Everything Google Announced at I / O 2019 Matters
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA – It’s time for Google I / O, the annual smorgasbord of everything Android. This includes mobile operating system updates, new (and cheaper) smartphones, various useful smart home gadgets ( with some caveats ), and news of the latest additions to Google’s tablet, including the highly anticipated Stadia game streaming platform and the debut of Android Auto, which is finally it took center stage in a real car that you can buy!
I went to the Google Developers Conference today to hear all the exciting news in person, and here’s what excited me the most from Google’s big talk:
Google AR for I / O
I’ve never been in the Google I / O, so I was intrigued by the first big “announcement» Google – of course, fully associated with the I / O. Now a special application created by Google for the event (for iOS, so for All Android ), supports add-ons reality. Since I have no idea where something is at this event, being able to point to buildings and discern whether they are in the conversation area, in the food service or in the bathroom … is very important. If only it was available to all computer geeks.
Stop your fucking anxiety
The announced feature, which garnered one of the biggest endorsements at Google I / O’s big talk, was simple. Now when your alarm goes off on your Google Home device (more on that name in a moment), you can simply say stop and it will do just that. No more “Hey Google, turn off the alarm”, “Hey Google, it’s fucking early” or “Hey Google, come on DIAF”. Light.
Incognito mode for Google Maps
If you do not want your location information to be stored in your Google profile (for example, the location data that Google stores for you to make your life and searches more relevant), then this fear only arises when you drive to a certain place. activities, don’t worry. Soon, you can easily activate incognito mode for Google Maps (just like Chrome and YouTube ) later this year. I will not ask what you do.
Walking trails are no longer ugly
If you use a Pixel smartphone, you will now see a completely different version of walking routes via Google Maps than before. Instead of a boring blue dot on an artificial map, you’ll get arrows superimposed on the real world to show you where to go next. A big Google I / O cheer for this, because everyone has to figure out how to get back to Google shuttles at some point.
Automatically delete activity on the Internet and in applications (if you want)
Google’s previously announced feature that lets you now set a delete time for activity saved by the search giant (for now, your web and app activity) is launching today.
I’m in awe of it if people even still use the word “pumped up” because it makes data privacy more automatic. You can tell Google to keep your browsing and app activities until you manually delete them, or you can set Google to automatically delete anything older than 3 or 18 months.
The new Google Pixel phones are cheaper, but …
What opened my eyes the most about the Google Pixel 3a and 3a XL – apart from their price tag – $ 399 for the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL – $ 479 – is the battery life. According to Google, the capabilities of machine learning devices allow you to squeeze up to 30 (!) Hours of non-failure operation without recharging. This sounds like a lot and probably a little marketing chatter, but let’s see how the first reviews go. (Google also says you’ll get a whopping seven hours of battery life from a single 15-minute USB-C charge.)
Yes, and the new pixels are magenta too. Cheers to everyone at Google I / O, almost as much as the crowd enjoyed the healthy amount of shadow that Google cast Apple during the debut of the Pixel phones:
Shit, Google Assistant is fast
One of the most striking demos Google showed off at this year’s I / O was an updated version of Google Assistant. Essentially, Google fed its little digital assistant with six cups of coffee and let him have a drink on stage. The next-generation assistant, coming to Pixel phones later this year, can understand queries up to ten times faster than before – apps open almost instantly after a voice prompt, for example, and you don’t even have to say “Ok Google”. ” tell what the Assistant should do.
In said demo, real-time google voice processing appeared in the lower right corner of her Android device, which caused “damn it” for some of the people sitting around me. I don’t blame them; processing, which also has to consider whether you are dictating or asking for an action, is incredibly fast.
Google makes driving less distracting
The new “Driving Mode” for Google Assistant, rather than Android Auto, which you launch by simply telling your device, “Hey Google, let’s drive,” gives you a whole new user interface for accessing directions, calling contacts and playing media to name a few options.
As you drive, new songs appear at the bottom of routes on Maps so you don’t lose focus on the road (or specified navigation). When someone calls while Maps is running, your Assistant will tell you who it is and ask if you want to answer the call.
Look for a new driving mode that will be available on any Android phone (with Assistant) this summer.
All nest
All Google Home devices are now re-branded Nest, making it much easier to keep track of everything. Google Home Max The Nest Hub Max is the first major Google product to be announced under the new naming conventions, and that’s cool: an updated Google Home Hub (like the Google Nest Hub) with a 10-inch screen and all the cool features. Nest Cam cameras. This includes the ability to dial in to see what your camera sees at home, automatic centering when you are video chatting, and motion detection when you are not.
There is a new feature called Face Match, which allows a device to provide information to various people in your home that is relevant to them if they have allowed the device to first “scan” who they are.
As before, the physical button allows you to turn the supplied microphone on and off (and you will see it very clearly on the screen when you do this). Most importantly – and this feature has received the biggest endorsements in Google I / O – you can now simply give your device’s camera a “stop” gesture by raising your hand, palm outward, to it if you need to command it while you swing. It’s much better than the awkward yelling “HELLO GOOGLE!” While playing music.
(The Google Nest Hub is coming later this summer for $ 229.)
I love the Live Caption feature in Android Q
The title speaks for itself. The new Live Caption feature available in Android Q runs locally on your device (yes, even in airplane mode) and removes the text overlay on any video you watch on your device. Accurate, but if you’re watching a video on the train and forgot your headphones, or need some extra help because your hearing is hard, Live Caption is a treat.
You must first enable this feature in the Android accessibility settings, but then the icon to toggle it will appear right in the volume UI.
… almost as much as I love Android Q’s new “dark theme”
It’s here! Well, it’ll be here with Android Q: the ability to customize your device with a system-wide dark theme. Not only will it make your device look much cooler, but it will also help you save battery power. According to Google, dark mode means fewer OLED displays light up on your device and you will see an increase in battery power as a result.
Android Q makes it easy with a few additional updates
Google has talked quite a lot about Android Q – and no doubt it will have something to share during I / O. One feature that caught my attention is Google’s new focus on speeding up security updates for core operating system modules. Now they will arrive separately, wirelessly and without rebooting the device … with some caveats .
I also liked the new “Focus Mode” in Android Q, which allows you to determine which apps distract you the most. Turn on focus mode and (most?) Notifications from these apps will be disabled until you resume “normal” operations again. This feature is coming to both Android P and Android Q this fall.
Finally, Android Q Beta 3 is available today on a total of 21 devices.
Google search and augmented reality are getting interesting and useful
I’ll admit, I’ve been in awe of augmented reality since the debut of Apple’s ARKit and Google’s ARCore. As fun as it is to throw a monster in your living room or shoot some stupid little creature while awkwardly holding your smartphone and walking around the coffee table in your living room, I don’t think this is a very fun evening. Of course, I measured furniture from IKEA , but nothing more.
As part of a series of fun new features coming to Google’s mainstream search platform later this year, including “Full Coverage” in the news, which gives a more complete picture of the story, and indexed podcasts to provide relevant information on a topic of interest. up – Google is also integrating Google Camera into Google search.
Assuming the source supports this, you can now click to view a 3D model of what you’re looking for – whether it’s a part of a human skeleton, things you want to buy, or, to use Google’s example from I / O 2019, a big fucking shark. You can drop this object wherever you are, from your desk to the presentation stage, and see how it looks up close. (Or, if you’re shopping, you can see how well what you want to buy matches your existing clothing or whatever.)
Google also showed a pretty awesome example of a new Google Lens app on IO: hover your device over a restaurant menu and you’ll see relevant data on how popular certain foods are – or for people like me who eat a little – ignorant, you might as well quickly view the image of the dish you are going to order. More importantly, hovering your phone at a bill allows you to quickly calculate the tip and divide it among previously hungry friends.
Will I take advantage of this? For everything other than split bills, most likely not, but this aspect of photo-menu-food sounds intriguing.
Duplex network
Google hasn’t talked much about its new Duplex on the Internet initiative it is working on – more details will come out later this year – but it did show off an impressive demo of Duplex when it comes to booking car rentals.
While the demo was neat, it used existing information and user preferences to automate much of the annoying multi-screen car rental process, but more importantly, Google noted that this customization does not require special arrangements from Google. … In other words, this Web Duplex feature should make it easier to use AI to improve a wide range of ordering scenarios: movie tickets, food, car rentals, and more.