Moto X Feature Video Leaks

http://technow.info/2013/07/moto-x-feature-video-leaks-from-rogers/

by thezach • 13 years ago

38 26 13 years ago

rayiner• 13 years ago

It's like Google doesn't even realize.

cromwellian2• 13 years ago

I'm going to guess that it is a little fancier than that, because simply being "always on" would kill the battery, the CPU would have to be constantly running hotword detection. It needs to have some kind of extremely low-power hotword detection for this to work. Like with Glass, some of the conspiracy nuts in other forums are out with ideas that its recording everything and piping it to the NSA, but that's unlikely for a device where they've hinted battery life was a major thing they're concentrating on.

leecbaker• 13 years ago

In the leaked Rogers video, they say "OK Google now, what is the weather." Maybe that is the keyphrase?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bUmuI...

ryanhuff• 13 years ago

If so. that would be incredibly annoying. To many syllables to simply for triggering the listen event. How about they ditch the product branding requirement and just go with "OK phone", or even 'OK Google"? Ideally it would be even shorter, but understand why they need something a bit unique. Even so, Star Trek and 2001 had it right.

magicarp• 13 years ago

In the case of the recent NSA spying revelations, those "conspiracy nuts" turned out to be correct.

s_q_b3• 13 years ago

Technical feasibility is not something the NSA can wish away. They're not magic. The fact is that keeping a microphone array active all the time would crush battery life, especially if it was constantly recording and transmitting.

Right now, even the FBI can remotely activate the microphone on your phone. Doubt this will change anything in the short run.

Zigurd2• 13 years ago

"Roving bug" capability is not magical. It was revealed in a court case in 2006, in a Nextel feature phone. It is probably implemented in the phone's baseband processor.

Operating a roving bug does use the phone's battery when active, of course. The tricky part is that can be activated when the phone is nominally off, probably by means of the phone waking up periodically and listening for special commands from the network.

If my surmise is correct and this feature is built into the baseband, depending on the system architecture and power management, a roving bug might use only a very small part of a smartphone's relatively large battery.

Roving bugs require secret cooperation from network operators and from chip makers (baseband firmware engineers, specifically). Makes one wonder how well these confidential cooperative agreements have held up as more chip makers are located in the PRC.

ihsw• 13 years ago

The article mentions Rogers as 'one of the most popular Canadian cellular companies' but the term 'popular' implies Rogers is liked, however in my limited experience they are either universally reviled or many feel indifference towards them.

They are effectively Canada's Comcast (largest cable company) so take that as you will.

RobAtticus• 13 years ago

They are using 'most popular' as a synonym for 'biggest' here. Regardless it has nothing to do with the content of the article.

adamnemecek• 13 years ago

What do they mean by "New Google"?

acchow• 13 years ago

Probably some idea of a Google that's trying to make money off hardware sales?

MichaelGG• 13 years ago

Judging from the fact that the carrier's name is displayed prominently on the status bar, and that it's only available on one carrier, I think they meant "New Motorola".

macspoofing2• 13 years ago

So we don't care about battery life anymore?

NicoJuicy• 13 years ago

Android 5.0 should have a lesser energy-consumption :-)

macspoofing2• 13 years ago

Are these "Moto X Features" Android 4.2.2 features?

yakshemash• 13 years ago

Very reassuring, after recent news about spying and whatnot, and uploading of credentials to motorolla servers

Zigurd2• 13 years ago

Well, that's totally worth doubling Google's headcount.

nivla• 13 years ago

Are we really moving to a space where always listening devices are going to be common? If so they might be taking their first step at the wrongest possible time (Ongoing NSA paranoia).

Everyone is throwing the Xbox One under a bus for having a always listening device, I wonder how receptive those same people would be to this, especially if it gets added to the core functionality of Android.

Moto X Feature Video Leaks

Related Stories