The wearable technology now has a new shopping app that is to be “the beginning of the journey” for the chain.
Tesco, the British supermarket chain, has now launched a brand new mobile commerce app, but it isn’t the typical shopping or informational app for smartphone users, as it has been designed for Google Glass.
The goal of this m-commerce application is to make it faster and easier for consumers to shop online.
Google Glass users can download the Tesco mobile commerce app for free. It is voice controlled so that the user needs only speak the commands in order to search through the database of products at the supermarket. An example of the phrases that can be used is “OK Glass, find a product: milk”. Equally, users of the wearable technology can scan the item barcodes when they are in store or if they are in their own pantry and wish to re-purchase what they already have.
The mobile commerce app also allows the user to browse for items that they can add to their basket, as well.
That said, when they want to actually check out, they will need to use the regular smartphone based m-commerce app. The intentions to create the Google Glass based application was first announced in June 2014. At that time, it was still a prototype.
According to Pablo Coberly at Tesco, at the time of that first announcement, “We thought about how our colleagues might be able to use Glass to check stock hands-free, or how our customers might be able to add a product to their grocery delivery basket while making a cup of tea.” He also added that arriving at that phase along the way has brought about new concepts with regards to user interactions, including “user interface elements, new gestures, and input mechanisms.”
Clearly, Tesco came a long way since that time, as they have now launched the Google Glass mobile commerce experience. Coberly recently blogged on the subject, singing the praises of the SDK for the wearables, and applauding the Glass team at Google for the support and experience that they provide.
The massive UK supermarket chain has released its second generation hudl tablet.
The hudl2 is larger than its predecessor and is also a faster device with a better design that is equipped with enhanced parental controls, and Tesco hopes that its latest Android tablet will have more success than the first Hudl, which was released in September of last year at a selling price of £119 (about US$190) and sold 750,000 units in one year.
The initial hudl device was well liked for being a low cost tablet that got the basics right.
The group digital officer at Tesco, Michael Comish, commented that “Cutting-edge technology doesn’t have to come with a big price tag.” Comish added that “hudl2 may be affordable, but we’ve cut no corners when it comes to performance – this is our best tablet offering yet.”
The hudl2 is slim, 8.3 inches, and is powered by a 1.83 quad core Intel GHz processor. This makes it three times faster than the previous version. It also comes with Android KitKat 4.4.2, a 1.2 megapixel (MP) front facing camera and a 5MP rear facing camera, dual band wi-fi, 16 gigabytes (GB) storage with opportunity to expand to 48 GB, and 8 hour battery life.
The tablet has been optimized for entertainment and is equipped with a parental filter that includes “The Parent Zone”, which can be customized for as many as seven users. Parents are given the power to customize each profile to match their child’s age to help filter out content that may be inappropriate. Parents can also set a time limit for children playing with the mobile device.
The new Android tablet has been improved in every way possible.
According to Comish, Tesco has “improved on the tablet in every conceivable way.” He added that “We delivered a product people wanted, at a price they could afford.”
The retail price for the new hudl2 Android tablet from Tesco will be £129 (roughly US$205). However, it will also be available on Clubcard Boost, part of Tesco’s loyalty program, which means that the device could cost as low as £65 (just over US$103). The tablet will be available in eight different colors and will go on sale starting October 9.
