In his recently published Founders’ Letter for 2013, Google CEO Larry Page talks about the company’s recent accomplishments and plans for the future.
Search is still Google’s bread and butter and its most important product, so Page unsurprisingly talks a lot about how Google works to turn Search into the “engine of [his] dreams,” which “gets you just the right information at the exact moment you need it with almost no effort.”
We’re still “a million miles away” from that ideal search engine, according to Google’s co-founder, but Google Now, the intelligent assistant built into Android, is a step towards solving that “hard problem.” In his letter, Page extols Google Now’s ability to deliver relevant information at the right time without any input from the user. Besides organizing and delivering information on its own, Now also attempts to understand context, and improving this ability is another of Google’s key goal.
Google Plus, whose future some put into question following the departure of Vic Gundotra, is another step into providing personalized recommendation into a truly intelligent way, says the exec. By mentioning it in his letter, Page may be attempting to dispel the notion that Google is not committed to Plus, once and for all.
On Android, Larry Page says the platform is still “growing fast” and that, in 2013, developers on the Play Store earned from user payments four times what they had earned in 2012.
Page also praised the Chrome browser, now at 750 million users, and the Chromecast, products that enable users to take their media across platforms and screen sizes.
In a nod to Google’s moonshot products, the CEO mentioned some of the most important developments that the company revealed in the past year, including Project Loon, the Calico healthcare offshoot, and the smart contact lenses, which, Page revealed for the first time, will be called Iris. Talking about Loon, Page announced that the project’s first actual deployment will be in northeastern Brazil, where Google’s high-altitude balloons will give internet access to a classroom.
Larry Page’s entire letter is worth reading, for its insight into Google’s way of thinking and its plans for the future. Check it out here.
The One Mini 2 is here, and questionable name aside, it’s a sight to behold. The Mini 2 looks and feels like a shrunken version of the One (M8), bringing the luxurious feeling of brushed aluminum to a compact form factor that many will appreciate.
We’ve gone through the One Mini 2’s full specifications, features and availability details in our announcement post, and now we’re going to present you the device in a more visual focused way. Here we go!
The HTC One Mini 2 will be available in Gunmetal Gray, Glacial Silver, and Amber Gold, just like its M8 brother, and we have to say it, metal suits this device very well.
You get the same brushed texture and sturdy feeling. The gray model in particular looks sleek and stealthy.
As you can see, this particular review unit features a silver volume button. According to HTC, that won’t be the case with actual production models, which will have gray volume buttons. That seems like a better choice to us.
The One Mini 2 does have a little more plastic than the M8 on the sides, but it’s thinner than on the original Mini, and, at least on our model, looks very nice.
This strip is no longer sticking out when looking at the front of the phone, like it happened with the 2013 Mini.
Owing to its smaller size, the Mini 2 is much easier to hold in hand. The M8 was criticized by many for its large footprint.
The power button on the top, in particular, is much easier to reach and use. You don’t get the wake up gestures that the M8 has, but you may not miss them that much anyway.
The BoomSound speakers are in their place, but so is that bezel at the bottom of the screen. According to HTC, that space accommodates crucial components, so it wasn’t just a designer’s whim.
On the back, you get the simple layout that HTC’s using on the M8, with one big difference – the absence of the Duo Camera depth sensor. That’s because the One Mini 2 features a conventional 13MP camera, just like the one on the Desire 816, instead of the M8’s four ultrapixels unit.
The 4.5-inch display is nice and colorful, though it’s not that sharp as the M8’s. But most people won’t care about or won’t notice the difference in crispness. At 326 ppi, the display is above the threshold at which most people are able to notice pixels, at normal using distances.
The bezels on the sides, though, could be a little thinner (yes, we’re spoiled.)
BlinkFeed is front and center on the One Mini 2, offering you pretty much the same experience you get on the M8.
In fact, the One Mini 2 comes with all the bells and whistles from the M8, with the exception of the wake up gestures and the features enabled by the depth sensor.
Speaking of camera, you may not get any refocus tricks, but otherwise you get HTC’s feature rich camera experience. Selfie lovers, there are a couple of beautification features waiting for you.
A pleasant surprise is the microSD card slot on the side, that lets you add up to 128GB to the 16GB of internal storage.
There you have it, the HTC One Mini 2. Stay tuned for more coverage in the next days, and, of course, our full review.
