At the second edition of Google for India event held in New Delhi, the search giant announced five India-centric products. These include YouTube Go, the Google Assistant in Hindi inside messaging app Allo, faster browsing for Google Play on 2G connections, the Google Station Wi-Fi platform and new data-saving features in Google Chrome for mobile.
After the success of Google’s partnership with RailTel and Indian Railways to provide Wi-Fi at railway stations in India and 52 stations now providing high-quality Internet to 3.5 million people each month, the tech giant has announced a hotspot product called Google Station. Under this programme, the network operators, malls, universities, transit stations, and cafes etc. can sign up with Google against payment for setting up high-quality, user-friendly Wi-Fi.
Google also announced fast browsing in Google Play for 2G users and other low-bandwidth connections. Fast browsing uses preloading on Wi-Fi to load the most popular parts of Google Play quickly. And when a user on a low-bandwidth connection chooses to install an app, Google Play will offer a new “Wait for Wi-Fi” option where the app will only install when the phone next connects to Wi-Fi. Fast browsing has been launched as an experiment exclusively to Play users in India.
A preview of the Google Assistant will be launched in Hindi by the end of 2016 inside the newly launched Allo messaging app. The Google Assistant lets users have a conversation with Google, which can help them get things done.
Various new features of Chrome has also been announced to addresss data constraints in Indoa. Data Saver mode — which reduces the amount of data Chrome uses on Android mobile devices, computers, and Chromebooks — will now support MP4 videos, saving up to over two-thirds (67%) of video data. Chrome on Android will now also automatically optimize pages to their essentials when 2G-like networks are detected. These simplified pages load up to 2X faster, saving more than 90% of data usage.
Chrome on Android’s new Download feature will now allow users to save web pages, videos, music, or pictures. Downloaded items can be easily accessed in Chrome’s new downloads tab, even when offline. And if users go offline before the download is complete, the process will automatically resume next time they’re connected.
About the features of YouTube Go, please read : https://goo.gl/Hvr8to
Caesar Sengupta, Vice-President, Next Billion Users, said at the Google event, “Our goal has not just been to help more Indians get online — but also to help Indians create the online experience they want; one that serves their needs and enables them to have an impact on the entire world. So we have been thinking about how to build products and services for this wave of new users — products that work for any level of connectivity, in local Indian languages, and across the devices that are most frequently used in India.”
