Chrome OS team is hiring.

Chrome OS is essentially a full blown chrome browser designed on the Linux kernel to work as an OS for cheap hardware running web applications.

Chrome OS unlike other full OSes gets regular updates from Google even for smallest change and the best thing is that you don't have to do anything. Chrome OS has evolved greatly since it was first announced like getting offline document editing, saving media for offline access and a lot other stuff.

Evolution reminds me of the post I saw on Google+ by +Albert Bodenhamer. Google is hiring more employees for its Chrome OS team.

In the time when companies like Microsoft and others are cutting jobs, Google is hiring more people to develop its rival platform to Microsoft. Chrome OS has taken a significant market share of laptops chiefly because its super affordable. And with the rumours of MediaTek working to provide its chips for Chromebooks, prices getting even lower, it's be interesting to see what Google has for us cooking in their kitchen.

With Google wanting to hire more employees, we'll be seeing more Chromebooks, a better Chrome OS and cheaper ones too, if Mediatek is successful enough to provide chips to Chromebooks.

You can see the original post here.

And if you think of yourself as eligible enough for this job, you can also submit your resume to this email id.

Xiaomi launched 3 new smartphones in India giving tough competition for home grown companies.

Xiaomi recently launched 3 of their devices in India expanding their sales. India is said to be the fastest growing market so it seems like a wise move to concentrate here. The chinese giant is giving a real tough competition to Indian companies like Micromax, Lava and others mainly due to low prices.

Xiaomi launched Mi3, Redmi Note and Redmi 1S in India.

Xiaomi Mi3

The Mi3 is the costliest of the trio going for sale at Rs.13,999. At this price, the phone is powered by a Snapdragon 800 at 2.3 GHz under the hood, 16GB base model, 5" Full HD screen, 13MP primary camera with dual flash and a 2MP front facing camera. And the standard slew of sensors. There is no SD Card support in the Mi3. A 3050 mAh battery gives juice to the beast.

Getting a smartphone at this dirt cheap price has its own catch. The Mi3 comes with Android 4.2.1 Jellybean instead of Kitkat. 

The Mi3 is made of magnesium-aluminium allow and weighs 145 grams and is 8.1 mm thick. 

Xiaomi Redmi Note

The Redmi Note will be priced at about Rs.9600. This price gets you a 5.5" HD display, It packs about 8GB of internal memory but also gives you an option of SD Card unlike Mi3. There are 2 variants available, cheaper one with a gig of RAM and the other with Two. Its got the same Rear facing camera as the MI3 (13MP) with LED flash but has a 5MP front facing camera for the selfie centered crowd. 

Powered by a MediaTek MT6592 octacore processor clocked at 1.4 GHz and 1.7 GHz. That's four and four.  

Xiaomi Redmi 1s

Redmi 1S is then the cheapest of the trio. Going in retail at Rs.6999. Compared to rest of the trio, its got an updated version running Android 4.3. Its also the smallest out of 3 at 4.7" HD display. The storage options are the same as Redmi Note but only 1 gig of RAM is what you get at this price. Juiced by a 2000 mAh battery it is a pretty good deal to what local manufacturers have to offer. 

Talking about the camera, 8MP primary with LED flash and a 1.3MP secondary camera is packed. But don't let the pricing confuse you. Its powered by a Snapdragon 400 clocked at 1.4 GHz. Now 400 is a bit outdated but performance shouldn't be a question. That's not to say the MT6592 isn't worthy. 

Conclusion

Talking about the company's India operations, Manu Jain, Indian operations head, Xiaomi said "We are looking to provide the best in class experience to our MI fans in India. We are starting with 35+ service centera across top 20 cities, a hotline that operates 7 days a weel, and a vibrant MI India Facebook page. Our partner Flipkart, with its world-class technology and customer service, will be the key to providing this experience."

The Mi3 sales will start from July 22 at 12 afternoon on Flipkart. However interested buyers will nees to pre-register before the date to become eligible. The company will have a dedicated helpline to track orders. Xiaomi will have 36 service centers in India with two of those in Delhi and Bangalore. 

Hugo Barra, vice president of Xiaomi assured that Mi3 will get timely updates to both Android and MiUi but considering the Android version that the phone is launched with, this word needs to be seen. 

Google shows more of their core apps in Material Design

The first time we got a clue of major redesign in Android was when the Gmail's Material look was leaked. Although we haven't got Gmail redesign yet, we did get a taste of what Material's going to be when Google+ got its update.

When at I/O, Google revealed Android L, it was proven that we were getting a major design change to the stock Android UI in rather long time.

Material Design is a set of design guidelines set by Google for app developers to follow and Google has got some great references for developers by showing off their core apps in the L look.

Calendar app across various screens

Calendar on mobile

Chrome Browser

Contacts

Photos

Gmail or Email Mobile

Gmail or Email on various screens

Play Music/NewsStand/Play Games

Google Keep

Maps on Tablets

Maps Mobile

Play Music Mobile

Play Music on Tablet

Gmail on tablet

Youtube

Dalvik on its death bed. ART to be the default runtime in next major Android release.

Google has removed Dalvik from the master branch of the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and replaced it with ART (Android RunTime). ART was initially introduced in Kitkat as an experimental feature. But now it looks like ART is ready for prime time as Dalvik has been removed from AOSP (the open source base of Android) and ART takes its place. But what exactly is Dalvik and ART.? What is all this fuss about.?



What is Dalvik.?

Dalvik is the process virtual machine (VM) in Google's Android operating system. It is the software that runs the apps on Android devices.

Most of the apps that run on Android are written in Java. Applications written in Java require the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) to run, but Google has chosen to abandon the both Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and Java Micro Edition (JME) in favour of Dalvik Virtual Machine. Why did Google take the alternative instead of using the Java Virtual Machine.? Licensing. The Java language, Java tools and Java libraries are all free but not the Java Virtual Machine. The license for Java Virtual Machine is free and Open Source, but when used on a mobile device using a JME, it is not.

How does it work.?

A standard Java compiler turns source code (written as text files) into Bytecode, then compiled into a .dex file that the Dalvik VM can read and use. Still Confused.!!

Think of it this way -- when you make a java application for computer, a JVM reads the code and executes it to give the output. Thus the work of reading the code is done by the Virtual Machine instead of the OS on which it runs. This is the reason Java runs on just about any Operating System. Dalvik is the mobile optimised version of the Java Virtual Machine, and designed for easier multi-tasking.

Oracle (who bought Java from Sun Micro Systems) is not happy with Google's of Java and Dalvik. While Oracle claims Google to have used Oracle's code for Dalvik, Google denies.

Dalvik used Just-In-Time (JIT) compilation of the programs (or Apps-as we know them now). That means, each time you opened an app, its code was to be compiled into byte-code to be executed. Yes.! Everytime you use that app. This results in increased opening time of the apps. Not to forget everytime.



ART and its Working.

When Google launched Android Kitkat, ART happened. ART which stands for Android RunTime, was introduced as an experimental feature when Kitkat launched. ART used Ahead-Of-Time (AOT) compilation. In simple language, the entire code of the app will be compiled only once during the installation of the app. With no need for JIT, the code should execute much faster. (Almost twice as fast as Dalvik according to Google).

Except for the speed increase, the use of ART provides another benefit. As ART directly runs byte-code, it doesn't hit the CPU as hard as JIT. Less CPU usage ultimately results in less battery drain which is a big plus for portable devices.

What are the downsides of ART.?

ART uses Ahead of Time compilation. Meaning that all the code of your app is compiled into byte-code when it is installed on your device. As the code needs to be compiled during installation, it increases the installation time of apps. Also note that the whole app is compiled into byte-code unlike Dalvik that compiled only a part of the program, This results in larger memory foot-print of the apps. This ultimately reducing multi-tasking capabilities as more memory is used. (Unless we get 64bit Android with mammoth amount of RAM in mobile devices).

But there are Benefits that overcome the downsides.

While ART reduces multi-tasking ability, it does show faster multi tasking. Confusing, right.? This just means that you can run less apps at once but those running can run faster than before.  

Benchmarks show a significant improvement in CPU, RAM and Storage operations. There's one more benefit of ART. When iPhone users are asked for their opinion about Androids, they often complain about Android being laggy, despite the fact that Android is better in terms of raw hardware specs. This lag is the result of JIT which disappears significantly after switching to ART.

Looking at the benefits of ART, it makes me pleased as punch to see ART come out of experimental phase and replace Dalvik as the Default RunTime for Android. With Google IO about a week away, I hope to see Google launch the L word Android all with a redesigned UI as seen in leaks with ART running the show.

What are your thoughts about ART.? Any good.?

Facebook gone down.

Facebook had gone down for some users this morning.

Trying to open facebook showed the following error message.

"Sorry, something went wrong. We're working on getting this fixed as soon as we can."

The message was only displayed when users tried to access the Facebook website, but also in the place of Facebook "Like" buttons which are installed on a multitude of websites across the web.

Users are left with no choice but to wait for Facebook to resolve the problem.

Got $22,000 to spare, Try Vertu's Signature Touch..

This may be the first time that Vertu has launched a super expensive phone with up-to-date specs. Usually whenever people talked about Vertu, they just talked price and luxury but not latest and greatest. Normally these phones have outdated hardware as well as software. But this time Vertu has launched its Signature Touch all with top-end specs and latest version of Android (that's Kitkat) running the show.



On the hardware front, we're looking at a 4.7" 1080p display that's pretty sharp but not the sharpest any more. But the screen is covered with a single 118 carat Sapphire Glass. It has a Snapdragon 801 under the hood clocked at 2.3GHz. You get 64GB of on-board storage which is plenty if you use your SmartPhone as a Phone.

In terms of stamina, its got a 2275mAh battery under the hood. You can juice up the Signature Touch with Qi wireless charging. It connects to the Web over 4G and Vertu reckons it'll work on most 4G bands around the world.

In the camera department, we get a 13MP primary camera with a 2.1MP snapper for selfies. The primary camera is equipped with a dual LED flash. Here's where things get interesting. The camera has been tuned by photography experts at Hasselblad. Hasselblad was the company who saw its cameras used in the Moon Landings in 60s.



Hasselblad isn't the only branding partner in the Vertu Signature Touch. The smartphone’s audio is tuned by Bang & Olufsen.

Ultimately we get a beautiful smartphones with all top-end specs enhancements done by known experts.

The Signature Touch is available in different skins and colours, and the most basic model sets you back at $10,300 with a Jet Leather or Claret Leather finish. The Jet Leather is coloured Black and Silver while Claret Leather comes in Red and Silver. There are also other skin options such as lizard and alligator, and PVD coating options for the titanium frame. That does give it a premium feel.




But If you think you want an extra ordinary service for your phone, you can get billed $3,400 per year and get Classic Service. Double that amount and you can get a dedicated agent.

If you think Ten grand is a lot even for a phone made of titanium, sapphire and calf leather, then bear in mind the extras that come with it. The phone itself is a portal to Vertu's concierge service, which means you press a button and get put through to a magical call centre that provides you with whatever you want, whether it's a taxi or a hotel or a new Pet coloured your choice..

 

 

Google I/O is around the corner. What are the expectations.?

For those non-techies reading this post, Google I/O is an annual developer-focused conference held by Google in San Francisco, California. Last year at Google I/O, we expected a lot of new announcements like new Android version, new Nexus 10 and what not. But we learned that last year's was a more developer focused conference. They announced more software features than hardware. But is this going to happen again in 2014.?   Last year Google announced a slew of new software features like the PlayStore beta testing program, Android Studio, an IDE specially made for Android developers, Play Games and also did improvements to Google Cloud Messaging. They didn't announce a new full size tablet, a new Android version, or the Moto X that everyone thought Google would do.. But this year, we do expect Google to announce more hardware products unlike last time.

A refreshed Full Size Tablet.... The last full size that we got from Google was announced back in October, 2012.. That a lot of time for one product to retain the badge of flagship... So a revision to Google's Nexus 10 is really expected this time. If this time we are kept from a refreshed Nexus 10, We may start to believe that Google has lost faith in 10 inch tablets.   We'd also be happy if Google shows us a Nexus 8 that's been pegged for long.

Chromebook Pixel 2 I do agree that the original Chromebook pixel had a pretty hefty price tag but such a high resolution screen doesn't come in cheap.. Its also redundant for a tablet that's based solely on the cloud to have such a hefty price tag, but the Pixel did set a benchmark for other Chromebooks. But that was then. Time's changed, we need better specs under the hood let alone the display. Maybe beefed up RAM and solid state storage for storing more movies offline... And how can we forget battery life. Getting better battery life won't do any bad.

Android Wear When Google announced Android Wear, Moto and LG were the first to jump the ship. Both have their smartwatches running Android Wear under development for quite sometime. Some online retailer did accidently reveal specs of both the smart watches but thats to be taken with a grain of salt. The tech community expects that the LG G Watch will be given away at Google I/O this year. I can't swear to it unless Google actually does it...

Google Glass NOT going public. Google Glass has been a controversial topic all year long after several incident of people getting beaten up to banning Glass in various Public places. So we can't expect Google to put up Glass for consumers to buy just yet.

Android in Car. Google announced the Open Automotive Alliance this January but nothing has come to fruition yet. With Apple already working with CarPlay, We expect Google to work fast with the OAA (Open Automotive Alliance) and show us some its rival to CarPlay..

Project ARA We did see a lot of development here. They partnered with several companies like 3D Systems and Sennheiser for making modular parts. Now we want to see the ARA devices in hands of developers to tinker.

New Version of Android We're not sure what it'll be called or even if its going to be announced here at I/O but the hope goes on. With all the leaks of Google's redesign to Android and unifying UIs across all platforms with the Quantum Paper, we expect the new Version of Android to be a major UI overhaul after IceCream Sandwich.

DART
Dart is an open-source Web programming language developed by Google. It was unveiled at the GOTO conference in Aarhus, October 10–12, 2011. The goal of Dart is "ultimately to replace JavaScript for of web development on the open web platform". There are quite a few sessions dedicated to Dart this year. So after seeing Apple announce Swift, Google should move fast with Dart in hands..  

What are you expecting from Google this year.? Hit up in the comments.