Google’s Project Codenamed Hera Could Unify Android, Chrome And Web
Google could be looking at reshaping the way users of Android, Chrome and Web employ the platforms. Codenamed ‘Hera’, Google’s latest project is exploring ways to seamlessly stitch user–experience with multiple products that the company offers.
Two of the fastest growing Google products are the Android Mobile Operating System (OS) and the web–based Chrome OS. All the major updates to Android have made the OS work even better with smartphones as well as other internet enabled devices. While Version 3.0 Honeycomb brought Android experience applicable to large–screened portable tablets, OS updates 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and above were found to make Android a cohesive OS with streamlined interface that had unified operability.
However, from the version 4.4 KitKat, Google’s appears to be trying to extend Android’s applicable base to even broader range of devices including ‘Internet of Things’ which includes connected TVs and so on. Google’s addition to KitKat called ‘Svelte’ is bridging the gap between using Google’s products on dedicated computational devices and those meant for entertainment purposes only.
Project Hera greatly extends the efforts by the company so far and goes reverse in cross–platform operation to unify the experience users have in Android, Chrome, and Search all on a single Android-powered device or a family of devices owned by an individual, reports ubergizmo. Hera manages to do this by using a special Chromium build meant to run on Android and execute tasks through the web both for Google and third-party apps.
Essentially it means Hera is a Chromium build that runs on Android and supports execution of instructions via an Android device to web–apps as well as dedicated apps. It even takes into consideration the multi–tasking feature which is rather limited in Android right now. Relying on light–weight HTML5 backbone, Hera can execute quick actions online without using the full app.
To understand the same, consider the new Gmail that looks remarkably similar in its mobile–optimized web–page version as well as the dedicated app version. Using Hera, users can execute functions in the web–app, without having to fire–up the dedicated Gmail app and that too mid–way another app without interrupting, say, a gaming session. Eventually it is hoped, that Hera will replace the current multitasking view, combining entries from all the types of tasks, reports phoneArena.
True multitasking has been a very elusive factor for Android. However, with Hera, Google could have finally managed to not only evolve Android, but arm it with cross–platform operability with other Google’s Operating Systems or platforms.
[Image credit | ubergizmo]
