Source: Aifaner
Author: Wang Meng

No one wants to “overtake a corner” more than Google.

as$Alphabet-C (GOOG.US)$The highlight of each year, the I/O conference is a stage for Google to showcase its latest technology and products. For almost 8 years, AI-related content has been the focus of the Google I/O conference, but in the end, it was the latecomer OpenAI that was astonishing.

Since then, Google has been labeled as “I woke up early in the morning and caught up in the evening”, “I hate iron but not steel,” and “10,000 years old.”

Among them, the title “AI Huangpu Military Academy” is the title “AI Huangpu Military Academy,” which may seem like a compliment, but it is actually Google's “bitter tears.”

Today, OpenAI deliberately places the press conference on the day before Google I/O. Not only is the meaning of “stealing popularity” very obvious, but it is also setting its sights on the search business, which already has a stable pattern, quite a bit of meaning that it wants to “directly attack Huanglong.”

Seeing that a good drama is about to begin, consumers and the industry generally expect Google to come up with some truly amazing “real things,” and Google also hopes to use this opportunity to fight a beautiful “turnaround battle.” As a result, this year's Google I/O conference has garnered a lot of attention.

Gemini accelerates integration into the service, and also introduces new features

Since it came to light, the Gemini project has been receiving a lot of attention. There was some controversy at the beginning, but later they also recovered their reputation with their own strength, and now they are becoming more and more mature, but they still can't escape being compared to ChatGPT, and the two sides are also secretly competing.

Just a few hours after Gemini 1.5 was released, OpenAI introduced Sora, the sensational Wensheng video model; not long ago, there was news that Apple would integrate Gemini AI into the iPhone, but recently events were reversed. Eventually, Apple is likely to choose ChatGPT, and the competitive momentum is intensifying.

Now that Google and OpenAI have once again “collided”, it is clear that Google wants to take advantage of its many services and accelerate the integration of Gemini into more services. In particular, multiple services such as search, translation, Google Maps, and Android will be deeply integrated to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the service, and more interactive methods including images and voice may also be added.

We will also see Gemini more and more on mobile devices such as mobile phones. The much-anticipated new version of the multi-modal assistant “Pixie” will also be unveiled at Google I/O 2024. It is said that it will be able to learn how to use or obtain purchase directions by taking pictures of objects, making the digital assistant more intuitive and personalized.

However, to truly become an “AI first” company, Google needs to release features that are both transformative and widely usable, especially for free users.

Judging from current information, Google is likely to highlight more new features not previously disclosed at the I/O conference, such as artificial intelligence conversation exercises for English learners, image generation for shopping and virtual clothing fitting, finding charging points on a map, and continuous AI calls.

Additionally, Google may announce Gemini's API, which means developers will be able to use Gemini's powerful AI capabilities to inject intelligent elements into various applications and services, providing more possibilities.

Android 15 details revealed, system experience upgraded

Every year at Google I/O, Android updates are a focus. After all, Android is the world's largest mobile operating system, and every upgrade affects the user experience of hundreds of millions of users. More details about Android 15 will be revealed at this year's I/O conference.

It is reported that the new system will make many improvements in the operation interface, security and privacy protection, and power consumption optimization. Additionally, the addition of features such as automatically hiding unused notification channels and optimizing volume, brightness, and vibration control will further enhance the user experience.

In fact, on-device AI is important to help reduce cloud costs, and to make Android a platform for building next-generation AI mobile apps, so we're likely to see Android 15 with deep AI integration at Google I/O.

But many times now, other than wallpapers, we haven't seen much AI actually applied to the user experience, and Google I/O will show us more content. Show us more possibilities, such as a smarter home screen, lock screen, or notification bar.

Satellite communication and offline positioning

Since phones such as Huawei and Apple have successively supported satellite communication, Android users have been eagerly awaiting it. The good news is that in Android 15, this feature may become standard, and will not only be limited to basic SMS services, but will also be extended to SMS apps and pre-installed RCS services. Previously, it was already introduced in the developer preview, and it is likely that it will officially meet users in Android 15.

There is also news that Google is developing a function related to “offline location,” which can locate the phone even when turned off. However, since this feature depends on hardware support, it may only appear after subsequent upgrades.

Battery health management

Batteries always wear out after being used for a long time, and the battery health check function allows us to intuitively see how much “spare power” the battery has and understand when to consider replacing the battery. In fact, this feature appeared as early as the beta version of Android 14, but it was not put into use due to imperfection, and Android 15 is expected to bring this feature to users' phones.

App archiving

On iPhone, to save storage space, the system often helps you uninstall apps you don't use often to free up space while keeping your personal data. Previously, Google Play also provided this feature, but it was not possible to uninstall software from outside the store, and Android 15 may bring us system-level app archiving, allowing users to archive any software they have already installed directly from the app info bar.

Privacy security

As a top priority for all tech giants, they always talk about “privacy and security” at every press conference. Android 15 is no exception; it will not only bring us an exclusive “private space” to store apps and data; it may also enable “partial screen sharing,” that is, only sharing or recording a single app to avoid revealing more; and a “sensitive notification” feature designed to prevent one-time passwords from being spied on.

AR/VR returns, and more Android XR details

Although the popularity of this year's related topics is difficult to compare with AI, XR is also likely to bring huge changes to various fields including education, entertainment, retail, and healthcare this year. Google is likely to bring us a more clear XR development strategy at the I/O conference, further integrate services and platforms, and provide a richer user experience.

At the beginning of last year, Samsung officially announced that it is developing an XR headset, and Google is providing processing system software Android XR through an Android variant. Obviously, Google wants to adopt an Android-like approach and provide OEM cooperation to related manufacturers by focusing on XR platform development, so as to occupy a place in the XR spatial computing field.

However, at last year's I/O conference, Google said it would share more information about Android XR later, but in the end, that didn't work. Speculation from the outside world may be related to Samsung's delay and redesign of the headset device, which also affected Google.

There is also news that Google previously tried to cooperate with Meta to let him use its own system, but Meta rejected it. Obviously, Google wants to replicate Android's success in the XR field, and I'm afraid it won't be easy.

New Pixel products unveiled early, future trends are the focus

In Google I/O 2024, hardware will probably not be the focus. Most likely, the Pixel 8a, which was released at the conference, even directly launched online pre-sales ahead of schedule, which is beyond many expectations.

Looking at it now, the biggest advantage of this phone is that it can enjoy the features of many flagship models at a price of 500 US dollars, making it a cost-effective choice. Pichay has always believed that mobile phones will be an important vehicle for AI breakthroughs, so the Pixel 8a may become a new benchmark for Google to infiltrate AI into lower-cost models.

Although the Pixel Fold received a lot of attention at I/O last year, there isn't much information about whether the second-generation Pixel Fold will appear at this year's Google I/O conference.

There is also news that the Google folding screen phone brand will face remodeling and change the name to Pixel 9 Pro Fold to better unify with the Pixel series, which also means that it is likely to be released with or after the Pixel 9, without Google I/O 2024.

Although the Pixel series won't be the protagonist of Google I/O, judging from current information, we may see some conceptual product updates at Google I/O 2024, such as translation glasses, and technology such as naked eye 3D holographic video chat.

In addition to these newly released products and services, this year's Google I/O conference will also host a series of presentations. Earlier, in an interview, Pichay said that the Google I/O conference did not focus on specific products, but rather showcased future plans and current progress.

Perhaps compared to specific products, these presentations will bring us more cutting-edge technology trends and outline a blueprint for the future development of Google and AI.

Google I/O 2024 will be held on May 14, 2024 local time (May 15, Beijing time). Friends are welcome to schedule a live broadcast to watch first-hand information on Google's latest technology and products. Don't miss this annual event in the tech world!

Editor/Somer