Creo Mark 1 has been launched today and more than the device itself, it is the Fuel OS that seems to be more interesting for many of us. First things first, the Fuel OS is a forked Android OS which promises you an update every month. Unlike other phones, the update will not just fix the things that have gone bad but is also expected to introduce brand new features. I am familiar with the agony linked to a delayed Android update, one of the main reason for me to choose a Nexus. But let’s walk you through a bunch of interesting features Fuel OS has in store for its users and the way it would transform the user experience.
1. New Phone Every Month
Well, to be frank, I was skeptical of the monthly update and it seemed so much similar to what Nexus and the Cyanogen OS already get. But the thing is that updates for Fuel OS are much more than just security updates or bug fixes. They try to involve the users and use the interaction for the updates. Believe me, every time my Nexus 5X gets updated I rarely succeed in figuring out the changelog. In order to change this, CREO will be supplementing the update with an intro video that will walk you through all the new features. Additionally, they will also be asking users to propose new features and if it gets enough upvotes the feature will be implemented in the next build. For now, we are taking their word, but there isn’t a reason yet not to trust them on this promise.
2. Sense
Sense is something we would quickly associate with the HTC, but the Fuel OS seems to have used this word in a whole new “Sense”. Smartphones these days are like treasure cove of personal information, but on the other hand retrieving the relevant information every time can be a mess.
Sense can be activated by tapping twice on the home screen button post which you can type in anything that you want in the search bar. The search is carried out over several apps and the result is also based on the app from which you activated Sense. For instance, if you search for ticket, then Sense will automatically fetch you the latest ticket from the Ticketing app.
3. Echo
We have been using the voicemail from quite some time and we also end up paying the voicemail fees for our network carriers. What CREO has done here is that they have built an answering machine right into the OS. The feature called Echo will play back the messages from the unattended call without the need for Internet connectivity and for increased security the call recordings are stored locally and are not backed up on any server.
The icing on the cake comes in the form of dedicated messages for each contact, in case your Boss calls he will be treated to a different greeting message as opposed to your wife. It’s indeed impressive to see the level of personalisation that has taken place.
4. Retriever
Every Smartphone user live their worst nightmare when the device is stolen or lost. Imagine the damage that one could do with all your saved credentials, data and also personal information. Despite of having a bunch of phone trackers, most of them fail to track the phones, this might be due to the fact that the person in possession of your phone has done a factory reset or has never bothered to turn on the Internet, in either case the phone remains untraceable.
Retriever works at an IMEI level and it alerts you if someone else is using the phone along with the location. This is possible since Retriever will be on a lookout for IMEI number and once the stolen phone is switched on, even with a different SIM card, the app still manages to trace the phone and let you know.
5. Smart Call Forwarding
Most of us use two SIMs in a dual SIM smartphone and it is most likely that a particular SIM card, say SIM 1 is out of coverage while the SIM 2 still has strong network connectivity. In such a scenario, the Fuel OS will automatically route the call from SIM 1 to SIM 2 without the need for any intervention.
Fuel OS is one of the few operating systems that takes advantage of hardware and has most of its features integrated deeply in to the hardware. This level of integration will be unparalleled and something that the third party app developers are striving to achieve.
Mahit Huilgol is a Mechanical Engineering graduate and is a Technology and Automobile aficionado. He ditched the Corporate boardroom wars in favor of technology...