Our press contacts have signaled that this year’s I/O really will be much more developed-focused than what we observed in 2012 2013. ’ll see fewer product announcements, more emphasis on developer tools for improving the design distribution of apps. Still, we remain confident that dnesday’s keynote—streamed live on YouTube—will be as exciting as ever, showcasing upcoming innovations in ’s operating systems services, with a strong emphasis on wearables, home connectivity, even automobiles. Read on for our specific predictions on what to expect from I/O’s 2014 keynote, follow throughout the conference for reports on how ’s plans will affect you.
Android llipop
has an established tradition of announcing new Android releases at I/O. In keeping with the “sweets named in alphabetical order” theme, the next version should be something that starts with “” (The current Android version, 4.4, is called KitKat—the first update to carry a commercial br name). There are plenty of fun naming options available for , from “mon Drop” to “quorice” to “mon Meringue.” But our money is on “llipop.” The bigger question is whether will call it Android 4.5 or 5.0. It’s high time for a major version revision. Names are just bring exercises, of course. Users are more interested in features, has been moving toward introducing new features not in Android itself, but in individual apps, their associated As, in ay Services. This ensures that users can play with the latest, greatest features without having to wait for a full OS update from their carriers. That said, a major Android revision might finally make the newer “Android Rune” (ART) compiler for apps the default, replacing the aging “Dalvik” just-in-time compiler. This could help apps run more efficiently launch more quickly, have a positive impact on battery life. In the past, a hful of apps haven’t worked well on the newer experimental “ART” runtime, but recent changes to the Android Open Source oject (AOS suggest that Dalvik is gone for good, apps will have to work with ART or not at all. In the long run, this is probably very good news. It’s also possible that we might see an update to OpenGES, which is the 3D programming interface for Android. needs an answer to Microsoft’s DirectX 12 Apple’s Metal—that is, a lower-level graphics programming language that allows more efficient use of graphics hardware for enthusiast games. Indeed, if the mythical Android TV (see below) is aimed at gaming, graphics efficiency will be important, a new version of Android is just the place to introduce this. l of today’s popular Android phones use chips based on the ARMv7 instruction set—but there are processors on the way that will be based on ARMv8. This major overhaul provides a bunch of improvements to the set of instructions features upon which all those Snapdragons, Exynoses, Tegras, OMA are based. (Apple was the first high-volume chip maker to make the jump to ARMv8 with the A7 chip in the ione 5s id Air). Among these improvements is 64-bit support. fully expect the next major revision of Android to include support optimizations for ARMv8, including robust support for 64-bit software hardware. Of course, any new Android version would have to include a hful of other features, like factory-reset protection to make smartphone theft less of a problem. But, frankly, most of the really interesting improvements to ’s mobile platform are finding their way into the apps the ay Services infrastructure. And these can be updated without a major OS revision.
Fit
th Apple’s HealthKit coming in iOS8, Android ar-powered smartwatches hitting shelves this year, we fully expect to bring a unified health-tracking feature to Android, complete with As for partners like Fitbit Strava to hook into. The rumor mill says this will be called Fit, or perhaps ay Fitness. The idea is simple: st as ay Games provides services to game makers (achievements, leaderboards, friend lists), Fit would provide fitness-themed services to those who make health exercise products. There will probably be an associated fitness app from with basic features like step-tracking, but the real benefit will be in aggregating data from any fitness app that ties into the A. ’d be shocked if the execs left the I/O stage without announcing this.
Glass
It’s likely that Glass will have a much bigger presence on the faces of attendees than on the stage of Moscone st. has issued a series of Glass announcements over the last few months, culminating in last week’s news about its first Glass at rk partners. This program reinforces the role of Glass in doctor’s offices, industrial plants other enterprise scenarios, we might see someone at the keynote evangelize this effort, lending some serious credibility to ’s smartglasses. But ’s wearable story is shifting to Android ar—at least for this I/O—so it would be surprising for any big Glass revelations to break this week. There are a number of Glass-focused workshops on the I/O schedule, but short of an announcement about Glass’ consumer release ( this would be a longshot), don’t expect any bombshells.
Android ar
’s smartwatch operating system will be a major topic of discussion at this year’s conference, as so many developer sessions focus on wearables in general or Android ar specifically. In fact, we expect some type of Android ar watch to be given away to all I/O attendees. Until last week, the smart money said this freebie would be ’s G tch, but a recent report says a yet-to-be-announced Android ar watch from Samsung will be demoed at the show, could possibly be the hardware giveaway. In recent weeks, has released titillating nuggets about Android ar, ranging from a blog post about what it’s like to design for the system, to a near-6-minute video evangelizing the platform’s tools for elegantly exposing information to users. At the dnesday keynote, you should expect to see a live, on-stage demo of all the fancy tricks that put Now notifications directly on your wrist. It’s inevitable this presentation will reveal features that haven’t been shared publicly. It’s also worth noting that the current Android ar SDK is just a “developer preview.” It’s intended to familiarize coders with the system’s interface capabilities, allows developers to customize their existing Android notifications. I/O would be the perfect venue to release the full SDK, which will allow developers to make apps that run directly on wearable hardware, extend the Android ar experience. And if the world is really lucky, we’ll learn some specifics on prices release dates for Android ar watches. Motorola are confirmed watch makers, but HTC, Samsung Asus have also been listed as Android ar partners. It remains unclear if the rest of these brs are actually making watches, or simply supporting Android ar hardware with their phones tablets.
oject Ara
already dove deeply into oject Ara’s objectives earlier this year at an official Ara developer’s conference, so it’s unlikely that will spend a hefty amount of time detailing its modular smartphone concept at I/O. It’s too soon to have real oject Ara phones to show off for consumers, developers just got their big info dump.
Android Silver
Hi-ho silver! Rumor has it that plans to replace, or perhaps augment, its Nexus line of “flagship” phones tablets with a line of high-end devices under a program called Android Silver. olific leak tweeter EVleaks The Information both reported that will be the first to debut a premium Android Silver device, it’s possible an official announcement of this phone will be delivered during the keynote. So what is Android Silver? The idea, so the rumors say, is to sell premium phones running “pure” unskinned Android at brick–mortar retail locations—the very places where people actually buy phones. ( ay ition Nexus phones are primarily sold online through the ay Store.) would work with retailers on sales promotion, maybe even provide customer support. By putting the pure Android experience in the hs of more buyers, Android Silver would help combat fragmentation bloatware, as well as promote a single Android design aesthetic. ich leads us to…
Quantum per
As recently detailed on Android lice, Quantum per is ’s initiative to help developers deliver a consistent user interface across apps platforms. Consider it a set of tools guidelines that reinforce uniform user experiences throughout all of ’s consumer-facing products services. ether or not Quantum is mentioned at I/O, it suggests is headed in a much more controlled design direction. “Quantum per is a hugely ambitious project, looking to unify codify paradigms for visual, motion, interaction design across all platforms, including web, Android, iOS,” wrote Android lice. Still, it’s difficult to see Quantum per having a major impact when all the Android device makers imbue both their operating systems apps with custom interfaces. Indeed, why push a unified design scheme when Samsung is going to go do its own thing anyway? rhaps will use the I/O conference as a starting point to it make its case for pan-Android design consistency.
Android TV
It looks like is taking another stab at the set-top box streaming market. Again. After the colossal failure of TV, the company appears ready to give it another go with Android TV. Information leaked in early April suggests Android TV will be a platform, not a device, though maybe will kick things off with a “Nexus” version of Android TV hardware. From what we’ve seen in leaked screenshots, the current features deliver most of what we already get from other streaming-media services: It streams video from ’s own ay Store plenty of other streaming apps (Netflix, et al.), it plays games, too. Android TV’s big innovation could be an interface that aids users in quickly finding watching content—but one could easily say that about Roku, Fire TV, or Apple TV as well. Maybe has a neat trick up its sleeve that will make a box powered by Android TV the must-have streaming solution. If so, I/O will be the perfect venue to make that pitch to the world.
Nexus Tablets
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen any significant updates to ’s Nexus tablets. The Nexus 7 that arrived last summer is quite similar to the one introduced the year before, the Samsung-manufactured Nexus 10 is nearing its two-year birthday. either needs new Nexus tablets, or should abon Nexus entirely for “Android Silver” tablets. The latest rumor points to a 9-inch Nexus tablet made by HTC, featuring aluminum construction a 64-bit Tegra K1 processor. Said tablet would arrive near the end of the year, making it unlikely to appear at I/O this week. But it’s also a more expensive, larger, premium tablet—leaving room for to announce something inexpensive in the 7-inch range.
Android in the Car
’s been busy working its way into your car. It already provides Earth data to the navigation systems of Audi cars, making all other in-car mapping systems look cartoonish. The company also announced its Open Automotive liance at CES 2014, with Audi, General Motors Honda signing on to develop new ways to integrate Android into dashboards. expect to see news from that alliance roll out at I/O. Specifically, look for details on infotainment-system compatibility that will let you easily use your Android phone with a car’s built-in display. needs to catch up here, because Apple’s Caray interface is already poised to roll out this year in Volvo, Ferrari Mercedes-z dashboards, as well as in aftermarket stereo systems from oneer pine. Kia has made the deepest commitment to Android so far: Its 2014 Soul uses an Android-based infotainment system called Uvo. But auto companies work at a glacial pace. Uvo runs on the 2011-era Android Gingerbread. Another company or two might announce Android-based infotainment systems at I/O, but any such systems will have the same time-delay issues suffered by Uvo. Uvo is also supposed to have an app store, but it currently sts empty. Meanwhile, rivals Ford GM already have small herds of car apps. expect to announce more developer support for car apps at I/O, we expect some of them to work with Glass.
Babble/ Voice merger
it—this still hasn’t happened yet? graced us with Hangouts last year, but we’ve yet to see all of ’s communication services meld together. Hangouts remains limited to SMS/MMS, video, instant messages, but a fully unified messaging platform would also include services like Voice, Gmail, +, maybe even Translate. This “gr unification of communications products” supposedly falls under the project name Babble, we’re not sure where it sts. tely, has been disengaging + from its other services, after all. On the other h, rolling Voice into Hangouts makes a lot of sense, could provide a wonderful benefit to nearly all Android users. t’s hope uses I/O to announce something related to Voice, because it’s an excellent service that hasn’t seen much love lately.
