Google Wallet, Glass, virtual reality and Fit
In the months since the less-than-thrilling IO 2014, Google has unleashed a number of tantalizing products and intriguing concepts that have us looking forward it its 2015 conference.
With Android L releasing into the wild, the revelation of the Nexus 6 and Nexus 9, Android Wear smartwatches winding up on wrists everywhere, and experimental devices like Project Ara and Project Tango teasing us with possibilities, Google is setting itself up for even more innovation in 2015.
- Check out TechRadar’s take on Android 5.0 Lollipop!
Unlike last year’s IO, which was short on exciting announcements, we expect Google to rebound with a thrilling event, one loaded with breakthroughs, surprises and products we can’t wait to use.
At least we hope that’s what G-town delivers during IO 2015. Read on for what we want to see during the annual developer confab, and tell us know in the comments what showstoppers – or showsleepers – you think Google will whip out.
Pull out your Google Wallet
Now that Apple has gotten serious about mobile payments with Apple Pay, we anticipate Google Wallet getting some love during IO 2015.
Mountain View’s mobile payment platform has bounced like a bad check, but as Apple gets into the game in a big way (have you been to a McDonald’s in the US lately?), Google can’t sit idly by as its biggest rival gobbles up NFC payment-dom.
The world is still wary of mobile payments, especially in the wake of massive credit card hacks, so it’s yet to be proven if Apple Pay (or any service) is the silver bullet to the anti-credit card conundrum. Despite that – or maybe because of it – we want Google to swing for the fences with a revamped Google Wallet.
The timing may be tricky as some US retailers are shunning Apple Pay in favor of their own mobile payment system, but we wouldn’t put it past Google to corral some big names into its tap-to-pay service circle.
Where the heck is Google Glass?
OK, Google. The Explorer program is several years old, more apps have found their way onto your loved/loathed wearable and you’ve allowed US consumers to have their hand at Glass, but when are we going to see the final consumer version and its (hopefully) cheaper price?
Yes, Google Glass is part of completely new device category and there’s want to get it right, but there’s a feeling we can’t shake that now that Android Wear has shown its face, Google has relegated its first wearable to the basement.
Not helping matters is the fact the consumer edition release date has reportedly been pushed until 2015, and app makers, including Twitter, are distancing themselves from the Glass.
To top it off, the Glass poster child, Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin, left his company-made headset behind in the car while he attended a November Silicon Valley event, not exactly sending a singing message that Glass is something you can’t leave home without.
That sets the stage for a pretty telling IO 2015. Google has two choices, really: either try to re-capture the public’s imagination with Glass (or, more fittingly, show it has real-world applications), or keep quiet and let Glass slide quietly out of sight.
We think Google will go for the former, otherwise all those years of pushing Glass on developers and executives sporting them on their brows will be for naught. More critically, with other head-worn wearables like Oculus Rift gaining greater visibility, Google can’t afford to let Glass’ future get any foggier.
We expect Google to place lots of emphasis on apps made for Glass, especially since its Glass Development Kit will be around a year old by then, plus show us hardware that’s vastly improved and/or vastly cheaper than what one sees bobbing on heads around the Valley these days.
When Google met VR
Speaking of things you put on your face, Google’s DIY Cardboard VR headset was a fun yet potentially conspicuous surprise during last year’s IO.
Google handed out the headset as a little something extra at the end of its Day 1 keynote, but you didn’t need to be in attendance to get one because anyone can build the “no frills” viewer with a few acquired materials.
Could Google flush out the concept during IO 2015? We think so, especially since Samsung’s Gear VR does virtually the same thing with more premium materials.
Whether this means Google delivers a more durable headset, reveals apps and games developed for Cardboard as-is, or introduces some virtual reality features somehow tied Glass, we don’t know, but we can say the VR market is too hot for Google to pass up.
Focus on your Fit
Another carryover from IO 2014 we’d like to see at the 2015 run is Google Fit. The Apple HealthKit rival officially launched as a Google Play app in late October, while developers were given full access to the platform’s APIs.
As developers create health-enhancing programs for Android users and devices become better equipped to use Google Fit’s feature set, there should be plenty to relay come dev con time. We’d like to see just how far Fit has come in a year’s time and what the future holds for Google and health. What’s more, who’s to say Google won’t have a fitness tracking wearable to show that puts Fit front and center?
The living room, Google watch and other stuff
Coming to your living room … again!
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before, but Google will make a play for your living room during IO 2015.
What we hope is different this time around is Google coming at your favorite four walls with some kind of cohesive plan in place.
The company recently announced Nexus Player, perhaps its most robust and practical entertainment offering to date, but don’t expect it to stop there. Even if it should.
Google struck gold with Chromecast, the dirt cheap dongle some people own more than one of, so no one would be surprised if the firm returned to the formula with Chromecast 2 or another bargain bin-priced device. In fact, Google is reportedly already working on Chromecast 2, making an IO reveal seem all the more likely.
Whatever Google does, we want it to, you know, make cohesive sense. So far, this “scatter gun approach” (hat tip James Rivington) is only creating a series of half-baked products that no one is buying into. That is, except Chromecast.
It might be time for Google to put its money on the winning horse, if you catch our drift.
‘Android Wear, where you at?’
“In watches like the Moto 360, LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live, that’s where, TechRadar!”
Yes, Google’s wearable OS has taken hold in a surprisingly quick turnaround from announcement to market. The only thing missing? Google’s own smartwatch running its home-grown Android Wear OS. No biggie, right?
Like the Apple Watch before it, the Google watch has been the stuff of legend for what feels like ions. Unlike the Apple Watch, the Google watch is still unannounced. Even more unlike the Apple Watch, the Google watch probably won’t be on sale by the time IO 2015 rolls around (the Apple Watch release is slated for early 2015).
This leaves Google out of a growing hardware product category while others grab hold. One could argue Google has more than enough of a stranglehold on the smartwatch market with Android Wear, and it’s certainly a valid point.
However, in order for Google to truly be in the wearable conversation, we need to see its own branded hardware serve as the hallmark for what Android Wear can really do.
So, Google, give us the Nexus Watch, or whatever you want to call it. Give us something we can point to and say, “Hey, Apple, you see what Google came up with?” Give us something to strap on our wrists so we can complete the look with our Nexus phone, Nexus tablet and Google Glass.
Give us the wearable we’ve been waiting for.
YouTube : http://ift.tt/1ozc7nh
And the other stuff
Just like ice cream flavors, everyone seems to like the idea of vanilla Android, so don’t drop your jaw if Google announces another Google Play Edition flagship phone.
Google seems to be spacing its hardware reveals further and further apart, making a new Nexus phone or tablet reveal at IO 2015 feel unlikely.
Like last year, the company will probably focus most on its software platforms, stressing the ease of developing for Chrome and Android over OSes-that-shall-not-be-named. Another Android iteration after 5.0 could definitely come (Android 5.5, for example), as could improvements to Google Now and the other services Google offers.
- Is the Galaxy S5 the best Android phone around?
http://ift.tt/1sr28Rs
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Google Wallet, Glass, virtual reality and Fit
In the months since the less-than-thrilling IO 2014, Google has unleashed a number of tantalizing products and intriguing concepts that have us looking forward it its 2015 conference.
With Android L releasing into the wild, the revelation of the Nexus 6 and Nexus 9, Android Wear smartwatches winding up on wrists everywhere, and experimental devices like Project Ara and Project Tango teasing us with possibilities, Google is setting itself up for even more innovation in 2015.
- Check out TechRadar’s take on Android 5.0 Lollipop!
Unlike last year’s IO, which was short on exciting announcements, we expect Google to rebound with a thrilling event, one loaded with breakthroughs, surprises and products we can’t wait to use.
At least we hope that’s what G-town delivers during IO 2015. Read on for what we want to see during the annual developer confab, and tell us know in the comments what showstoppers – or showsleepers – you think Google will whip out.
Pull out your Google Wallet
Now that Apple has gotten serious about mobile payments with Apple Pay, we anticipate Google Wallet getting some love during IO 2015.
Mountain View’s mobile payment platform has bounced like a bad check, but as Apple gets into the game in a big way (have you been to a McDonald’s in the US lately?), Google can’t sit idly by as its biggest rival gobbles up NFC payment-dom.
The world is still wary of mobile payments, especially in the wake of massive credit card hacks, so it’s yet to be proven if Apple Pay (or any service) is the silver bullet to the anti-credit card conundrum. Despite that – or maybe because of it – we want Google to swing for the fences with a revamped Google Wallet.
The timing may be tricky as some US retailers are shunning Apple Pay in favor of their own mobile payment system, but we wouldn’t put it past Google to corral some big names into its tap-to-pay service circle.
Where the heck is Google Glass?
OK, Google. The Explorer program is several years old, more apps have found their way onto your loved/loathed wearable and you’ve allowed US consumers to have their hand at Glass, but when are we going to see the final consumer version and its (hopefully) cheaper price?
Yes, Google Glass is part of completely new device category and there’s want to get it right, but there’s a feeling we can’t shake that now that Android Wear has shown its face, Google has relegated its first wearable to the basement.
Not helping matters is the fact the consumer edition release date has reportedly been pushed until 2015, and app makers, including Twitter, are distancing themselves from the Glass.
To top it off, the Glass poster child, Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin, left his company-made headset behind in the car while he attended a November Silicon Valley event, not exactly sending a singing message that Glass is something you can’t leave home without.
That sets the stage for a pretty telling IO 2015. Google has two choices, really: either try to re-capture the public’s imagination with Glass (or, more fittingly, show it has real-world applications), or keep quiet and let Glass slide quietly out of sight.
We think Google will go for the former, otherwise all those years of pushing Glass on developers and executives sporting them on their brows will be for naught. More critically, with other head-worn wearables like Oculus Rift gaining greater visibility, Google can’t afford to let Glass’ future get any foggier.
We expect Google to place lots of emphasis on apps made for Glass, especially since its Glass Development Kit will be around a year old by then, plus show us hardware that’s vastly improved and/or vastly cheaper than what one sees bobbing on heads around the Valley these days.
When Google met VR
Speaking of things you put on your face, Google’s DIY Cardboard VR headset was a fun yet potentially conspicuous surprise during last year’s IO.
Google handed out the headset as a little something extra at the end of its Day 1 keynote, but you didn’t need to be in attendance to get one because anyone can build the “no frills” viewer with a few acquired materials.
Could Google flush out the concept during IO 2015? We think so, especially since Samsung’s Gear VR does virtually the same thing with more premium materials.
Whether this means Google delivers a more durable headset, reveals apps and games developed for Cardboard as-is, or introduces some virtual reality features somehow tied Glass, we don’t know, but we can say the VR market is too hot for Google to pass up.
Focus on your Fit
Another carryover from IO 2014 we’d like to see at the 2015 run is Google Fit. The Apple HealthKit rival officially launched as a Google Play app in late October, while developers were given full access to the platform’s APIs.
As developers create health-enhancing programs for Android users and devices become better equipped to use Google Fit’s feature set, there should be plenty to relay come dev con time. We’d like to see just how far Fit has come in a year’s time and what the future holds for Google and health. What’s more, who’s to say Google won’t have a fitness tracking wearable to show that puts Fit front and center?
The living room, Google watch and other stuff
Coming to your living room … again!
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before, but Google will make a play for your living room during IO 2015.
What we hope is different this time around is Google coming at your favorite four walls with some kind of cohesive plan in place.
The company recently announced Nexus Player, perhaps its most robust and practical entertainment offering to date, but don’t expect it to stop there. Even if it should.
Google struck gold with Chromecast, the dirt cheap dongle some people own more than one of, so no one would be surprised if the firm returned to the formula with Chromecast 2 or another bargain bin-priced device. In fact, Google is reportedly already working on Chromecast 2, making an IO reveal seem all the more likely.
Whatever Google does, we want it to, you know, make cohesive sense. So far, this “scatter gun approach” (hat tip James Rivington) is only creating a series of half-baked products that no one is buying into. That is, except Chromecast.
It might be time for Google to put its money on the winning horse, if you catch our drift.
‘Android Wear, where you at?’
“In watches like the Moto 360, LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live, that’s where, TechRadar!”
Yes, Google’s wearable OS has taken hold in a surprisingly quick turnaround from announcement to market. The only thing missing? Google’s own smartwatch running its home-grown Android Wear OS. No biggie, right?
Like the Apple Watch before it, the Google watch has been the stuff of legend for what feels like ions. Unlike the Apple Watch, the Google watch is still unannounced. Even more unlike the Apple Watch, the Google watch probably won’t be on sale by the time IO 2015 rolls around (the Apple Watch release is slated for early 2015).
This leaves Google out of a growing hardware product category while others grab hold. One could argue Google has more than enough of a stranglehold on the smartwatch market with Android Wear, and it’s certainly a valid point.
However, in order for Google to truly be in the wearable conversation, we need to see its own branded hardware serve as the hallmark for what Android Wear can really do.
So, Google, give us the Nexus Watch, or whatever you want to call it. Give us something we can point to and say, “Hey, Apple, you see what Google came up with?” Give us something to strap on our wrists so we can complete the look with our Nexus phone, Nexus tablet and Google Glass.
Give us the wearable we’ve been waiting for.
YouTube : http://ift.tt/1ozc7nh
And the other stuff
Just like ice cream flavors, everyone seems to like the idea of vanilla Android, so don’t drop your jaw if Google announces another Google Play Edition flagship phone.
Google seems to be spacing its hardware reveals further and further apart, making a new Nexus phone or tablet reveal at IO 2015 feel unlikely.
Like last year, the company will probably focus most on its software platforms, stressing the ease of developing for Chrome and Android over OSes-that-shall-not-be-named. Another Android iteration after 5.0 could definitely come (Android 5.5, for example), as could improvements to Google Now and the other services Google offers.
- Is the Galaxy S5 the best Android phone around?
http://ift.tt/1sr28Rs
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