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Google's I/O developer conference is largely aimed at the people who create applications for Google's various software ecosystems or use Google's Web infrastructure, but the company also made a number of news announcements that are significant to all Google users--also known as everyone.
The following list details six of the most interesting and exciting announcements from Google I/O 2012 and explains why the announcements could be relevant to you. This list does not, however, cover all of news from I/O 2012; instead, it spotlights the most significant news for consumers and not just developers.
1) Google Nexus 7 Tablet and Android "Jelly Bean" 4.1
On Wednesday morning, the first day of I/O 2012, Google made what was perhaps the single most noteworthy announcement from the show: It showed off the brand new Nexus 7 tablet, which will be released in the middle of July with a starting price of $199. The tablet runs the latest version of the Android mobile OS, v4.1, or "Jelly Bean." (The fact that only a handful of current Android devices run the previous Android version, v4.0, or "Ice Cream Sandwich," is another issue altogether.)
The Nexus 7 is 7-inches in size, it weighs 340 grams, and the tablet is built by electronics maker ASUS. The tablet has a 1280x800 HD display. It has a variety of wireless connectivity options including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC--no cellular version has been announced yet. The Nexus 7 packs a Tegra chipset with quad-core CPU and a 12-core GPU. And it has a front-facing camera, though it doesn't have a camera on its rear panel. The Nexus 7 tablet should be released in mid-July, but you can preorder it from the Google Play store today for $199.99.
Google also detailed some of the enhancements for Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, which should be rolled out for Galaxy Nexus, some Galaxy S devices and Motorola Xooms in July--sorry HTC users, no Jelly Bean for you just yet.
Jelly Bean will have application encryption, and apps on Jelly Bean devices that are updated via the Google Play store will get "smart" app updates, which means individual parts of the software APKs, or app packages, can be updated separately instead having to update entire APKs, as is the case in older versions of Android. The smart app updates can help reduce battery drain and other strain on system resources, according to Google.
Jelly Bean has new voice-typing functionality that lets you type using your voice when you don't have a Web connection. New camera improvements include navigation features and touch gestures. Jelly Bean notifications are much richer, and users can respond to certain notifications directly from their status bars without opening the actual applications. And new widgets resize themselves to fit in open spaces on users' home screens.
Hugo Barra, Google's director of Android product management, also announced some new Android statistics: The company has seen 400 million total Android activations to date, which is four times more than the number announced at last year's I/O conference; and Google sees a million new Android devices activated every day. ... <snip rset> ... ###
The other 5 announcements made at Google I/O and discussed in the article above ...
2) Nexus Q
The second new piece of hardware Google announced at I/O 2012 is the Nexus Q, a spherical, Android-powered computer that connects to home entertainments systems, including TVs and speakers system, and serves as a central media server for streaming music, TV and movies.
3) Chrome and Google Drive for Apple iOS
4) Google Play Store Enhancements
5) Google's Project Glass
Last April, Google officially announced Project Glass and its Glass device. Glass is a tiny camera that you wear on a pair of glasses or a glasses-like frame to capture your experiences as you see them.
6) Google Docs and Google+ Enhancements
Google announced a valuable new feature for its Google Docs online documents suite: Offline editing for documents. The feature is simple to use and it could be particularly handy for travelers who frequently work on airplanes or in other places without Internet connections.
