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Photos have become an integral part of our lives since there are so many memories attached to photos. Though cameras in today’s smartphones come loaded with different camera sensors,  multiple camera setup so that you can beautifully capture the moment, and different filters to edit the photos; there will always be a requirement for third-party photo editors to edit photos. There are a number of photo editors available for Android and the only factor that can keep the user hooked to one particular Photo Editor application is ‘Features Offered’.

Image Source

You can obviously edit photos captured using your smartphone by downloading on your machine and editing those photos using photo editing software like GIMP, Adobe Photoshop, etc. but that requires patience & expertise. If you are looking for photo editors on Android that use Artificial Intelligence [AI] and go an extra mile beyond editing photos, you should definitely have a look at Cut Cut – Cutout & Photo Background Editor by Barrier Reef Team. Cut Cut aims to Make Every Moment Count.

Cut Cut Features Set

As the name suggests, Cut Cut photo editing app makes editing photos simple, fun, and memorable. Below are some of the salient features of the Cut Cut app

  • You can edit existing photos which are in your gallery or you can edit while capturing the photo by hitting the Capture button in the app.
  • Cut Cut makes photo editing fun and interesting by providing users flexibility to cut photos and embed them in a different photo or background.
  • Cut Cut has a wide range of ‘background templates’ that are neatly separated in different categories like Travel, Festivals, Luxury, Nature, Romantic, Trends, etc. The free version has a good number of backgrounds that can keep you hooked on to the app.

  • Cut Cut has a number of filters & photo editing tools that can make your smartphone camera smarter.
  • Cut Cut has a number of camera modes like Qunicy, Original, Hefe, Xpro, Romance, B/W, Inkwell, Pixar, etc. Using Face Swap feature you can digitally swap the faces with the subject and create a humorous effect.
  • Cut Cut follows the freemium model, there are a good number of features in the free version of the app. It is ad-supported hence, you can expect advertisements being displayed at strategic locations in the app.

Cut Cut detailed app review

In order to get started, you should download the Cut Cut app from the PlayStore from here. Once installed, the app runs in the background and the editing window would pop-up as soon as you capture photos using your native camera on your smartphone. We observed that there was not much increase in the overall CPU consumption even when it was executing in the background.

Once you open the Cut Cut app, along with the three major options – Edit, Cut Cut, Camera; there is a list of the popular designs so that you need not spend much time in exploring the designs. There is a larger placeholder that contains the link to the Cut Cut Tutorial and explains the app usage in a crisp manner

  • Step 1 – Choose your favourite background.
  • Step 2 – Use the Lasso Tool
  • Step 3 – Create Mirror Effects
  • Step 4 – Add Filter Effects

It would have been better if there was an option to mark ‘Tutorial section as Read‘ since it may not be useful for Cut Cut superstar users since they are already well-versed with the app. A better approach would have been to have another Card that showcases the latest features in the Cut Cut app since that would be helpful to all categories of users [pros, newbies, etc.].

The home screen is simple since three major options [already described above] are displayed upfront. Using the Edit option, you can Edit the existing photos and apply different filters, backgrounds on the photo. The Cut Cut option contains three major sub-options – Photos, Portrait, and Albums. The camera option lets you capture photos and edit them right in the Cut Cut app itself. Hence, you no longer need to leave the Cut Cut app to edit the photos.

There are different options for editing namely Adjust, Rotate, Text addition, Filter addition, Blur effect, etc. Using the Sticker feature, you can create funny stickers from your photos. You can directly upload the captured photographs to your social media and social messaging platforms.

Cut Cut Review – Pros & Improvements

Below are some of the positive points of Cut Cut photo editing app when compared to similar apps available in the market.

  • Cut Cut app is an easy to use photo editing tool. The app makes extensive use of AI to suggest backgrounds that can enhance the beauty of the selected photographs and portion of the photo that you should edit so that the elegance of the photograph is still retained.
  • If you are a good photographer, you can even submit your work (Background) to Cut Cut team and if shortlisted, your photos are added to the Backgrounds Gallery of the app. This is an excellent manner to build a quality database of backgrounds by involving the community.
  • You can add Watermark to your photos and using the Screenshot Window setting in the app, you can edit screenshots with a single click.
  • By default the Cut Cut app runs in the background [with minimal impact on the battery], Quick Edit opens up each time you click a photograph. This reduces the overall time spent in editing the photos.

Below are some of the improvements as far as the Cut Cut app is concerned

  • Needless to mention that the free version of the app uses advertisements [ads] for monetization. However, there are scenarios where a full-screen ad pops up after photo editing is done. We found a few cases where it prompted us to install other apps e.g. Memory cleaner app and such ads ruin the entire user experience. The Cut Cut app is developed by China-based Apus Group which has developed apps like Apus Browser, Apus Launcher, etc. Instead of ads on the home screen of the app, a better approach would be to feature other apps developed by the Apus Group in a card format. Though it is important that the app generates revenue, it should not come at the cost of usability.
In-App ads in Cut Cut app
  • The Premium version of Cut Cut app which is ad-free is not very costly – Rs. 70.70 for 6 months, Rs. 42 for 3 months, and Rs. 20.70 for 1 month. Users of the premium version can cancel the subscription anytime. Though there is a recurring billing option, it would have been better if they also added a one-time subscription model for regular user-base of the app.
  • Though you can connect the app to Instagram, there should have been a feature where users can upload the photos edited/clicked via Cut Cut app to the cloud. It could be Google Cloud for non-Chinese users and Apus Cloud for global users [including users in China] of the app.
  • The size of the app is around 180 MB which might be a bit heavy for smartphone users with limited internal memory. A Cut Cut lite app would have been an ideal app for users that have smartphones with powerful cameras but limited capacity.

Conclusion

Cut Cut is a good app for editing photos. Since the app is simple to use, it requires a minimal learning curve. In order to penetrate the mass market, app usability is of primary importance and annoying ads at random places in the app ruins the entire experience. The product & engineering teams at Barrier Reef Team need to put user experience first (especially in some sections of the app) and limit the number of ads to enhance the overall experience. The app does have stickiness and since the premium version is not so costly, regular Cut Cut app users would definitely migrate to the premium version sooner or later. You can download Cut Cut Photo Editor for Android from here.

If you have used the Cut Cut app on Android, do leave your experience or suggestions in the comments section…

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A very famous quote on investing says – ‘Risk & Rewards are two sides of the same coin’. This means that in most of the cases, higher the amount of risk involved chances of maximizing the returns are also very high! The investment portfolio of every person would differ since it is dependent on various factors like risk appetite, assets, liabilities, dependencies, etc. and hence, it becomes virtually impossible for any investment firm to cater to varied investment requirements of such a large audience.

Image Source – WealthApp

This is where emerging technologies like Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence can play a vital role in creating a tailor-made investment plan based on your long-term and short financial requirements. Machine Learning has already the paved way into the Fintech market, be it approving loans, documentation, managing assets, etc. Many Fintech startups are leveraging machine learning, AI, Chatbots and helping banking institutions to either enhance the existing banking experience or creating kick-ass products in the areas of wealth management, personal finance, customer service, etc.

When it comes to investing, there are different types of investors – Novice and seasoned investors. There are options for investing in FD, RD, Gold, etc. that are used for many years, are less risky and yield lesser returns. On the other hand, there are options like investing in stocks, equity markets, Gold bonds, etc that yield higher returns but the investor needs to have at least basic know-how about the markets. According to a report by Bloomberg, less than 1.5% of the Indian population invested in equity markets and only 2% of India’s household savings were exposed to equity.

Most of the investment firms reserved their advisory services for HNI’s, with none of them catering to the expanding retail investors and middle-income groups. This is where founders of Fintech startup WealthApp saw an opportunity and created WealthApp with a single aim to make goal-based investing easier by combining their wealth management expertise with the power of Machine Learning. In simple terms, WealthApp is an algorithm based, tech-driven investment platform created by seasoned finance professionals that help you create your ‘Perfect’ investment portfolio as per your requirements and risk appetite. We had earlier interviewed Gaurav Dhawan, Co-Founder of WealthApp and today we do a detailed review of the app w.r.t features, enhancements, competition, etc.

Note – Since it is an app related to finance, we have blurred out certain things that might be personal or related to my investment portfolio.

WealthApp: Changing the Investment Habit for ‘Better Financial Planning’

As mentioned earlier, investment in the equity markets is not very popular option amongst investors in India but that scene is changing rapidly! 60,000 new investors are investing in Mutual Funds and this is where fin-tech startups like WealthApp are acting as a change agent. WealthApp is using Machine Learning, AI and proprietary algorithms to invest, track, redeem, etc. in Mutual Funds owned by different AMC’s [Asset Management Company].

Apart from in-depth know-how about the Mutual Fund [MF] industry, another problem faced by investors is that in order to keep a track of their MF investment, they have to log on to the website of each AMC for checking the performance, invest in other MF’s from the same AMC, etc. WealthApp has tied-up with different AMC’s due to which investors can track their investments from AMC’s, invest in Mutual Funds from other popular AMC’s in a single window. As an investor, you have to create a profile on WealthApp, allow WealthApp to access your portfolio information from the corresponding AMC & you are done 🙂

With WealthApp, there is an end to the long winding process, paper work and emergence of proper guidance in investment methods by a team that has extensive experience in managing individual investment portfolios.

WealthApp: Goal-based investing, dedicated fund manager and more

Each one of us has short-term as well as long-term goals and ambitions like going for an overseas vacation, buying a house, overseas education, etc. and this is where ‘Goal-Based Investing’ plays a very crucial role. Goal-based investing aims to get around the drawback of the traditional investment approach, which generally focuses on outperforming the market while staying within the investor’s threshold for risk. Instead, it uses individual asset pools with an investment strategy that is tailored to the client’s specific goals [Source].

Goal-based investing: Once you create your profile on WealthApp, you would be recommended with relevant and personalized investment options based on your risk profile, goal & aspirations set by you. There is an automated and continuous monitoring, re-balancing of your portfolio according to changing market conditions so that you can maximize the returns on your investments!

Dedicated fund manager: Couple of months back when we interviewed Gaurav Dhawan, he raised a very valid point ‘Investors are interested to invest in Mutual Funds but most of them feel that MFs are difficult to understand’. This is where WealthApp wants to create a dent in order to drive investor’s interest in MFs. This is one of the primary reasons why every investor on WealthApp has a dedicated fund manager assigned to him/her. The fund manager would hand-hold you in the on-boarding process, efficiently managing your portfolio, guiding you to maximize returns and more…

Frictionless on-boarding process: The KYC is done in a paperless manner, you no longer to submit multiple paper documents for the on-boarding process 🙂 Since the platform runs on high-end machine learning algorithms, the entire advisory process is automated so that investors can get timely investment tips and latest updates on their investments.

Investment tips & Detailed reports: Once you have your account setup and records of your MF investments are imported on WealthApp, you start receiving personalized e-mailer based on your investment profile, goals and other important criteria that might impact your long-term & short-term investment goals!

Also if you want to make further investments, you need not go to the AMC’s website but can continue investing in MFs via WealthApp. At any point in time, you can download the performance reports of your investments.

The design of the app is very simple since there is a possibility that the app could be used by someone who is not well versed with mobile/technology but has good knowledge about MF’s, equity markets, etc.

WealthApp: Improvements, Competition…

WealthApp amalgamates technology [AI, Machine Learning] with finance/investing and makes lives of MF investors easy since now they no longer have to log-in to each & every AMC’s website where they have invested their funds! However, in many cases investing is a long-term strategy and hence, it becomes important that reports are very detailed. The reports should highlight the performance of any particular fund in a graphical representation so that that data dishes out much more information. As seen in the screenshot below, the reports of funds that an investor has invested in are not detailed and the overall format also needs some improvement.

There has been a meteoric rise in the fintech startup landscape in H1, H2 of 2017 with e-commerce, FinTech startups top Funding Charts in H1 2017 [Source]. Many of the fintech companies are leveraging Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Social Data Intelligence, Blockchain, etc. in order to solve critical business problems, including the one being solved by WealthApp. A fintech startup UpWardly is also leveraging Machine Learning to Upwardly, which facilitate goal-based investments in mutual funds.

WealthApp: Conclusion

Overall, WealthApp is a simple yet effective service from seasoned finance professionals that makes ‘goal-based investing’ easier. Even after you have downloaded the WealthApp application, there is still a human-touch to investing via your dedicated fund managers. Barring a few improvement areas, it is an app that a retail investor can use in order to test the waters of Mutual Fund Investing. If you are a seasoned investor, WealthApp solves the major hurdle of logging on-to individual AMC’s website for maintaining your investment portfolio.

You can download WealthApp for Android from here and WealthApp for iOS from here. If you are an existing user of WealthApp, do leave your feedback/experience in the comments section.

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The popularity of platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc. has not only affected the manner in which people interact, shop but also how they socialize. Social Media coupled with Digital Marketing is a powerful tool that businesses use for marketing their products. With the rising internet penetration, growing popularity of affordable 4G phones and increasing number of Indians consuming local content, etc. users are always connected and hence they are able to access Social Media accounts when on the move!

Image Source – Social Media

With the e-commerce trend catching up big time in India, online shoppers are always on the lookout for some lucrative deals while they are shopping online. The deal could be in the form of a huge discount while shopping online or in the form a cashback from the e-commerce site or discount by applying ‘relevant’ coupon from a couponing website. It goes without saying that even while shopping online, we discuss with our family & friends before making a final ‘Buy’ decision!

People spend a considerable amount of time on Social Media, but since there are a number of social networking apps, many of them spend time in hopping from one app to the other. Also, none of the apps incentivize their users for spending their precious time on social media. There is not a single platform where an avid internet user can perform all the above-mentioned activities. This is the problem that a Delhi based startup is trying to solve with their app Sagoon,  a multi-app platform. Today we review the Sagoon app on Android, so let’s get started…

Sagoon – Connect, Share and Learn

As mentioned earlier, our mobile device has so many apps and every mobile user would be spending a good amount of time in hopping from one app to another. This is where an app like Sagoon can turn out to be very useful since it is a multi-application platform and wants its users to build a rewarding life by following the innovative social path: Connect, Share and Earn.

Swati Dayal, co-founder of Sagoon came up with the idea of the app when she along with her other co-founders realized that there is a dearth of a good social e-commerce platform.  Sagoon intends to tap the market worth $300 billion by offering the users the best of social media and social gifting at one place.

In a nutshell, Sagoon enables you to share secret messages, strengthen your relations with family & friends and express your emotional state clearly. Following the social path Connect, Share & Earn, it intends to transform negative experiences on social media into positive ones [Source]

Sagoon – Detailed Review

Sagoon aims at untangling your life and wants you to be Smart, Productive and Connected. Currently, the app is only available for Android users however, users can log in to Sagoon on mobile using their mobile website until the time the app is not live on iOS.

On Android, the app is ~45 MB in size which is definitely not a deal-breaker for the target segment which is very active on social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, etc. Most of these apps occupy much more real-estate on the mobile!

Sagoon aims to be a one-stop shop for all your needs, be it setting reminders, sharing content, planning & scheduling, chatting and much more. Each product has unique features and a different customer presentation strategy; the purpose of each application is to strengthen true connections and be productive. This is evident from the feature set that Sagoon promises for its users.

My Day:  A few years back, if we had to set reminders than we used to pen the schedule in a diary and at the end of the day check how many of the planned tasks are completed. However, with the advent of mobile, scheduling & planning has got a new avatar since apps are now used for the same. My Day feature in the Sagoon app can be used for creating schedules, setting reminders, etc. It can be used as a smart organizer for your personal as well as official purpose.

My Day has the following features

  • Multi-Location Clock
  • Weather
  • Schedule
  • Reminders
  • Sharing of Calendar
  • To-Do List

The UI is simplistic and you can share your schedule with others as well. Though there are many To-Do List apps, we liked the sharing feature in Sagoon that makes ‘collaborative planning and tracking’ to a micro-level.

Story Sharing/Secret: Each one of us gets different thoughts that are dependent on our mood, surrounding environment & many other factors and you want a platform to express your feelings. Secret in Sagoon can be used to share your thoughts, learnings, experience with others, in anonymous & non-anonymous mode.

It also helps you e-meet and learn from like-minded users on the platform. Since users can post anonymously, Secret can also be used as a scratch-pad by many to just express their emotions online. You are allowed to use 220 characters and up to three images to post a story. As a user, you can post your story [photos and video] under the ‘Open’ category, allowing all of your contacts to view, like, dislike or comment on it. While posting you can also choose to hide your identity. You can also send one-on-one story messages which will vanish after they are read.

It also supports tracking/analytics so that you can check the post insights – likes, dislikes, shares, comments. Thus, the Open Secret feature helps in creating a transparent society and transforms users into change-agents.

Secret has the following features

  • Create Secrets
  • Set Privacy
  • Track Secrets
  • Attach Multi Images
  • Like, Dislike, Share or Comment
  • Hot/Trending Secrets

MoodTalk: It is very commonly said ‘Let your mood do the talking‘ but it is next to impossible to express different emotions – happiness, sadness, sickness, etc. online since you never know the treatment your mood talk would receive at the recipient side.

MoodTalk on PC

With MoodTalk from Sagoon, you can break those shackles of fear & anxiety and express freely as per your emotional state. MoodTalk is a simple chatting tool which lets your mood do the talking. If you are sick and set your mood to ‘Sick’, your near & dear ones would be notified about the same via an SMS and they can then re-connect with you and re-build long lost relations. Since our mood is dependent on many factors and is never permanent, hence in MoodTalk your chats also vanish automatically after 24 hours.

Me Page, Unique ID and more: Sagoon also provides a ‘Me Page’ which can have a mix of personal and professional information. You can customize your profile with a photo, description, interests, etc. since the Page is a reflection of your identity. It can also be used to meet like-minded people. Its functionality is somewhat similar to the offering by about.me

In order to ensure that the app is secure enough, Sagoon uses a combination of email-id and phone number to sync into one, instead of using a customary user-id and PIN. Along with security, the secondary intent of following this approach is to ensure that Sagoon user gets his/her revenue share when they introduce the Social Smart Card option in a couple of months.

Sagoon has a very sleek interface and the same philosophy is also carried forward on its offering for Desktop and Mobile Web. The experience was good on all the platforms, be it Android, Mobile Web or Desktop!

Sagoon – Earn Money by Shopping and Socialising

The Social Smart Card will enable the users to buy things online, send gifts and also buy from physical retail outlets. Every Sagoon user would get the card for free when they create their profile.

Sagoon Social Smart Card

Since social commerce is an integral component in the Sagoon app, each user will get 5 percent cut for the transaction they perform on the platform. This is loosely similar to affiliate marketing but this feature can definitely be a huge game changer! Along with that, Sagoon user would also be incentivized for the time they spend socializing on it.

We are sure that you also found Sagoon interesting as well as useful 🙂 Why to wait, you can download the Sagoon app for Android from here

Sagoon – Conclusion

Sagoon is a promising app, both for social media users as well as social media influencers. With promising features like MoodTalk and Story Sharing, it brings ‘human touch’ that was so far missing in social media. Social Smart Card is a very innovative manner to give back some revenue to the ever-growing lot of social media addicts and we hope that it is released at the earliest 🙂

If you are Sagoon user, please leave your feedback or suggestions in the comments section

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How many of us have landed in a cash-crunch situation where you wanted a certain amount of cash as a short-term loan but felt awkward to borrow from your friends/relatives or they refused to lend due to some unimaginable reasons! With growing disposable income, rising expenses, etc., such scenarios are very common, especially with the urban population. You might require a loan for paying your rental deposit, starting a business, shopping, going on a vacation, buying home appliances or simply because you have run out of cash towards the month end.

Image Source – MoneyControl

Opting for a bank loan or securing an unsecured personal loan [from P2P companies] might not be feasible due to the higher interest rate. What if there existed a solution where borrowers can opt for loans based on their Line Of Credit.

Line of Credit and its advantages

A line of credit, abbreviated as LOC, is an arrangement between a financial institution, usually a bank, and a customer that establishes a maximum loan balance that the lender permits the borrower to access or maintain.

The main advantage of a line of credit is its built-in flexibility. Borrowers can request a certain amount, but they do not have to use it all. Rather, borrowers can tailor what they spend to their needs, and they only have to pay interest on the amount they spend, not on the entire credit line. In addition, consumers can also adjust their repayment amounts as needed, based on their budget or cash flow. For example, borrowers can repay the entire outstanding balance at once, or they can opt to just make the minimum monthly payments [Source].

Loan based on Line of Credit : A market opportunity

As mentioned earlier, young Indian urban population is and will continue to be driven by aspirational living and the basic standard of living will increase drastically. On similar lines, Indian consumers are also extremely credit-starved; they are either denied or pay a heavy premium for accessing the financial services due to sparse data, high transaction costs and poor trust infrastructure.

Many salaried urban Indians can easily co-relate to the situation shown in the video below

Unsecured personal loans offered by banks is still relatively slow-growing credit product that stands at around Rs. 45,000 crores. The informal market that includes moneylenders and family is roughly estimated to be around 50~100 times bigger. Some of the primary reasons for the gap are below:

  • Lack of reliable credit information available for banks to be able to offer credit
  • Credit cards, even when available only solve the ‘Shopping’ problem. Day-to-day needs like paying school fees, emergency expenses, rental deposits, etc. are largely cash-based
  • Applying for an unsecured personal loan is time-consuming for the consumer and expensive for the banks to process. Banks then prefer giving higher ticket loans to fewer people.

There clearly existed a market opportunity if a Bank/NBFC could provide an efficient solution to provide personal loans to Indian consumers based on their line of credit and solve the existing credit problem for Indian middle-income group. This is the opportunity that led way to the founding of MoneyTap, a Bengaluru-based fintech startup that has stellar serial entrepreneurs-Bala Parthasarathy, Anuj Kacker, and Kunal Varma as it’s founders. MoneyTap is India’s first startup that provides loans based on consumer’s credit line. A couple of months back, the MoneyTap app crossed 100K installs in three months since launch.

Today, we review the MoneyTap Android app from the perspective of usability, ease of securing a loan, communications with the customer-support team, etc.

MoneyTap : Money on your tap

MoneyTap is India’s first App-based credit line. Currently, it is open only to salaried professionals and loan is given to the consumers in partnership with banks. Unlike loan process which is very tedious, MoneyTap makes the entire process painless since it all happens on the app including the verification of eligibility, eKYC, etc.

The app is built on patent-pending technology, it is very secure and uses AI, NLP, ChatBot, etc. for providing a better experience to its customers! Some of the salient features of MoneyTap are below:

  • Credit Limit – Minimum credit limit of Rs. 3000, maximum credit limit of Rs. 5 Lakhs.
  • No Usage, no interest – Interest is charged only on transfer or EMI conversion. The remaining limit is available to the customer at no additional cost.
  • Low Interest – Interest rates vary from 1.25%~1.5% per month with no hidden charges.
  • Decide your own EMI – Customers can choose the tenure from 2 months to 36 months
  • Rewards & Benefits – MoneyTap credit card is loaded with rewards and other benefits
  • No collateral, no guarantors, 100% unsecured
  • Swipe, Tap and Convert – Customers can shop online or swipe at a store, one tap to transfer money instantly to the bank.
  • Keeping track of the transactions – EMIs and available credit can be tracked right from the app. It combines the best of personal loan, cash, and credit card, all under control through the mobile app!

There is a one-time setup fee of Rs. 499 plus taxes and the customer would get a MasterCard powered credit card by RBL Bank. The lingering question that comes to mind is ‘Why should someone pay for a credit card in times when other banks are offering credit cards for free‘. I checked with the RBL bank executive as well as customer happiness team at MoneyTap and they informed that customer would receive equivalent credit points that can be redeemed across retail outlets or on e-commerce platforms [so ideally the credit card is free].

MoneyTap : Detailed Review [Product Flow, Security, Customer Support]

As mentioned earlier, any salaried employee [with a monthly salary above Rs. 20000] can avail loan via MoneyTap. The immediate question that comes to mind is “Why only salaried professionals?”.

We had posted this same question to Bala Parthasarathy, CEO of MoneyTap and the answer lies in ‘Probability of guaranteed repayment’. He also informed us that since ‘Unsecured loan based on credit line’ is a relatively new concept in India hence, partner banks, as well as MoneyTap want to ensure that they create a market ‘one customer segment at a time’. Bala Parthasarathy did inform us that soon entrepreneurs, freelancers, designers, etc. could avail loans via MoneyTap but for the time being their target market segment is salaried professionals.

Once the user downloads the MoneyTap app from the Play Store, (s)he needs to upload a selfie for the application form, PAN card photo and current residence proof for eKYC. The MoneyTap app has three main sections:

  • Profile creation
  • Credit decision
  • Loan Amount

Profile Creation

The app is built on a patent-pending chat bot interface and would ask for all the relevant information that is required by banks. However, unlike traditional loans from banks where you need to fill a lot of information & submit tons of documents, with MoneyTap the process looks fast & breezy. You need to also enter the purpose for which you require a loan [further studies, business, house deposit, pay existing loan, etc.].

If you have an Aadhar Card, things become much easier since you could simply scan the Aadhar card bar-code and all the relevant information would be fetched from the card. Bala Parthasarathy’s learnings during his tenure with UIDAI would have come in handy during the development of MoneyTap!

Credit Decision

Once the eKYC is done than the app takes the user to the next step where important decisions are taken and the customer would come to know about the eligibility for the loan [as well as sanctioned amount]. You need to enter your PAN details, current organization & residence type. Once these details are submitted, the patent-pending algorithms fetch your Credit [CIBIL] score, social score, etc. in order to perform ‘Eligibility Check’.

For some reason, if you fail to pass the eligibility criteria e.g. here, here you need not proceed to the next step. Similar to traditional bank loans, CIBIL score might be the first data point used by MoneyTap for checking eligibility for a loan.

Once the first step of eligibility check has passed, the user/loan applicant would need to submit last six months bank statements [salary account preferred]. The user has the option to either ‘Login to net-banking account’ inside the context of MoneyTap or upload bank statements via secure upload link provided by MoneyTap. Immediately, a lingering question about security would come to your mind since you are uploading your bank statement but as stated in the T&C of MoneyTap, their team takes security very seriously and all the back-end APIs comply with mandated security standards and robust protocols.

Security & Protection of Privacy

Protection of your privacy and your data security is our primary concern. Our back end APIs comply with mandated security standards and robust protocols. Our security measures have been tested and certified by our partner bank’s IT team. Your credentials are only used to retrieve your bank statements for verification. Alternatively, you can also upload a PDF of your bank statements which is eco-friendly and time-saving [Source]

MoneyTap has tied-up with a 3rd party company through which ‘Net Banking Login’ as well ‘Secure Bank statement upload’ is made possible. In order to test the security of the app, I downloaded my bank statement and uploaded the pdf after removing the password and the MoneyTap app rejected the bank statement since there was an author signature mismatch. When I dropped an email for the rejection, the MoneyTap customer success team member called me and clarified the reason for rejection.

Once I uploaded the proper bank statement, the application got approved after a couple of days. In this entire process, there was no interaction with the bank partner and entire process took place on app & email.

Loan Amount

Once the important steps of eKYC and Credit Decision are complete, the final step is disbursal of approved loan amount. As mentioned earlier, interest is only charged on the amount borrowed with interest rates as low as 1.25~1.5% per month. The customer would also receive a Credit Card from RBL Bank and this is the only step where you have to interact with the bank executive.

During the interaction that I had with the executive, he called me from his mobile phone & asked me to send bank statement over WhatsApp which is against security norms of the bank. Since MoneyTap acts as an ‘Unsecured loan enabler’, it becomes important for their customer success team to ensure that the bank officials adhere to all the necessary standards since as a customer you are dealing with MoneyTap with RBL Bank being a black-box. The official did call me from bank’s landline after which communication was smooth.

Even though the technology behind MoneyTap app is awesome and the entire approval process was completed with a blink of an eye, efficient communication with bank partners holds the key else it could result in negative reviews More details about the RBL MoneyTap credit card can be found here

Image Source – MoneyTap RBL Credit Card

MoneyTap:Scope for improvements

Currently, MoneyTap is available in Bengaluru, Delhi NCR [Delhi, New Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurgaon], Hyderabad and Mumbai [Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane] and Chennai. However, there are requests from users from other cities and in order to track the incoming requests, MoneyTap could add a Notify Me page where the user enters his/her city information which can act as important data for their team to identify next logical expansion [coupled with data from their partner banks].

As mentioned earlier, detailed communication about the application status [from MoneyTap Team] could be very important for creating a WoW factor. Though my application was processed in a couple of days, sometimes the partner banks might take more time in processing the application which might act as a spoil-sport. Hence, timely communication becomes a very important factor!

MoneyTap:Conclusion

The overall experience of using the MoneyTap was great. The technology behind MoneyTap makes the entire loan application process less cumbersome. Banks and financial institutions are bullish on chatbots and MoneyTap uses chatbot technology very effectively. Though P2P lending, loans on credit line and other mechanisms of obtaining unsecured loans are still in nascent stage, MoneyTap does have a first-mover advantage since it is India’s first app-based credit line and provides loans at lesser interest rates!

If you have used the MoneyTap app, please leave your feedback/reviews in the comments section…

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Couple of weeks back, I switched from Google Keyboard to Xploree Keyboard, a keyboard that can do much more than typing! In simple words, Xploree is an intent based keyboard that is powered by AI, NLP, Machine Learning and host of other technologies. It is a product from Hyderabad based KeyPoint Technologies that has earlier developed adaptxt and has mastered the art of building a keyboard that ‘Users Want’!.

Xploree doubles up as an effective ‘Discovery Platform’ that learns from user’s intent. Since it is a keyboard app, it also does the job of a regular keyboard 🙂 Xploree App review was earlier published here, today we have an interactive session with Deepti M. Saxena, Sales & Marketing Director, KeyPoint Technologies. The Q&A revolves around Xploree, technology behind the app, learnings from adaptxt, etc.

Image Source – Xploree

What are some of the advantages of using the Xploree Keyboard over other traditional keyboards ?

Xploree is a smart mobile keyboard app that doubles up as a discovery platform. Powered by AI, the keyboard allows users to receive relevant suggestions and content while they chat, browse apps, etc. Even before users realize, Xploree gauges user’s intent & suggests recommendations based on who and what the users care about, current context [location, availability, etc.] and their likelihood to care about things when in a similar context.

Unlike other keyboards in the market, Xploree is the first smart keyboard app that augments predictions: not just that of words but INTENT. This smart keyboard app supports 110+ global languages including 29 indic languages thereby connecting people to content, products, services and solutions, almost faster than ideas can actually lead to words that too in their moment of need!

Can you share some details about the team behind the revolutionary Xploree keyboard.

While Sunil Motaparti, Founder & CEO- leads the business, Nutan Chokkareddy, CTO leads the technological innovations at KPT. Prima Dona, COO oversees company wide operations, with a special focus on scaling Xploree. Kiran Karthikeyan is the Vice President Product and is involved in the overall success of the product offerings.

Deepti M. Saxena is in-charge of Xploree’s nationwide sales and marketing activities. Today KeyPoint Technologies has over 100 enthusiasts working towards achieving the end goal-that is-making the mobile SMART with its INTELLIGENT KEYBOARD.

Can you please touch base upon some of the tech aspects of the Xploree Keyboard ?

  • First smart keyboard that identifies intents, categories and sentiment on the fly
  • Following the standards to handle context better [schema.org, IAB Taxonomy etc.]
  • Supports multiple languages and powered by NLP & Machine Learning [Neural Networks, Classification algorithms, recommendation systems etc.]
  • Ontology with frequent updates to capture trending topics
  • Captures and uses multiple contexts to provide the best discoveries
  • Application & Domain Context, Time Context, Location Context, User Context, Typed Text Context
  • Unlocking potential of mobile retail by integrating ability to buy products from within the app
  • Works across apps
  • Non-Intrusive. Follows EULA privacy policies
  • Available in SDK and SaaS models – to be consumed by third party applications

How secure is it to use the Xploree App since it gives suggestions in Real-Time [when typing], is there any data stored on any server ?

Xploree follows strict EULA and data privacy policies and does not capture, store or map users’ data. We do it on the device in real-time and do not send any typed text to our server

The only data thread that hits the server is the context, which is never stored beyond the keyboard session.

Keypoint had earlier developed Adaptxt [which was also available on other platforms], what are some of the learnings developing Adaptxt that was carried over in development of Xploree

During building of Adaptxt we got to understand the nuances of different languages and how users express similar thoughts in variety of expressions. This helped us understand that language is not a straight math but an art to understand and predict next words or phrases. It called for nonstop iterations to keep improvising on the predictions.

For Xploree, we heavily rely on machine learning & sentiment modeling to churn different intents and expressions among zillions of text strings. To make the task simpler, we built lightweight NLP [natural language processing] that sits on the user device [not on our servers unlike other search engines] and does everything within the device without compromising on user privacy.

Xploree is built over Adaptxt by adding advance layers of intent technology and machine learning.

Who are some of the partners who are present on the Xploree platform

Zomato, Flipkart, Amazon, Shopclues, First Cry, Housejoy, CouponDunia, Daily Motion among several others.

Recently Google released GBoard that also uses NLP, Machine Learning, etc. what are some of the USP’s of Xploree vis-a-vis GBoard

Any other keyboard in the market do not promise to be as ‘smart’ as Xploree besides offering a personalized dictionary. Xploree does more than a normal keyboard by capturing intent and context thereby becoming a virtual friend to users:a friend who understands their intent, context, desires, motives and matches them to relevant recommendations in real time.

KPT has been primarily working on Keyboards [LIPI, Adaptxt, Xploree,etc.], how as a company have you seen the Keyboard(s) evolve over a period of time ?

KPTs’ passion for linguistics and technology has enabled the company to deliver a better user experience across all types of connected devices over the years. KPT has seen a lot of success in the last couple of years with regards to the in-house innovations.

Adaptxt is an industry leading predictive text application for smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. Adaptxt was created with the aim of delivering a faster, error-free and personalized text input experience to users. Adaptxt won the Appy Awards for Productivity and Horizon Interactive Awards Silver for Best Productivity App. Adaptxt has been built for a pan-global audience and supports over 120+ languages.

Xploree, the latest keyboard app built by KPT is an AI and NLP driven discovery platform that offers unified hyper-context and intent precision on multiple screens, multiple apps and in multiple languages.  Xploree will be the first ‘Made in India’ smart keyboard app that has taken predictions and discoveries to a whole new level.

KeyPoint currently has representation in key markets including U.S., UK, India, Japan and China and continues to grow with its latest innovation Xploree.

Are there plans on developing a stand-alone keyboard SDK that can be used by 3rd party app developers

We already have a stand-alone, off the shelf keyboard SDK available for the market and 3rd party developers. Currently, service is available only on request.

How many languages are currently supported by Xploree

Xploree supports 110+ global languages that includes 29 indic languages. Additionally, the smart keyboard also offers mix of languages such as Hinglish (English+Hindi) Tamlish (Tamil+Hindi), Bonglish (Bengali+English), etc.

Can Xploree work on low-cost Android handsets that have less RAM, less internal memory, etc. since there has been huge mobile penetration in tier-II, tier-III cities, rural areas, etc who might not have high-end phones.

Yes. We have considered those aspects while developing our product. Xploree works best with mobile phones with 1 GB RAM and android version 4.4 & above.

How according to you can brands [not only e-commerce] but advertisers, etc. utilize the growing eco-system of Xploree

By showing brand cards at the right time, Xploree brings brands and consumers closer. This happens whenever an intent is expressed on the keyboard. Even before the user types out his desire, Xploree’s smart algorithms capture user’s intent basis the context and matches them with relevant recommendations.

In other words, brands and advertisers will be sitting right there on the user’s keyboard waiting for a context to show up. Needless to say, Xploree’s growing user base which is close to 3 million currently will be the exposure bandwidth for brands and advertisers.

How has the response been for Xploree Keyboard on iOS [if it is available and if not, then any timeline on when it might be available]

Xploree is currently available only on Android-version 4.4 & above. So far, the responses have been overwhelming. Xploree on iOS will be out soon!

Xploree Keyboard app is available on Play Store & can be downloaded from here. If you have used the Xploree App, please leave your feedback/suggestions in the comments section.

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A couple of years back, owning a car was considered a luxury and a distant dream for many of us but now the car has become a commodity! The rise in disposable personal income, higher aspirations of working middle class, easy access to loans and growth of the on-demand economy are some of the factors that have led to increased demand for cars in India.

As per a report from the Indian Brand Equity Foundation, sales of passenger vehicles increased by 16.7% to 258,000 units in August 2016 driven by better-than-expected monsoon and strong buying sentiment. Sales of commercial vehicles grew by 1.53 per cent to 52,996 units [Source]. These staggering figures definitely indicate that the auto industry in India is one of the largest in the world!

Image Source – Auto Market in India

Ever changing automobile market landscape

The automobile industry landscape is changing at a rapid pace and the shared mobility torch-bearers namely Uber, Ola are driving force behind this change. A couple of months back, Ola signed a deal with Mahindra and as mentioned by Mr. Mahindra – The auto industry will grow but will it grow as much as it would have in the absence of car sharing, definitely not. That will certainly affect the potential of the market. In a country like this, starved of infrastructure with urban congestion, may be that is a very good environmental solution. People will buy cars when they want it as a sign of aspiration. Given the very low penetration, a car park of only 30 million here, there is a clear opportunity to grow both fleet market and individual buyers’ market [Source]

Even though there is a burgeoning growth of the automobile industry, the automobile repair and services industry continues to remain highly unorganized. India’s car servicing industry is slated to be a Rs 33,000-crore business by 2020, up from Rs 20,000 crore now [Source]. Since the car services market is highly fragmented, car owners have to depend on local garages for repair & service and most of the times the experience might not turn out to be pleasant. Local garages using bogus spares, delayed delivery, lack of customer service & orientation, incomplete repair works creates an overall bad customer experience. However, thanks to the increasing penetration of internet, car owners can now avail important car services at a click of a button. Startups like Fulltank are on a journey to organize the automobile repair services market by Providing an exceptional on-demand car repair and service at the doorstep.

Fulltank – Important car services available on a click

Fulltank is a car service provider currently operational in Bengaluru and Coimbatore. Whether your car broke down on a highway & you need assistance or you want to avail important services like a car wash, buying tyres, stepney change, etc. right from the comfort of your home, Fulltank would come to your rescue.

Unlike local garage shops, the spare parts used by Fulltank are 100% genuine. Their services are 24*7 available via their Android & iOS app. They also provide immediate assistance for any Break downs, Punctures, Fuel Out, Flat Tyre, Towing, etc. that happens all of a sudden in your vehicle.

Fulltank – Roadside Assistance, Chauffeurs, Car Insurance and more

Apart from being a handy companion in emergency situations, Fulltank also provides a gamut of services listed below:

Roadside Assistance – Be it fixing a puncture, towing a vehicle or replacing tyres, Fulltank provides all these services at the convenience of your fingertips. It charges a nominal fee for the service being provided. They have on-boarded verified mechanics who ensure that your car remains in awesome condition even after service!

Chauffeurs – Sitting in a car becomes an experience only if the steering is controlled by the right person. In order to provide an exceptional experience, FullTank offers chauffeurs rental service. The chauffeurs present on their platform possess good competency and clean driving record.

Maintenance Services – They provide comprehensive maintenance services such as scheduled 10000 km, 20000 km, oil change, etc. Fulltank also assists its customers with car insurance, car service, car wash as well as repair.

In a nutshell, Fulltank has a range of services built for well-being of your car

Fulltank – Mobile app for your car service needs

As mentioned earlier, the Fulltank app is available on Android as well as iOS. The app has user-friendly interface and once you download the app, you need to enter the car details [like the brand, car number, engine type, etc.] in Fulltank. Availability of some of the services like tyre replacement, battery replacement, stepney change, etc. might vary across different car models.

To top it all, in order to delight it’s customers Fulltank would offer up to 71% off on car wash services with free pickup & drop once you complete the following survey. #BeaHero and join the fight against the industry villains by downloading the Fulltank app. If you have used services from Fulltank, please leave your feedback in the comments section.

As it is rightly said by Alexandra Paul

The cars we drive says a lot about us

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Entertainment & Advertising landscape has drastically changed over a period of time and the major driving factors for this change are increasing smartphone penetration, reducing data rates and need for personalization. Though majority of the Indian households own televisions, watching TV has never been a personalized experience, one problem statement that is very well addressed by the Digital Medium.

Image Source – Digital Media

Digital Media – The rising star offering personalized experience

Various Over-The-Top (OTT) players namely YuppTV, Hulu, ErosNow, Hungama Play, Netflix, etc. have launched subscription based services. They follow the freemium, advertising based or Pay Per View (PPV) revenue models. As per a Cyber Media Report, when it comes to OTT Reliance Jio that offers number of app based services like Jio Play, Jio VOD, Jio Beats,etc. has the potential to be the largest OTT player in India [Source]

However, when it comes to personalized content and entertainment on the Go, Youtube is still the most favorable destination. The lethal combination of VoLTE [particularly Reliance Jio] and Youtube Offline is a great boon for consumers looking for personalized content! When it comes to made-for-digital content, The Viral Fever (TVF) and All India Bakchod (AIB) lead the pack, but they also made a shift from Youtube only policy with the TVF Play and AIB’s show on Hotstar, Star Plus, Star World.

Digital Media – Exponential user growth and increased ad spends

As stated in the The Future Now Streaming report by KPMG

Competition in the digital video space in India continues to intensify with everyone from the traditional media companies (TV broadcasters, TV content producers, film producers, etc.) to telcos to international Video on Demand (VoD) players to independent digital players vying a share of the surging online viewership. Competition continues to rise with no single platform gaining critical mass yet.

Image Source – Rise of On Demand Content

With the growing popularity of the medium, the digital advertising has seen the maximum growth of 38.2% over 2014. This is mainly attributed to the growing internet user base and useage was supplemented by increased spend allocation by marketers [Source]. Given the growing interest of the digital medium, lines have blurred between traditional medium [TV] and the connected platform [mobile, laptop, etc.] and many traditional media houses are trying to going an extra mile to ensure that their viewers/customers are provided a seamless experience.

Most of these OTT players follow the Freemium Model where they charge for curated Premium Content with the differentiating factor being exclusive/original content from content producers. Talking about media houses (and TV broadcasters), there has been growing interest from them – Star TV (and HBO) launched Hotstar, Viacom 18 Digital Ventures launched Voot with more players like ALT Digital (from Balaji Telefilms) expected to join the Digital Wave.

Few months back, Viacom 18 launched Voot where they do not only have original content but you can also catch up with your favourite shows while you are on the go! Today, we do a detailed review of Voot w.r.t features, design, content syndication,etc.

Voot – On Demand TV, Originals, Movies and more

Voot, a mobile first VOD platform is a part of the Viacom 18 Digital Ventures. If you are an avid TV watcher and follow programs on Colors Hindi, Nickelodeon, MTV, Colors Regional,etc. and missed watching them on TV, than Voot could come in handy as you can still catch your favourite programs on-the-go!

For the audience that has changed over a period of time and love watching digital-only-content, Voot has something to offer in the form of Voot Originals. Voot currently follows the advertising led model and they might explore freemium & subscription led models [Source].

Some of the salient features of Voot are below:

The first mobile video platform with a social engagement and recommendation feature – where you can send out customized shouts for every video you watch.

A personalized recommendation engine which is customized as per individual users’ likes and viewing history.

They have a seperate section for kids-Voot Kids where they have all the favourite kids programs like Motu Patlu, Chhota Bheem, Pokemon, Kung Fu Panda, Dora, SpongeBob, etc. Users can also set a security pin to ensure that kids only see what you want them to.

Voot has over 17,000 hours of exciting content for audiences with varying choices and preferences, covering Colors (Hindi), MTV, Nickelodeon, Viacom18 Motion Pictures and MTV Indies, Voot by Viacom18 offers the biggest TV Shows, Blockbuster Movies, your favorite Toons & Voot Originals

Voot is currently available on Play Store, iOS and web.

Voot-Content, Design, UX

Voot Picks-The app has a section called Voot Picks that fetches the best on-air TV shows and Voot original for the user. The content shown in this section is not as per the user’s browsing history (in Voot) and hence it is not unique for every Voot user. It would have been much better if content in Voot Picks was more personalized(something like Recommendations on Youtube)!

Language Options-Users of the app can select their preferred language-Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi once they create a profile on Voot. Hindi & English are selected by default since majority of the content on Voot caters to that audience. There is also a section called Voot International where users would be treated with their favourite international shows. It would be great that once the Viacom 18 team has more regional content than users can de-select Hindi from the language setting.

Data Usage-Users have the option to choose the preferred streaming method : Data Saving, High Quality and Auto. Even when you are watching your favourite show on Voot, you can change the streaming playback quality by simply swiping left on the player.

Though this setting comes in handy, an option to add ‘Profile’ e.g. Home Profile, WiFi profile, Data Profile, etc. where depending on the selected Profile, the Video Quality of the streamed content would change or user can just opt for High Quality Video when on WiFi. Also, instead of swiping left for options, a Settings option on the player (something similar to YouTube) could be better so that the learning curve is avoided.

Design & UX- The Voot app is overall well designed where different program options (like Voot Originals, Voot Regionals, Top picks,etc.) are organized in different tabs. Since most of the Voot users would prefer to catch on to their favourite TV Shows, hence that section is given more prominence (be it Big Boss, Madhubala, etc.) as compared to Voot Originals.

The app also has Social Engagement Feature where where you can send out customized shouts for every video you watch, for everyone to see.

Voot-Originals

The Originals section in the app has shows with actors like Swara Bhaskar, Vivan Bhatena,etc. though the addicts of Originals on internet would still prefer TVF, AIB, EIC, etc. However the quality of original content on Voot seems to improve with each new episode!

Conclusion

If you are an avid follower of content on Colors, MTV and other channels from Viacom18 than you have a very good reason to download the Voot App (Play Store, iOS and Web). With many major content producers and media companies like Star TV, Yashraj Films, ALT Balaji, etc. looking to take a share of the digital media pie, only the one with better content would lead the race! As it is rightly said Content is the King…

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Consider that you have made a plan to buy a new laptop and you are in the middle of chat a conversation with your friend seeking his/her suggestions. Great, you made a decision on the which laptop to buy, time to hop to another app (e-commerce app) that gives the best deal on the laptop, finish the transaction and come back to the chat to inform him/her about the purchase! This involves so hops between multiple apps i.e. Chat Window->Coupon App (in case there is a deal on the laptop)->Choose the right e-commerce platform, complete the transaction->Return back to the Chat. Though there are lot of startups that are working on the solving the Cross App Reach issue but you again the user needs to install that application on the phone!

There are lot of innovations happening in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Human Computer Interaction (HCI), etc. in mobiles as well as mobile apps i.e. apps are being made smarter by using AI. Though the keyboard on your phone is meant for typing, there is still a lot of intelligence/logic that can be built on top of the it since it is most used native application on the phone. Meet Xploree, the thinking keyboard from KeyPoint Technologies that can do much more than just typing! In this article, we review the Xploree Keyboard from KPT (The review was done by using Xploree keyboard for Android).

Image Credit – Xploree

Xploree : Where Intent meets Actions

Xploree was born out of an idea to use Language Intelligence as a unified playground for connecting brands & services to consumers. With Xploree, the keyboard can do much more than typing and your simple input interface is transformed to a smart personalized assistant to consumers. Xploree is a smart-thinking keyboard that uses AI, NLP that takes us beyond auto-corrections and word predictions hovering over high value, “in-the-moment” discoveries, when the user needs the most!

Xploree uses patent-pending technology that deciphers’s user’s intent and serves relevant recommendations. However, understanding user intent is a very difficult task due to language variability (diverse languages, varied chat vocabulary, etc.), unique short writing styles on mobile (sentences are never uniform and decoding them when emjois are used is even tougher), identifying buying v/s selling intent and matching it with exact discovery.

In order to solve the intent prediction requirement, the Xploree keyboard predicts user intent as they text, chat, etc. based on their current and past context. User context includes many attributes such as the text being typed, the app in use, user’s geo location, his/her previous chat history, language in use, user’s favourites (brands, categories, etc.) etc. Along with user intent prediction, it also does Sentiment Analysis (positive, negative or neutral) to present the user with the best Recommendations e.g. The options being presented to a user who is searching for Flowers would be different based on the chat context & history.

Thanks to Xploree, you need not leave the context of your current app since your demands are served right in the chat context!

Xploree : Design, Privacy, Discoveries, Language support and more

Design and Performance Impact – Though Xploree is a smart-keyboard that makes deal-discovery and content-discovery easy for the users (thereby minimizing the app context switch issue), it was required that it does not digress from the Core requirements of a good keyboard 🙂 and it does not disappoint. The keyboard retains the look & feel of a normal keyboard including minimal (and some festival specific) themes. You would not miss those simple themes and customizations that you see in the stock Google Keyboard. It is very light on Memory, CPU and Battery.

Privacy and Safety – Since Xploree’s engine does the entire intent & sentiment level processing on the client side i.e. user’s phone hence, it does not consume more battery. In fact, during our discussion with the Xploree team at the #XploreeBloggersMeet, it was confirmed that there is no user data sent to any server and user-privcay is of highest priority! Hence, users can be rest assured that there is no stalking on the phone 🙂

Presto : Personalized Recommendations – Xploree user is presented with intent based recommendations on discovery cards called Presto. Users have the flexibility to filter brands/products of interest so that discovery is more Personal & Customized.

Language Support – Xploree is available in 110 different languages Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Oriya, Malayalam, etc. including many international languages. The rise of the ‘new-lang’, along with proliferation of social media, has vastly impacted real-world social applications. This makes language variability more complex with mis-spelt words, short forms and ‘newbie’ lingos. Not to forget, short writing is also unique on mobile. Keeping these varied requirements in mind, Xploree supports typing in Hinglish, Tamlish, Banglish, Kanglish,etc. i.e. amalgamation of Engligh with other local language.

Emoticons, Stickers – Xploree keyboard has 1200+ emoticons and fun stickers that make conversations come alive. There are close to 50+ animated keyboard themes for download.

Apart from these features, it has all the regular features present in all keyboards:

1. Auto-correction and next word prediction
2. Adaption to user style of writing
3. New word addition and personalized dictionary
4. Easy language change on the keyboard in more than 110 options with a single swipe of the space bar

Xploree : Growing partner eco-system

For deal-discovery, Xploree has tie-ups with top e-tailers like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Zomato, etc. and content partners like AFP, etc., Coupon partners like Coupondunia, GrabOn, GroupOn, etc. You can have a look at some of the other partners here.

The in-app search in Xploree is powered by Yahoo. Frost & Sullivan recognized KeyPoint Technologies with the 2015 North American Mobile Marketing New Product Innovation Award for the product Xploree.

It is interesting to see that the Xploree team has taken the best learnings from their previous Keyboard App – Adaptxt Keyboard into Xploree and the result is a much leaner and effective keyboard in Xploree!

Xploree : Conclusion

Xploree is a keyboard app that does much more than typing and is intelligent due to it’s intent and sentiment analysis algorithms. Xploree could be the next big thing in Human-Mobile evolution. Your keyboard would no longer be just a lame app with no intelligence and thankfully it would no longer be the subject to such jokes 😀

Xploree is pushing boundaries in NLP to transform the ubiquotous smartphones into a marketplace for consumers and information (products, content and services) convergence. Xploree is a big step in AI that solves the problem of serving relevant discoveries on mobile devices.

Xploree Keyboard app is available on Play Store & can be downloaded from here