Google I/O Conference 2015 – The New Tech in Your Future!

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Google is holding its annual developers’ conference and yesterday released a bundle of exciting news that gives insights into what the future of tech will hold. Updates to existing tech, new features for Google services, and innovative educational tools are all here now or launching soon.

Google’s announcements may affect the way you view the world, store and organize your photos, search for information on your phone and navigate your path. Learn how Google will maximize battery life on your Android phone, help children experience far-away places with virtual field trips, and restrict app permissions.

The new tech Google announced yesterday is either available now or will be available by the end of the year.

Google Photos

Google Photos is a new service that’s giving you free unlimited storage for your digital photos and helping you organize and edit them as well. You can store your photos on Google Photos using the web and apps for Android and iPhone. You can view your photos according to time, people, things and places without having to tag your photos.

Google Photos allows you to share your photos with others easily and the original resolution of your stored photos is preserved, up to 16MP. The service also creates collages, animated videos, and stories from your photos which you can keep or delete.

You can read more about Google Photos in the Google Blog: Picture this: A fresh approach to Photos

The Google Photos app is available free for:

• Android on Google Play
• iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch in iTunes

Android M

The newest version of Android will have some advanced features, making the operating system easier and more useful.  Android M is available to developers now and will be launched publicly in the third quarter of 2015.

Now on Tap

Remember when the only thing on tap was beer? Well, now you can get Google Now on Tap. Google Now is similar to iPhone’s Siri, a virtual assistant that can answer questions, set reminders, and more.

Now on Tap will be a feature in Android M you can enable to help you use Google Now within other apps.

Hold the Home button and speak your question. Now on Tap will answer your question without you having to leave your app.

For example, you can use Now on Tap if you’re using a travel app planning a trip and want to know what the weather will be like in London in August. Now on Tap will open a window that hovers over the travel app, giving you your search results without you having to close the app, open Google, search, then return to the travel app.

You can read more about Now on Tap in the Google Blog: “Now on tap” to help you with what you need in the moment, anywhere on your phone

App Permissions

With Android M you won’t be asked for blanket app permissions when you download an app to your phone. Instead, you’ll be requested to give specific permissions when you use a feature of the app that needs permissions.

For example, you may not know whether an app needs access to your microphone so you shouldn’t give it permission to do that when you first download the app. Android M solves that problem as apps will only request specific permissions when they need to access your phone’s features such as camera, location and microphone.

Android Pay

Google is replacing Google Wallet with Android Pay, a feature like Apple Pay that lets you use your fingerprint to verify your identity as you use your phone to pay for purchases.

Doze

Android M will be designed to manage background app activity to help apps sleep and not drain battery life when they’re not being used. With a new feature called Doze, Android will better manage inactive apps, allowing battery life to be extended, up to double the time, according to Google’s testing.

Cardboard

Google is turning the material you associate with boxes into a virtual reality viewer with Cardboard. Introduced last year as an inexpensive accessory you can use to experience virtual reality apps, Cardboard is expanding this year and may someday become a mainstream device.

Pop an Android phone or iPhone into the slot to view virtual reality apps in Cardboard. Google Play has a Cardboard app page where you can find a variety of apps taking advantage of this advanced tech. Experience a virtual tour of distant places, ride a virtual roller coaster, play immersive games, and more with your Cardboard viewer and accompanying apps.

You can get your viewer at the Cardboard page, beginning at $19.99.

You can get the Cardboard app for iTunes for free.

The Jump Project

This year, Google is expanding how you can use Cardboard with the Jump Project which will allow developers to create Cardboard videos more easily. The Jump Project has developed a camera rig and software combination that blends images from 16 different GoPro cameras to create videos that give a 360° view of the world.

Jump videos will be available to view with Cardboard on YouTube. Also, expect to see Cardboard apps that take advantage of Jump videos.

Expeditions

Google also will make use of Cardboard in the classroom with Expeditions, and virtual field trips for students. No need to leave school to visit places such as the Great Wall of China; Venice, Italy; art museums; castles; coral reefs, or anywhere else on Earth that has a Cardboard video. Teachers can select the destination and students can be transported into their virtual Expedition using Cardboard.

Google Maps Offline

Often when you need maps the most you aren’t anywhere near an Internet connection. Google will soon solve this problem by expanding Google Maps’ offline capabilities.

You’ll be able to use Google Maps offline to browse maps, get turn-by-turn directions, and read reviews. These features are due to be released later this year.

Your Thoughts

Which features announced at Google I/O 2015 are you most excited about? Will you be using Cardboard to view a world of virtual reality? Are you going to take advantage of unlimited storage in Google Photos? Which new features of Android M are most interesting to you? Share your thoughts with us in the Comments section below!