceties, has scammed many folks out of their money because, at $3.99 a pop, it didn't actually provide any speakable anti-virus features. Although it has since been ousted by the search giant after being exposed, it remains to be seen whether the 10,000+ customers that parted with the substantial sum will see any kind of refund.
A set of internal documents has revealed that Google is all set to make an assault on the soon-to-be bloated set-top TV device industry. The internal Google documents reveal that the Internet services company is deriving inspiration from existing products such as the Roku, Apple TV and Amazon's new Fire TV to introduce an intelligent set-top box known as Android TV that will hopefully serve as a powerful alternative to the existing solutions on the market.
The Motorola / Google connection may have been relatively short lived and not exactly a perfect match, but it clearly gave Google a thirst for innovative hardware. That thirst is still being quenched today thanks to Project Ara and we can now get an additional insight of those involved with building the block based smartphone thanks to a new Phonebloks video.
Independently of the forthcoming Android 4.4.3 update, which should begin to trickle out to the Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 in the very near future, Google plans to add some useful new features to the native camera app of its mobile operating system. According to a newly emerged report, the standalone app will be given a complete makeover, delivering a revamped UI, improved panorama and more.
We've been hearing a lot of rumors pertaining to an Android 4.4.3 update, with the Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 reportedly in line as the very first recipients of the supposedly imminent release. Even though much of the information thus far has been sketchy at best, we're led to believe that the forthcoming KitKat 4.4.3 update will contain nothing more than performance enhancements, and a newly-leaked 'change log' appears to corroborate this notion.
Google Glass has been at the forefront of tech coverage over the past year or so, with fans completely fascinated by its progress from concept to current beta state. But the Explorer Edition that the search giant began rolling out last year wasn't the first version modeled, rather the result of a painstaking process of running through numerous prototypes before coming up with a form factor fit for the public eye. Via Google+, the Big G has shown a timeline of Glass' evolution over the course of two years, including images, and the change, when contextualized in this way, is quite stark.
