14 DAY TRIAL // Google I/O kicked off on Wednesday with an extremely long keynote that everyone felt would never end.
The event was nice in the beginning, with an elaborate Rube Goldberg machine that set things into motion. The company’s Sundar Pichai was first to take the stage and start the discussion about Android and, more specifically, about Android L, the brand new operating system that Google built.
The name came as a bit of a surprise. Although everyone knew it was going to be something that started with “L” because of Google’s tendency to follow the alphabet, it was a surprise that it just stopped at that and didn’t choose something sweet to go with it, like lollipop, which everyone was expecting.
Then, as the event progressed, it was rather clear that Google was gearing for some really big changes for Android, which would no longer be a mere mobile operating system, but a cross platform one that also worked on laptops. Android is growing up and its name reflects this.
Furthermore, it looks like Google wants to spread Android everywhere. What started off with smartphones and tablets has now turned into a phenomenon that includes laptops, Google Glass, smartwatches, cars, set-top boxes, and casting devices.
Basically, most of Google I/O focused on the operating system and the places it could be used in, making it lack in the entertainment category a bit, at least compared with previous editions.
Isn't Google More than Just Android?
While focusing on Android, Google unveiled a few of its plans, including Android L, Android Auto, Android TV and a few other things. Chromecast, the Google Cloud and Docs were also mentioned, albeit briefly.
This means that a very long list of Google products was left out with no word about any updates or any presentation, like the company used to do.
There was no mention of Google Glass, which was kind of odd considering just how much the company had been promoting the device in recent months and the fact that it just opened up the sales outside the United States for the first time, along with a new set of designer frames and a bunch of new apps.
There was also no mention of other hot topics, such as the driverless cars that Google had built recently, Project Loon, or the new robotics department within Google X, although these would have been vastly more entertaining to watch than those presented by the company during the keynote. The robots, Google, where are the robots?
On top of this, main Google tools such as Gmail, Maps, Hangouts, and more, received absolutely no attention, much to everyone’s disappointment.
The 3D-imaging Project Tango and the modular phone project Ara were also ignored in the keynote, which may be a bit understandable since there are some dedicated events scheduled for both, but not completely.
There was no mention of Chrome OS however, and it would have been quite nice to know more about it since it looks like Android is making its way to laptops. Will it be shut down? Will it be replaced or will the two cohabitate happily? No one knows because Google didn’t say anything about it.
There were also no new tablets this time, although everyone was expecting at least a glance at Nexus 8.
Overall, Google’s I/O event was nice, but not nice enough. It seems like the company has lost some of its fun factor, despite some of the jokes thrown in here and there. Not even the awkward moments when a test failed were properly handled. All this made the over two and a half hours seem like an eternity.
Maybe next time?