Latest news with #SmartConnect
India.com
20-05-2025
- India.com
Sundar Pichai's Google's new update to challenge Apple, Samsung, Motorola, no need to carry laptop, new feature will turn smartphones in…
Google is going to introduce a feature named 'desktop Mode' similar to Samsung's Dex and Motorola's Smart Connect. This new feature has the capacity to turn your smartphone into a computer. It can give you the experience of a PC-like interface on a larger screen. What Is Desktop Mode? These features enable users to transform their smartphones into full-fledged computers. By connecting your phone to a larger display, along with a mouse and keyboard, you can access a desktop-like interface and use it like a PC. Some companies even offer the option to connect the phone wirelessly to displays which have wireless connectivity. Also some of the desktop modes will allow you to use your phone's screen as a trackpad and give cursor control without an external mouse. Google's Desktop Mode According to media reports, Android 16, is set to roll out to eligible users next month during the ongoing Google I/O event. However, Google's Desktop Mode is expected to be launched with Android 17. Experts suggest that Google might unveil this feature along with its new Pixel lineup. Reports also suggest that Google gave a hint of this feature in 2023, and may launch soon. Google's Desktop Mode will also come with multitasking capabilities, like resizable windows similar to the Chrome OS interface. Chrome OS is Google's operating system used in Chromebooks.
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Yahoo
Google, Oppo, Moto and Honor are finally giving us the AI we deserve
I don't know about you, but I'm tired of the term AI. When every company in the industry is using the term, it loses its meaning, and I'm tired of more AI use cases that I barely use. Artificial intelligence was meant to make our lives easier, but the first era of AI was all about generative uses. It has led to millions of means, can help anyone become an artist, and has led to a deepfake era that phone makers are also hoping to use AI to solve. Yet, the lack of a use case that everyone desires has also meant we're about to enter the next era of agentic AI. The difference is key: the first era was about creating new content, and the second era is all about AI being used to make your life significantly easier. I've just experienced five different examples of the future of AI, and it's clear that we're finally about to get the AI that we have been dreaming about. Google is pushing AI on smartphones forward for the hundreds of millions of users who use Gemini or OEM partner AI solutions. The future of Google Gemini was on show at the Android Avenue at MWC 2025, and what I saw made me super excited. First, AI is finally addressing one of the biggest issues since the advent of the smart home: getting things to work together properly. Instead of needing to build complex routines yourself, you can now prompt Gemini to do so for you. The example used to demonstrate was of a dog sneaking a cookie from a kitchen counter. The demo showed the user first asking Gemini to review footage and find out whether it was the pet or the child. Then the demo asked Gemini to build a routine so the lights would come on, and a preset broadcast would go out to all speakers to stop this. This is the type of AI feature that I can see my mother using, as is the preview of the new Gemini Live. In the coming weeks, all Gemini Advanced customers will be able to share a screen with Gemini, and mobile users will also be able to use their phone camera to ask questions about their surroundings. The possibilities are endless with these new features, and I love that Google is also making them incredibly user-friendly. They're simple enough that anyone can use them. Motorola didn't unveil any new hardware at MWC, but that didn't stop it from showing off a suite of new AI features that will transform how you use your phone. The biggest of these is Smart Connect, which will transform the integration of all Android and Windows devices, not just those made by Motorola and its parent company, Lenovo. It also provides the best ecosystem integration I've seen, aside from Apple's. Smart Connect allows you to link a laptop, tablet, and phone together to open a range of new features. These include easily transferring files and mirroring the screen. There are also some nifty AI tricks, such as being able to search images, documents, and files across all your linked devices and launching apps on a device using Moto AI on another device. In particular, Lenovo and Motorola are taking a different approach to the one deployed by many tech companies. Instead of limiting the feature to just their devices, it's instead available to help any Android or Windows user. It's refreshing, and I hope it's a sign of the things to come in the industry. One of the AI use cases I've been most excited about is real-time translation. I used to be great at learning new languages, but I need to refresh this skill. Yet, I travel a lot and have many meetings where translators are required. I've longed for a setup that made conversations seamless on the go, and Oppo, Honor, and Tecno revealed new solutions that could make this a reality. Oppo launched the world's thinnest foldable — the Oppo Find N5 — two weeks before MWC, meaning its presence during the show was focused on its AI efforts in partnership with Google Gemini. The most exciting part of the AI Summit was the reveal of real-time translation during phone calls, which should roll out to users in the coming months. It's unclear whether this is just for Oppo phones, but it's a huge benefit for travel and work. Honor also tackled the same problem using an entirely different approach. While Oppo's translation feature is only for phone calls, Honor's is designed to tackle the problem of live translation during conversations. Its solution? Its first open-ear earbuds, the Earbuds Open, have ANC and offer real-time translation; pass one to the other person, place one in your ear, and you can have a conversation with no one else needed. Tecno took a third approach to solving the same problem but focused more on business meetings and less on portability. Its new MegaBook S14 computer features the ability to translate a conversation or business meeting in real time, allowing you to conduct business without the need for human translators. Particularly interesting is that it runs entirely on-device and offline, so it should even work if you need to have an impromptu conversation in the skies. Each of these features has the ability to make your interactions with other humans much easier, but the next generation of AI is also designed to be the assistant that gets things done for you. There's a lot of growing apps and services that offer some form of agentic artificial intelligence, or in simpler terms, the ability to do things like a human would. Consider the difference between AI right now and a human assistant: if you ask the latter to book a table, flight, or hotel with your set preferences, you're not likely to have to use multiple prompts to do so. Alongside several new products and announcements — including its new AI-focused Alpha plan corporate strategy, 7 years of updates for its flagship smartphones, and several AI demos — Honor showed off its new AI Agent. It's a GUI-based mobile AI agent that can read your screen and perform task,s and the example above was used in the company's demo. The actual user experience won't display all the steps, but the demo showed each of the steps it takes. For security reasons, you also have to confirm before the final step is executed. It can work with other third-party applications as well, and it can adapt to use your preferred app instead of the pre-programmed options. Yes, it doesn't sound as cool as Agentic AI, but the future of AI seems to be about helping people solve complex problems or perform mundane or repetitive tasks. It's designed to help you live life on your terms, and each of these products will help you do that. I've been in plenty of situations where real-time translation is needed, and recording to translate later hasn't always been feasible. Many people would like an assistant for tasks like booking hotels or restaurants just to save them time, while Motorola Smart Connect could have a huge impact on all Android and Windows users. The biggest impact will be from Google Gemini. Google is at the forefront of Android efforts around AI, but it has thankfully recognised that supporting partners is the way to get AI in the hands of the masses. A partnership that started with Samsung Galaxy AI has extended to also working closely with phone makers — including Motorola, Honor, and Oppo — to develop and build new AI experiences. I am a big fan of Apple Intelligence Notification Summaries, but in the same week that Apple delayed the next generation of Siri, it's telling that we're getting the AI we deserve from multiple Android phone makers working together.
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
AI Upgrades to Motorola's Smart Connect at MWC Make It More Essential Than Ever
Since Motorola debuted its Smart Connect tool in 2024, it's acquired nine million monthly users, but it could be about to gain a whole lot more thanks to upgrades announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week. Until now, Smart Connect has allowed cross-device integration between select Motorola and Lenovo products in much the same way Apple makes it easy to transfer tasks, apps and files between devices in its own ecosystem. But Motorola announced at MWC that it's opening up Smart Connect so that it's available on all Windows 10 and 11 PCs and will also allow for more integration for other Android devices, creating an easy and seamless way for you to cast, share and search across your phone, tablet and PC. Already the beauty of Smart Connect is that it lets you swipe up on activities you may be undertaking on your Motorola phone -- watching a TikTok video, for example -- to transfer them to your Lenovo laptop to carry on watching (although they do have to be on the same Wi-Fi network). Now you can do that via voice or text command, telling your device using natural language which activity or document you want to transfer to and from ("grab my taxi receipts from my phone and send them to my laptop," for example), and it following through instantly. This is one of the ways the updated Smart Connect is tapping into the powers of AI in a genuinely useful way. In a demo, I also witnessed how you could use a voice command to search across different devices for a document that contained a list of restaurants, but that did not actually contain the word "restaurant." Using context clues, the AI knows that the document on your tablet is in fact full of restaurant recommendation, and lets you view it on your phone or PC. Another new feature in Smart Connect is a device-management dashboard, which will let you see all of your devices in one place to allow for easy management. This and the other latest features will be available in the coming weeks by downloading Smart Connect from the Microsoft or Google Play stores.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Yahoo
Motorola's new Smart Connect features are a super practical use of AI
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. MWC can be a little too focused on fun concepts over genuinely useful innovation. But good news — Motorola and Lenovo are here to save the day. Motorola's Moto AI and Smart Connect features are teaming up in a new update that promises to make Moto and Lenovo devices, plus Windows PCs, work together more effectively than ever. And considering you could already use Smart Connect to run your Motorola phone's apps on Windows and swap files between them, that's a big claim. First off, you can now use Moto AI to cast files or videos to another screen via voice commands. It looks to be much simpler to do than opening a specific casting menu, which should make this feature much more accessible in a pinch. A further addition is AI Search, a natural language search tool to find saved files on the Yoga Tab Plus (16GB). It's a shame that this feature seems to be limited only to this model, as search tools like this can be invaluable for finding information you know you have somewhere on your device, but also know you couldn't find manually. The last major change is a new dashboard for the Smart Connect mobile app, which shows all of a user's Moto AI-enabled devices, like their phone, PC, or Moto Tag tracker or Moto Buds earbuds, and lets you adjust their settings from a single location. Motorola says that this is available for all Android users via a new third-party integration option. Moto doesn't go into detail on this, but we'd assume this means that if you use Moto accessories with a non-Moto device, you'll still be able to use at least some of these features. The new generation of Smart Connect can be used on any Windows 10 or Windows 11 PC. The mobile side will work on select Motorola devices and Lenovo tablets, though these haven't been specified. Downloads will be available via the Microsoft Store or Google Play Store "in the coming weeks." Xiaomi 15 Ultra review: One of the best designed phones I've ever seen Honor now offers the best software feature seen on Google and Samsung phones I shot over 200 photos with the iPhone 16e vs Pixel 8a — here's the winner
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Motorola's Smart Connect gains a touch of AI for better cross-device management
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Smart Connect, used by nine million monthly active users, is getting new updates. The Smart Connect gets a new customizable dashboard alongside third-party integration that lets more Android users experience the feature. The aim of the new AI features incorporation is to retrieve information in seconds, further saving consumers time and energy. Smart Connect is a cross-device management solution that works seamlessly between Motorola and Lenovo devices, which is now getting new updates alongside some useful AI features. The company has announced that Smart Connect will be receiving new features in the coming weeks that include a redesigned dashboard, third-party integration, and a couple of AI-powered features. While select Motorola and Lenovo users can download the update through Google Play Store, Windows PC users (Windows 10 and above) can get it through the Microsoft Store. Smart Connect's new customized dashboard, now showcases users' compatible devices including Moto Tag, Moto Buds, Lenovo Tabs, and PCs. The company notes that this should help users manage, add, or disconnect devices easily and also check their battery life. Third-party integration with the latest update will also allow more Android users to experience the benefits of Smart Connect features. Other than cross-device integration and file management, the Smart Connect feature will now have a boost of Moto AI to elevate the experience. For instance, with a quick voice or text command, users will be able to cast their phone's content to TV, PC, or a tablet — during a presentation, for example. AI Search further allows users to utilize natural language to roll out some basic tasks, like bringing out documents from their tablet, like a bank statement, rental agreement, or a hotel bill stored on the Lenovo Yoga Tab Plus tablet, the company explains in a shared press release. "Say a user is returning from a weeklong business trip and needs to submit their expense report. They can forget about manually sorting through various folders or files. Instead, they simply ask Smart Connect to 'grab my restaurant receipts' in a natural way, as if they were speaking to a friend." The aim is to retrieve information in seconds, further saving consumers time and energy. It is good to see Smart Connect gaining AI benefits alongside its core features like Miracast display connectivity, Smart Clipboard, and App Streaming, which is believed to be utilized by over nine million monthly users. Tablet deals: Best Buy | Walmart | Samsung | Amazon | Dell |
