Google Maps is one of the core services offered by Google. At the ongoing I/O conference, the search giant announced that it is bringing offline turn by turn search and navigation for Google maps.
With offline mode, users will be able to get voice guided turn by turn navigation to reach your destination. Now, the maps will also offer information about place and point of interest such as hotels, stores and more. This off course is boon for developing countries which suffer from poor internet speed and limited data connection. The offline maps navigation will also help travelers and other users who want to save cellular data when they are out and about. Before users could download a portion of map for offline use, but Google's new offline mode feature, users will be able to search and get auto-complete results without internet connection. However, taking a map along with all navigational information offline will take up significant amount of space on your storage. The new offline functionality will come to Google maps later this year.
Google has added a new feature to its personal smart assistant. The new feature called 'Now on Tap' will basically lets Google Now be activated from any screen in contextual manner. Aparna Chennapragada, Product Director for Google Now said that her team has focused on a three-prong
approach for Now On Tap: understanding context, providing answers and
helping users take action. She added "Developers don’t need to do anything to integrate with Now on tap as long as they have their apps indexed by Google." With 'Now on Tap" you can simply tap and hold the home button for assistance without having to leave what you are doing - listening music, texting your friends or reading e-mail. For instance, if your friend is mailing you about movie listing, you can tap on the movie name and hold on to the home button. Google now will bring up cards with all information and links you will need that are relevant to the movie. Information includes movie ratings, links to trailer, IMDB page, buy tickets and more. This basically lets you do simple tasks without leaving your current app. Similarly, if you are chatting with a friend about going out to restaurant, Now on Tap will bring quick info of the restaurant your friend recommending. You can take actions such as make a call to reserve table, read reviews on supported app or look up location on a map. Now on Tap is part of the upcoming Android M OS which will be released later this year.
Google in collaboration with GoPro announced a new virtual reality system called Jump that uses a new 3D camera rig. It is a new technology that uses a ring of 16 separate GoPro camera and is capable of shooting immersive 360-degree panoramas. Google showed off the GoPro system at its I/O conference.
Google's rig features camera syncing, multi-camera control and long battery life. It uses HERO4 camera modules and allows all 16 camera to act as one. It also includes features like shared settings and frame-level synchronization. It relies on very specialized geometry that assembles RAW footage into a VR video. Once the footage is captured, it can be brought in to Google's new Jump software for processing.
The resulting footage will be immersive and viewers will be able to enjoy the 3D experience. It can be viewed with a virtual reality headset or on VR player that will be available withing YouTube.
Clay Bavor, the man behind Google Cardboard, VP of product management, Google said
It’s about capturing and sharing these real-world
experiences, like the great wall, the coral reef, in an entirely new
way, one that looks and feels like you’re actually there. Because the
world is filled with all these awesome places and events, like Great
Barrier Reefs, and Golden Gate Bridges, and birthday parties and
mountain tops.
Initially, the design will be available to a small group of YouTube creators and later it should make its way to the general public as well. (Engadget)
Google introduced Android Pay mobile payment service at I/O conference. According to Google, Android Pay is simple and secure way to pay with your Android phone. Users can use Android pay for in retail stores and to make online purchase. It uses NFC and Host Card emulation to complete a transaction.
In order to pay for an item in retail stores you can unlock your phone and place it near a merchant's contactless terminal and users will receive payment confirmation and get transaction details on their phone. In select retail stores, special offers and loyalty program will be automatically applied at checkout. For example, when you tap to buy a
Coke at a vending machine, your MyCokeRewards will be automatically
applied. With Android Pay the contactless terminal not only receives
your payment info, but also your loyalty programs and offers. For online purchases like buying apps from Play store or online shopping, users will have to select "Buy with Android Pay" and Google will take care of the rest during checkout. Android Pay also lets users to pay with credit or debit card across multiple Android devices and at thousand of stores. Google has partnered with leading payment networks and financial institutions in the U.S - American Express, Master Card, Visa, Bank of America, Discover and more. Android pay will also come pre-loaded on new devices for AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. It will also soon be accepted in over 700,000 store locations across U.S and in over 1000 Android apps. Android Pay will be compatible with devices running Android 4.4 KitKat and above that has NFC support. Google did not reveal the timeline of Android Pay's rollout, but said it will be available to download on Google Play soon. Source : Android Blog
Google at its annual I/O developer conference, announced Google Photos, a new standalone photo storage service where you can backup and store unlimited, high-quality photos and videos for free. Google Photos will be available for iOS, Android and Web. Users can store photos up to 16MP in size, videos up to 1080p which is sufficient for most users. The
app also stores compressed versions of the photos and videos in
print-quality resolution.You can enable an automatic back up and sync over WiFi or data, or else you can do it manually. Google Photos automatically organizes you clicked photos by grouping them into people, places and things that matter. There is no need to tag, label or create albums for the photos. You can just type in the search box to find a particular photo. The app also help users quickly enhance photos and combine them in new ways.The app lets you pinch and zoom to view your images by week month or year. You can group your images into collections by creating collages, animation, movies with soundtrack by press the + button. There is also an 'Assistant view' feature, which provides smart suggestion about when you can make a collection. With Google Photos, users have the choice to share photos and videos to social networking accounts like Twitter, Whats App to name a few. Lastly, there is feature where users can save and share their photos easier and faster. You can create a specific link to a photo or group of photos that you want to share with friends and families. There is also a multi-selection gesture in photos, where you can press and hold a photo and then drag your finger down the list to select multiple files. Google Photo app is now available for download for Android, iOS and web.
Google at I/O 2015 introduced its Internet of things (IoT) platform dubbed Project Brillo. It is a new platform derived from Android that lets developers and manufacturers build connected devices. IoT devices are meant to connect daily objects like dishwashers, locks and air conditioners to the Internet.
Brillo is said to extend the Android platform to connected devices, making them easy to set up and work seamlessly with each other. It is a stripped-down version of Android mobile OS, that can run on minimal system requirements. It supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity.
As part of Brillo, Google in partnership with Nest introduced a communication protocol called Weave which includes support for low power wireless devices. It is a set of developer's API, core set of schemas and a certification program to ensure device and app interoperability.
Sunder Pichai explains it as the communications layer by which the IoT can communicate with each other. So Brillo based devices, cloud and Android smartphone can be on same platform.“For example a door lock can define lock and unlock as two phrases,
which all other devices in that ecosystem can understand and work of
each other.”
The developer preview of Project Brillo will be released in Q3, while the Weave will arrive in Q4 2015.
Google at its I/O 2015 announced Android M, the next version of Android that is aimed at improving performance and user experience. Google touts that it is most powerful Android release yet. The Android M platform concentrates on six major things - App permission, Web Experience, App Links, Mobile Payments, Fingerprint support and Power & Charging. App Permissions Google is allowing Android users to control what Android apps can have access on their devices. Instead of giving permission at the time of installation, users can select permission manually (location, camera, microphone, contacts) when they are needed in the apps. Users can also manage all their app permissions in settings. Web Experience Google also revealed a new Chrome feature called Chrome Custom Tabs. The feature lets developers to enable Google Chrome overlay on top of the active tab. They are faster, secure and include features like support for saved passwords, auto-fill and web sign-in. App Links This will let users open links withing an app directly, instead of which app you want to use when you click a link. For example, a tweet will always open in Twitter, instead of presenting you with the list of apps that can open it. Mobile Payments Google's Android Pay allows users to use NFC and Host Card Emulation.It allows users to pay via their Android phones in stores or even in Android Pay partner apps. Android pay securely stores credit card, loyalty card and other payment related data details on the device. It will work in 700,000 stores in the U.S and U.S operators AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile will per-install Android pay on new devices.
Fingerprint Support Google is including native support for fingerprint sensors in Android M. Google has added fingerprint APIs for developers to add into their app. The finger print sensor enhances the Android Pay feature that will allow users to authenticate or purchase with their fingerprint. It will also enable users to unlock their devices with fingerprint.
Power & Charging Google is coming up with a new feature called 'Doze' for improved battery usage. It will use motion detection to limit background activity when the phone is in standby and puts the device in deeper sleep. Google claims that Doze will improve battery life by almost two times. Other power related changes include USB Type C support and using your phone or tablet as a charger for other devices with USB Type-C.
Android M will also bring several other changes such as
separate drop down volume control option to control indiviaual levels
Adoptable storage device that will treat external storage devices such as SD cards as internal
New App drawer - The app drawer along with widget picker will scroll vertically instead of sideways in previous generations
Google Now on Tap - Smart assistant that aims to make your life easier.
New backup and restore for apps
Better text selection
Better sharing tools
Android M developer Preview can be flashed on a limited number of devices which include Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 9 and Nexus Player. Google will continue pushing monthly update till the stable release in Q3 this year.
Google released the full schedule for Google I/O 2015 which will take place May 28 through May 29 in San Francisco.
While revealing the schedule Google accidentally revealed a small description of Android M in the Android for work session on Day 1. This could mean that Google might announce Android M in the event.
The Android for Work session is scheduled for May 28 between 2:30pm and 3:00pm. The description reads "Android
M is bringing the power of Android to all kinds of workplaces. This
opens huge new markets for hundreds of millions of devices to workers at
small business, deskless workers, logistics and warehousing jobs; all
be empowered by adoption of Android devices at Work,".
Google's Android for Work initiative gives businesses enterprise-level
security to Android platform. The program revolves around four key
components - Work profiles, Android for Work app, Google Play for Work
and a set of productivity tools. Google has partnered with number of
technology and solution providers including Citrix, Adobe, Samsung,
BlackBerry and many more on the initiative.
Coming back to Android M, it made a special appearance for a brief moment and since then Google has taken down the Android for Work session from the schedule. This means that the leak was accidental or Google is toying around with users.
Generally Google uses its "What's New in Android" session to introduce the next Android OS. This years "What's New in Android Session" will highlight new developer features of the Android platform.
Google announced that this year's Deve;loper conference will be taking place at Moscone CenterWest in San Francisco on May 28-29. Registrations for the Google developer conference begin March 17 at 9am Pacific time (10:30pm IST) and run through 5pm pacific time (6:30am IST) March 19. The Google I/O 2015 website is now live and will be updated with information about topics which will be covered in the conference over the coming weeks. Already there are preliminary schedule listed on the side, but it will add more details in the coming weeks.
Google I/O is a developer conference for anyone who develops apps for Google's software platform which include Chrome OS, Android and Android Wear.
Last year Google unveiled Android 5.0 Lollipop alongside some of the first Android Wear devices. There is no details yet on what topics will be covered at I/O conference 2015.
