Google I / O was held yesterday in San Francisco, and Sundar Pichai, the responsible of Android and Chrome Apps, opened the presentation.
The focus was Android Wear, the new version of Android “L”, and insertion of Android in the car. Samsung, LG and Motorola have announced smart watches with Android Wear support. Furthermore, Android can send applications on Chrome OS, for those with Chromebook, and moreover, Google wants a new dimension to the user experience, so introduces Material Design that adds depth to the interface.
The event Google I / O started with a mechanical system that, in the end, acted a bowling ball.
Sundar Pichai began presenting figures that showed the success of the Google company and its products. The Android platform now has one billion users. 340 million Android phones were shipped only within Q4 2013.
Pichai announced Android One platform for the cheap devices that sets a minimum hardware.
One includes stock Android, updates from Google and access to the Google Play Store. Pichai gave example a device from Micromax that has dual-sim, microSD, 4.5 inch screen and costs less than $ 100.
Pinchai also announced L Developer Preview, the new version of Android. Android L brings important changes to OS’s design, including 5,000 new APIs available to developers. Moreover, the operating system contains a new Notifications Center with interactive notifications, which are displayed including over any other applications. The folks at Google have rebuilt LockScreen’s image, implementing a new type of notifications.
The preliminary version of Android has been provided to developers with the aim to experience the latest technology prepared by Google and also to optimize their applications.
Matias Duarte, the VP of design, spoke about pixels that have not only color, but also depth.
He spoke about Material Design – a new concept of interface for Android, Chrome OS and web applications, in which the buttons and menu selections are highlighted three-dimensionally using shadows generated in real time and effects of elevation obtained dynamically adjusting the size of items in the foreground.
Apparently, the applications’ interfaces will be able to contextualize the information, it will change depending on the need. In addition to the instructions so far, developers will be able to include a value for the height, which will translate into the new design. The API is included in L Developer Preview.
Dave Burke spoke about the new design philosophy at Google and what’s new.
Google is oriented towards improving notifications. For now, the call will not interrupt while playing something, but you’ll see at the top who is calling you, and you can choose to reject or answer. Then, you have the notifications also on the main screen, where they can be “tight” one over another.
Burke spoke also about another authentication method through a smart watch. You can unlock your phone via Bluetooth, using a smart watch that runs Android Wear. Thus, you do not need a code, your phone and your watch “communicate” between them.
The new Android Wear platform has been presented widely by David Singleton, the engineering director of Android:
-The interface is based on Material Design concept with multiple themes available for customization.
-The notification system is well developed, with animated 3D effects to the application of swipe controls.
-The applications can “learn” from user behavior, providing suggestions in key moments of the day, or when we are near a location where we usually shop.
– The Android Wear SDK was made available to developers
– Support for voice commands triggered by the command “OK Google.”
– Function “Do not disturb” to temporarily hide the notifications.
-LG G Watch is available in Google’s store today, June 25. Along with Motorola and LG, Samsung joined the Android Wear platform.
– Samsung Gear Live is the first SmartWatch based on Android Wear.
– Motorola Moto 360 will be available this summer, but there is no official release date, most likely in July.
The Product Director for Chrome, Avni Shah spoke about the potential that Chrome has for web animations, for search, multitab system and multitasking in online. The Chrome Web browser benefit from a new design with UI elements that can change their size, leaving more room to place relevant content.
Shah said that the animations run at 60 frames per second, for greater fluency when scrolling web pages. Moreover, in Google Search you can enter directly into an application from your phone to see more information.
The new engine for running Android applications is ART, namely Android Runtime. Faster than the old Dalvik, ART is compatible with processors based on the ARM, x86 and MIPS microarchitecture. In addition, support for 64bit chipsets enables better management of the RAM and use of configurations with more than 4GB RAM, fully available for Android applications.
Google announced the Factory Reset Protection to protect your phone against thieves. If it is stolen, it can be removed and turned into a “brick.”
Sundar Pichai also talked about voice recognition platform developed by Google and how it wants to integrate all kinds of strategies.
Android gets in your car with Android Auto. The interface, functionality, and voice control will be available in the vehicle starting today. You will have access to music, navigation data, and you can browse through various tabs. Android Auto has many partners, approximately 40, and an SDK for developers will be offered to introduce the applications in your car, the TuneIn Radio, Spotify and Pandora are already placed on the list.
Google announced Android TV for video content. This is not a completely new platform, but optimizations are allowing the Android system to use Smart TVs. Android TV can be controlled by voice, by a smart watch, and the content can be sent through Google Chromecast, if you run from the phone or tablet to your TV. From February, developers can make their applications compatible with your TV through Chromecast. The first Android TVs will arrive in 2015, launched by Sharp, Sony and Philips.
Sundar Pichai also spoke about better “collaboration” between Android and Chrome OS. Google wants you to run your Android applications on its operating system in the cloud. Chromebook Pixel, for example, is suitable for touch screen and to access your Evernote, Flipboard or other apps for Android. Of course, with this porting, which means only a virtualization of the application in Chrome OS, Google hopes to increase interest in the platform.
Moreover, Google is looking for companies and bringing your own device concept. Thus, companies will install “block” applications on employees’ mobile, will be able to control what kind of access they have, and Samsung will work with Google to integrate Knox, the secure platform version for companies.
Together with the two companies are Sony, Motorola, Lenovo, HTC, Asus, HP, HTC, LG and Huawei.
Google integrates QuickOffice in Docs and Sheets, so you can edit documents natively, you can work with people on them, and they bring their comments on the documents if they wish, then can be forwarded in.Doc format.
Google is a company that also provides Cloud services.
The last part of the Google I/O was dedicated to storage and processing in the cloud.
Secret app, a product for gossip in Silicon Valley, was given as an example for Google Cloud. The developers interested in this division will have access to all the news.
Google also announced Google Fit, which will collect data from the sensors and applications to monitor your level of physical activity and health.
The activity can be deleted anytime, and with Google will be on the Fit platform hardware manufacturers like LG, Asus, Adidas and Nike Fuel. The SDK will be available in the coming weeks.
