Yesterday, Google live streamed its developer conference opening keynote. And it wasn’t without drama, when protestors tried to interrupt the affair. In all honestly, I think that was the most exciting part of the near 3 hour opening. Google really needs to try and work at its presentation style, and perhaps copy Apple Keynote’s.
But as they say, its not all about the glamour, its about the substance. So what’s new.
1) Well android lollipop or L for short is the name of the next version of android which comes with 5,000 new API’s. Android L is the new OS for your car, TV and phone or tablet. The design of the OS has had a makeover, using more cards and a tweaked colour scheme. It also runs on ART now instead of Dalvik which will provide a major improvement in smoothness and less lag (hopefully).
2) Unified multitasking with your apps and chrome tabs
3) Remote wipe and finally a kill switch
4) Improved battery performance
5) Android apps on Chrome now being supported
6) Microsoft Office files can be edited natively on Google Drive. Google Slides app also announced. Also android L will allow the phone to split work and personal properly with all work data stored in a separate area. Google called with Android for Work.
7) Google Fit platform – Nike, Adidas, Withings, RunKeeper, Basis and Fuel are all on board to support this new Health framework from Google.
8) Chromecast via the Cloud – A feature called Backdrop run feeds of photos, news, weather while you’re not using the Chromecast. And a cast screen button lets you directly mirror anything on your Android device to your TV as long as you’re using a supported phone or tablet from Samsung, HTC, LG, or the Nexus program. Chromecast will also get Live Screen Mirroring, Casting from Other Networks, Google+ Photo Galleries
9) Google Play Games – new features include a new Game Profile, unified leaderboard which lets users compare how they play with their friends. Quests and Saved Games now included. Quests – Allows developers to integrate time-based goals into their games without having to update the app each time. Saved Games – This saves players’ game progress across devices, and displays the total time played along with a cover image. This is cross platform too. Game devs are also getting access to more tools, like Game Stats and a C++ SDK, for, you know, dev stuff. Games will also be able to support Open GL ES 3.1, the Android Extension Pack , and a standard for gamepads. which will make it even easier for games to gain Android TV integration.
10) Android Auto – Google’s OS to support car use- signed up 40 companies including Bentley, LG, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Mazda, Maserati, Volvo, Pioneer, Parrot, Alpine
11) Actionable lockscreen notifications
12) Google announced a new project at I/O called Android One for emerging markets. The project involves a reference smartphone that’s made of affordable components that manufacturers can model cheaper smartphones from.
13) Android Wear – full SDK available for developers – Google OS for wearables
14) Google TV – new hardware and software – with voice integration
The above is as brief a summary as I could make, without straying off in to tech speak. So what does all the above mean. Google wants to be on every screen you use and at the same time will gather data at an unprecedented level on each and every one of us. On the other side, Google is offering a platform with API’s covering all aspects of its new L operating system, Auto, TV, Wearables and Fit platforms.
All we need is beatiful hardware and software tightly integrated together – oh wait, that’s Apple!