Google I/O 2022 Recap: The Top New Releases

Google I/O is a developer conference event held by Google annually where they make a ton of announcements regarding their hardware releases and software features going forward. The “I/O” stands for Input/Output.

This year’s I/O event was held at Mountain View, California, from May 11th to May 12th. It is a 2-hour-long event filmed in front of a small audience. While only a few developers attend the actual live event, it is streamed live globally for everyone to watch. If you missed this event, here’s a short breakdown of all the announcements from the event:

Hardware releases : 

1. Pixel 6A:

Google’s latest budget phone will have the same Tensor Chip that Google uses for the Pixel 6. Pixel 6A will be running on Android 12, featuring a 6.1-inch FHD+ 60Hz OLED display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection, 6 GB LPDDR5 RAM with 128 GB UFS 3.1 storage, WiFi 6/6E, IP67 rating, 12.2 MP main camera, 12MP ultra-wide camera alongside an 8MP selfie camera, 4410 mAh big battery with fast charging up to 30W and an under-display optical fingerprint sensor. Pixel 6A will come with 5 years of security and OS updates. The phone starts at $449(~৳39,000)

2. Pixel Buds Pro:

Google’s newest buds now come with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), powered by a new custom audio processor with six cores and a neural processing engine, which analyses external noise and cancels it in real-time with low latency.

Other features include Transparency Mode, Spatial Audio, and Multipoint Connectivity. Pixel Buds Pro starts at $199 (~৳17000)

3. Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 pro will launch this fall with Android 13 and the Next generation of Google’s Tensor chips.

4. Google Pixel Watch: 

The new Pixel Watch comes in a dome design using a stainless steel frame, a controllable tactile crown, and customisable bands and features a more fluent WearOS experience. Emergency SOS and early earthquake warnings are two new features to be added to wear OS. The new pixel watch will be deeply integrated with Fitbit for industry-leading health measurements. 

5. Pixel Tablet:

The new Pixel Tablet, powered by the in-house designed tensor chip, is a perfect companion for Google Pixel devices. Google is aiming to make this tablet available in 2023.  

Software releases:

1. Android 13 comes with many new features following the Material You design language. In the latest version of Android, apps can now incorporate a colour theme.

A new media control centre changes its look according to the music introduced. RCS (Rich Communication Services) is enabled by default alongside many other cool features and internal improvements. 

2. Google Wallet – The new Google Wallet will hold your payment cards, digital IDs, etc. Google Wallet will start rolling out to Android and WearOS in the coming weeks. 

3. Android tablets are up for some huge improvements as Google will update 20+ apps to be optimised for tablets alongside improvements to system layout this year. 

4. Phone Hub – Phone Hub allows Chromebooks to stream messages from every messaging platform on your android device for a seamless experience. 

5. Scene Exploration – A multi-search feature that lets you see information about multiple objects simultaneously using the Google lens.

6. Google Assistant gets smarter – The Google Nest Hub Max now adds a feature called ‘Look and Talk,’ where you can just look at the Nest Hub Max and start talking with the assistant. (The Google Nest Hub is a smart home hub that can control other smart home devices.)  

7. Matter – A new standard for IoT (Internet of things) which will enable a seamless connection between your phone and other smart devices like light, thermostat, lock, television and many others.

8. Security – Google is working to lay down a path to create a future without passwords. New virtual cards on Chrome and Android will replace the actual card numbers with distinct virtual numbers for increased security from fraud and identity theft. They are also adding a safety status on google id’s profile picture to let us know about any security issues.  

9. Flutter 3 – Google Flutter is a cross-platform software framework that developers can use to build applications for Android, iOS, Linux, Windows, macOS and the web. Flutter now officially includes stable support for macOS and Linux desktop support with Flutter 3. 

To summarise, Google has officially announced the Pixel 6A, and Pixel Buds Pro to be available in July and shared information on their upcoming Pixel 7 series, Pixel Watch and Pixel Tab. They have also announced a lot of software features such as Google Wallet, Phone Hub, Scene exploration, and much more, apart from the new Android 13.

If you missed the Keynotes, you could still watch the entire Keynote on YouTube or Googe’s I/O website. If you don’t have 2 hours to watch the whole Keynote, you can watch The Verge’s short video on the event, which is only 18 minutes.

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