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Meet 9 Innovative Android-Powered Tech Gadgets
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Meet 9 Innovative Android-Powered Tech Gadgets
Imagine a home where everything is powered by Google's Android. Be it dishwashers or light bulbs, the distant future is not something straight out of a new science fiction flick. It's happening for real! Android OS has taken a new stride and it is reaching a wider range of gadgets other than the smartphones.
We take you on a joy ride where you will meet gadgets powered by Android. Be it Google's pet Project Tungsten that envisions Android @ Home or be it Goggles, Shoes, Fitness trainer or Robot bartender--they are all here, representing the myriad colours of Android.
Android @ Home
Imaging a home where everything is powered by Android. Yes, Google is working on its Project Tungsten, which was showcased earlier this year at a software developers' conference in San Francisco. Android@Home allows Android apps to discover, connect and communicate with appliances and devices in your home. Google plans to launch a new range of devices by the end of the year, which will include Android-powered light bulbs, dishwashers, thermostats and "almost anything electrical". A wireless technology will allow these devices to communicate with tablets, computers and phones for remote control and to record data. During this event, Google demonstrated a tablet that could turn lights on and off, send music from the internet to a Hi-Fi and even a "near-field communications" chip which simply had to be touched on a set of speakers to start them playing an album. Learn More>>
Android-powered TV Onida iTube
Mirc Electronics recently unveiled Android-powered 3D TV Onida iTube. The brand owners of Onida, Mirc has introduced this Internet-enabled and Android-powered TV, which lets users access a large number of applications available in the Android market. Onida iTube powered by Google's Android operating system offers a 3D viewing experience and is Internet-enabled. Onida iTube packs an internal memory of 70MB to store nearly 100 apps and allows download of content while viewing. Available in five models, the Onida iTube 81.3-cm (32-inch) model comes in three variants, while the 101.6-cm (40-inch) has two variants. The Onida iTube 32-inch LED TV is priced at Rs 56,000 and 40-inch costs Rs 68,000. Learn More>>
Android-powered Music & Health Gadget MOTOACTV
 Now, here's a gadget to take care of your physical fitness. The Android-powered Motorola MOTOACTV is a health and music gadget that serves as your right partner for all your fitness needs. Resembling the iPod Nano, MOTOACTV SF700 model comes with the wired headset while the SF500 model is the wireless one. You can synch the Motorola gadget to your Android phone, with the heart-rate sensor built into the headsets. The device comes enabled with GPS. This fitness trainer boasts of a slew of features that can guide you to achieve your fitness goals. Furthermore, you can track stats for your fitness performance that cover parameters such as distance covered, map of the covered area, pace, amount of calories burned, etc. The workout data gathered by Motorola MOTOACTV is automatically and wirelessly synced to MOTOACTV.com. Learn More>>
Android-powered 'I'm Watch'
After Android-powered home, TV, health gadget, it's time now to introduce 'I'm Watch'. Developed by an Italian company (also named "I'm"), this fascinating watch is altogether different than its other counterparts. Simply because it is not dependent on another Android mobile device to run. The timepiece has its own app and music store, which is enabled via Wi-Fi to let you interact with your info. Additionally, you can pair this device with an Android phone via Bluetooth to make calls through that connection. 'I'm Watch' is priced at around 299 euros. As it's a stand-alone device, the Android-powered watch will certainly lure the tech-savvy customers. Learn More>>
Android-powered Ski Goggles
How about turning into a Robocop on the slopes? Well, this Android-powered Ski Goggles from Recon Instruments will certainly help you look and act like a sci-fi character. The Ski Goggles display offers useful information to the adventure-seeking sports enthusiasts. Powered by a 600MHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor with 512MB of storage, 256MB of RAM, the Ski Goggles run Android 2.3 Gingerbread. The MOD and MOD Live Ski Goggles feature a built-in 428x240 LCD micro-optics display to offer skiers a virtual HUD to view information on speed, jumps, trail maps, GPS location. Users can also receive calls and SMS messages. Learn More>>
Android-powered Bartender Robot iZac
Meet the world's most unique bartender robot that is powered by an Android smartphone named iZac. Owing his name to a barbot from a unique TV show named Futurama, the bartender Robot iZac is your perfect support to give you some time to chill and relax at the comfort of your home or bar. The creator of the device, Nick Johnson, has used a Motorola Xoom and a custom open-source app to create it. The users can choose any three drinks and even use the 'I'm feeling lucky' button to get a mix of three random drinks. Learn More>>
Android-powered tablet for the blind - The Orion
Technology is evolving and it's working towards all the segments to empower those who deserve it the most. Underlining such thoughts, LevelStar co-founder and chief product engineer Marc Mulcahy--who is blind--introduced the first Android tablet for the blind at the National Federation of the Blind's annual conference. The Orion 18 Android tablet packs Wi-Fi and 3G, GPS, an accelerometer, camera, 32GB of internal memory, an SD card slot and a full-size USB port. But the best part is that instead of a traditional homescreen, the Orion tablet sports a Braille display, capable of showing up to 18 characters. Learn More>>
Android-powered shoes for visually impaired
Meet
Le Chal, the new pair of Android-powered shoes which offers
non-obtrusive navigation for the visually impaired. In a path-breaking
innovation, an IT engineer from Rajasthan Technical University, Anirudh
Sharma, has designed a unique footwear for the visually impaired. The
shoes will be connected to an Android device that will help navigate
them using Google Maps and the phone's in-built GPS. Called Le Chal
('Take me there' in Hindi), the new pair of Android-powered shoes offers
non-obtrusive navigation for the visually impaired. Learn More>>
The vOICe for Android
Here comes an Android app (not a gadget though) that is designed to help visually challenged persons. Dubbed as vOICe for Android, the app provides sonic augmented reality overlay to the live camera view in real-time, thereby giving even totally blind people live and detailed information about their visual environment that they would otherwise not perceive. Primarily, designed to serve as as an interactive mobile learning app for teaching visual concepts to blind children, the app also is a universal translator for mapping images to sounds. You can download The vOICe for Android app for free via Google's Android Market. Learn More>>
--Amit Shrivastava
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