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Google I/O 2018 – Top 5
Check out our top 5 from Google I/O 2018.This event is one of the biggest of the Android world, and it puts together all the trends and news! Posted onby Carlos FerreiraGoogle I/O is an annual conference that brings together developers from all around the world. It’s an opportunity for developers to take a look at Google’s latest products and for the general public, to see new Android operating systems in action, for the first time. In 2016 and 2017, Exaud did a resume of Google I/O and, this year we’re up for the game. Check our Google I/O Top5!
Google Assistant New Voices
A nice touch from Google is the addition of
six new voices to the Google Assistant, for both Android and iOS devices. Until recently, the assistant only had
two voices. Now, users will be able to choose one voice from eight available
options.
The voice from the pop music artist John Legend is one of the new voices
and will be included as a Google Assistant option, later this year.
Several of the new voices are already available for Android 6.0 and up
devices. The voices will be gradually added to the assistant and the
users will be able to try out the full package in a few months.
Google Duplex
One of the highlights of Google I/O was the Google Assistant using Duplex.
The Google Duplex is an extension of the
assistant app
that uses AI for
accomplishing real-world tasks over the phone.
They showed the assistant making an appointment at a hair salon and calling
a restaurant to schedule a reservation. In the two demos, the assistant
voice sounded very humanlike and the conversation very natural. We can
assume the demos were very well prepared and that it probably doesn’t work
that well in real life. However, the technology looks promising and, with
Google investing in it, we might be using it in our everyday life sooner
than we expect.
Google Maps Augmented Reality
Google announced plans to integrate virtual reality in Google Maps. In the
future versions, we will be able to see navigation instructions and
animations over the real-time feed of our smartphone’s camera. Besides that,
the augmented reality overlays can also contain information about the points
of interest around us.
We will only need to point to a business in front of us, with the
smartphone camera, and we will get details about that business, such as the
name of the place and its rating. This topic is further covered in the
Google I/O Keynote.
Alphabet’s Waymo self-driving car
“In August 2015, Google split up and became multiple subsidiary
companies, including one called Google. Alphabet became the holding
company that owned them all.”
In Google I/O, the now independent company Waymo, claimed they are the only
company in the world with a fleet of fully self-driving cars on public
roads. Later this year, in a Phoenix
early rider program, everyone will be
able to call a Waymo car with a Waymo app.
Dasboard, App Timer and Wind Down
The Google CEO Sundar Pichai showcased
three new features of Android P.
These features are tools meant to help users maintain a healthy amount of
time using the smartphone.
The first one is the “Android Dashboard”. It will display, for each
application, the total amount of time that we devote to it. If we think we
are spending a lot of time on a certain app, we can use the feature “App
Timer” to set an alarm that will remind us that there are more important
things to do in life.
Besides that, there’s also a new mode called “Wind Down”. We activate this
mode by setting a bedtime. Once that time is reached, the screen of the
smartphone will become grey and, every active app will only feature grey
colors. Instagram won’t be that fun anymore and, we will have to go to
sleep, or at least leave the smartphone to the side and do something
else.
Final Notes
Google I/O is one of the biggest events of the Android world. It puts
together all the trends and news for the upcoming year. You can visit the
official website of the event,
here.
If you have any doubts, please feel to contact me:
carlos.ferreira@exaud.com
Image Source: https://events.google.com/io/