What #GoogleforIndia means to India’s Aam Aadmi

The big ‘breaking’ news today is Google providing free Wi-Fi services at 100 railway stations in India by the end of 2016. Next came ‘Google’s hiring!’ with the new upcoming campus in Hyderabad. Last but not the least was Project Loon and the rural internet programme that aims to connect women from across 3,00,000 villages in 3 years.

However, what many missed in the ‘breaking news’ scuffle were the finer details that affect the common man – the aam admi.

BI India looks at #GoogleforIndia to decode what it means to a majority of the country’s population:

Bharat can Search:
Google would now be available in several new regional languages. It’ll allow input in regional languages and recognize your voice in the same. It’s much more optimized, so would work better on 2G.

Pages have been streamlined. These would ensure they load 4X faster and consume 80% less data while they garner 50% more traffic. The Data Saver Mode is already available.

Careers:
It’s fine if you’re not planning to join Google. The YouTube Space in Mumbai’s Whistling Woods would offer content creators free advice and allow them to collaborate with others of their kind.

Google is partnering with several institutions to train over 2 million Android developers in the next 3 years. IF you’ve got an interesting idea, but can build an app, this must be good news!

Google Translate:
Google’s Translation engine currently handles over 1 million words per second. While Android is currently available in over 50 languages currently, there are a few interesting features coming up soon.

Tap to Translate allows you to translate English to Hindi and vice-versa in real time. It appears as a widget, so no need to log out of your WhatsApp conversation while you translate. It also recognizes Hindi in English letters. The product is slated for an early Q1 2016 launch.

Google also unveiled a Beta feature where you can point your cell-phone camera at Hindi text, and it’ll translate it to English in real time. The company is looking to extend these services to offer other languages soon.

Looks like App, but isn’t:
Looks like the eternal ‘App or Not to App’ debate is over. Cut to Progressive Web Apps. These mobile browser experiences would look and feel as native as apps without the hassle to install bulky apps from Play Store. Flipkart Lite is an example. The company mentioned that it’s working with other players, and is ‘looking forward to working with android developers across India’. What does it mean to you? You get a lot of free memory on your phone!

ChromeBit:
The only physical product launched at #GoogleforIndia, ChromeBit is scheduled for launch in Jan 2016 at a price of Rs. 7,999. The country currently has over 57 million old PCs which are on its last pins.

Just plug in a ChromeBit into an old PC or TV, and you can transform it into a modern computer that can handle basic operations.

Image credit: Indiatimes