Google, H-P Discuss Android Assistant for the Workplace

As the smartphone battle between Google and Apple moves into the corporate world, Google’s Android unit has been talking to Hewlett-Packard and others about enabling the Google Now “virtual assistant” to be used as a new type of search tool for corporate data, according to three people who have been involved or briefed on the talks.

The idea is for employees to be able to ask their Android device for company information such as financial data or product inventory information in the same way they do routine personal searches for weather, traffic or restaurant locations. Google search doesn’t currently offer any such integration with corporate databases and software applications, but it’s an area Google has looked at as it tries to chip away at the iPhone’s lead among business customers.  






Source : theinformation.com

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HP to launch Android phone in near future, says source

On Christmas Eve, word surfaced of plans by HP to launch two smartphones by the year's end, something that didn't pan out but could add substance to the newest rumor that has cropped up. According to a source that spoke to the folks over at 9to5Google, HP plans to launch an inexpensive Android smartphone as early as next week, though a more narrowed-down launch date hasn't been specified.

According to the source, who is said to be someone from inside HP, the smartphone will be an inexpensive Android offering priced somewhere around $200 USD and slated for release in multiple markets, the exact number of which wasn't specified. HP hasn't said anything in a public fashion, but the source says the launch could end up being as soon as next week barring any unexpected delays.

The source says the project has been a year and a half in the making, and is being run by HP's senior vice president of mobility Alberto Torres. As far as the phone itself goes, the device is said to have "obvious cost cutting measures" in order to achieve its low price point, and to resemble in nature Samsung's Galaxy Note. The price falls in line with the details that surfaced last year, despite no phone being launched near the year's end.

According to that information, which had surfaced by way of The Information, the smartphone would be a 6-inch offering priced at $200 USD without contract. That same report also stated there was a second one in the making, and that it would be larger at a massive 7-inches with a price tag of $250 USD sans contract.






SOURCE: 9to5Google

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HP rumored to launch two Android phablets by year’s end

Hewlett-Packard may or may not release two brand new smartphones by the end of 2013, reported The Information today by way of The Verge. That gives the computing company eight days to make rumors come true. The phones -- for which no leaked or officially sanctioned images exist to our knowledge -- are expected to be a 6-inch "phablet" and a 7-inch phablet.

By "phablet" we mean either a huge phone or a small tablet. The origin for today's rumor is -- surprise, surprise -- "sources". Both products are expected to run Android, not HP's webOS.

Previously, HP launched and soon thereafter shuttered its webOS smartphone ambitions with the Pre3 (see hero image above) and the itty-bitty Veer (see below). The phones couldn't compete against the Apple-Samsung near-duopoly in the global smartphone marketplace, let alone claw past the likes of HTC, Sony and LG.

An image and benchmarks for a possible HP Android smartphone surfaced in July 2013, only to be briskly denied by an HP representative as false. "Someone is making stuff up," the representative said in a tiny statement.

The two rumored phones now under discussion will be released in emerging markets first, specifically India, China and the Philippines. The prices are pegged in the range of $200-250 USD off-contract.

Eight days. Clock's ticking. We'll see if The Information's sources pan out and let you know if anything emerges.




SOURCE: The Information
VIA: The Verge

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