Google Unveils Android Lollipop

On Oct. 15, a 10-foot-tall statue of a lollipop joined sculptures of an ice cream sandwich, a chocolate doughnut, and other confections on Google’s (GOOG) campus in Mountain View, Calif. This was how news came of the latest major update to Android, the operating system that runs on 85 percent of the world’s smartphones: not with a hyped press conference or long lines outside gadget stores, but with the installation of an oversize lawn ornament. 

Lollipop is the 13th major version of Android. But it’s the first to be fully developed under Sundar Pichai, the Google senior vice president and confidant of Chief Executive Officer Larry Page who took over the OS operation last year. Along with Lollipop, Pichai introduced three Google-designed devices, including the supersize Nexus 6 smartphone, manufactured by Motorola with a gigantic 6-inch screen, half an inch bigger than the one on the iPhone 6 Plus. Pichai hopes the phone will be the first of a series of new Lollipop-powered computers in living rooms, cars, and just about everywhere else. “We aren’t only trying to ship two [products],” he says, obliquely referring to rival Apple’s (AAPL) well-received pair of new iPhones. “We are trying to enable thousands.”

Lollipop has arrived at an unusually important moment in Google’s attempt to control the next generation of computing devices. Samsung (005930:KS), Google’s largest partner, warned on Oct. 6 that it expects to miss its quarterly sales targets because of price cuts on its phones. In Europe, regulators are examining whether Google violates antitrust law by forcing manufacturers that use Android to preinstall its apps, which Google denies. Meanwhile, Apple has gotten rave reviews for iOS 8 as well as for its hot-selling iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. On Oct. 16, Apple will convene the media to ooh and aah over new iPads. With the new version of Android, Google “has to overcome concerns that there is not parity between Android’s ecosystem and iOS,” says James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research.

Lollipop is Google’s answer to the ominous rumblings in Android land. It’s a svelte OS, capable of running on 512 megabytes of memory, which means that even the cheap phones spreading through China and India can pack in Android’s latest features. (Older versions used considerably more memory.) Lollipop’s look, called “material design,” uses moving icons and shifting font sizes in an effort to more clearly organize information onscreen. It also attempts for the first time to standardize and connect the interfaces of a user’s various Android devices, including a new set-top box that plays Web video on a TV.

Motorola’s Nexus 6 smartphone has a sleek, curved aluminum back and a crisp screen. The company says it can run for hours after charging for just 15 minutes. The phone will go on sale (subsidized) at all major U.S. carriers by the end of the year, when an unlocked version will sell online (fully priced) for $649. Pichai studiously avoids using the word “phablet” but says the Nexus 6 screen was a response to consumer demand. Large-screen phones now make up 25 percent of Android devices, up from 1 percent three years ago, according to researcher Strategy Analytics. It’s unclear whether customers who now have a supersize option from Apple will still flock to an Android version.

Visit Us : @ Hyperjet