Sundar Pichai India Visit: 8 key points to note in Google CEO's Speech

By Vigneshwar

| Published: Wednesday, December 16, 2015, 17:47 [IST]

Today, the Indian-born CEO Sundar Pichai visited India to deliver a keynote speech at Google India event in New Delhi. In this event, the Sundar Pichai talked about supporting Digital India and other important announcement for the countries welfare.

Sundar Pichai India Visit: 8 key points to note in Google CEO's Speech

Google has partnered with Whistling Woods to create content in India. The Google CEO also shared some information about its ambitious upcoming project, namely "Project Loon" which involves Internet signals via hot air balloons.

Regarding Project Loon, the Telecom Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad wrote, "The proposed frequency band to be used in the Loon Project of Google is being used for cellular operations in India and it will lead to interference with cellular transmissions."

Now, let's have a look at top 8 key points from the Google event today:

Free Wi-Fi

For this, the search engine giant Google has collaborated with Indian Railways and Railtel to launch RailWire Wifi. As per this plan, free Wi-Fi will be provided in train stations, where Mumbai Central will be the first place to get Wi-Fi in January 2016. However, 100 such Internet spots will be available in future.

Offline Maps

Google launched the Offline Maps, which allows real-time navigation for location without data connection. Jen Fitzpatrick, Vice-President of Product Management for Google Maps, said, "Offline Maps is a feature we expect to be useful around the world, and countries like India will truly benefit when it comes to accessing Google Maps with expensive, slow or limited connectivity. In fact, India is one of the top five countries that has the most people using Offline Maps today."

Youtube offline feature

Following the Offline Maps, the company has introduced the Youtube offline feature in order to help user to watch videos with out data connection. Apart from this, Eyal Manor, Vice-President of Engineering, YouTube also announced an additional feature which lets the video buffer while they were paused. Also, Eyal Manor, said, "We believe that every person should be able to experience YouTube at its best: in high quality, with few delays and limited buffering."

Google translator

Around next year, Google is planning to launch a feature called " Tap to Translate", allowing instant translation on any Android device.

Android developer program

In an attempt to escalate the Android platform, the company has announced a training programme to train 2 million Android developers in the next three universities by closely working with 30 universities across the country in partnership with National Skill Development Corporation.

Android keyboard

Google has created Android virtual keyboard which will support 11 Indian languages. Also, the India-based team has made the webpages lighter in order to load faster.

Google Cultural Institute

Also, the company has collaborated with Ministry of Culture and the Archaeological Survey of India to add panoramic image of 250 Indian monuments to Google Cultural Institute and Maps.

Chromebit

Sundar Pichai also unveiled the Chromebit, a device which turns a monitor into a computer. It will be available in the Indian market starting from January 2016.