The Google I/O developer event is today and with it Google have made some great announcements. They certainly aren’t pulling any punches this year, so let’s take a look at what they have announced.
- Android 4.1(Jelly Bean)
- Projector Butter
- Updated keyboard and offline voice dictation
- Improved search integration for Jelly Bean
- Incremental app updates
Google have also announced the Nexus 7, which is exactly what we expected, but before we talk about that, lets talk about the new features coming to Android with Jelly Bean.
Project Butter
Google have had enough with the lag that can sometimes annoy most users and we tend to agree. That is why they are making sure this time around there won’t be any and by that they are allowing both the CPU and GPU to work in sync with each other and no longer work against each other. This will allow for super fast 60fps smoothness that we all have been waited for, they are keeping graphics triple-buffered for a nice streamline performance so Jelly bean is already on the right track.
Offline voice dictation
Google this time around have decided to make sure that if you wish to type with your voice, that you can do so without the need for an internet connection and finally you can type out a message using your voice and based on the demo on stage today, it works extremely well.
Improved search integration
Android have also include better search integration for Jelly Bean this is very much like Siri and S-voice. The voice application allows you to search the internet using your voice but also allows you to ask any questions you may like, on stage today they demoed this by asking it who the prime minister of Japan and it detailed the wiki page for information and it was extremely quickly doing so.
Incremental app updates
Google again and hit the mark this time and are going to allow developers to push incremental updates instead of forcing the user to download an entire apk again just for a small bug fix. This is going to cut downloads by a huge amount and should hopefully make it easier for developers to push out more updates quicker.
Nexus 7
Google have announced the Nexus tablet, this new 7-inch tablet will be released mid July and of course will ship with Jelly Bean. The tablet features some decent specs, so let’s look at them.
- Nvidia Tegra 3 Quad Core Processor
- 12 Core GPU
- 1280 x 800 IPS LCD
- NFC
- 8GB and 16GB Models
The device is of course not short on specs and comes in a jaw dropping price of just $199 for the 8GB version and $249 for the 16GB version. The new tablet is made by Asus as again was expected and is shipping mid-July with pre-orders available today in Australia, Canada, the UK and the US. Just jump over to the Play store to pre-order. The device will come with a $25 gift card for the Play Store and a free copy of the Transformers 3: The dark side of the moon.
Nexus Q
The Nexus Q is the latest announced device at Google I/O and it is basically an Android-based Computer sphere that not only allows you to stream content from the cloud. It can be controlled entirely by your Android device or multiple Android devices for everyone to share the library’s of music, videos and more. Let’s check out some of the hardware specs.
- OMAP 4460 processor
- 1GB of ram
- 16 GB of storage
- Dual band WiFi and Ethernet
- Bluetooth and NFC
- Built in 25w amp for speakers
- Component and Micro HDMI connections
There has no doubt been some great announcements today at the Google Developer Conference and as soon as Jelly Bean drops we should start to see a lot more info.
