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With WWDC behind us and Microsoft’s Surface tablet out of the bag, it’s Google’s turn to take the lid off its latest. It’s annual I/O developer conference, which starts Wednesday, should offer a heaping buffet of new products and software developments. But let’s start with the usual amuse-bouche: a crapload of rumours. So what might I/O bring this year?
Here’s as close to a lock as you’ll get: Android’s latest tasty OS reboot. Originally thought to be called Android 5.0, the latest rumours have tipped that Jelly Bean is actually more of an incremental update from Ice Cream Sandwich, thus the 4.1. It’s not entirely clear what features it will be packing, but there are reports of better battery life, improved search bar, and Chrome as a native browser. It’s supposed to appear on Android devices by the end of 2012; hopefully that means lots of Android devices, and not just the latest Nexus. If there’s one thing Google and its hardware partners need to work on, it’s getting its handsets up to speed quickly.
Google’s more than 50 Android OEM partners should be a little nervous over this one; a Google-branded tablet—built by Asus—has been one of the most pervasive and long-standing rumours surrounding I/O. The latest reports tip a 7-inch Tegra 3 device running on Android Jellybean, Google’s next-gen mobile operating system. It’s supposed to be the first piece of hardware to run on Jelly Bean. Believed to be named Nexus 7, the tablet will be priced around £150, the sweet spot for it to compete with Amazon’s Kindle Fire.
This would be something meant to challenge AirPlay and Sonos, a gadget that would let you stream music and perhaps video in the home, and control it through a tablet or smartphone app. It would be the first piece of hardware from Google’s Android@Home division, which was announced at I/O last year but so far hasn’t produced any actual products. All this possible hardware news portends of a bit of a shift for Google, which hasn’t ever been a gadget maker. Though the purchase of Motorola might have changed all that.
At WWDC Apple officially broke up with Google as its default maps provider. Cupertino has its own maps baked into iOS 6, which means it would make sense for Google at the most to debut a standalone app for Apple gadgets, and at the very least to release an iOS SDK.
Google TV hasn’t exactly caught on. But there’s supposedly a significant makeover coming to Google TV, and I/O is its coming out party. There’s not a lot of solid intel on this one, but it could (and should) include new content partnerships, more OEMs on board, and a revamped interface.
If the other popular kids have something, well dammit Google has to have it too. This means Google may well have a Siri competitor in the hopper. Possibly called Google Assistant, the voice control system would, of course, work on Android devices. Google’s voice recognition technology is no joke, and Siri’s spotty performance makes it low-hanging fruit.
Name the last time you saw Google Wallet anywhere. While in theory it’s a convenient system, it hasn’t been embraced. So Google might be reworking it, moving away from NFC and toward a cloud-based payment system, in the style of PayPal.
We’ve already seen Google’s futuristic (and dumb-looking) augmented reality specs in action. Sergey Brin has been parading them around, and a video shot with the frames has also been released. Google’s not going to make the glasses available at I/O—they’re not expected until next year—but there’s a good chance they’ll give developers a closer look.
Because Google apparently wants to be everything for everyone, it’s prepping a cloud services platform, a la Amazon EC2. This rent-a-server platform is something that doesn’t really affect John Q. Consumer, as it’s aimed primarily at enterprise developers. Booooring.
As WWDC and Microsoft’s last-minute Surface unveiling demonstrated quite emphatically, events like these almost always hold a surprise or three. Last year, it was Android@Home. This year? Impossible to say. But what we do know is that Google has demonstrated near-limitless ambition since Larry Page took over as CEO, and a willingness to test all kinds of waters. We’ll be covering the announcements live as they happen later today. Frankly, we can’t wait to see what’s in store.
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I’m all a quiver !! Jelly Bean and the Nexus Tablet are doing it for me !!
Ditto..very excited for these two!
on a vaguely related note, i was really looking forward to the note 10.7 (or whatever) but then i saw the surface pro from Microsoft and im soooo getting that….unless something more awesome is announced before then ill be ditching my laptop and dreams of an android tablet for one of those.
but im still excited to see what google will have for us tomorrow as im pretty devoted to them as my phone os (and email and browser)
All seems good, but there’s one thing I’d like to see a lot more: a UK release date for Google Music!! Seriously, what’s the friggin’ hold up!?
You can get Google Music if you sign up with a US proxy then once you have accepted all the terms and conditions you can log on normally in the UK. Worked for me
Only limitation with this is you can’t buy music from Google unless you want to get a US credit card. Obviously the deals with UK rights owners takes time, but I hope Google pursues then.
After the Nexus Tab, this is what I’m most wanting out of I/O. It’s about time we got a share in the service! :<
Apple need to hurry up and release an NFC device so I can use the damn thing on my Android. There’s no pressure for Google to release the product fully because there’s no competition, but I’d put money on Google Wallet becoming much more of a focal point after the release of the new iPhone.
I’d completely forgot about Android@Home, despite being quite excited by it all last year. I really hope we see something come out of the brand.
Why does NFC matter? It’s not relevant to the UK at all, really.
It’s about to get a big boost in public awareness due to nfc capable tills being all over the Olympic village
Good to know! I do wish it would hurry up.
I’ve already completed several “contactless” transactions at the Olympic Park (I can report that their Jacket Potato with Chilli Con Carne is delicious), every McDonalds I’ve been to in the last 6months+ has had wireless payment terminals (+ every Pret a Manger). The vending machines at both the West London and Stratford Westfield Shopping Centres support it (as do the restaurants Square Pie (Yum!), Yo Sushi (a different kind of Yum!) and Tossed (not so Yum!), my local Boots has them, I’ve used terminals at Subway and Clintons. My newsagent has a terminal, the flowershop has one, my Post Office has them…etc. etc.
I reckon I’ve completed more NFC payments in the last 6months than more traditional Chip & PIN and I’ve seen plenty of people using them with their Debit/Credit Cards (fewer phones).
I can’t speak for outside London/South East but they’re well on their way to becoming ubiquitous…
You forgot Greggs, or maybe you just don’t use them.
Not since they reduced the quantity of filling in my beloved Sausage, Bean & Cheese melt…
As was said the other day, your salad days are long gone
My problem isn’t so much the availability of places to pay, but rather that I can’t just use my debit card with the system.
How so? Do we not carry credit and debit cards with us?
And Darrell, I’d argue NFC is already quite well known to the public. Barclaycard had a massive campaign for their “contactless payment” (damn those marketing agencies making up words), so instead of saying “this phone has NFC”, OEMs should just say “it can do what that guy on the big slide does”.
I agree that people understand the contactless payments idea, but I’m not sure the millions buying the galaxy s3 are doing so for its nfc capabilities. I’m hoping though that we might reach the tipping point before the nfc iPhone arrives, because if not the dumb fanboys will say it’s all down to Apple.
That’s my point. It’s still not marketed like it’s half useful.
I couldn’t give two shits who they wanna say made it. Actually, that’s not quite right… the more they get it wrong, the more superior I feel, AND I get more places to use NFC. WIN/WIN, methinks.
I don’t really understand who’s arguing which point haha. I think the facts are that it is useful, but not yet, agreed?
I have a card capable of NFC. I’ve seen the ads for it. But I’ve never seen a till where I could use it.
This is the problem!
Like flynndead points out, there are lots of chains you can use NFC now, my problem is the fact I can’t use my debit card on my phone – I’m not going to pre-buy cards just so I can use the NFC chip. :@
Definitely looking forward to the Nexus tablet. Here’s hoping that Google might be the ones to make a budget tablet that’s actually desirable.
I’d also like to ask, has anyone been over to Giz US today? Daaamn. Their new comments system is a train wreck, and I hear they’re dropping the blog view soon. They tried that with the last major redesign, but I guess they haven’t learnt from their mistakes.
This puts things in sharp relief. I’d like to sincerely thank Giz UK for being an island of sanity in a river of madness. Of course, they would never succumb to such derangement…. would they?
2nd rate products from a 3rd rate copy-cat company. This is not news. This belongs on digitimes, or the dailymail.
You appear to have posted this to the wrong story. The iOS 6 review was weeks ago. Now go back under your bridge you nasty pseudo troll.
Why ruin my fun Jonesy
I would have gotten away with this one too if you didnt trollblock me :/
Although, concur with the iOS6 review. Nothing new or innovative, still tweaks on a 5 year old OS.
Well, those of us that know you know that your trolling is just in fun, but there is always the chance that someone will take you seriously. I know it’s unlikely, but people take me seriously and if it can happen to me, it could happen to you.
I would have gotten away with this one too if it wasn’t for you damn kids!
Jinkies, It was Mr Token the caretaker who was the evil troll monster the whole time. Great work scoob.
Zoinks, It’s the Token ghost!
Wait a minute, Ghosts can’t leave fingerprints..
Always had a wee crush on Daphne as a kid. Her and Jessica Rabbit.
Don’t think there were many that didn’t, Token!
I’d go for Velmea, I’m quite sure she’s the 50 shades of grey type.
Spotted on Twitter
https://ssl.gstatic.com/android/market_images/hardware/nexus_7_banner_001.png