Technology is truly growing for the better. And Google, Inc. is pushing hard to be in the forefront of the change. The company is now doing everything they can to show they are ready to fill nearly every tech gap imaginable. If you’re a user of any of Google’s products, then you no doubt notice that their offerings are starting to be everywhere. Google started off by distinguishing itself as the undisputed titan of search. With it’s PageRank system, users found finding what they were looking for incredibly easy and even enjoyable. The user interface was very simple. An almost blank page with a search book and the company brand. It’s amazing how something so simple has turned into something that is powerful and can do so much. Google integrated advertising cleverly in with their search results. This allowed them to make money from businesses who would pay to get their ads more noticed. Smart move, Google, smart move. Then Google started a vision, make technology work for everyone and bring everything a user needs directly from the cloud and not tied to any one device. And the following is how Google is realizing that vision and continuing that vision.
Of course, everyone knows about email. Google saw that with Hotmail, Yahoo and AOL Mail on the block, customers could use one more choice. Gmail hit the market and has nearly levelled the playing field. Thanks to a constantly evolving interface that is easy to use and intuitive, nearly limitless storage, and tight integration with other Google products, Google puts itself right up with the likes of Hotmail/Outlook. The difference is winning Google more users as government entities and schools are now migrating to Google’s mail and app suite due to it being more cost effective and easier to use with less hassle.
Google then turned its eye toward the Smartphone market. Apple, Inc was doing its best to conquer all with their iPhone. They had a pretty impressive set of offerings thanks to iTunes having already been established. Google, nevertheless, fought back and introduced Android OS Thanks to eager manufacturers, managed to gradually get the attention of Smartphone users all over the world. After refining Android over and over, it has become a powerhouse that controls the market. Manufacturers were able to put their own spin on Android OS due to the OS being open source. This helps the consumer because they can simply enjoy the version of the Android OS that suits their fancy. Whether it be HTC, Samsung, Sony or LG with Google’s own Nexus phone, a consumer is bound to find a version they enjoy using. Also, because Android OS is open source, application developers have found it easy to make programs for Android with the only downfall being needing make sure that their apps are scalable to different screen sizes and processing power/RAM amounts. Now that Android is no longer a newbie on the block, Google could focus on toppling the internet in a different way.
If Smartphones with Android brought attention to Google, it wasn’t enough. Google didn’t stop there, they introduced their own web browser to combat the likes of Apple’s Safari, Mozilla’s Firefox and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Thus, Google Chrome was born. Ah, Google Chrome, from such humble beginnings Chrome gained steam and flourished into what is now an entirely different wing of offerings from Google. Most of the offerings have the Chrome branding. I’m sure you know them. Google Chrome worked itself into Google’s strategy for everything being done and managed in the cloud. So much so that Google created Chrome OS, a scaled down operating system based purely on doing everything you need via the web with nothing installed locally on your hardware other than the browser itself. I can say after being a full time Acer C720P Chromebook user for a while now, it works and does what I need to and has been a breeze from the cloud. Chromebooks and Chromeboxes have been catching on with users, businesses, schools and government. They represent ease of use and low maintenance with a high return on value by being always up-to-date and secure. Users can spend less time updating and waiting and more time getting things done. I know this to be true because I’m living it with everything synced between my Chromebook, Android tablet and Android phone. Not too long ago Google added Chromecast to the mix, allowing users to stream the internet to their TVs with just a $35 dollar device. Chromecast is hitting the UK now and the users have been waiting for it with gusto. Chromecast has been getting more integration tweaks so that it plays nicely with others and Google recently opened up the development kit to developers so that more apps and functionality can come to it. As a Chromecast user myself, I can’t wait.
And just when you thought that was it and figured Google couldn’t push the bar higher, with a new wearable technology. Google Glass, which has only been available to a small niche of users, was introduced and showed the world what happens when you have nearly limitless resources and a ton of innovative talent behind your company. Google Glass is a wearable computer that allows you to see information, take pictures and video and more using your right and your voice. Amazing, right? Technology has come a long way and I see Google Glass having a lot of applications in many different fields of business, education and public safety.
With all of this innovation, Google has kept consistent with pushing out SDKs and APIs to help developers keep their products ahead of the competition. Google Now was one such tweak allowing users to simply ask their device about things and watch it go to work connecting the information they were looking for with their life. So with all of this, one has to wonder what could be next? Smartwatches and other wearable technology. Google Glass has opened the door to a whole new world and Smartwatches are the current focal point. Google recently announced Android Wear. Android Wear will be a toned down version of Android designed to be placed in Smartwatches and will allow you to do the things you do with your Smartphone but without the need to drag your phone out all of the time in order to do it. I personally like the idea. It has a lot of potential and with Samsung and their Tizen OS on their Smartwatches, Google needed to put something out there to keep the competition at bay.
All in all, this is a wise move by Google and will pay dividends as Android Wear matures and meshes well with the rest of Google’s offerings. As the tech gets more advanced, users will be able to use not only their Smartphones, but also their Google Glass or Android Wear watches to be able to control their houses (remember Google recently aquired Nest?), cars, televisions, Chromecast, laptops and more. I’m sure you get the picture that the possibilities are endless. I think combined with everything else that Google is doing, especially through Google Glass, the users out there are going to see some pretty amazing things.So what do you think about Google getting in on the wearables game with Android Wear? Please leave your interesting comments in the section below or on our Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ pages. Keep it locked to Android Headlines for more news and reviews.