Google I/O 2016 keynote: Summary

If you are an avid tech follower or just someone who stays on the internet a lot, chances are you heard of Google I/O. Well, more or less, it's Google's biggest event of the year; and where a lot of products and services are announced.

This year's edition was no different either. We saw new products and old-updated ones. I made a rough list of the major announcements. Here they are:

Google Home: 

 With tech diversifying, thanks to IoT, Google decided not to give Amazon complete monopoly with the Alexa. Instead they chose to reply with their very own assistant - Google Home. As you might have guessed, Google Home does basically the same thing as something like Alexa but since it is built with and in the Android ecosystem, it has the ability to do things like - cast using (of course) Chrome Cast.
Although this device is not available to the general public as of now, it will be from next year; according to Google.

Android: 

This probably should have come first but, meh, better second than never, right? Anyways, we saw an update to Android N. Basically it's no longer a developer preview but now a beta release which you could get on your Nexus device. There was also the promise of stability; in essence, you could install this on your main device and not fear the presence of bugs or the OS crashing altogether. There were other cool stuff regarding Android N though - no, an official name has not been given; but more on that later. As i was saying regarding "cool stuff", you can now do split multitasking

As you can see, this functionality is available for both phones and tablets alike.

    Android Wear 2.0: 

With this update, you can now use your watch independent of your smartphone. Well, amongst other features. Pretty cool, huh?

     Virtual Reality: 

You've probably heard of Google Cardboard or even used one. How impressed were you? Not very, I'm sure. Well, get ready to be wowed! Google came back and I daresay with a bang! Their own VR headset is so cool that it comes with a remote controller - I'm serious.

Told you, I was serious. This is still a prototype though; but I'm sure a fully working model is not too far away - although, there was a demo of this at the I/O. The best part is Day Dream is a big part of this. No, I'm not talking about your phone staying awake while charging. I'm talking about the platform that Google's virtual reality runs on. There is a lot to be done with this and I sure am hyped already!

Messaging: 

A part of me sure hoped that Google would make a do-it-all messaging app; but, no! They just had to break it into two separate apps! One is called Allo while the other is Duo .
Allo is a texting app while Duo is for video calls. I'll go into details in a separate post. For now, just know that Google is not backing out of the messaging war.

I'll get into details on each of these in subsequent posts; so do stay tuned!
PS: If you would like to suggest the next Android Name; head on to https://android.com/n. A part of me can't help but think that Google already knows what to name Android N; but are waiting  for someone to suggest it so they can say "We went with what you suggested!". Nice try Google. Maybe that's just the paranoia talking.

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Instabridge: The network of WiFi Passwords

Internet connectivity is still a challenge in the world as a whole. Subscribing for data plans and stuff at times can be uhm, not so favorable to your pockets. So many people opted to hooking up to WiFi hotspots around them, which gave rise to another problem: most of them are password protected.

Hackers have been doing some research on bypassing these security measures and have succeeded to an extent but the main solution making waves right now is a user driven network where users upload passwords of WiFi networks they've connected to then the system creates a map of these WiFi networks and their passwords.

 So in essence, if this network grows big enough, we'll you might be able to hook up almost any WiFi network for free. For all those who have to pay good money for their data plans, I suggest you change your WiFi passwords regularly ;). Share this post(at your discretion). Download the app for Android here.From all indications, this is limited to Android users only(I stand to be corrected though), If you see a link for iOS or Blackberry or even Windows Phone, feel free to share! 

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Injoo launches new phones before Jumia Mobile Megathon

Injoo, one of the partners of the mobile megathon week has decided to do a prelaunch before the d-day(or d-week if you like). They sent a mail to everyone present at the tech bloggers round table on the 14th of this month. So I was lucky to get an invite to the launch(thanks to Seun of JustNaira.com) so I will be keeping you posted on the phones released (which from all indications, is in preparation for the mobile meagthon). It is scheduled to hold on the 21st of May 2015 at Trinity Mall, Awolowo way. The program is scheduled to kick off by 18:00(WAT). The devices that will be unveiled are still a mystery but well, that's why I'm going there ain't it? Stay tuned for updates! Don't forget to share this post with your friends who you think should know about this event!

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Jumia and MTN Nigeria partner to host Mobile megathon 2015

Remember black Friday last year? The insane price slashes? Well Jumia has decided to expand it to last 1 week and they collaborated with MTN to host this year's version. The Mobile Megathon is going to be the biggest smartphone sale of the year 2015 is they do what they promised at the tech bloggers round table on the 14th of May. Mr Jonathan Doerr, the MD of Jumia Nigeria re-affirmed this at the West African Bloggers Conference 2015 on day 2. He also put forward a challenge for bloggers out there to write about Jumia and get attention and they stand a chance to win a few things:
1. A full day on the top banner of Linda Ikeji's blog: Yeah, he said it would be fully paid for by Jumia. Just imagine the audience this would get you as a blogger. According to him, Linda Ikeji's blog has about half a million impressions.
2. A massive discount on Jumia products through a voucher code.
3. An exclusive invite to the official Jumia-MTN press conference where the phones from their mobile partners would be unvieled and the precise percentage slash that would be allowed during the Mobile Megathon.
I'll be at the press conference so I'll make sure you are among the first to get the details of this once a year freebie(kinda). Don't forget to share this post with friends and tell me what you think about this Mobile Megathon.

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It's official, Google I/O's date and time released

Google's biggest event of the year the I/O holds annually and this year is no different. This year's episode (the key note actually) holds on the 28th of May, 2015 at 12:30PM (ET); that's 9:30AM PT and is scheduled to last for 2.5 hours which is just a tad shorter that the recent Microsoft's three hour Keynote. I'll try to keep you updated with a blog post and I'll try to get some info on how to stream the event for those who want to. Stay tuned! We don't know what Google will announce at this year's I/O keynote.

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Etisalat Launches a 1k for 1GB data plan

We all know that the prices for data bundles pegged by our ISPs are a little exorbitant but for the past few months, more affordable data bundles are being brought into play: amongst them are the MTN reseller bundle which lets you buy 1GB of data for as low as 1,200NGN. Now, Etisalat has introduced a 1GB data bundle for 1K (which in my opinion is a compensation for the discontinuation of the PAYG plan). Below is a screenshot of the text message I got:

You would think that with such a great data bundle and at a relatively affordable price, they would go all out with adverts and publicity and what not but contrary to that , they went "low-key". Probably, they'll create more awareness later on or probably they have some aces up their sleeves. Till then, I'll just enjoy it while it lasts.

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Have the 2 top tech giants come to a truce?

We’ve witnessed the tense hostility between the leading mobile tech companies (Apple and Google). Apple doesn’t like other tech companies “copying” them in whatever way; else, they’ll have to sort it out in court. Now rumors have it that Google’s mobile division (Android) is working on a way to make their smart watches work on iOS devices (yeah, they really wanna do it). But the problem is not if Google CAN do it, it’s whether or not Apple will let them do it (why?) Apple is a megalomaniac. This was proven in their T & C’s which expressly stated that the mere mention of other Operating Systems in their apps or devices is strictly prohibited! This rule still remains in place and Google’s watch is called well Google watch; get it? So the only way this will work (note that this is just my personal opinion though) is either if Google changes their watch’s name or if Apple revises their T & C’s (which is less feasible).

On another note, taking a look at Android L’s source code shows some semblance to Apple’s codes. So there is a chance that these tech giants have been “borrowing” each other’s codes (or is it just a one way street?) because Android is open source while iOS is not. Now with Microsoft making it possible to run iOS and Android apps on Windows 10... well, that's another story entirely.

For now, these are just rumors in the tech universe (nothing solid yet); so I'll keep my ears to the ground and get in contact with my sources to keep you updated. Keep visiting for more updates! Cheerio!

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