Google’s annual developers conference started today at Moscone Center in San Francisco. At Google I/O 2014, the focus seems to be “Android Everywhere”. During the (extremely long) keynote, Google unveiled the next version of its mobile operating system, Android L, a new design to its products, a deeper view on Android Wear, Android Auto and Android TV.
Here are my comments on the keynote.
Android One
Android One is a reference design for low-cost smartphones targeted to developing markets. One device from Micromax was introduced on stage, costing less than $100. That gets you a 4.5″ display, dual SIM and FM radio. At this price point, this has a huge potential in the emerging world and it is a good initiative for digital inclusion by Google.
Material Design
Material Design is a visual design language by Google that aims to unify the visual design across the web, Chrome and Android. This is probably the worst buzzword name since Apple’s decision to name vector registers on PowerPC as “Velocity Engine”.
Anyway, back to the design. Material Design is minimalistic, colorful (like iOS 7, but less saturated) and a bit 3-dimensional. It looks like the child of Google Now cards and Windows 8 tile UI. I kinda like it, but with restrictions: it is better looking than the current Android UI design, but the typography still doesn’t feel right. And I’m afraid Google will not really enforce this on the Google Play apps, creating more UI/UX fragmentation. One of the strongest points of iOS is that all the apps immediately follow a design change (see iOS 6 to iOS 7 transition), creating a more uniform user experience, and we don’t have that on Android at the moment.
For more information, visit www.google.com/design.
Android L
Android L is the codename of the new version of Google’s mobile operating system to be released this fall. It incorporates Material Design, while keeping the usual Android functionality. The new lock screen, for instance, is based on Google Now’s card UI and reminds me a lot iOS 7’s lock screen. Android had a better, actionable notification menu, but the way notifications were handled is awful: a bunch of meaningless icons polluting the top bar and lock screen notifications were borderline inexistent. This is fixed in the new release, but I don’t like the looks of it: it seems to make the lock screen too crowded. I still prefer iOS 7’s transparent notifications.
Another new feature is Personal Unlock, which makes your phone automatically unlock if you are near a trusted Bluetooth device. We have seen this feature in the Motorola Moto X and it has come to stock Android. Although useful, I am skeptical about its everyday usefulness. Bluetooth is a battery hog (even 4.0 LE) and this mechanism requires a second device (smartwatch, or whatever). I am pretty sure Apple’s Touch ID approach is much more appealing to the ordinary people.
One thing that is worth mentioning is Project Volta, which aims to optimize power consumption in Android. Google says it may add up to 90 minutes of extra juice on your phone. I am anxious to see if that is true.
Last but not the least, Android has now a killswitch, just like iOS 7. You may remote wipe the device even if it was restored to factory settings. This is a good step to decrease the number of device thefts, as proven by the drastic reduction of iPhone theft in cities like New York and San Francisco.
Android Wear
We have already seen Android Wear before, and at Google I/O 2014 we get a deeper look. Android Wear is about displaying information and helping the user. It is basically a notification center in your wrist that also support voice commands. Some smartwatches were revealed today as well: LG G, Samsung Galaxy Gear Live and the Moto 360.
I am a bit skeptical about this approach to smartwatches. I really think notifications are annoying, and I really don’t need more of that. The only people I know who like acting on beeping notifications have OCD. Besides, a watch is something that we wear today because we want to, not because we need to — after all, we can check the time on your phones anyway. A watch today is the reflection of one’s personality and style. I am not sure if I want to wear something that looks like a Casio watch from 1980 with a color LCD on it. For now, I’m staying with an analog Swiss timepiece.
Also, none of the smartwatches unveiled so far are appealing to women. A clear sign that this is going to be initially a niche product for geek men.
Android Auto
Android is also (supposedly) coming to your car. It will help the user with communication, navigation and music. A home screen based on the new design gives you a glance of what’s going on that is relevant and the system is optimized for voice controls.
Smart car UIs are lagging these days. Apple’s CarPlay is only coming later this year, and it’s been quite a while since it was announced. Let’s see if Google can accelerate the deployment of this technology or it will become a battle of choosing what mobile OS I cannot get in my car.
Android TV
Android TV is an operating system that runs on the TV or the set-top box. It works like an Apple TV, and has Google search integrated in it, so you can voice-search for information in the living room. There is a SDK for it as well, so we may expect some apps for Android TV in the future.
I am not sure if this is the right approach to TV. The goal here should be to simplify UX, but we are going in the opposite direction. An Android TV (or a hypothetical iOS TV) is not simpler to use than the current batch of smart TVs. This still looks like a very complicated and user-enemy remote in software form.
Android apps on Chromebooks
Later this year, some Android apps will start working on Chromebooks as well. There will be some quirks, like the ones we have in Windows 8 (UI designed for touch being controlled via a mouse), but this will definitely make Chromebooks more useful. I don’t see people ditching their MacBooks for a Chromebook due to this move, though.
Google I/O 2014 conclusions
This year’s Google I/O message is clear: Google’s strategy is “Android Everywhere”. I think this move is correct and is crucial for their core business in the following years, as the world shift more and more towards mobile and IOT. It is a big hit.
From a product standpoint, I have mixed feelings about what we’ve seen today. I like the new design and, although not as refined as Apple’s (it is still very engineering-ish), it is a move in the right direction. But I am very skeptical about wearables, cars and TVs. At the moment, the solutions presented look aimed to geeks only. I feel a certain degree of disconnection between Google and the general public, but this can be fixed, as they did with Android phones before.
I am also disappointed that Google still hasn’t given Java a boot. By doing that, they would remove a lot of overhead in app execution, improve performance and attract a lot of good developers that are only in iOS because they really hate Java*. For now, given the news from WWDC, I think Apple’s ecosystem is more vibrant and attractive to developers.
* Disclaimer: I hate Java. The only tech I hate more is Flash.
* Images are property of Google Inc.