 "Nexus 4 commercial during Grammys shows off Google Now")
Surprise, Surprise! The new Nexus 4 commercial that aired during the prime-time airing of the Grammys in the US doesn’t in fact talk about the phone. The advertisement actually talks about the Google Now service instead.
It wouldn’t come as a surprise that Google is trying to press home the fact that it is all about making rapid improvements in the mobile department, pitting the Google Now service clearly against Apple’s Siri with this advertisement. The larger 60-second version of the ad was posted on Google+ by Vic Gundotra, the social networking website’s Head of Development.
A screengrab from the commercial
The ad goes into detailing what Google Now can do on your Nexus 4 rather than dwelling on the device by itself. It enumerates Google Now’s ability to predict the weather, inform you about train timings, plan and execute a trip successfully. The ad also shows how the service can be used for translations and video chat using hangouts.
Google Now has long been a favourite with most users who use Android Jelly Bean devices that can run the service. Without being too intrusive, the service in intuitive and learns over time over what information you would need when. Google Now will tell you what the weather is going to be like before you leave home, tell you about your train timings and remind you about your appointments. It is like a personal assistant quite like Siri.
Google is evidently pushing Google Now to be the next big thing, even as it’s been in the works since a while. One important proof of Google’s attachment to Now is that a desktop Chrome version of the service is in offering.
A slew of experiments are being conducted with Google’s open source web browser project Chromium, including an addition of a new notification centre in the beginning of February, paving the way for Google Now cards to be incorporated with Chrome. A screenshot of the new release showed a pop-up with the ability to hold multiple notifications in Chromium.
Google went through a rough patch regarding Nexus 4 stocks in the recent past too. While it has been estimated that LG and Google have shipped one million Nexus devices, low supply complaints have hit both companies hard.
The companies have been putting everything aside and working in tandem to ramp up supply of the device. According to TechCrunch, Google CEO Larry Page revealed in a conference call in January regarding the company’s quarterly earnings that fixing the supply chain is a major priority for the search giant.
Page said that there is “work to be done managing our supply better… and that is priority for the teams.” This comes as a welcome acknowledgement regarding the problems with the low stock of the Nexus 4 in the face of high demand. LG Communications Director Cathy Robin had gone even further and promised that the company would have a better supply of the Nexus 4 by the last week of February.
By the end of last month, the device was back in stock for customers in the UK, France and Spain as well as the US and Australia making this advertisement a well-timed one.
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
