Even though Google unveiled a host of things at first day of I/O,
there was little to no information about the specific availability of
each product. Now, Google finally gives us clarity to some extent as to
when Google Assistant, Home, Allo and Duo apps and other announcements
made at I/O are expected to hit the market.
The most interesting
bit is that the tech giant is unveiling its Google Assistant product
initially only in English and Hinglish (a mixture of English and Hindi).
The Indian market will be one of the few markets to experience the
advantages of Google Assistant in its local language (albeit a mixture).
The tech giant has, however, said that it will roll out the feature in
other Indian regional languages eventually.
Google vaguely said
that Home will hit the market sometime later in the year, but did not
specify which markets. It asserted that Home is still in its early
stages and no details on launch date can be finalised yet. Allo and Duo
will be launched sometime between June and September in 78 languages.
Both the apps will be launched on Android and iOS platforms.
Interestingly,
Android N will see the light of the day "earlier than ever". The
company will launch the final version to device makers sometime "this
summer", earlier than its traditional release in fall. In order to make
Daydream a nearby reality, Android N has been optimised and come with an
Android VR Mode. Google is even working with Android device
manufacturers to do some hardware tweaks in order to make them
Daydream-ready by the end of the year. It is even sharing the viewer and
controller reference designs with OEMs so that they can make their own
versions, Google is expected to release its own viewer and controller by
fall.
Google says that the next version of Android Wear and
Android Auto are still in its nascent discussion stage with respect to
availability, and didn't have details to share at this point. Instant
Apps, being a big change, is going to take some time, and Google will be
reaching out to developers in the coming months.
After a
leak via
the conference schedule, Google on Day 2 of I/O officially announced
Google Play access is coming to the Chrome. It will be first available
on the M53 development channel on Chromebook Flip, Chromebook Acer R11,
and Chromebook Pixel (2015). Later this year, it will be enabled on all
devices that are based on Intel Braswell CPUs, Intel Broadwell, Intel
Skylake, as well as ARM Rockchip 3288. More devices including Baytrail devices will get the integration eventually.
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Further reading:
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