This year’s Google I/O was a little different from last year’s. Instead of seeing a lot of new hardware – Google Glass, Nexus Q, Nexus 7 – we saw a lot of upgrades to Google’s apps and services. While most of the announcements were targeted at developers, there’s definitely a lot that’ll still make an impact in your life sooner or later. Let’s have a look at some of these announcements, which include a new Nexus device (if not in name) and a music streaming service.
Google Galaxy S4
The final piece of the small Android presentation was a rather unexpected phone: The Samsung Galaxy S4 ‘Google Edition‘. While the normal S4 runs a heavily customised version of Android made by Samsung, this S4 was different, offering a stock Nexus-style OS and all of the benefits – timely updates, unlocked bootloader, no bloatware – that you’d expect. It’s a great combination, as you lose probably the biggest downside of the S4 while keeping access to its large accessory ecosystem and powerful hardware. The Google Galaxy S4 will be available from June 26th for $649 in the US.
Play Music All Access
Play Music All Access is Google’s new extension to its Music digital locker and store front. Like Spotify, it’s a subscription-based service that allows you full access to Google’s music catalogue. It costs $9.99 a month ($7.99 for early adopters) and comes with a 30 day trial. It’s only available in the US right now, but should expand to other countries… eventually.
New Android Features
Someone described this I/O as being a test of “how much Google can update Android without updating Android.” Instead of releasing a new version, Google chose instead to add a few new features for developers to include in their apps, as well as updating a lot of their own Google apps. The new gaming features are probably the coolest – thanks to Google Play Game Services, game makers can now add multiplayer matchmaking, cloud saves, achievements and leaderboards to their games. Support for synchronising notifications across devices has also been added.
New Google Maps
Google has overhauled its popular Maps service, redesigning the layout, adding in a bunch of features and generally making it easier to use and understand. Adverts are now more streamlined, the big white sidebar from the left is gone and has been replaced by neat pop-up information boxes, and you’ve also got Google Earth functionality in there as well. If you fancy trying this out, head over to sign up for the preview.
Google Hangouts
Google Talk, Google Chat, Google Hangouts – Google’s growing number of differently named messaging services was getting a little unwieldy, so it has taken steps to unify everything under one name; Google Hangouts. This new platform will offer chat, file sharing, video calling and more on Android, Chrome, Gmail, desktop and even iOS. Google hopes it will draw people away from the likes of WhatsApp, but we’ll need to wait and see.
Conclusion
Google’s I/O keynote was pretty monstrous, clocking in at three and a half hours. That means we’ve barely scratched the service when it comes to the finer details. We highly recommend checking out the whole stream if you have time – at three hours long, you’d better get supplies first.