Google reveals Android Wear watches

Google has announced the first smartwatches that will be running Android Wear, the version of Android exclusively for wearables.

LG Gwatch and Samsung Gear Live were introduced during the I/O in San Francisco. Google said that Motorola's circular Moto 360 would not be released until "later this summer".

Samsung Gear Live

LG G Watch

Earlier the smartwatch sector was not very organised because the OS which was designed to be working on smartphones was used to power them but Android Wear makes it more unified. Now separate SDK and APIs are available allowing developers to make apps exclusively for smartwatches running Android Wear.

LG Gwatch will cost Rs. 14,999($229) and has been made available in 12 countries including the US, UK, India, France, Germany and Japan.

SamsungGear Live would cost Rs. 15,900 and has been made available in the same locations.

LG Gwatch can be order on Google Play store and will be delivered by 8^th July and Samsung Gear Live is at present on coming soon status.

Interface like Google Now Cards

David Singleton, director of engineering in the firm's Android division, said one of its core aims was to be able to "quickly show you relevant information, and make sure you never miss an important message, while letting you stay engaged with the people that you are actually with".

Order Sushi from Eat using Android Wear

To achieve this, when notifications are received by the user's smartphone they can be set to make the watch vibrate on the user's wrist.

Get all Notifications

Much of Android Wear's user interface (UI) relies on the firm's Google Now card-based system. Saying "OK Google" prepares the device to take an instruction - similar to the way it does on Google Glass.

Control Music Player

Android Wear can be used to take and reject phone calls, track fitness, estimate journey time, schedule appointments and store travel plans.

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Android Auto will compete with Apple CarPlay

Google revealed Android Auto which will be like a personal assistant for cars. It will provide quick access to anything you need while in a car like navigation, music, phone and more. Like Google Now you can talk to it to send text messages or to make a phone call.

Navigation using Android Auto

Google Maps on Android Auto

Developers can develop for car using its SDK releasing later this year and will work with Android L when released to the public.

Google already has 40 partners in the Open Automotive Alliance, and 25 car brands are going to ship Android Auto in the near future. The first cars will launch before the end of this year.

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Google Announced Android TV

Google just revealed Android TV, in another attempt to get into your living room. It provides everything a TV can offer, live content, other media content and games.

Home Screen with Your Collection and Apps

It can be controlled using an Android smartphone, Android Wear watch or a physical remote. Alongwith the basic television it also gives access to all the content of Google Play Store.

You can tap the Home button from anywhere in Android TV to pull up a menu of content, which will display on top of whatever you were already watching. There’s also a built-in search feature that’s powered by voice. You can search for something like “who played katnis everdeen in Hunger Games″ and see all the details on Jennifer Lawrence.

Searching on Android TV

Search Results

Android TV also supports mobile games, which you can play using a video game controller. Anyone can cast music and other content from an Android phone right to your Android TV.

Play Games on Android TV

Sony, Sharp TP vision and Philips will be launching TV’s with Android TV pre-installed and Asus and Razor will soon be launching set-top boxes with the same.

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Chromecast gets a new and much needed Update

Chromecast is getting an all new ambient experience allowing to personalize your feeds much like to your taste. Also you can add photos to it directly from Google+.

Google said that “it has been available in 18 countries and has been a top selling product on Amazon”.

The major update revealed is that there so need to be on the same Wi-Fi network to cast to your TV. Google said users will always have control over what and who can cast to your TV. But, if you don’t trust someone with your Wi-Fi password, you can simply press a button to allow nearby devices to cast.

Mirroring your Android Screen

Finally, Google also said Android devices can now be mirrored to your TV—there’s a new “cast screen” button, and Google said latency and frame drops have been reduced for a super slick experience. Google says you can mirror anything, even your camera app; Samsung, Nexus, HTC and LG will support this new feature.

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Google Fit Announced

Google introduced its health-focused platform like Apple’s HealthKit and Health Apps, Google Fit. It’s a set of api for tracking your health and fitness data from all your wearables and sensors from your fitness tracking device.

Once you give permission it will collect all the required information. Also you are able to delete the details from it. Adidas and Nike are already ready to use Google Fit for its new set of wearables for health tracking. An official SDK will launch in a few weeks.

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Android L Developer Preview Unveiled

Sundar Pichai addressing the Keynote

As stated earlier by Sundar Pichai, "I want the world to understand what we are doing sooner" and then they just launched the most awaited iteration to Android, Android L Developer Preview and with a whole set of 5000 new API’s. “We wanted to take a radical new approach to design”, said Sundar Pichai.

Across all platforms

Android L’s “material design” focuses on depth and digital material. Google noted that framework will add virtual light sources and real-time shadows. Apps can be developed to work easily across all screens, “from your watch, to your laptop, to your television,” Google said. All animations on the screen will change in a way that makes sense. In Gmail, for example, there's a new typography, new animations, and a seamless experience across different screen sizes. With Polymer and L Preview, developers can also create apps for the web.

Google set a new style guidelines for creating consistent apps which can be seen at google.com/design.

Some other tweaks include a brand new phone dialer, which has a ripple touch effect when you touch each tab. The dialer button has a different elevation that makes it look like it’s floating above the user interface showing the earlier stated real-time shadows. The ripple touch effect animations also appear as you tap each number to dial.

Notifications are also quite enhanced. Lock Screen now has notifications in the form of Google Now Cards.

There is a new keyboard UI, a DND mode. Check out some of the features below.

Updated Contacts App on Android L

Google Now and new Keyboard Interface

Listening to KODALINE using Music App on Android L

A look at San Francisco using New Maps App

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Whole new Changes to Notification Panel

The major change which can be seen is the new Android L’s ability to handle the various types of notifications.

On the lock screen the notifications are now seen in the form of Google Now cards. The way that Google has combined the notifications and lock screen seems pretty impressive. Tap to open an app, swipe to dismiss and swipe down to see all notifications just like the way we can see Google Now cards on the lock screen which earlier was pointed out that things will be becoming quite interactive.

“Heads-up” and “personal unlocking” is for users using security on lock screen. You can set locations, Bluetooth devices and even your voice as “trusted” meaning no need to enter the PIN to unlock.

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Android L image to be Available for Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 Users

The new Android L is coming with a whole lot of changes, around 5000 new APIs. It will be available to the users later this fall and will be available to the developers using Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 starting from tomorrow.

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Chrome Mobile App now Active on 300 Million Users

Google now revealed that Chrome Mobile App now has more than 300 Million active users.

They also displayed a demo of the new version of Chrome app based on its new Material design with a new stack of opened apps and coming to users later this year with the new Android L. It will be later available to the developers as a part of Android L Developer preview.

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New Logo for Android

Confirming a leak earlier this month Google changed the Android logo to  a whole lowercase which replaces what Google’s been using for the past 5 ½ years. Google also introduced Android One a new reference design for hardware makers in the developing markets.

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Material Design is new Visual look For Android, Chrome and more

Google introduced its new design for all its series which is known as “Material Design” which was earlier available on Google+ app update with a whole lot of colours and typography. The entire interface is based on what Google calls a "unifying theory of a rationalized space and a system of motion." Google released a video showing the new designs for the apps for Android and Web like Gmail and Calendar.

Gmail OLD VS NEW 

New Calender App

Matias Duarte on Stage

The focus is on bringing the interface to match with reality. Android head Matias Duarte emphasized that elements should be closer to the reality. What that translates to is "material" effects that react to your touch, perhaps with a gentle ripple emanating from a touch point on the phone dialer.

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Google To Reveal Android Iteration at Google I/O - Confirmed

Android’s new version might be a reality at Google’s I/O Conference that is to start in San Francisco on 25th July. It can be well speculated by recent leak of images on Chromium issue tracker.

The screenshots also show a slightly updated UI in Chrome 37 that matches Google's new design language, complete with fatter action bar and circular-dotted overflow button.

Although its name has not been revealed but the next iteration is slowly trickling out through the developers tools. Earlier we heard about a new interface named Quantum Paper, and now we have some screenshots as to how it may look.

Apart from these leaks, Google’s Android Chief Sundar Pichai said in a recent statement, “I want the world to understand what we are doing sooner”. Whether that means we’ll get to try out a beta version of “Android L” — the name most pundits have given the update — later this week is unclear, but at the very least we should be getting a clear look at the new operating system far earlier than usual this year.

Well we will not have to wait long to see what this means as Google I/O is about to start in a few hours and I will be covering all the major news right here. Till then get a few insights on what to expect from Google I/O this year.

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Google I/O 2014 : What to look forward to??

GoogleI/O Conference is going to start on 25^th June in San Francisco. Although it’s meant for developers but every year we see a whole set of new products and services that are launched just for the consumers.

This year the expectations are gone quite high. Intimidating-looking robots, smart home technology and smartwatches are among the rumours for the Google IO keynote. Also Google’s recent show for a Self-Driving Car also is expected for some update. This is all because of various leaks that have been coming up in the past few months. But the real magic will be seen when the show starts.

Google’s been working on a lot of things way beyond the smartphone technology. This all cannot be crammed up in a 2hr keynote on 25^th but it’s going to be the biggest nerd party of the year. Here are a few things to lookout at Google I/O this year.

Android’s Next Version might happen, whatever it be called 4.5 or 5.0 but the previous leaks have shown that something is cooking up and we might get a look. Unfortunately current signs indicate a much bigger event planned later this year so don’t get upset if it’s just a preview or something small.

Whenever the next update hits the leaks and rumours from Android Police indicates a whole lot of UI changes bringing Google’s Web Apps and Android Apps closer based on a framework “Quantum Paper”.

Android TV becoming a reality. Earlier this year Amazon’s Fire TV was launched and around the same time rumours began swirling of an Android TV. Leaks shows of it being an Interface rather than a computing platform. 

The Verge reported that Google TV is about to launch and its already in talks for major apps.

Android in the Car. So far Android has come on phone, tablet, wrist, face, TV but now it seems to be coming in your car too. Google has already partnered with car makers like GM, Audi, Honda and Hyundai so we hope to hear more during the event. It will be like Apple's CarPlay i.e., a remote control on dashboard controlling your car.

Android Home might become a reality. As we are already familiar of Google acquiring Nest and selling it via Google Devices so it seems quite an inclination towards entering your home. “Android@Home” have appeared online briefly but we hope to see some announcement on this too.

Google Glass need to go Commercial. Google held a one-day sale for Glass in April at $1,500 price tag – sold out according to CNET. Also it’s becoming quite popular with the Health and Medical departments. Recently, a surgery was performed in Chennai, India through Glass and was broadcasted to Jaipur, India Live. There is a lot of demand for Glass all over the world and Google needs to get it out of “explorer” mode. Probably it won’t happen at I/O but company may provide on update regarding its status.

Google Glass at DVF Fashion Event

A new Nexus Tablet may see some Light. A newer version of Android if launches will be with new hardware – keep a watch for it. Recent leaks and a picture at Google I/O website shows a tablet which is neither Nexus 10 nor Nexus 7. So maybe the rumours about a 8.9-inch tablet aka Volantis being manufactured by HTC be true. It might be powered by a powerful NVidia Tegra K1 processor making it interesting for gamers.

Possible images of Nexus 9

Possible leak of Nexus 9 on Google I/O Website

Android Wear is here. Earlier this year Google launched a version of Android made and designed exclusively for wearables like smartwatches. Moto 360, Motorola’s smartwatch was also displayed in a small video running Android Wear but LG’s G watch might be more centre at the event as its expected to be launched in July. We may see some live demos of Android Wear too. There is also Google Fit,Google’s rival to Apple’s HealthKit and also Samsung may debut a smartwatch running Android Wear this week. 

Weird will be fun. The number of crazy projects going on in Google are too many too count. Google Ara is a smartphone that can maps rooms in 3D. Project tango is a tablet mapping a room in 3D. Google Fibre is a high speed internet connection. Google Loon are hundreds of internet providing balloons in the sky. Clico want to cheat death. And Google has been acquiring numerous Robotic companies, no one knows why but it’s not tough to guess. It will be quite fun to watch what happens at I/O. The event begins on 25^th June at 9AM PT/9:30PM IST.

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