Google made one thousand announcements last night, but these 10 are the ones you must know

May 19: Google concluded its annual developer conference Google I/O and made one thousand announcements last night. The event is hosted every year by the company to announce new products and services.

This year, the launch witnessed quite a lot of upgrades to the existing services like Google Maps, Google Photos and more, the enhanced camera app, Project Starline improved WearOS, new artificial intelligence, new security, and privacy features, and a lot more.

Google announced a plethora of new features and upgrades but it did not mention the upcoming Pixel devices that are touted to release later this year.

However, the announcements by Google did include upgrades and improvements to the Pixel phone apps. So here are the 10 most important announcements that were made by Google during the annual developer conference.

 

Android 12

Google provided a glimpse into the new design of the Android 12, which has been named “Material You”. The company released the first beta of Android 12 to allow users to check out some of the features that will be launched. The Android 12 comes with a lot of changes and a personalization option. On Pixel devices, users will be able to completely personalize their phone with a custom colour palette and redesigned widgets. Google has also simplified the interface for smooth interaction.

 

Google and Samsung join hands for WearOS

Google announcements also included their partnership with Samsung who are bringing the best of WearOS and Samsung’s Tizen to a unified platform called “Wear”. This would enhance the way smartwatches work. The company claims that the watches will now come with a longer battery and faster performance.

 

Google Smart Canvas

In last night’s announcements, Google announced Smart Canvas, which is a collaborative tool between various Google products. The search giant said that it is bringing new smart chips to Google Docs. “To insert smart chips in your work, simply type “@” to see a list of recommended people, files, and meetings. From web or mobile, your collaborators can then quickly skim associated meetings and people or preview linked documents, all without changing tabs or contexts,” Google wrote in a blog post.

 

Lamda AI language

A new LaMDA conversation technology, which is driven by Artificial Intelligence was also announced at the conference. Google calls the new technology its breakthrough conversation technology.


Also Read: Users locked out of their Gmail, YouTube accounts, Google services abruptly went down

 

Google’s Project Starline

Google’s Project Starline is indeed a breakthrough technology that the company announced at the conference. The technology creates a real-time 3D model of a person who is sitting across from you using high-resolution cameras and depth sensors.

Project Starline is currently available in just a few of our offices and it relies on custom-built hardware and highly specialized equipment. We believe this is where person-to-person communication technology can and should go, and in time, our goal is to make this technology more affordable and accessible, including bringing some of these technological advancements into our suite of communication products,” Google said in a blog.

 

Google’s improved camera to capture skin tones correctly

Google announced upgrades to its camera app, it said that it is working on a feature that would make the camera more inclusive of darker skin tones.

 

Improved Google Photos app

Google Photos is getting some much-needed updates. It was announced at the conference that the photo app will get the feature to turn animated photos from still shots. Apart from this, Google Photos will also get password protected. This means that some of your private pictures can be protected using a password and won’t appear when you are scrolling through the app.

 

More AI-driven Google Maps

Google Maps will now save users from hard-breaking moments by providing information about the routes which avert the user’s chances of getting into a hard-braking moment. “We’ll automatically recommend that route if the ETA is the same or the difference is minimal. We believe that these changes have the potential to eliminate 100 million hard-braking events in routes driven with Google Maps each year,” the company wrote on a blog post. The Live View tool will also display more information than ever.

Google will use AI to detect skin conditions

Google’s new AI-powered dermatology assist tool to identify anyone’s skin conditions using their phone’s camera. Google says the new technology improve the screening process for breast cancer to helping detect tuberculosis more efficiently.

Android support for Digital Car Keys

Select Pixel users and Samsung Galaxy Phones can be used as digital car keys with the rollout of Android 12. BMW is the only carmaker that supports Google’s car key so far.