Last week, GOOGLE’s I/O 2021 kicked off and a lot of exciting stuff have been declared through the event which will probably take you to the cloud nine! Starting from the radical Android 12 redesign with Material You to the biggest ever Wear OS update in years together and to the improvements in Google Photos and Maps, the service of Google in every product is getting better than ever.
Let us have a look at the Highlights of the GOOGLE I/O Event 2021. Here are the top 10 things we must know:
- Your Android phone already lets you control many of your smart home devices, and with Android 12, it will even let you unlock your car. This feature will be coming to select Pixel and Samsung Galaxy phones running Android 12 later this year.
- Material You, the new variation of Material Design which hadn’t changes since Android 5.0 launched, is bold, colorful, and refreshing, with the main focus on offering users, endless customization through its dynamic theming capabilities. Material You will not be limited to just Android and will be coming to all major Google products, including Wear OS, Chrome OS, smart home devices, and more.
- Google also announced that it would be collaborating with the South Korean electronics giant Samsung to build a unified platform that combines the best of Wear OS and Tizen, Samsung’s smartwatch OS plus Fitbit’s popular features will also be seen in the Wear OS and, it will also get a fresh coat of Material You as well.
- Another new improvement coming to Wear OS is the facility to download apps directly from your smartphone and it has confirmed to get a YouTube app on it too!
- To invoke Google Assistant, long-press the power button, swipe down to view your new notification shade, an at-a-glance view of all your app notifications in one place.
- Google also announced Project Starline which is Google’s project that uses 3D imaging to make video calls feel like you’re really talking to someone in person.
- The Google Maps Update: Eco-friendly routes and Safer routing are two new features coming to Google Maps. Eco-friendly routes will help reduce environmental footprint by suggesting routes that will lead to lower fuel consumption.
- Maps will also edit results on the basis of the time you’re travelling. For example, in the morning, Maps will prominently highlight nearby coffee shops.
- The Google Photos Update: Google Photos will now let you lock your private photos in a secure folder that can only be accessed by you. At first, Pixel phones will have the feature and then Android.
- The Chrome Password Alert Update: Chrome will alert you when it detects any of your saved passwords have been compromised and will even help you reset them across websites. You will then get a ‘Change Password’ option and you can thus, update it.
- The Google Shopping Update: Google is introducing a new feature in Chrome that will help you “pick up your shopping right where you left off.” When you open a new tab, Chrome will display your open shopping carts from across different shopping sites.
- On Android, Google Lens in Photos will soon get a “Search inside screenshot” button that will scan things like shoes, t-shirts, and other objects in a photo and surface relevant products.
- Google plans to be carbon-free 24/7 by 2030. The company has implemented load shifting to move processing to the least environmentally onerous times.
- Google Lens Update: Google Lens can now automatically translate texts in screenshots for devices running Android 11 or above. Users can now take a screenshot of a foreign language and let Google Lens do the translation without any intermediate step.
- Google, in some cases, will soon start showing warnings under the “Policy and program” section in the Google Play Store when it detects any potential violations in your app and will provide guidance on fixing them.
There’s much to this from GOOGLE but these are the TOP 15 features from GOOGLE’s event for its consumers. These updates will surely help one live the digital life safely as well as comfortably. All thanks to CEO Sundar Pichai and Team!
