Google I/O 2018: Android P Features That Will Define the Future

Google I/O is an annual developer conference held by Google in its Mountain View Headquarters. I/O showcases technical indepth sessions which are focused on building mobile, web and enterprise applications with Google and its many open sources including Android and others. This year Google held its annual I/O developer conference from May 8-10. Below are some of the biggest announcements from the Day 1 keynote. Just before the keynote, Google announced it is re-branding its Google Research division to Google AI. This move tells us how Google is increasingly focusing its R&D on computer vision, natural language processing and neural networks.

Now developers must be asking what’s in store for the Android App Development and its mobile applications. For its flagship smartphone operating system Android, Google is doing something really important and different. Now instead of showing you all the ways you can use its phone operating system to use more, it is actually creating features to help you use it less.
Android P will be released later this year. It will have a new dashboard which tells you how often, when and for how long you are using each of the app on your mobile phone. You can also set limits for yourself. For example, once your 1 hour is up, the icon will go from its usual eye-catching color to a dull grayscale to inform you about that your set time to use the smartphone is up and now you can take rest or do some other work. Google is combining this feature and many more into a theme called “Digital Well Being”.
If you are into Android Applications Development then you can understand how the new feature “digital well being” will benefit the users. Android P also has a new core interface which uses iPhone like navigation and has smart ways to access functions which are deep inside the apps. These are the actually big changes. Android P is available now in a public beta version from now onwards on several phones.
In the last year update, Android Oreo made more internal changes than user-facing features while this year, Android P is full of visual changes and new features and Google hasn’t yet announced what the “P”stands for in Android P. It looks like this year’s updates could be the biggest update in years.

Google Showed First Look of Android P, its next mobile OS

The best Android Development Company each year looks for the Google I/O to know and learn about the latest features. As per release in Google I/O, Android P will be launched in later this year and its users will get access to gesture based navigation, some battery saving features and an innovative new text selection tool which works on photos.
Other than Android P, Google announced many new products at its annual Google I/O developer conference. These includes an overhauled News app, features which will help you to use your phone less, and new Google Assistant voice option including one with a famous singer voice.

Android P Gives More Powers: 

Talk to any Android App Development Company and it will tell you that they like the way Google names its mobile OS, Android. Google always names its mobile operating system Android after dessert names in alphabetical order and now we are at “P”. Google has not announced its proper name yet while its beta version is now available for some phones. There are many new features in Android P which are trying to solve the issue of liking and using your Android phone too much. There is a new dashboard which gives insights about how you are spending time on your mobile device. Like when you flip the phone, it will go into Do Nor Disturb mode. There is a new app timer which works as a parental control. It will notify you and grays the screen when you have been staring at some app for too long. There is also a new feature which can help you to go the sleep at a set time. For this, a new mode called Wind Down turns your screen black and white at a preset time. Google CEO says the focus on “digital wellbeing” is in more focus now across all Google Products. There is also a new way to switch between opened apps known as Overview. It is like an app switching feature.

New News App With Broader View

Google News was launched about 14 years ago and in Google I/O 2018, it has got the biggest updation. Now Google has disclosed a new News app and web version which gives top news, opinion articles and fact checks national and local stories. Google says it will use artificial intelligence to analyze each story and will find out about its quality and type. This new view will show more personalized news based on your location, preferences and favorite sources.

Google Assistant has more Voices Now

The expert Android App Development Services understand very well the application of Google Voice Assistant. In Android P, Google assistant will now have six new voices including one from a famous singer John Legend. More advanced Google Assistant feature will be released soon which will make phone calls for you and do simple tasks, such as making an appointment easily. The assistant will talk and interact as naturally as a real human being and the doctor or a hair salon will not know that they are not talking to a real human. Already smart speakers like Google Home are popular but experts were concerned about how they will interact with voice. Now a Google assistant feature will praise polite people with replies, such as “Thanks for saying please”, “You are very polite”etc.

Smartphone Cameras are More Smarter Now

Google Lens, which uses the real time image recognition technology, now has a new home within the camera app. Now it uses image recognition technology to look up images you see through the camera in real-time lively. Like, if you are taking a photo of a text for example of a restaurant menu, Google Lens will let you copy and paste the text from that image as it will recognize the text in the image. It will also provide you meaning of the words. It can also match the style of a piece of clothing or dress from a picture too so that you can find it online. In other application i.e Maps app, Google Lens will help you to navigate by detecting what is in front of you and telling directions on the street you look at. There is a new animal cartoon to show you the way. Google says the camera is reading landmarks to help you to know your exact position and orientation, i.e its visual positioning system.

Google launched ML Kit, an SDK which Makes it Easy to Add AI ML Models to iOS and Android Apps

During Android Development many times developers use some SDK or API to add some feature into the app. Under Android P, Google has revealed ML Kit, a new software development kit for app developers on iOS and Android which allows them to integrate the pre-built, Google provided machine learning models into the apps directly. These models support text recognition, barcode scanning, image labeling, face detection and landmark recognition. Machine learning tools have enabled a new type of use and applications which are built on top of image recognition or speech detection. But they require high level of expertise to use them and implement them. Developers often look for best use cases for new tools and devices and development kits like ML Lit will remove the barrier to entry and give developers an expertise in use of machine learning without actually learning it to use them in real applications.

Conclusion

We have just discussed the features which are being released by Google for its new Android P operating system in the Google I/O 2018 which is just concluded now. We have seen the extensive use of AI technology in these features which is the actually need of the hour now. So now you can plan how to use these features in the Android app development for your and your client’s benefits. Android P beta is available now and you can upgrade your smartphone with it which may be having older version of Android to start using these features or you can wait for the release of the final version of Android P which will be launched anytime in later this year.