IO 2014 All about Android TV And Chromecast

TV is a fast becoming smarter and more connected, and really they are becoming more computing devices in their own right. So Google this as a great opportunity to bring some of the great capabilities of Android. Which is voice input, user experience and  content to the larger screen in your house. 

The interface is extremely slick. It has a very simple UI that reacts to your usage patterns. On the home screen, shows are on top, in centre there are apps, and on bottom side there are games and these all shows, apps and games reorder themselves according to your usage. The Main idea is to make this thing is keeping the experience seamless across devices. And googe news is that, It’s the same API  used for your other devices like phone and tablet. You can use your smartphone, tablet or Android Wear to watch or to navigate the options on your TV.

Last summer, Google launched Chromecast, a small, affordable device that allows you to cast online video, music and anything from the web to your TV. Also It’s getting an update to make it even more powerful, and convenient to use, with the addition of new features like the ability to allow others to cast to your TV without needing to be on the same WiFi network, a customizable home screen with personal photos or beautiful art, and casting exactly what is on your Android phone or tablet screen directly to the TV.

And as we all know, Google is focusing on to use voice as the major source of input that's why now you can use Google Search by voice. You can use voice search to find a live TV show, or a music video on YouTube, or a good flick from Google Play. As Dave showed us in demo: You can say “Breaking Bad” and it shows you that show on every service you have installed. You can drill down to explore, for example, cast members too. You can search for “Oscar nominated movies” and can also get a list back. You can ask “who played Katniss in the Hunger Games” and get the answer right on your screen.

As we know that its Android, so now Android TV brings Google Play games to the big screen reimagined for TV and with a gamepad support. You can play multiplayer games, played from various devices, so one person can play on a phone and another on a gaming pad simultaneously.

Google is working with vendors across the industry, including every one Marvel, NVIDIA to Intell and more. And Entire 2015 HD and 4k smart TV ranges from Sony, and 2015 ranges of sharp and TP Visions will will run on Android Tv. Also other companies are interested like SFR, LG Uplus are adopting Android Tv, and also the other streaming boxes powered by Razor, Asus and others launching this fall. So to learn more about android Tv, you can visit developer.android.com/tv.

Director of project management for Chromecast Rishi Chandra, says Chrome cast is the top selling electronic device on Amazon in the US, UK, France, Japan and Canada. And usage of devices increased to 40%. And YouTube sees more active engagement on Chromecast than any other TV streaming products. Also Google cast support is now coming to lots of other TV devices too. The Google cast SDK across Android, iOS, and Chrome lets developers take any app from those platforms can extend it to the TV. And chrome cast team is launching a new listing service at chromecast.com/apps. It’s also making it easier for others to cast to your TV without being on the same Wi-Fi network. Users can opt-out of this too, so you don’t have to worry about your TV just being open to anyone.

Now a days people watch TV for 5 hours/day, then what about the other 19 hours/day, your TV is just a blank empty Screen, with Chromecast you can use your TV as a large beautiful canvas, with the new ambient feature of Chromecast which is a new photos experience too, called Backdrop. It allow you personalize the photo feed to the ambient feed of images that are cast when the TV isn’t showing anything. So now you can You can cast your own photos to the TV. Not only that But also you can select theme-specific images like art, places, lifestyle, weather and news, among others, that are curated by Google. Every topic has synchronized cards, so you can ask it to tell you more about what you’re seeing and it will send a card to the TV with images. It will be shipped later this summer.

There’s also a new Google Cast feature which allows you to mirror any Android devices to your TV. It means you can display any app, or anything on your phone really on the TV with the chrome cast app on your Android device. It is really an amazing feature! And Google is working with large variety of devices from Samsung, Nexus, and HTC and many more devices are coming soon. it will rolling out initially as beta as devices get updated to the latest version of Google Play Services, which will happen in over next few weeks.

So isn't that great to have all the features of chrome cast in our smart TV! so what do you think about that?

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IO 2014 All About Android Auto

For many of us, Cars are an integral and essential part of our life, they bring us to the grocery  store and take us on weekend trips, they bring us to work and take us home. Infect normally a person spends at least one hour in his car daily, in many ways our cars keep us connected to the physical world around us. But they remain disconnected from our other devices and our digital lives. So what if drivers come to bridge this device?

Well even though it is unsafe, and in many cases illegal, people use their phones while driving. And report shows that 25% of accidents in the US, caused by people fumbling their devices behind the wheels. there is gotta be a better way. So back in January, Google announced the open automotive alliance to address this problem and make the connected car a reality. And in this year's keynote Google announce Android Auto.

Google has redesigned the Android platform for Automotive, making it easier and safer to use the connected apps and services drivers want in their car. Google looked what people do with their smartphones in the car today, and they found ( Navigation, communication, Music) and other forms of stream and media. Android Auto puts these front and centre so that you don't have to go to hunting the grid of icons to find an apps that are most important to you when you are in the car, Android Auto is contextually aware, to give the right information right when you need it. And most importantly Android auto is completely voice enabled, So that you can keep your hands on the wheels and eyes on the road,

See Android Auto in wheels:  

Google knows that it is not easy to build apps for cars today, there are dozens of different car platforms, input controls and their interfaces. There is no central way to distribute your app or keep it updated, wouldn't it be great if building an app for car was just like the building an app for your smartphone or a tablet, well there is a good news for you! Google has announce an Android auto SDK in this years Google-IO. So that you can just focus on making some great apps for the car. They have started with the full set of APIs with the Audio and messaging applications.

Google worked with the great set of developers on pre-released version of an Android Auto SDK to develop some great audio streaming apps, that you can listen to music, internet radio, news, sports and pod casts on the go. Also using messaging APIs your app can notify users for incoming messages and allow them to respond using voice, also this is the same API that were using for notifications and remote replies in Android wear.

The Android Auto SDK will be published soon, in the Android Auto experience will be available to users with the public L release later this year. And excitement in the Auto industry is really been growing, And over 40 new partners had joined the Open Automotive Alliance. Over 25 car brands have signed up to ship Android Auto in the near future. And the first car with Android Auto will be rolling off dealer lots before the end of this year.

  So that's just the peak for Android Auto and Android experience has been redesigned for the car, with all the apps driver knowing love, to an interface that's built for driver. Really it is amazing having your smart phone device also sync with android your car. isn't it the good? 

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IO 2014 All about Android Wear

We are right at the beginning, in a new phase in the miniaturization of the technology. Which means it finally possible to make a powerful computer  small enough to wear comfortably all day long on your body. Android Wear is a platform for wearables based on Android, Android Wear makes it easy for developers to rich users on this new form factor, using precisely the same tools we already familiar with on Android phones and tablets.

You can see all the detail here:


Google knows that style is important that's why Android wear supports both circular and square screens to match you style demands. Sensors will help Google to understand your context, so that they can provide you the useful information when you need it and also help you reach your fitness goals. Your watch will provide also intelligent answers to spoken questions. And across the world people check their Android phones an average of  125 times everyday, that's why Android wear is designed to quickly show the relevant information  and make sure you never miss an important messages, lets say it will engage you with the people  you are actually with. Google do this by working to understand the context of what you care about.

Android wear will show you Always-ON display on your watch, that at any given time it surely do the most important things that Google knows for you. Throughout the day if you receive a notification which buzzes your phone, than your watch will vibrate on your wrist and will show you what's up in a glance, so that you won't miss a message. Swiping up and down navigate you through the stream of cards, which includes information from Google now and apps running on your phone and app running directly on your wearable. Also page indicator will allow you to see more detailed information. Just like your phones notifications shade, you can swipe a card away to move it from you screen and that notification will disappear. Pressing and holding will let you allow to choose the different styles suits your taste.
Android wear can work for you to show you important notifications like weather forecast, map navigation, allow you to set reminder through voice commands, and immediately sync your phone at the same time. Also when you swipe a notification from your watch, the same notification will disappear from your phone as well. And apps will stay and sync too. You can ask question to get brilliant answers from you wearable. you can receive/reject phone call or swipe up to send one of the quick message from you watch. You can swipe down to set do not disturb mode until you want and vice versa, you can control other device with your wearable like playing music, changing track etc, you can set an alarm with voice actions, you can track the steps you take also can see the step taken week history and also if the device support heart sensor, you can even detect your heart rate. these all thing an Android Wear can do for you.

Android Wear SDK enables you to build glance-able and contextual apps for this new category of this device. Android wear automatically bridges notification from your android phone or tablet to your watch, Android notification APIs already allow you to build beautiful user notifications with big pictures action and more, and there are hundreds of thousands of apps delivering these billions of  notifications everyday. And now they are available on your wrist.

You can install apps on wearable by installing app from play store on your phone, when a watch is connected than the wearable portion of the app is automatically installed and kept up-to-date  on that watch. And now you can buy one these device like (LG-G watch, Samsung Gear live, And Moto-360 ) from Google Play Store, and also the good news is all of these devices are water resistant so you can wear them without any extra care you do with your phone. And also full Android wear SDK is available wich enable you to write code which runs directly on your phone, and almost all the APIs you are familiar with Android are avaialble here , are available, that means you can fully customise UI, read sensors directly and much much more also new set APIs in Google play services that makes it easy to send data between phone, tablet or wearable. See more on developer.android.com/wear.

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IO 2014 Android Innovation with Security and Multi-Screen connected experiences

Google is building an open platform, at scale they work with hundreds of partners globally, to bring a product and a platform that touches billions of people, and they are innovation Android very very fast. And if you take a look at the innovation that is happening in Android, and if you look at the recent announcements from others, you can see the thing like Custom Keyboard, Quick Settings, Gesture Typing and Widgets, those things happen  in Android 4 to 5 years ago. Google wants to ship these features to the users as fast as possible, that's where Google Play Services come in. 

Google Play Services ships every six weeks, and 93% users are on the latest version of the Google Play Services across all versions of Android. Infect by shipping every 6 weeks be in many ways iterate faster than typical OS cycles. While Android is an open platform and Google wants to innovate fast, and it should be secure as well, they also takes security very seriously.

Google restricts their users to download apps from Play Store to provide you more security, because they scan every app for Malware. Also increasingly they are pushing security updates through Google Play Services ti the users with in six weeks. With L Google is also launching Factory Reset Protection, so that if your phone gets stolen, you have full control to disable your phones. Also Privacy is an important part of security, so with L release for the first time Google will have a centralised settings that is called Universal Data controls where users can go and manage their important privacy productions, they can control data that is shared from devices like location history etc.

Google knows that users live in a multi screen world, they use other connected devices like television in living room, wear things on body, and when users get into the car they expect a connected experience. Google wants to work an seamless experience across all these connected devices. With L as well as with chrome Google starts with some foundation principles to evolve their platform to support these new connected experience. And here are a few some Principles:

• Contextually Aware: Google is making everything contextually aware, they wants to understand whether you are at home with your kids and you want to be entertained or you are at work trying to be productive, or may be you are travelling. Google wants to bring right information to you at right time.
• Voice Enable:  Google wants the experience to be voice enabled, and as we know Google is building the most advanced voice recognition infra-structure in the world. it Google wants to help users to interact with computer devices in an intuitive way (you are driving, cooking). Google wants voice to be the major source of input.
• Seamless: Google wants the experience should be seamless, it shouldn't matter which device you were using before, you should pick up where you left off. 
• Mobile First:  Google wants to make sure that all these connected experiences work base on your smartphone, be it your wearables , be it your car or your television.

 So Both with L release and chrome Google brings the whole set of new experiences to many connected screens around you soon. really Google is doing great job with security and connected experiences, these features are most wanted now a days. What do you think about these features?     

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IO 2014 New Features in L release & Mobile Web

L release gonna be a most wanted version of Android soon due to its new features and bold look. In IO Dave Burke said that "L is the biggest release in the history of Android" because it contains 5000 new API's touching early every expect of system. Also he showed us a quick demo of most commonly used app which is phone dialler. In phone dialler new features have been added like Bold material colours and shadows, ripple touch effects on tabs, floating dialler button with elevation value, Nested Scrolling and fresh look of phone dialler keypad with ripple touch effect on key touch. 

See here in short video:

Also the most wanted feature for me or for everyone has been added also which is enhanced incoming notifications. In L now you are allowed to instant interactive access to your notifications right from your lock screen, so that you can read open and dismiss in seconds. In L Google improves the way of organising and prioritising notifications by analysing user behaviour to show only the most useful relevant notifications are presented to you. So now you can Swipe down to access a full list of notifications, you can double tap on notification to open up the corresponding app, or some that you don't need you can dismiss with the single swipe, and to unlock a phone you can swipe it away from bottom to up and you are in your device just fast and simple. Also a new "Heads-up" notification have been added to L release.

See here in short video:

In L release the new concept has been added that "Personal unlocking". Personal unlocking enables a device to determine if it is in a trusted environment say in the owner hands or beside the table. Personal Unlocking uses signal such as location you designate, bluetooth devices that are visible even your unique voice branch.Dave Burke showed us personal unlocking by wearing a watch and unlocked without pattern unlock, and when he take off his watch then device asked for pattern unlock.

  

Mobile web is also the most used feature of Android devices now a days, and day by day active users number is increasing, in last year monthly active users on chrome were 27 million and now it is 300 Million, which is 10X.

Now mobile web will also support Material Design and App indexing, also fluid and continuous animation as fast as 60 frames per second to give you best ever experience in mobile web which wasn't impossible a year ago, thanks to Polymer.
 In L recents is also grounded with material deisgn, overlapping cards has been rendered with realistic shadows and perspectives. and now your chrome tabs will be included too in recents so that you can navigate even faster between web & apps, making multi-tasking that much easier. 

Also an amazing feature is included in L release that is App indexing, this capability enables the app short-cut link in Google search (if app is installed on your device ) to redirect you directly in the app installed in your device. And there are many other interesting things like new keyboard UI, do not disturb mode, quick settings and much more.
 L release runs exclusively on the new ART runtime compiler, and it support ARM x86 and MIPS, and this results 2X improvement performance over dalvik.

ART brings all new Garbage collector which reduces number of pauses and duration of pauses associated with the garbage collector events, as a result your app runs smoothly. ART doesn't just bring only better performance it is also more memory efficient, so it is smarter that when app is in background in which case it will apply a slower but more intensive a moving collector to save anything between 100 kb to many mega bytes. And finally ART is fully 64 bit  compatible. and now you can benefit from:

 So to take advantage of 64bit, Google has added support for new APIs, ndks, ARMV8, x86-64 and MIPS 64 and afcourse if your app is written in java then it will work absolutely with no modification on your new 64 bit hardware. Also Graphics has been improved in L release with Android Extension Pack which contains Tesselation, Geometry shaders, Computer shaders and ASTC texture compression.
It is not over yet, new L release will also comes with better Battery performance thanks to Project Volta:

Google has also added a new JobScheduler APi to help you optimise power consumptions in your app, so using JobScheduler Api you can make your application more efficient by align the platform called as non urgent network requests for multiple apps. As a result the platform can keep the radio sleep high posses of time to thus saving significant power.
   And finally the new Battery saver mode is also included in L release. So Battery saver  allows you to clock down CPU the refresh rate and even turn off the background data to conserve battery. And you can trigger it manually or configure to come ON when battery level is  low.

 So on a nexus 5 by running a battery saver mode, you can extend you battery life  by up-to 90 mins of usage with in a typical single day use. And it is just the overview of L, and it contains much much more.

And developer preview SDK is available on developer.android.com, and early system images is also posted for the nexus 5 and nexus 7 so that you can start developing for android. And truly it is as amazing as rumours were about it, what do you think?
  

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