Google will bring low cost phones to india by september october

Google announced Wednesday it was working on a low-cost smartphone aimed at emerging markets as part of an initiative called Android One.

The Android-powered handset will be built with a basic set of features including FM radio, have a screen slightly smaller than five inches (12.7 centimeters) and be priced at less than $100, Google senior vice president Sundar Pichai said at the start of the technology giant's annual developers conference.

"We are going to be launching it around the world, but will launch in India first in the fall of this year," Pichai said.

He added that Google was working with carriers in India to provide affordable telecom service packages to go with the smartphones, which could in many cases provide internet access for the first time.

The Android One initiative sets out to work with smartphone makers and others in the "ecosystem" to pool resources and standardize hardware platforms to provide "turnkey solutions" for making handsets, according to Pichai.

"There are many people — billions of people, in fact — who still don't have access to a smartphone," he said.

"We want to change that." Low-cost phones powered by Android have proven popular in developing markets, but have been vexed by "fragmentation" because handset makers customize the software to suit different hardware or set themselves apart from rivals.

The variations result in popular third-party applications typically not working across the array of Android devices, frustrating users who want the latest fun, hip or helpful mobile mini-programme.

Android One software for low-priced smartphones in emerging countries could bring some consistency across devices, according to Gartner consumer technology research director Brian Blau.

"Google really needs to have a solution for emerging markets with low-cost devices," Blau told AFP.

"It is going to be a long, tough road to have an impact there; it is going to take years to bring the next two to three billion people onto the internet."

Google is collaborating with handset makers and others in the industry to field affordable smartphones that are high quality and come with reasonably priced data plans.

Handsets will be made by Google partners and launch with an initial range of "sub-$100" smartphones.

"We've long wondered what potential could be unleashed if people everywhere had access to the latest technology and the world's information," Pichai said. "It's time to find out."

Google and Silicon Valley rival Facebook have made priorities out of connecting with people in parts of the world where internet connectivity is scan, unreliable or just non-existent.

Having more people tune into websites or services mean expanded opportunities to make money from online advertising or providing tools that connect shops with customers.

Google does not make money from hardware, with its own branded gadgets meant to set standards and show off software capabilities with an eye toward inspiring electronics manufacturers to raise their games when it comes to Android or Chrome devices.

Developing countries have become prime targets for smartphone makers, and Android software made available free to handset makers has proven to be popular with budget-conscious buyers.

The news came a day after Microsoft said it would sell an Android-powered Nokia smartphone at a price of $135, a device also apparently aimed at emerging markets customers.

In April, Google acquired Titan Aerospace, a maker of solar-powered drones that could be used to boost internet access to remote areas.

Google also is developing Project Loon, which uses large balloons for transmitting internet signals to regions that are not currently connected.

"They are to some degree becoming an ISP (Internet service provider) because they have to," Blau

-TOI

Review about Film The World Before Her

Durga Vahini is the female counterpart of the Bajrang Dal, a subsidiary of the Hindu nationalist organisationVishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). If you think you know about this extremist group from media coverage, that’s not the half of it. 

A young Indian girl at a militant training camp proclaims, "We have learned to use guns and we'll use them if we have to. We will kill people if we need to". Another young child, attending the camp for the first time, is seen wearing jeans, a rebellious attitude and a mischievous grin. After ten days at Durga Vahini, she is ready to kill for her country.

Nisha Pahuja’s documentary The World Before Her chronicles the inner workings of Durga Vahini to stunning effect. Four years in the making and extensively researched, Pahuja’s crew was the first to be allowed inside the camp. The cameras follow the lives of Prachi, a twenty-year-old trainer at Durga Vahini, and a number of Miss India (2011) contestants.

The film then goes back and forth between the camp and India’s fashion industry – two worlds that contrast, and surprisingly, even draw parallels at times. It’s a classic ‘nationalist’ point of view versus the ‘Westernised’. But what stands out is that the film is never judgmental about any of the practices or the characters in either world. Prachi has no qualms about killing Gandhi or people of other religions who attack Hinduism, and manages to terrorise even her fellow Durga Vahini members. Pahuja somehow manages to create empathy for Prachi, who is really just a victim of a long-standing social campaign to brainwash women for political mileage.

For all their collective bravado, Prachi and the beauty pageant contestants emerge as distinct and formidable personalities, who seem to be undergoing a personal transformation as the camera rolls. The film includes some seriously disturbing video clips of the camp as well as some unsettling behind-the-scenes expose of the modeling industry. The flood of images will be mostly new to Indian audiences, including copious scenes from the camp’s ‘classrooms’. Pahuja smoothly establishes the contrast between impassioned idealism and the cynical machinery of the state. Prachi’s father is cheerfully antagonistic and is very open about teaching kids about the ‘bad guys’ of the country – Christians and Muslims. But the most revealing moments come from the candid conversations with the protagonists.

When asked if the camp is a terrorist factory, Prachi casually replies that they don’t have AK-47 rifles so it can’t possibly be a terrorist camp. Amazingly, the film is quite entertaining. The music is pretty catchy and the film at most times is a really dark comedy, albeit a hard-hitting one. Somewhat unconvincing is the mild generalisation on Hindu terrorists and miscreants, and that’s disappointing given the persistently non-judgmental fact-based nature of the rest of the film. But the filmmakers adroitly make up for that, and add a crucial humanising element, by focusing on some of the pageant contestant’s parents. The film’s most touching moment comes when a mother reveals that her husband wanted to dispose of their girl child, and the child went on to achieve massive success. It’s when you realise that The World Before Her is one of the most important, skillfully made and powerfully provocative films to come in a long time.

- FP, FB