All You Need To Know About Google I/O 2014
By Deepanshu Kumar, June 26th, 2014
Google's "Innovation in the Open" annual developer-focused conference was held in San Francisco, California on Wednesday, where every year Google comes up with features highly technical, in-depth sessions focused on building web, mobile, and enterprise applications with Google and open web technologies such as Android, was slightly different as per what many of us expected. But despite of that this's year's Google I/O was still pretty exciting as Google let us have a glimpse into its future.
Lets have a look at everything announced Wednesday at Google I/O
Android Wear Smartwatches
Google's smartwatch platform made its appearance at Google IO with the company calling it a "new phase in miniaturization of technology." The LG Watch and newly announced Samsung Gear Live will be available to order later today. Their was no word on the launch date or the pricing of Moto 360 except that it will show up later this summer. According to Google the Smartwatches now makes conversations more comfortable and let you carry a powerful computer on your body, all day long. Google spent enough time to present the Android Wear’s capabilities like its contextual awareness and integration with Android phones. David Singleton, Google’s director of engineering for Android, showed a live demo of the watch OS’s Google Now-style cards and the gestures and voice commands used to control them, including a much-needed Do Not Disturb mode that tells your wrist to shut up and stop drooling notifications. Other third-party apps from Eat 24 and Allthecooks were also used in the live demo where they showed how you could order a pizza in just about 20 seconds!
Lets have a look at everything announced Wednesday at Google I/O
Android Wear Smartwatches
Google's smartwatch platform made its appearance at Google IO with the company calling it a "new phase in miniaturization of technology." The LG Watch and newly announced Samsung Gear Live will be available to order later today. Their was no word on the launch date or the pricing of Moto 360 except that it will show up later this summer. According to Google the Smartwatches now makes conversations more comfortable and let you carry a powerful computer on your body, all day long. Google spent enough time to present the Android Wear’s capabilities like its contextual awareness and integration with Android phones. David Singleton, Google’s director of engineering for Android, showed a live demo of the watch OS’s Google Now-style cards and the gestures and voice commands used to control them, including a much-needed Do Not Disturb mode that tells your wrist to shut up and stop drooling notifications. Other third-party apps from Eat 24 and Allthecooks were also used in the live demo where they showed how you could order a pizza in just about 20 seconds!
So now instead of taking out your smartphone from your pocket a 100 times a day, you can directly check out your watch for quick notifications and have a glance at all the relevant information and enjoy all the added features as well. Android Wear supports both circular and square-shaped displays and comes with swiping and pressing and holding changes cards and options.
Android Auto
Gone are those days when you had to fumble with your smartphone while driving to check your messages, make or receive calls or to navigate through GPS. Google has introduced Android Auto which is more or less a rival to Apple's Car Play.
Google has made a smart effort to give an Android experience to your car's screen. You can receive messages and reply back without the need of typing them. Yes! all that happens through voice commands and through the buttons on your steering wheel. It brings your personal apps—such as Google Calendar, Play Music, and Maps—to your car’s central dashboard, clad in a familiar Android UI but optimized for the car with larger on-screen buttons and voice commands. All these features were demoed on stage along with the vocal navigation which eases the way you drive and makes it all the more comfortable.
Android Auto
Gone are those days when you had to fumble with your smartphone while driving to check your messages, make or receive calls or to navigate through GPS. Google has introduced Android Auto which is more or less a rival to Apple's Car Play.
Google has made a smart effort to give an Android experience to your car's screen. You can receive messages and reply back without the need of typing them. Yes! all that happens through voice commands and through the buttons on your steering wheel. It brings your personal apps—such as Google Calendar, Play Music, and Maps—to your car’s central dashboard, clad in a familiar Android UI but optimized for the car with larger on-screen buttons and voice commands. All these features were demoed on stage along with the vocal navigation which eases the way you drive and makes it all the more comfortable.
Android TV
As expected, Google has renamed its Google TV platform to Android TV and was demoed live at the event showcasing all the added features. It includes smoother scrolling experience of the UI is along with new voice search capabilities as what is seen is almost all the new devices from Google. Google voice searching for actresses brings up bios to help you answer that "What else do I know her from" question. The same applied when asking "Oscar nominated movies" from a specific year - you'll realize you don't agree with any of the Academy Award voters. So these additional functionalies give it an edge over the Amazon's Fire TV. Android TV is also getting native game support. It's coming this fall with its tie up with television manufacturers including Sony, Sharp and Philips.
Razer announced a new pint-sized gaming console to match Google’s Android TV announcement, which will feature all of Android TV’s streaming and television navigation capabilities, but focus on Android gaming—kind of like a more TV-friendly Ouya.
Chromcast
Previously announced by Google,a dongle worth $35 that plugs into your TV’s HDMI port, the Chromecast, allowing you to stream video and music to your television, received a number of updates at the Google I/O. The most notable updates include support for mirroring your Android device’s screen to your TV, an interactive background display feature called “Backdrop” and support for streaming from device to TV even when you’re not on the same wireless network. In other words, you won’t need to ask your friend for the home WiFi password to push content to the TV.
As expected, Google has renamed its Google TV platform to Android TV and was demoed live at the event showcasing all the added features. It includes smoother scrolling experience of the UI is along with new voice search capabilities as what is seen is almost all the new devices from Google. Google voice searching for actresses brings up bios to help you answer that "What else do I know her from" question. The same applied when asking "Oscar nominated movies" from a specific year - you'll realize you don't agree with any of the Academy Award voters. So these additional functionalies give it an edge over the Amazon's Fire TV. Android TV is also getting native game support. It's coming this fall with its tie up with television manufacturers including Sony, Sharp and Philips.
Razer announced a new pint-sized gaming console to match Google’s Android TV announcement, which will feature all of Android TV’s streaming and television navigation capabilities, but focus on Android gaming—kind of like a more TV-friendly Ouya.
Chromcast
Previously announced by Google,a dongle worth $35 that plugs into your TV’s HDMI port, the Chromecast, allowing you to stream video and music to your television, received a number of updates at the Google I/O. The most notable updates include support for mirroring your Android device’s screen to your TV, an interactive background display feature called “Backdrop” and support for streaming from device to TV even when you’re not on the same wireless network. In other words, you won’t need to ask your friend for the home WiFi password to push content to the TV.
Apart from all those updates from Google lets come to the much awaited Android L
The first major update on Android L, the successor to Android Kit-Kat and the rival to iOS 8, was that the notifications are being incorporated in the lock screen itself. Which means, no more unlocking the screen to check out the latest notifications. Google’s introducing a new aesthetic dubbed Material Design in Android L, with a focus on object depth and animation. Also the phone or tablet's lockscreen will automatically unlock itself whenever you're near it while wearing a Bluetooth-connected device. If it can't detect you anymore, the screen will auto-lock, which makes your device all the more automatic reducing your involvement with the UI to the least.
Google's head of Android development Sundar Pichai also announced an endeavor called Android One, designed to bring low-end phones to emerging markets such as India—and boost Android’s share of the smartphone market in the process. Android L also boosts the OS’s graphical and battery performance, ditches the stodgy old Dalvik runtime powering Android for the new and improved ART (Android Run Time), and adds more than 5,000 new APIs for developers.
The first major update on Android L, the successor to Android Kit-Kat and the rival to iOS 8, was that the notifications are being incorporated in the lock screen itself. Which means, no more unlocking the screen to check out the latest notifications. Google’s introducing a new aesthetic dubbed Material Design in Android L, with a focus on object depth and animation. Also the phone or tablet's lockscreen will automatically unlock itself whenever you're near it while wearing a Bluetooth-connected device. If it can't detect you anymore, the screen will auto-lock, which makes your device all the more automatic reducing your involvement with the UI to the least.
Google's head of Android development Sundar Pichai also announced an endeavor called Android One, designed to bring low-end phones to emerging markets such as India—and boost Android’s share of the smartphone market in the process. Android L also boosts the OS’s graphical and battery performance, ditches the stodgy old Dalvik runtime powering Android for the new and improved ART (Android Run Time), and adds more than 5,000 new APIs for developers.
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