Google I/O 2019 Keynote: All the Key Announcements Made This Year

Here’s everything Google revealed at the I/O 2019 developer conference on Tuesday.

The Google I/O 2019 keynote lasted for almost two hours, and the search giant made sure people had a lot to look forward to this year.

As the schedule suggested, Google talked a lot about Assistant, features expected with Android Q, some new hardware and few revelations with Google’s AI taking the centre stage.

Here’s everything we saw at the keynote from Google on Tuesday.

Google Assistant

This year onwards, Google Assistant will be able to multi-task, without the user needing to say Ok Google every time. It can open and navigate apps continuously and it can orchestrate tasks across apps seamlessly. This ensures that a user doesn’t need to get out of one app to use another one.

In addition to this, Assistant and its continuous usage can come in handy with Google Assistant. It can differentiate between email dictation and when it is being asked to complete an action.

Assistant will understand human language better as well. Like if you ask for “Mom’s House” it can differentiate based on context if you are referring to your mother’s house or to a restaurant.

And more than anything else, Assistant will make sure even if you don’t have Android Auto in your car, your mobile phone can help you go hands-free, without needing to glance on the phone.

Android Q is Here

After going through tonnes of AI and ML stuff, Google revealed new features of Android Q. This flavour is also going to be the first to support phones with foldable screen, like the Samsung Galaxy Fold and the Huawei Mate X among others.

Android Q will support live captions, even when you are not connected to the internet. Making sure the data doesn’t leave the device.

The caption feature is available on all apps. Smart Replies can predict the text you will type and even the emoji. It works on all messaging apps in Android. And finally, dark theme is coming Android this year, but we still don’t know when.

Pixel 3a and 3a XL

Google has made sure that Android Q isn’t the only big announcement at Google I/O 2019 this week. This is the first time Google has launched a phone, that too a Pixel phone, the 3a series at the developer conference.

This is pegged as the so-called affordable alternative to the flagship Pixel series, but with prices starting from Rs 39,999 people might start questioning where the affordable part is with the 3a. The phones, 3a and 3a XL will be available later this month. Both online and offline sales are expected to be the chosen route.

Pixel 3a and 3a XL gets 5.6-inch and 6-inch Full-HD+ screen with 1080 pixels resolution. Google has decided to stick with the design language of the Pixel 3, which is why you can see thick bezels on the side, top and bottom as well.

Google's Echo Show Rival Launched

Google Home is now going to be part of Nest range. All the devices come together for a seamless experience and Google claims privacy has been kept on top of the mind. The Nest Hub Max is the first product to roll out from the newly rejigged Nest stable.

This will compete with the Amazon Echo Show device, which is available in countries like India for Rs 22,999. The device has a built-in camera which lets users personalise their account based on face recognition technology. You can stream videos from YouTube TV, and pause it just by waving your hand in front of the screen.

It will be interesting to see if the Nest Max Hub comes to India but what we do know is that the Next Hub (previous generation) will launch in India sometime this year for Rs 9,000.

More Google AI Magic Revealed

How cool will it be when you can search for photos on Google and get the results in AR mode. Yes, that’s happening now. The phone camera is turning into a powerful search tool. “For example, search for Muscle Flexion, you can view 3D models in the search results. Now you can also place that in your own space using AR,” says Aparna Chennapragada, Vice President, Google Lens and AR.

We can’t wait to see how this feature evolves.

And then you have the unsend option on Gmail, which makes sure you can undo the mistakes done and redeem yourself from any such errors on mail. This is critical not only for users but businesses as well. You also get to use Google’s camera to live translate, from paper as well as food menus.