After the barrage of information we received yesterday in the Google I / O Keynote, we have had time to reflect and identify what the most important news they raised. We will emphasize those that directly or tangentially affect tablets, because that is what we are talking about here.
We will first talk about those that will affect the entire Android platform and its applications thanks to new APIs.
At the beginning there was talk of the launch of three new APIs that will improve geolocation. The most interesting is the one that detects how you move (bike, walking, car) without you telling it and without using GPS.
Regarding the use of Google+ to sign up for apps this functionality is improved. If there is an internet service in which we register with our account on the social network and then download its application to our tablet or phone, we will appear directly logged.
There is a development that we also like a lot related to notifications. When you dismiss a notification on one device, they no longer appear on the others. For example, if you have an email message appears on your mobile and you dismiss it in the notification bar, it will be removed from the bar on your tablet.
Google Play will also be soon upgraded by creating a category of applications designed for tablets that already it was seen coming for a long time.
Now we go with the main dishes.
Google Play Games is the Game Center for Android that the Mountain View have created. It allows us to access our games from any device by synchronizing them after saving them in the cloud. Of course, it also saves our achievements and with them you can generate rankings or scores lists in which to compete with your contacts. It is already operational, here we give you the list of games with which it works.
Play Music All Access It is a subscription service to listen to streaming music on Google Play in addition to yours that you have previously uploaded to the cloud. It can be explored, starting with recommendations based on what you have or like. It offers us several listening modalities, the most notable being the radio type. If you want to know the prices and start-up times, visit the article that we dedicate to him.
Google Maps it also improves by introducing a new factor or idea to explore, in addition to locating and navigating. Now there is a direct transition between Maps and Earth bringing the 3D when we zoom. He also learns from Foursquare by creating a social scoring system for sites and offers for establishments. In addition, they have created an interface to improve searches on tablets. These advances will arrive for both Android and iOS. We give you the details in this article.
Hangouts is Google's unified messaging service, which we can enjoy on both Android and iOS. The idea is to replace GTalk by introducing some of the functionalities that we have seen in other similar services. It was one of the most anticipated presentations, after all the rumors, leaks and noise we heard in the previous months, with his Forocoches joke included when it was thought that he would be called Bable. The good thing about rivals like WhatsApp is that it can also be used on tablets, as well as on phones, as is also the case with LINE. We give you all details here.
Finally, it is worth highlighting the launch of the Galaxy S4 Google Edition. We tell you its price and characteristics here. Sindar pichai warned us that they would not present in this edition any new device or new type of hardware. Many analysts remained skeptical but have kept their word except for this exception.
Although it was not mentioned in the keynote, at the same time it happened that it was updated Play books. Now it will be a bit similar to Play Music, we can upload our PDF and ePub files and can read our books from the cloud, as long as we have Internet access.