Google I/O begins today and it’s crunch time where we hope to hear announcements about many of the developments we’ve been bringing you news about. The developer conference runs from June 27 through June 29 and we thought it would be useful to take a look at what we expect to be announced, including of course more about Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and the Google Nexus 7 tablet.
The keynote begins at 9:30 am PDT today and we’ve already posted details about live streaming and world times so that wherever you are you don’t have to miss it so check that out at the link if you want further information. As for what we might hear about we’ll kick off with Jelly Bean. Last month we told of news suggesting that up to 5 Nexus devices running the next Android OS may be revealed at I/O rather than the one device that came with the launch of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
News on Jelly Bean is virtually definite for the event today plus the first devices running on it and whereas previously it was thought that Jelly Bean would be Android 5.0 it now appears likely that it will be Android 4.1, suggesting it may not be a major update. PC World suggests that the first phone running Jelly Bean will be the Galaxy Nexus and there are suggestions that Jelly Bean will feature Chrome as its default browser.
More speculation surrounds a voice-activation feature dubbed Majel and other recent news suggests that Google plans to cut out manufacturers and carriers when distributing future software updates. This would be a huge bonus for Android device owners, many of whom are still waiting for their devices to be updated to 4.0 ICS when Jelly Bean is just around the corner.
We haven’t heard much in recent weeks on an array of Nexus devices to take advantage of Android Jelly Bean but one that does seem to be a dead cert to be announced is the Google Nexus 7 tablet from Asus. We’ve been giving readers plenty of leaked info about this promising 7-inch tablet that will be extremely competitively priced against the like of the Kindle Fire rather than Apple’s iPad.
If rumors are accurate then the Google Nexus 7 will feature a 1.3GHz NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor, and IPS display with resolution of 1280 x 800, 1GB of RAM and a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera. An 8GB model is expected to be priced at $199 while the 16GB model is rumored to be priced at $249. None of this is confirmed but what we can be sure of is that if the Nexus 7 tablet does indeed appear with quad-core, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and these prices then it’s set to be a huge hit.
We could also hear today about a new cloud computing system, Google Cloud, while less likely to feature but a possibility is news on Project Glass. For those who haven’t yet heard about Project Glass, sometimes referred to as Google Glass, this involves the futuristic augmented reality glasses that stirred up interest when first detailed earlier this year. As these glasses are not due out until 2013 though, this could be missed off the agenda.
Another expectation could be news on Google Play. PCMag tells how one of the first sessions discusses improvements to Google Play. PCMag also suggests that some of those changes should include a method for sorting and filtering apps by device, and that Google needs to get a grip on the amount of spam and junk apps. What’s more likely with these Google Play ‘improvements’ though is more HD movie content and a better music store.
We also told recently how Google stated that it still has future plans for Google Maps and Apple’s iOS platform despite the fact that Apple will now have its own Maps app with the launch of iOS 6. It makes sense then for Google to grab this moment to reveal more about those Google Map plans. There have also been rumblings about Google TV, which so far has failed to take off and if Google is to rejuvenate it, most feel that it would have to come up with a fairly drastic reboot.
That’s about it then for what we expect or hope to hear about at Google I/O. We’d like to hear from readers about what is the most important aspect for you. Are you hoping to get your fill of Jelly Bean? Maybe you’re waiting to hear more about the Google Nexus tablet? Let us know by sending your comments.