With the ever-increasing mobile phone usage, utilizing the device for promoting business is a smart idea. With more than 2.5 billion active users on the Android platform, businesses are keen on releasing apps that are compatible with this platform. Moreover, the number of Android users is increasing steadily. If you don’t want to miss out on the massive customer base, you will need to release efficient yet reliable android apps.

Advantages of android app development for business

There are different benefits that you can gain from android app development. That way, you can give a boost to your brand with ease.

Take a look at some of the advantages –

• Rapid deployment

The quick development cycle of android apps enhances the appeal of the platform to business organizations. These last for a short period of time and give the companies an edge over the others in the market. It can be released into the market without much delay. This is one of the most essential benefits of android app development.

• Cost-effective

One of the biggest advantages that you can get from android app development is high ROI. The availability of the Android SDK makes it easy for developers to create interactive, dynamic, and reliable apps. For this, the developers will need to pay a registration fee. As it is a one-time payment, you won’t have to make any investment in that matter again. That way, you can cut down the investment costs significantly.

• Open-source

The Android community offers an excellent advantage to the developers. You can get your hands on the open-source technology that enables you to develop applications with varied requirements. Moreover, developers can interact with the active community and know more about the new expansions on the way. That adds to the increasing benefits of Android app development.

• Various sales channels

The usage of multiple sales channels for android app marketing makes it even more appealing to customers. Here, one can opt for a third-party application marketplace. Moreover, it is also easy to develop sales and distribution channels of your own. With the best promotional strategies, you can reach out to a wide range of users via multiple channels.

• Easy integration

Do you want to customize an existing app? Are you searching for complex customizations for your android app project? In that case, an android app is the easiest solution for developers. It is easy to make changes to the app as per the changing market demands and business needs. Moreover, you can use the background processes that aid in the easy integration of the apps.

• High scalability

With the availability of the Android Studio, the platform has gained an increase in the adaptability and flexibility aspects. Moreover, it integrates with the android ecosystem such as smartphones, TV, wearables, and more.

• In-built security

With Android, developers get access to a wide range of security features. This leads to the development of apps that offer adequate protection against viruses and malware. The reliability of the android apps is undeniable.

Conclusion

These are the different benefits you can attain from android app development. If you want to give a boost to your business, opting for android app development is an excellent idea. You can enjoy the multiple benefits without heavy investments. However, for the best results, you need to hire the best android app development company. For more details on our services, check out all our services: https://www.goodworklabs.com/  

Xamarin is the undisputed leader in cross-platform development

With a boom in the use of smartphones among customers, application development has been growing at a rapid pace. Different devices, carriers, and software have created their own identity in the everyday lives of people around the globe. Almost anything gets done with the help of a smartphone.

In terms of global market share, Android tops the list. The next in line is Apple’s iOS and Windows, respectively. As a mobile app developer, it gets confusing at times to choose the best platform for an application, other than its native platform.

Learning a new language, the API’s, and other related stuff is not only tedious but can keep you stuck on your platform. Xamarin can help you there. You can build cross-platform mobile applications to facilitate similar functions like platform native apps.

Know Xamarin

Xamarin is the name of a software company founded in the year 2011. Acquired in 2016 by Microsoft, Xamarin provides tools to developers to help them create cross-platform mobile applications. All these applications have their natural features intact while sharing a standard code set at the same time.

Xamarin tools are readily available, and they get downloaded with Visual Studio. You can directly develop apps for Android, iOS, and Windows apps from the Visual Studio itself.

A significant part of the standard code gets written in C#, eliminating the need to learn any other language like Objective-C, Swift, or Java as well. Using Xamarin instead of the usual learning procedure will prove helpful to you in learning app development on multiple platforms.

How Does Xamarin Work?

On a very elementary level, Xamarin converts the total iOS or Android SDK to C# to facilitate coding in a more familiar language for the developers. With one style to code for both platforms, you do not need to remember too much of syntax as well.

This makes it easy to access any Android or iOS API through Xamarin tools.

Benefits of Xamarin

There are several reasons Xamarin is used by a lot of companies, with brands like Trello, Slack, and GitHub a few of the ones.

We bring you some of these profound benefits Xamarin has over other technologies-

– Single Tech Stack for Coding on All Platforms

Xamarin takes the help of C# integrated with a.Net framework for creating apps for a mobile platform. Through this, you get to reuse about 96 percent of source code leading to a speedy engineering cycle. Xamarin also does not need to switch among the development environments.

All of the Xamarin apps can be entirely built in Visual Studio, a replacement for the Xamarin Studio. The tools to facilitate cross-platform development come without any added cost.

– Performance Almost as Good as Native

With the traditional hybrid solutions based on web technologies, a cross-platform app can never get the classification as native. With Xamarin, however, a cross-platform app can still get classified as a native app. The performance metrics can be easily compared with those of Java for Android and even Objective- C, or Swift to create a native app for iOS.

The performance of Xamarin is also improved continuously to meet the standards of native application development. Visual Studio provides a total option to build, test, and track the performance of an app.

– Native User Experience

With Xamarin, you can create a superb experience with the help of platform-specific UI elements. A lot of simple apps for iOS, Android, and Windows get designed with the help of Xamarin.

The use of Xamarin with the Forms tool brings about a significant increase in the pace of application development. With such a speedy process of development, it becomes a fantastic option for business-oriented projects.

However, you might always have the chance to see a slightly depleted performance, due to the presence of an extra abstraction layer. For a customized user interface and increased performance, you can use Xamarin for iOS and Android separately to get the best out of it.

– Total Hardware Support

Xamarin provides your solution with native-level app functions. The tool eliminates every hardware compatibility issue through plugins and particular API’s. This allows Xamarin to work with conventional device functionality across all platforms.

With access to platform specific API’s, Xamarin provides the function of linking native libraries. It gives a better degree of customization and a native-level functionality with just a little added cost.

– Open Sourced with Strong Corporate Support

When Microsoft acquired Xamarin in the year 2016, the licensing policies underwent quite a lot of significant changes. Xamarin SDK, with runtime, command line tools, and libraries have all become open sourced and available as per MIT license through Visual Studio.

The cost of license tends to be a significant barrier, and by eliminating this, Microsoft opened up the doors to further development of this platform.

– Ease in maintenance

Because of its cross-platform ability, Xamarin makes maintenance and providing updates easier. Developers can deploy the changes or updates to the source file itself. These updates then automatically get applied to both the iOS and Android applications.

It is important to note that this only works for the applications running on Xamarin. In short, with Xamarin, you save a lot of time and money spent on keeping your apps up to date.

Conclusion

Ones above are just a few benefits of Xamarin for mobile app development, there’s a lot more which makes Xamarin the undisputed leader in cross-platform development. The feature-rich layout and subsequent benefits make Xamarin an almost perfect option for cross-platform development.

Additionally, Xamarin has a community of more than 700,000 developers. This number is only increasing as collaboration and enhancement of software becomes more comfortable than ever with Xamarin as the app development tool.

At GoodWorkLabs we’ve highly skilled developers who’ve delivered critical solutions based applications, for enterprises from different domains.

Please write to us today at [email protected] to discuss your requirements.

Best Automation Testing Tools

Automation testing means evaluating the software programs and running execution of test cases automatically, thus producing test results without any human intervention. It is one step ahead of man-made testing. It saves physical efforts and helps in saving time up to a great extent and it also leaves no or very less scope for errors in testing.

Once set for running, automated tests can be run any number of times to test the same application, thus minimizing redundant physical work of humans.

In this post, we have outlined 6 automation software testing tools that can greatly increase your productivity.

 The most popular automation testing tools are:

1. Selenium

Selenium is an automation source tool which is used for automating the tests for business carried out on web browsers. Since Selenium is open-source and is free, there is no licensing cost involved, which is a major advantage over other testing tools. 

 Other reasons behind Selenium’s ever-growing popularity are:

1. In any programming language, its script can be written: Java, Python, C#, PHP, Ruby, Perl &.Net.
2. Tests can be solved on any of these OS: Windows, Mac or Linux.
3. Tests can be solved using any browser: Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari or Opera.
4. It can be used to test a web application.
5. There is no reporting facility in selenium but we can overcome this problem by integrating it with frameworks like TestNG or JUnit.

2. Test Complete

Test Complete is a functional automated testing platform developed by Smart Bear. The software completely gives testers the ability to create automated tests. It runs on Microsoft Windows, Web, Android (Operating system), and iOS applications. Tests can be recorded, solved and manually created with keyword-driven operations and used for automated playback and error logging.

Test Complete contains three modules:

1. Desktop
2. Web
3. Mobile

Each of the above modules contains functionality for creating automated tests on that specialized platform. Test Complete is used for testing different applications, different types of computer tools including Web, Windows, Android, iOS, WPF, HTML5, Flash, Flex, Silverlight, .NET, VCL and JAVA. It performs functional testing and back-end testing like database testing.

It helps in creating, executing and making automated text across the desktop, web, and mobile applications easy, speedy, and cost-effective.  Some of the key features of it are:-

1. Industry-leading object recognition.
2. Support of 7 different scripting languages.
3. The ability to record robust-automated tests without scripting knowledge.

3. QMetry Automation Studio

QMetry Automation Studio leverages an open-source test automation framework like Selenium and Opium to bring structure, efficiency, and reliability to your automated testing efforts. This studio enables advanced automation with coded automation and allows manual testers to transition into automated testing easily with script-less automation.

The management supports typical testing scenarios like mobile barcode scanning, touch ID, location spoofing and many more. As a result, QMetry Automation Studio is well-suited for micro-services type application with various complex components for automated testing.

QMetry is tailor-made for agile testing and develops teams to deliver better quality software faster, with confidence. It simplifies the creation, maintenance, and management of test libraries and seamlessly integrates with major platforms.

4. Testim.io

Testim.io leverages machine learning for the authoring, execution, and maintenance of automated test business cases. They use dynamic locators and learn with every execution. The result is very fast authoring and through constant tests, the platform learns and eliminates the need to continually maintain tests with every code change.

Testis, a Heavy bit portfolio company, has dual offices in San Francisco and Israel (R&D) and is backed by Spider Capital (A purify, Pager Duty), Foundation Capital and other U.S. based investors.

Testim.io effectively removes the falseness of the automation suites and is committed to helping engineering teams in making application testing autonomous and integrative to their agile development cycle.

Testis’ self-learning tests adapt to code changes, eliminating a big portion of maintenance overhead. Organizations which are using it spend more of their efforts on developing new functionality as opposed to testing, without compromising quality.

5. Cypress

Cypress tests are used to test anything that runs in a browser. The Cypress test runner is formed to handle modern JavaScript frameworks as well. We have hundreds of projects using the latest frameworks like React, Angular, etc. It also works equally well on server-applied applications. It records test-runs in continuous relation so that you can understand failures and share results with your team.

Cypress has one of the best design principles which include packaging and bundling everything together to make the entire end-to-end testing experience really pleasant and simple for developers. It is open source with paid features. This test runner is everything that we can do on our local computers. It takes a different approach since it’s actually executed in the same run loop as our applications. This will let you natively access every single object without having to deal with object serialization or over-the-wire products.

6. HP Quality Center Enterprise (QC)

Integrated quality management software is one which helps you to standardize testing, engineer for enhancement, and fixes problems to improve quality. It delivers applications fast with confidence and courage. It provides a comprehensive, unified, and extensible software quality platform.

You can implement your entire quality and logistic testing and establish consistent, repeatable processes for managing all aspects of software quality. This extraordinary, unified platform helps you possess a complete IT quality management infrastructure, establish consistent, repeatable processes and applies the best practices for all business applications.

Assets sharing and reusability allowed HP quality center enterprise to deliver bug-free and reliable applications. It helps to maintain consistent QA procedures across the application lifecycle by standardizing testing. Thus, the integrated approach of HP quality center helps to monitor performance, fix defects, and reduce making costs.

Thus these are some very powerful and reliable automation testing software tools that you can use for your business applications. Aim for shorter development cycles with automated testing.

Hybrid Mobile App Development

In 2019, the number of mobile phone users is estimated to reach 4.68 billion.  Hence, this is enough reason to stress the importance of having an online presence in the form of mobile apps. Now the next and major question is which approach to choose for app development, native or hybrid?

We understand that picking the perfect mobile development approach is a tough task. That’s why in this post, we have tried to clear the confusion by laying down circumstances in which Hybrid app development makes sense.

Why is Hybrid mobile app development more preferred?

As stated by the Ionic Developer Survey 2017, in which 13000 developers participated, 32.7% of developers are expected to completely abandon native app development for Hybrid app development. Also, there was a 700 percent decrease in developers developing exclusively with native tools.

Why Hybrid mobile app development outscores Native mobile app development?

Hybrid app development utilizes web technologies such as HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS while providing access to native platform features. The best examples of successful Hybrid mobile applications are Instagram, Basecamp, Yelp, and Uber.

These apps can access the native features like camera, contacts and at the same time, it runs on both Android and iOS.
With the advent of Hybrid mobile app frameworks such as PhoneGap, Ionic, and React Native, the options in mobile app development have diversified.

There are sizeable advantages for opting hybrid mobile app development.

To start with, the talent pool of Hybrid App developers is bigger than the native app developers, thus making Hybrid app development a cheaper venture than native apps. And you already know that every penny saved is a penny earned.

With Hybrid app development, multiple app platforms can be targeted without the requirement of maintaining multiple code bases. This, in turn, reduces the time to market and enhances the outreach to the users.

The following are key benefits of using Hybrid application development:

• Fast track development: single code base for all the platforms
• Easy to test and implement changes and scale to other platforms
• Inexpensive in all the aspects
  

Just like how every coin has two sides, there are some cons of opting for hybrid mobile app development as well. Consider this as well before opting for hybrid application development.

Disadvantages of hybrid mobile app development

Since a single code is used for all the major app platforms, it is difficult to match up with the performance of native apps. There are also some performance issues because of some device constraints in Android and iPhone. 

With the tech world evolving at a drastic rate, it will be difficult for organizations to stay updated with the latest features and hardware capabilities when they choose the hybrid framework. It is both a time consuming and cumbersome process altogether.

Why choose Hybrid App development?

Hybrid app development solves the chief purpose of fast-track development and a quick launch in the market. The added advantage is that it is inexpensive and there is no functional or visual difference to users.

Furthermore, hybrid apps are perfect for startups who desire a quick lane to market. Quick prototyping helps in getting an early feedback, so that unnecessary expenses on development can be avoided later. All you need is to build a Hybrid MVP and test your concepts, if it satisfies all the standards, move ahead with developing the Hybrid app or migrate back to the native app.

It is a general perception that hybrid app development has several constraints with custom features and that developers can only use the features that can be wrapped in a native container. But, the real fact is Hybrid app can cover up to 90% of standard features.

Also, the possibility to create something new with the modules already written in native for specific platforms is very high.

Another great usage of hybrid development is when you need an inner ‘corporate’ purpose app like conference apps, events and such. These applications are distributed via links and not uploaded on the Google Play or App Store.

How to decide whether Hybrid is the right choice for your business?

There is no clear choice when it comes to native or hybrid. No matter which option you pick you will have to make certain compromises. Your decision should obviously be based on your requirements, skills of developers, and budget.  Also, there are few mandatory questions that you must ask yourself before arriving at any decision.

Do you have strict budget constraints? If yes, then the hybrid app development will solve your purpose. On the contrary, if your app requires a lot of unique features in your app then native app development should be your first choice.

Summing-up

The decision of choosing the right approach for app development is not an easy one. It is like choosing between an iPhone or Android phone. The best approach to choose is to make a list of priorities and then test both app development approaches for appropriateness.

Also, the choice of app development approach varies with the project complexity. With all the pros and cons of hybrid and native app development in mind, you can make an educated decision.

If you would like a FREE consultation on the best approach for your App development needs, then drop us a quick message here

What is React Native?

React Native is an open source framework that is used for writing real and natively rendering mobile applications that are compatible with both Android and iOS. React Native is based on React, which is Facebook’s Javascript library used for building user interfaces.

Here, “native” means that web developers can now write mobile applications that look and feel like native apps all from the comfort of a Javascript library that we’re already aware of. React Native makes it easier for developers to develop for both Android and iOS at the same time.

React Native applications are written using JSX which is a mixture of Javascript and XML-esque markup, similar to React for the web. It is a reliable choice for the developers who are familiar with Javascript as there will be no need to learn Android specific Java or iOS’s Swift.

How React Native can increase developer productivity

React Native helps in making apps that are smoother since its main focus stays on UI. Due to its compatibility with different platforms, giant companies like Facebook, Instagram, Skype, Airbnb, Walmart, Tesla, Uber Eats and many more are now using React Native.

The increasing popularity of React Native is motivating more and more developers to use it. There are various ways in which it has helped in increasing the productivity of developers.

Some benefits of coding in React Native are mentioned below:

1. Code Sharing

This is one of the most important reasons why developers are choosing React Native. It is a cross-platform mobile app development tool which lets you share most of your code for producing other apps for different platforms. This means that you can produce multiple apps with the same codebase.

Code sharing helps in saving developers’ time as now they don’t have to code separately for different operating systems. Therefore, you can develop two apps in half of the time estimated.

2. Frameworks

A framework is basically a real or conceptual structure that helps you in simplifying complex problems by serving as a support or guide for building something that expands the structure into something useful. As compared to a protocol, a framework is easier to comprehend and also frameworks are more prescriptive as compared to a structure. Some computer system frameworks can also include actual programs.

React Native is a framework that helps in speeding up your development work by saving time and making it easier for developers. It gives you a lot of flexibility in terms of choosing any code writer that suits your demands.

3. Components

React Native provides you with a number of built-in components. So, instead of writing codes from scratch again, you can reuse codes by using components. When you use components, you’re basically reusing codes written by other programmers.

For example, there is a component in React Native called ‘View’. The view is an area where you display all your content. View lets you arrange your content in a very good manner. It helps you when you need a nested element. Also, when you need to wrap your content inside a container and use different styles for different elements, this component is of great help.

Other than View, there are plenty of other components that can be used like Navigation, Text, Image, Text Input, ScrollView, StyleSheet etc.

4. Hot Reloading

We all know that recompilation takes up a lot of time. React Native gives you the choice of instantly reloading your app without having to recompile.

Compiling an entire code requires a considerable amount of time; whenever a developer makes a change in the code, he has to recompile the code to see how the modification looks in the app (how it has changed or improved). In a nutshell, a developer has to compile a code more than a thousand times depending upon the size of the project.

Now with React Native, the hot reloading feature lets you instantly view how your app looks after a code modification without wasting your time in recompilation. Since this is a time-saving feature, it helps greatly in boosting the productivity of developers.

5. Flexible and easily understandable codes 

With React Native, codes can be reused. A single update will work for both the platforms. It makes it easier for developers to detect bugs between codebases. Also, since its interface is modular and intuitive, developers who weren’t previously involved in a project can easily understand the code and use it as a basis for future developments. 

In turn, it increases the flexibility of a team and it is easier to make updates and upgrades to web applications. A team can get work done by developers that are suited best for specific developments. This saves time and also decreases the risk factor of data loss. React Native allows you to transform a web project into a mobile decision within no time.

6. Graphics Processing Unit

The React Native architecture uses the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) instead of a CPU (Central Processing Unit) which is used by most native platforms. This makes React Native well tuned to mobile environments. Also, it helps in giving extremely fast performance compared to other hybrid technologies.

Final Words

In conclusion, React Native provides a better learning cycle to the developers and develop mobile apps in a shorter time duration with better efficiency. A developer who has the experience in web development can expand the same skills to create mobile apps as well. The possibilities are infinite if you choose to think that way.

With the immense opportunities for expanding a business, it also helps the clients gain more customers or browsers. With React Native, mobile app development has become cost-efficient because of the reusability, and code sharing features.

Clients with a limited budget quotient can get the apps developed for both the platforms (iOS and Android) as front-end developers with a working knowledge of Javascript can easily create react mobile apps at affordable prices.

React Native is widely preferred for mobile app development and developers don’t have to compromise with the quality of apps for multiple platforms as well. Furthermore, React Native offers safety, portability, and longevity which enhances developers’ efficiency and decreases workload and wastage of time.

For more resources on React, read the top five reasons to choose React JS for development.

Flutter in Mobile App Development

Cross-platform app development is not just a buzz anymore. The industry has accepted it as an inherent property required for today’s market. Flutter is one software developer kit helping developers in this direction.

Working as one of the most reliable open sources, Flutter is applicable for both iOS and Android application development. Google has created Flutter with current digital app demands in mind. This SDK has proven to be helpful for online businesses in sectors such as e-commerce, food, and shopping. Flutter allows businesses to create mobile applications with advanced features such as geolocation, camera, storage, network, and much more.

Why is Flutter required in today’s market for App Development?

Flutter is soon gaining traction among developers for its ease in app development. Here are 5 reasons why Flutter is required for App development in today’s market.

1. Vast widget catalog

Using Flutter allows you to access multiple widgets in one catalog. Finding every widget organized in one place makes selection hassle-free. You can decide features and functionalities of your app and conveniently pick widgets. Dart helps you write app code and you can even include IntelliJ plugin to your application.

2. Open source enhances accessibility

Open-source development is another reason why Flutter is needed right now. Easy accessibility decides the success of any app. Which is why open collaboration brings user-friendliness to the table. An app design achieves a whole new level of scope with open source development. There is no other platform where you can find as many choices as in Flutter.

3. Easy app editing

While developing, an app has to go through multiple edits. Some features are added while others a removed. Flutter makes these changes easier. The platform provides Visual Studio code as well as Android Studio code. Using these integrations makes developed product smarter. Different variable types, function definitions and modules are used to create changes. In fact, a developer can also conduct push or pull via SCM service.

4. Dart matches Java features

Flutter gives you Dart that matches with Java in terms of feature similarities. That similarity allows developers to make a shift without any trouble. Editorial integrations, widget quality, and application features come together to make it a perfect kit for mobile app developers.

5. Single codebase for Android and iOS

With Flutter, mobile applications can achieve cross-platform functionality. A single codebase works on Android as well as iOS. So, there is no need to worry about shifting from one platform to the other and write the app from scratch. The app codebase works on both platforms, making your app more secure and protected in terms of patents.

All in all, Flutter is here to improve the standards of mobile app development projects. It is giving superior UI experience to the apps and providing feature addition capacity during an ongoing development project. The compatibility reaches the roof with Flutter, as it comes with customizable widgets.

However, all the benefits of Flutter come down to the expertise of the developers. Your team of mobile developers has to understand this technology and apply themselves completely. Companies that know how to leverage Flutter will lead mobile development to its future.

Hopefully, you feel ready to leverage this mobile development technology to your business advantage.

Creating The Perfect Android App For Beginners

Building an Android app comes down to two major skills/languages: Java and Android. Java is the language used in Android, but the Android part encompasses learning XML for the design of the app, learning the concepts of Android, and using the concepts logically with Java.

Once you learn Java and XML; XML is really easy to get used to, and you should learn the language as you program your app rather than learning it beforehand like you would with Java. You need to learn how to connect these two using Android principles.

Now for a total beginner, we recommend YouTube tutorials to get the basic idea of how to install Eclipse (the Integrated Development Environment, or IDE, for Java) and the Java Development Kit (JDK). It also helps to get the basic idea of syntax behind Java concepts, such as for loops and if statements.

Here is an example: Click to watch video 

But from then on, after you have learned the very basics, we HIGHLY recommend ditching the YouTube tutorials in favor of a book or a lecture series. YouTube tutorials very often do NOT give intuition behind important concepts.

Keep these following things in mind as you venture on your journey of building a successful Android App.

7 things to know before building your first Android App:

1. You need to learn Java, there is no way around it. Knowledge will only help you through the process of building an app.

2. Android part encompasses learning XML for the app design, understanding concepts of Android and using said concepts programmatically with Java.

3. Beginners should probably use an IDE. It is really useful and lets you experiment.

4. Building your first app is time-consuming: it won’t happen overnight. This is not a project for those looking for a shortcut to success.

5. When stuck on a problem which will inevitably happen, turn to Stack Overflow. Utilize Google, and have no shame in asking assistance from the experts.

6. Before hitting the market and start developing an application you should conduct a proper market research. Analyzing the market thoroughly will give you insights about your competitors, their strategy, their strengths and weakness too. This information will prove to be useful as you can avoid repeating the mistakes your competitors made.

7. Defining your target audience is very important as the audience plays a huge impact on the development of your mobile application. All these questions such as who will be using this app, and how is it going to help them, should be answered well before hand.

Best Of Luck.

The Best Of 2017 So Far

In 2016, users downloaded around 149 billion mobile apps to their connected devices. In 2021, this figure is expected to grow to around 352 billion app downloads. Searching for best-selling apps on the app store can be cumbersome.  Whether you require a great music app or messenger app, there are always plenty of options. We have curated our list of the best 5 apps of 2017. Go ahead try these on your smart devices –

1. Solid Explorer

Android Play Store

Apple Store

File managers are very common, however Solid Explorer is unique because of its rich features and easy accessibility. It boasts of latest functions for managing and browsing your files, on your phone. It is integrated with cloud services such as Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive and FTP servers. So you get an awesome all-in-one solution for superior file management on your smart device.

2. Brave

Android Play Store

Apple Store

Brave Web Browser is a free, fast and safe web browser for smartphones and iPhones. It’s an ad-free browser. Hence, you don’t have to be troubled by annoying pop-ups. You need not install any other extension or have concern about in-app subscriptions. Truly, it’s really a fast browser and comes in very handy while on data plan or roaming. Get this browser today and make your web browsing a much smoother and richer experience on smartphones.

3.Gboard

Android Play Store

Apple Store

The keyboard app from Google is an awesome utility in terms of both features and functionality. You may view it as a simple addition, however having a Google search button directly on your keyboard is incredibly useful. It makes the entire experience of using your smartphone more methodical. It comes in handy, especially while you are in a serious discussion or writing a long report. Besides, you can customize your keyboard with different themes or images. The regular features of emojis, GIFs and glide typing are included in this app. Write swift, type accurate on your smartphone with Gboard.

4. Critical Ops

Android Play Store

Apple Store

Critical Ops is the latest generation of first person shooter games and it’s one of the best. In this game, you’ll battle terrorists in a wide variety of urban-oriented levels .You can play as the terrorist too if you want to. A strong online multiplayer community enables you to play with your friends as well. It’s still a work in progress, but it seems to hit all the right notes for a MMO game and is being updated frequently to elevate the user experience further.

5.YouTube Kids

Android Play Store

Apple Play Store

This app is a must-install app if you have kids in your family. Generally, children love to watch too much videos on YouTube. However, not every content on YouTube is appropriate for them. Google has come up with a kid-friendly app which has an easy interface. It helps to filter out the inappropriate stuff and ensures that they only see what is proper. A word of caution though – No filtering system is flawless, so parents need to supervise.

Thank us later for introducing you to these amazing apps!

Solve For India

Google on Friday announced a new initiative called “Solve for India”.  Google with this innovative program plans to expand and boost the start-up ecosystem and inspire new-age entrepreneurs to “Solve for India” and its untapped potential. As the name suggests “Solve in India”, Google intends to work on solving problems that majority of the Indians have been facing from the past few decades.

With enhanced connectivity and the ever growing Internet user base, it provides an opportunity to everyone to pursue their dreams and curate solutions for Indians. Google is going to offer the same with the “Solve in India” program.

Below are the features of the initiative:

1. “Solve for India” program is set to inspire the emerging group of entrepreneurs in cities like  Jaipur, Pune, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkatta, Indore, Nagpur, Kanpur, Madurai, and Chennai.

2. It will provide a platform for developers, entrepreneurs in the above mentioned cities to collaborate with experts and understand latest Google technologies. They will also get support and other assistance directly from Google.

3. For startups who’re looking to build scalable solutions, Google will provide over $20,000 of cloud credits under this program to boost their growth.

4. Developers can also expect to build on their skills and learn from experts on latest in Android, Firebase, Machine learning, Cloud APIs, Progressive Web Apps and Indian Language Translation solutions.

5. Entrepreneurs will be able to learn from a plethora of Google’s program starting from Google Launchpad mentoring program. It will help them to build, scale and accelerate early stage product ideas into category leaders.

“Majority of India’s Internet users are Indian language users, and over 80 per cent of them access the Internet from their mobile phones. But the current Indian startup ecosystem is building products for English speaking audience and caters only to 15 per cent of the population. There’s growing number of entrepreneurs in smaller Indian cities who are focusing on building solutions that caters to the real needs of India. Through this initiative we want to bring the best of Google under one program and join forces with them to help create solutions that serve the needs of a billion Indians,” says Karthik Padmanabhan, Program Manager Lead for Google India.

Understanding Internet Of Things

“Anything that can be connected, will be connected.”

People who understand Internet Of Things and its potential will tell you that the Mantra above will be the talk of the town in the coming years. Anything you can imagine, anything at all would be connected to the internet, it is happening now and will only expand aggressively. So, wouldn’t it be imperative to know what exactly IOT is and how it works?

Imagine this situation. You logout of your office swiping the access card, the sensor sends a message to your car parked below which has already started and the navigation system has already plotted the route to your home alerting you about the traffic on different possible routes. The air conditioner in your house switches on automatically before you reach the house and adjusts the temperature according to the weather outside. The coffee brewer on intimation brews some coffee for you and the refrigerator sends you a message about the missing groceries. At a single touch, before you reach your house, the coffee is brewed, the air conditioner has set the tone for your comfort and the groceries have arrived at your doorstep. This is the power of Internet Of Things.

Every single device connected to the internet and integrated to feed off data from each other to make our lives better is probably just the gist of it. And this is not just for machines, it can be even for the minutest component of your machines. From a commercial airliner to a sewing machine, from your car to a water heater, everything is soon going to be unified on a single network. The opportunities are unlimited. Most of which might be out of our analytical might. Yet harnessing even a portion of it can create something as revolutionary as the wheel or fire.

 5 Internet of Things Application

Change has always been the buzzword. It is what signifies human existence. The change was first seen in 1974 with the Automated Teller Machines(ATM), and now amazingly there are far more objects connected to the internet than people on the planet. The most accepted ones so far are vehicles with all their user enhancing systems on board. With the advent of wearable devices such as fitness trackers and smartwatches, the horizons have expanded even more. Smart Kitchens, Smart living rooms, Smart houses, imagine every single electric impulse transferred as data to the internet for other user oriented actions. And if this is just the beginning, we already have over 4.9 billion connected devices and counting.

 Now, that we have a fair idea of what really Internet of things is, let us see how it will revolutionize our lives in the coming future:

1. Smart Highways:  Roads with ‘on the go’ warnings about weather expected ahead and diversions in case of mishaps and blockages will soon be functional across the globe. Smart highways will have a unified platform that will integrate data from traffic signals, traffic sensors, vehicle movements and on board GPS. It will be similar to living organism that constantly updates the vehicles about traffic patterns, speed limits and adversities.

2. Autonomous Cars: Cars with auto park feature are already in the testing phase. Many cities across the globe have given a green signal for testing the driver-less car as well. The autonomous cars, equipped with intelligent sensors will feed off years of data from vehicle databases to analyse driving patterns and road hazards. Autonomous cars will constantly update itself to make the driving experience a risk free and a safe one.

3. Patient Surveillance: Monitoring of vital signs for patients in hospitals and elderly people in old age homes is an important application of Internet Of Things. Right from the blood pressure, heart beat and other vital stats, to minute changes like changes in the pressure and temperature patterns of the room, all the data can be monitored to ensure better patient surveillance.

4. Smart Homes: Internet Of Things can automate an entire home filled with appliances and lighting systems. A single touch of hand can automate appliances even before you enter the house. Right from your groceries to garbage disposal, every household chore can be planned and scheduled for. It will give you the comfort of controlling your appliances even when you are miles from your home.

5. Defense Systems: Defense forces across the world have already started applying this technology, some of them on their more secure systems. The defense capabilities of any nation will surge ahead and their warning systems will become more accurate.

How Internet Of Things is changing lives:

 
As discussed earlier, Home Automation with the assistance of Internet Of Things is soon going to change the way we live. Smart Homes are going to make our lives much more comfortable and hassle-free. By 2025, more than a quarter of the world’s population is expected to have a semi automated smart home.

A step towards this was taken by GoodWorkLabs, recently.They created an application for one of their clients which offers complete home automation solutions. With the Internet of Things application developed,  the user can control the functionality of  home appliances with just one touch:

1) Adjust the AC temperatures in your Bedroom before you even reach home.

2) Set an alarm so that you are never late for the important things in life.

3) Adjust the lights in your living room to create evening.

4) Enjoy movie nights by setting your favorite movie lists on the TV.

5) Never miss out on your grocery lists.

Read more: Click

These are just a few of the important applications we would see in the coming days, as mentioned earlier, the uses are limitless. We need to expand our horizons and think further ahead to employ ways that can protect human interests. Internet Of Things is the result of human evolution eventually. Everything we have ever invented, every medium we have explored and every thought we have recorded, all connected together.

Technically, it maybe devices connected to each other. In reality, it is every single person connected through their devices.

“If you think Internet has changed your life, think again. The internet of things will change it all over again.” – Brendan O’Brien, Aria Systems