Google I/O 2016: the biggest news from Google’s biggest event of the year
Google I/O is done for the year. The company showed off Android N, along with new apps for messaging and video calls. Plus, it unveiled an Amazon Echo competitor called Google Home, and outlined its plans for the future of VR. Catch up with all the news here.
Major Updates
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A closer look at Google’s modular phone prototype
I just sat down with Rafe Caramago and several members of his Project Ara team to learn more about the modular smartphone — because there's a lot going on with this thing. The project, which many had assumed was on its way to being Spring Cleaned by Google is instead coming out in almost the biggest way possible: it's the first phone ever that Google is manufacturing itself, and it's going to be available to consumers next year.
We talked about a lot in our discussion, but for now I'll just...
It's just an early prototype, but it works! -
Why Google's fancy new AI assistant is just called 'Google'
On Wednesday Google kicked off its I/O developer conference by unveiling a series of new artificial intelligence-powered products, including a messaging app with a virtual assistant and and a home speaker with a voice interface. Given what we’ve seen in the explosion of AI assistants and software bots from other companies, you’d expect Google to brand these products’ connective tissue with a personality and a name — Apple has Siri, Amazon has Alexa, and Microsoft has Cortana.
Instead,...
The future of search is more than a text box -
Google’s modular Project Ara phone is shipping to developers this fall
On the last day of I/O, Google's ATAP division has finally given us some firm details on when it will release a very real Project Ara modular phone. A developer edition running Android with a 5.3-inch screen is shipping this fall, while a consumer version of the phone will be available some time in 2017. To get your hands on a device this year, you have to head over to ATAP's dedicated Ara website and fill out the form indicating what type of module you'd like to develop for the phone.
Ara...
With a consumer model coming in 2017 -
Watch Google's latest Spotlight Story, Pearl, on your phone
A month after debuting at the Tribeca Film Festival, Google's latest Spotlight Story, Pearl, just launched at Google I/O and is now available to watch on Android and iOS. The new short film, which follows a father and daughter's lives through the "eyes" of their beloved hatchback, can be viewed in the Spotlight Stories Channel on YouTube and in the Spotlight Stories app on iOS. (You'll want to watch this on a Cardboard if you have one, though.)
Director Patrick Osborne, who won an Oscar for...
Originally debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival -
Google just showed off a lot of cool products, but no ship dates
With the dust settling on an unusually ambitious I/O conference, it's worth taking stock of exactly what we just saw. Google announced huge moves in virtual reality, messaging, and personal assistants — three of the industry's most hotly contested categories. But while we know there are big things coming, we still can't say when they'll get here.
To recap, here's what we know about when everything's coming out, as specifically as possible:
playing games with our hearts -
Android Wear 2.0 sharpens Google's focus on smartwatches
For the past two years, smartwatches have been all over the place. As the relatively new category has developed, we have seen countless ideas on what smartwatches should be and how they should work. Despite some success from the Apple Watch and to a smaller extent, Pebble and Samsung, smartwatches have yet to really catch on in the mainstream, with many critics and users complaining that they are too complicated and too duplicative of the smartphones they already own.
Google has been getting...
Nailing the basics, and then some -
Google says 'hundreds of millions of users' will have Daydream VR phones
Google hopes to quickly make its virtual reality platform Daydream a mass-market product. "Our intention is to operate at Android scale, meaning hundreds of millions of users," senior product manager Brahim Elbouchikhi said at a session on monetizing Daydream apps at the Google I/O developers conference. "In a couple of years, we will have hundreds of millions of users on Daydream devices." And in order to keep those users entertained, Google wants app developers to build experiences that are...
And nixes free-to-play -
Android apps are just what Chromebooks needed
Google just announced that Chrome OS finally has what many people have been clamoring for almost since its introduction five years ago: true native apps. And it has a massive number of them, too. When support for them launches later this year, there will be more and better apps than you can find in the Windows Store. They just happen to all be Android apps.
The Google Play Store, that massive repository of Android apps, is coming to Chrome OS. It will be available to developers in early...
Coming this fall -
Google is working with IMAX to build a cinema-quality Jump VR camera
During its second day keynote on virtual reality, Google announced some new hardware partners for its Jump VR platform. Yi Technologies, a Chinese digital camera maker, will be creating an action camera for Jump, and IMAX will be working with Google to create a cinema-quality VR camera. IMAX says it will dedicate a team of engineers and camera specialists to work with Google on designing a new high-resolution camera from the ground up, leveraging technology that has been used by the likes of...
Jump cam, Jump cam, Jump cam -
Google will carefully curate the Daydream apps for its VR Play Store
Compared with its more laissez-faire attitude towards Android apps, Google is being demonstrably more precious with everything around its Daydream VR platform. On the hardware side, there's Daydream-ready device certification, reference designs for headsets and controllers, and a specific set of hardware partners. But Google is also doing something it's shied away from: carefully curating its VR-centric Play Store.
Speaking with The Verge, Google's head of VR Clay Bavor says the company will...
We want to make sure we're representing good VR to our users. -
Google's Awareness API can turn every Android app into a smart assistant
Maybe the reason why Google isn't giving a formal name to its personal assistant software is that it's more than just one thing. Introduced at I/O this week is a new Android Awareness API that bundles all the sensor data from your smartphone or other Android device and presents it to apps, which can then act on that input to automatically assist you.
"You can use this information to build more assistive and aware applications," says Google's Bhavik Singh, product manager of the Awareness...
Privacy concerns? What privacy concerns? -
Google's Allo runs on the same encryption tech that powers WhatsApp
Earlier today at the I/O conference, Google announced a new chat app called Allo, complete with an "incognito" mode that boasts full end-to-end encryption. But the technology powering that encryption is more familiar than many Google fans may realize.
After the new app was announced, Open Whisper Systems revealed in a blog post that the company has been actively participating in the development of Allo's incognito mode, and the resulting feature will be built on top of the company's open...
Allo will be available later this summer -
Daydream will be the reason you'll want a 4K phone
The Android spec race is back on. With the announcement of a far-reaching Daydream VR initiative, Google effectively rebooted the quest for the biggest and baddest spec sheet among Android manufacturers. While some blinkered companies never let go of that competition, for the past couple of years we just haven't had a use for all the power in mobile devices. They've grown kind of, gulp, boring. Daydream changes that in a hurry by demanding better graphical performance, higher resolution, and...
Yeah, but can it run VR Crysis? -
Google might name Android N after Kanye and Kim's daughter or seaweed
Google is taking public submissions to help name Android N, after realizing that there just weren't that many "N" desserts to choose from. While it seems like Nutella would be the obvious answer, it's possible that the good people of Ferrero just weren't interested in a brand partnership with a smartphone operating system. Insane!
Google announced its naming crisis during the annual I/O developer conference this afternoon, and promptly tweeted a video of imaginary branding agency...
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The 10 biggest announcements from Google I/O 2016
At I/O this year, Google displayed its vision for a more ubiquitous and conversational way of interacting with technology. Its Assistant is chattier, answering natural language queries with a more human voice, and it’s found its way into several new Google products: the messenger Allo and the Echo-like speaker Home. Both are areas where other companies have a lead, but Google’s strength in AI gave these services some nice twists, doing things like automatically generating surprisingly...
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Things Google Home looks like
Google Home is a response to Amazon's Echo, a home speaker and digital personal assistant operated by voice commands. The Echo looks like a generic Bluetooth speaker, which is to say it resembles a stack of hockey pucks or a very large tube of Pillsbury croissant dough. Google Home looks like none of those things.
In fact, Google Home looks unlike anything in the tech world. It does, however, resemble a number of things you probably have lying around the house. This will make it easy, I...
A cuddly data collector -
Android Auto is getting wireless support and 'OK Google' commands
Android Auto will be getting a couple new features this year that are relatively minor, but promise to make the platform quite a bit more usable.
First up is support for wireless connections. Currently, phones need to be plugged in via USB in order to use Android Auto; with this new capability, you'll be able to do everything over Wi-Fi, which is especially great for the growing number of vehicles that have standard or optional wireless charging plates built into their consoles. (You don't...
Small features with big impacts -
Google wants Android to take over your entire car
Google's ambitions for Android in the car go far beyond Android Auto, and it just laid those plans out at its I/O conference this afternoon.
The company is demonstrating a Maserati Ghibli that has been completely retrofitted in partnership with Qualcomm to have a 15-inch, 4K center touchscreen (mounted vertically, a lot like a Tesla) and a 720p digital instrument cluster. The car isn't a production vehicle — it doesn't even really involve Maserati or its parent company, Fiat Chrysler — but...
Cars are the new smartphones -
Android Instant Apps lets you use apps without downloading them
At its I/O developer conference today, Google showed off a new feature for Android called Instant Apps. With deep links, Android users will be able to use apps from a link without having to download anything from the Play Store. The company showed off a video experience from BuzzFeed and a shopping experience from B&H. And Google suggested it would be a good way for single purpose apps, like paying for parking at a museum, where you don't want to deal with the mobile web, but also don't want...
Apps on the fly -
Google announces Android Wear 2.0 with standalone app support and a tiny keyboard
Google today announced Android Wear 2.0, the biggest update to its wearable operating system since its release back in September 2014. The biggest change with the software, which releases this fall, is apps can be run standalone without the need for a phone nearby. In fact, Google's David Singleton, the company's head of wearables, says the onstage demo shown today at its I/O developer conference was done with the accompanying Android smartphone turned off the entire time. Android Wear...
And new fitness and messaging capabilities -
Samsung, HTC, Huawei, LG will build Android Daydream VR phones
Daydream, Google's new VR platform set to succeed Cardboard, will run with the next generation of Android smartphones running Android N. Google announced at I/O today that the new VR headset and software will work out of the box on new smartphones from a select group of manufacturers: namely, Samsung, HTC, Huawei, LG, ZTE, Asus, Alcatel, and Xiaomi.
According to Google, Daydream encompasses both hardware and software, and will depend on next-gen specs to work. The company provided a...
Eight manufacturers diving into VR with Google -
Watch a video of Google's new video chat app Duo
Google wanted its very own version of FaceTime, so the company built a video chat app called Duo. Announced today onstage at the I/O developer conference, Duo is a dead-simple and blazing fast way to start video chats. The app opens into a selfie-cam video preview of yourself with a big red button to start a call. Unlike FaceTime, which only works on Apple devices, Duo is compatible with both iOS and Android devices, so long as they have its app installed.
Duo also varies from FaceTime with...
A new video chatting app -
You can watch IMAX movies in Android's Daydream VR
Here's something that could make Google's newly announced Daydream VR pretty epic in scope: IMAX experiences are going to start coming to the platform.
While unveiling Daydream, Android's new virtual reality initiative, Google announced that it would include content from IMAX. It's supposed to let you watch IMAX movies in a "virtual IMAX theater." That's likely to mean IMAX's more traditional documentaries, rather than the major films that happen to have IMAX ratios, but it still means...
Literally huge -
Google's latest Android N beta is meant for everyone
Want to start trying Android N early? Google is making it way easier today. It's launching a public beta of N that's supposed to be polished and stable enough to run on your primary phone.
N has been out in a developer beta for a few months now, available as an over-the-air update if you wanted to check it out. But Google wasn't exactly promising that it would be stable enough to use day to day — this was just for testing.
Now, N is apparently far enough along that Google thinks it's ready...
Start your downloads -
Google's VR platform includes partnerships with HBO, Ubisoft, the NBA, and more
Accompanying the announcement of its Daydream mobile virtual reality initiative, Google is revealing a few of the experiences that people might have with its new VR headset. This fall, the company hopes to have Android phone makers launch the first Daydream-ready phones, along with a standardized headset and controller design and a number of Google apps that have been converted to VR. It's also given the names of media and gaming partners who will be building apps and other content for...
Games, streaming video, and VR journalism -
Daydream is Google’s Android-powered VR platform
Following months of speculation, Google is diving deeper into virtual reality. Today at its I/O keynote, the company announced Daydream, a VR platform built on top of Android N. Google says that Daydream-ready phones, as well as VR viewers and motion controllers, will be available this fall.
Daydream — which encompasses both hardware and software — is a more advanced successor to Cardboard, the disposable headset standard that Google released two years ago. It's a mobile VR system powered by...
New phones only -
Google reveals plans for new VR headset and motion controller
At its annual I/O developer conference today, Google is showing off a reference design for a new virtual reality headset that builds on the success of the Cardboard unit it launched back in 2014. The headset is part of Google's new Daydream initiative, a mobile VR platform baked into Android N. As with Android, Google wants its hardware partners to build and sell their own Daydream devices. And in a surprise move, Daydream's system doesn't just use a headset — it also features a new kind of...
What a day for a Daydream, VR for a daydreaming boy -
Google details Android N features ahead of late summer release
It wouldn't be a Google developer conference without some time dedicated to Google's most important software platform: Android. The next iteration, codenamed N, was announced super early in March of this year, and today at Google I/O more details and features are being revealed.
Google says the response to the N Developer Preview has been "overwhelming" and many developers are already working with it on a daily basis. The company has improved Android N performance in two keys ways: graphics...
Performance improvements married to a big push into VR -
Google wants you to name Android N
Google wants your help naming Android N. It's launched a website that'll let anyone suggest names for N, and Google says it'll search through them to pick out a final name. Does that mean it could choose something aside from a dessert? Who knows. Google didn't really go into detail about what the selection process will be like, aside to say that it very much reserves the right to choose whatever it likes.
Nerds? Just make it nerds. -
Google Duo makes mobile video calls fast and simple
Google is releasing a new video calling app later this summer. It's called Duo, and it's probably the fastest and simplest video calling app I've ever seen. Like its companion chat app, Allo, Duo is mobile-only. It uses your phone number as an identifier, and it will work on both iOS and Android.
The interface for Duo is so simple and sparse it almost seems silly to describe it, but here goes. When you open it, you're greeted with a selfie-cam video preview of yourself. Check your hair, then...
Mobile first, mobile only -
Watch a video of Google Home in action
Google Home, a small speaker you can converse with using natural language, is an ambitious way to weave the company's search engine and artificial intelligence into every fabric of your daily life. The company announced the new product today onstage at its I/O developers conference, and it will be available later this fall.
More than anything, Home represents Google's answer to Amazon's competing voice assistant Alexa and the myriad number of devices and services Alexa runs on and connects...
Google anywhere and everywhere -
Google Photos now has over 200 million monthly active users
Google Photos now has over 200 million monthly active users after only a year of existence, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced at I/O today. Users have created more than 2 trillion labels that help the company sort its Google Image search results, and 24 billion of those are selfies.
"Google Photos shows what's possible when you approach an existing area from a new perspective," he said.
The company unveiled its Photos service at last year's I/O. Since that time, Google's continued to...
Photos stats -
Allo is a messaging app with Google built right in
Google is announcing a new messaging app today. It's called Allo and its main feature is a Google assistant that's built right in. Google says it'll be available later this summer — for free — on both iOS and Android.
Allo (pronounced like "Aloe" and not like "'allo, guv'nor!") is a mobile-only app that you might think is meant to replace Google's other messaging app, Hangouts. But you'd be wrong. Allo is explicitly meant to be a fresh start for Google's new communication's division (which...
Google sliding into your DMs -
Google is making its assistant 'conversational' in two new ways
Google would like to remind you that you can talk with it.
Today Google is announcing a "Google Assistant" that essentially performs the same tasks as other Google interfaces do, but in a conversational mode. It doesn't have a name, it just has the power of Google and its deep mine of data behind it.
In the past few years, we've seen every other big tech company launch a personal assistant: Apple's Siri. Amazon's Alexa. Microsoft's Cortana. Facebook's M. All are already iconic assistants...
...but it isn't naming it -
Google I/O 2016: Keynote, live stream, and schedule
Google I/O is an annual developer conference at which the company announces new hardware and software, hosts educational sessions pertaining to its various products and services, and broadly tries to build hype and warm feelings in the hearts of creators and fans who watch online.
The event begins with a keynote. This year, the host will be Google CEO Sundar Pichai. We expect him and his colleagues to make a number of announcements, like giving an official name to its new mobile operating...
Let's go I/O
