Google just concluded its mega event, the annual developer conference - Google I/O, where CEO Sundar Pichai explained the future roadmap for the company and its products, such as Google Assistant, Google Home, Android and most importantly the AI technology that the company is developing.
Here are the biggest announcements from the evening:
Android has crossed 2 billion monthly active devices: CEO Sundar Pichai started the keynote address by saying that the number of active Android devices has crossed 2 billion a month. And these devices include any and every gadget running on Android, such as smartphones, tablets, Android Watch, Android TVs and so on.
Google Assistant can now see: Google has introduced Google Lens app, with which Google Assistant, as in the AI, will now be able to see and analyze the world around you. All you need to do is point the in-app camera to any object and you will get all relevant information about it. You can point the camera at a restaurant's storefront and get its rating, point the camera at a flower and you will know the species, let your device see a concert poster through the Lens and you will get the videos and songs of that band, most importantly, if you aim the camera at a Wi-Fi login credentials you phone will automatically use it and connect you to the network.
Google Assistant coming to iOS: Google Assistant is expanding its reach beyond Android and now will be available as a standalone app in the App Store and it's already available there starting from today.
Google Home becomes more useful: Within months Google Home user will be able to make and receive calls and text messages using the Google Home device. However, for now, the feature would be limited to only the users of Canada and United States. Initially, there will be a default Google number but users will be able to try their own mobile phone numbers as well. From now on the smart speakers by Google will also support HBO Now, Hulu, SoundCloud, Deezer, and more. Even better, with its access to Home's Bluetooth radio, users can treat it just like any other Bluetooth speaker.
Updates in Google Photos: Google Photos is getting a bunch of new features with the new update. With the new Suggesting Sharing, users will now be recommended to share their pictures with the people that are present in the picture. Another new feature is the Shared Libraries, which will allow the users to add images collectively in the central collection. Here comes the privacy concern, however, Google has made sure that you can share the library depending on your choice, meaning you can share it entirely or only from a certain date or share only selected pictures that contain certain things, like your dog. In future, Google said that the Photos will be able to remove unwanted objects from a picture automatically.
VR is the future: Google has announced that upcoming VR headsets, in partnership with HTC and Lenovo, will not need a smartphone or a PC to power the VR experience' users will just have to put it on and it will start working.
Much talked about Android O: Google is finally launching the preview program of Android O and the first beta has been released just about yesterday.
AI efforts of Google: Sundar Pichai made it clear that the future of Google depends on AI and they talking the AI-first approach, which is a shift from their previous mobile-first approach. Now Pichai has announced Google's next-generation Tensor Processing Unit, a specially designed chip for machine learning that works on the company's TensorFlow platform. This TPU chip makes developing AI on Google's platform incredibly fast and hassle free. With TPU and TensorFlow being optimized to work together, the tech giant is effectively transforming its cloud computing platform into the Android for AI.
And here you can watch the event that was live-streamed in 80 countries and had an on-site audiance of more than 7000.
