What to expect from Google I/O

By Sameer Mitha | Updated: 12 June 2012 18:57 IST

Highlights

Patience is no longer a virtue. There are still some hours to go before Google’s I/O event starts and we already know about the new music service and the additions to the YouTube movie rental service. But we are hoping Google’s saving the best news

Patience is no longer a virtue. There are still some hours to go before Google's I/O event starts and we already know about the new music service and the additions to the YouTube movie rental service. But we are hoping Google's saving the best news for later. In anticipation of the event, here's our list of what to expect from the I/O event.

Android: Android 2.3 Gingerbread was recently launched by Google as the next gen mobile OS. The OS hasn't even sunk in and we have already begun to hear rumors about Google's next Android OS, conveniently titled Ice Cream Sandwich. The new mobile OS is expected to combine the best features of Android 2.3 Gingerbread and Android 3.0 Honeycomb. Then again, who knows? We may just see the OS debut on a dual core Nexus device at the event.

More Android: We expect that the dynamic Samsung Galaxy duo - Tab 10.1 and Tab 8.9, which are warring with the iPad 2 to be the thinnest tablet - will show off their sleek looks and, perhaps, the best features of the tablet specific Honeycomb OS. Hope to see some tablet specific apps too at the event. (Something more than just Twitter and the usual social shenanigans).

Music on the move, Android style: Upload your personal music collection to the cloud and listen to it on your Android device. Sounds familiar? Well you can currently do this with apps like drop box and Amazon but we are hoping Google will do this with a difference. Even as Google tries to secure permissions from major music labels, hopefully the service will make an appearance as a free app on the market place soon.

Boring Statistics: We all know that Android is the only OS giving the iOS a run for its money. It has brought many manufacturers, HTC, Samsung, Motorola and Dell included, into the limelight. It has grown by over 200% in terms of handset sales in the past year and the Android marketplace is expected to overtake the Apple App store as early as August 2011.

A rusty CR-48: It seems like ages ago that we laid our eyes on a laptop running Google's Chrome OS. The cloud based OS was supposed to be the next big thing and revive the dying netbook market. This OS may actually see the light of day as rumour has it that Google and Samsung may hold a press event the evening after Google I/O, possibly to debut the final Chrome OS hardware.

That's all we have by way of fortune telling from our desk. Feel free to add your predictions to ours, in the comments section below.

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