At the just concluded second edition of the Google For Nigeria event in Lagos, Google announced new products and programs starting with Google Station For Nigeria. This internet access-focused initiative is expected to fix connectivity challenges in the country and bring more users online.
Google Station For Nigeria is geared towards providing high-quality, high speed free Wi-Fi to millions of people in 200 locations across five Nigerian cities – Abuja, Ibadan, Kaduna, Lagos and Port Harcourt. Google is partnering with one of the largest fiber network providers in Nigeria, 21st Century to install Wi-Fi hotspots at public places such as markets, transport hubs, shopping malls, universities and more.
Nigeria becomes the fifth country this internet program is launched after India, Indonesia, Thailand and Mexico. This program is similar to Facebook’s Express Wi-Fi initiative which is also available in Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, India and Indonesia.
Our new feature within Google Go allows you to listen to any web page. You can now read the web as easily as listening to the radio. #GoogleforNigeria pic.twitter.com/XIkBwZFuSR
— Google in Africa (@googleafrica) July 26, 2018
Android Go Apps And Other News
- Google also shed more light on the apps under the Go initiative targeted at internet users with low, unstable bandwidth connections and low-RAM devices.
- The Google Go app will now be able to read webpages out loud and the words will be highlighted for the user to follow along. This new feature, which will be available in coming weeks, will be available for billions of pages in 28 languages.
- In addition to the new Job Search experience which is already available across Africa, Google is launching a new search experiences to allow users explore health conditions based on symptoms and also discover new recipes as well as explore options for popular meals.
- A new navigation feature has been introduced to the Google Maps Go to allow users use turn-by-turn directions on low memory phones and unstable network connections. Google is also bring Street View to seven more cities in Nigeria and the Discover Nigeria gallery now includes the National Museum in Lagos, Olumo Rock in Abeokuta, Millenium Park in Abuja, and Lekki Conservation Centre in Lagos.
- Users will now be able to watch and share downloaded videos on YouTube Go thanks to the launch of the .yt video file. These videos will behave like normal files in the gallery and plays back within the YouTube Go app.
- Google also celebrated the launch of smartphones running Android 8.1 (Go Edition) in Nigeria and 29 other African countries. These devices from Transsion Holdings (Tecno and Infinix) Nokia, Huawei and Mobicel are available starting at over NGN 17,000.
Source: Google Blog
