Google I/O 2019: Biggest Announcements of This Year’s Developer Conference

Google’s developer conference is, undoubtedly, among the most anticipated events of the year in the world of technology. Throughout the year, technology lovers and other blocks relevant to Google wait for the special announcements made by the company. Like every other year, Google’s Developer Conference viz. Google I/O 2019 was held yesterday, on May 7, 2019, in Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, California, United States. In the first session of the Google I/O 2019 developers’ conference, a couple of in-house executive of Goolge Inc. had made some great announcements about the fancy AI software and the upcoming phone that are on our way soon. So, let us take a look at some of the great and terrible announcements that have been made during the first day of Google I/O 2019.

Google Pixel 3a And 3a XL Specifications and price

After the launch of Google’s flagship Pixel 3, a lot of people have complaints about the price of the smartphone to be too costly for the product. Owing to this dissatisfaction of the audience, Google is launching a virtually identical smartphone to Pixel 3 called Pixel 3a.

So, if you are thinking how can Google cut the price of its flagship phone to half, which is a virtually identical looking then let us tell you its differences first. The new Pixel 3a has a less powerful processor and lower resolution as compared to the initial Pixel 3. To down the price of the phone google used Snapdragon 670 instead of  Snapdragon 845 and they also exceed storage to 64GB and wireless charging, on other hands they provide 3.5 mm audio jack

The price of Pixel 3a will be around $400 with 5.6” display is quite less – almost half – as compared to Pixel 3, which is of $800 in the market. Google has come up with another variant of Pixel 3a that is Pixel 3a XL and it will be available in the market for $480 with screen size up to 6.0”.

Well, that raises another question that if that be, why someone will buy this variant and not the initial one? So, to answer this query, we must tell you that this new Pixel 3a will have the same quality of the camera, night mode and portrait mode with improved battery life, which is a good reason to invest in this phone, right? In addition to that, the new variants of Pixel 3 have the dang headphone jack as well.

Google’s new Next Generation Assistant

Google has come up with the new and upgraded Google Assistant, which faster than the existing version of Google Assistant software that we have at present. During the Google I/O 2019, one of the Google’s executives gave a live demo to the audience of Google developer conference with a bunch of quick commands and the Google Assistant, impressively, responded remarkably in real time. What makes the new Google Assistant extraordinary is its capability to recognize language by shrinking the language recognition model with an exception pace from 100 GB to as lesser as half a gigabyte. This will not only make the Google Assistant more capable of managing more computing but also help it handle much more complicated commands swiftly. Seeing the lag time issues in the previous versions of assistants that we use today, the new Google Assistant has an amazing edge over its rivals.

Google says its next-gen Assistant will hit new Pixel phones later this year.

Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max

A while ago, Google has entered the world of Smart home display with its exceptional Home Hub – with no camera – with a bold statement that said; no camera means extra privacy. Well, on contrary to that, Google has, now, rebranded all the products under the Google Nest banner and announced a new device called Nest Hub Max, which will be available in the market for $229. The new Nest Hub Max will be an amalgamation of three devices namely Google home Hub, Google Home Max, and Nest Camera. This new consolidation of these devices will provide its users with the security camera, loudspeaker and smart display in a single device.

What makes the device more exciting that it is equipped with an in-built camera with a new “Face match” features, which will not only able to perform facial recognition but also will provide personalized results to each and every member of the family. Besides, the facial recognition processing will be managed locally, hence, there is no chance of transmitting facial data over the web.

Project Euphonia – A New and Innovative Accessibility Features

Now is your chance to be understood.

Speech recognition should work for everyone. If you’re not well understood by current technologies, you can help by contributing your voice to #projecteuphonia. #io19

Learn more → https://t.co/MDVp98Pogu pic.twitter.com/MiSxAh8rsl

— Google Developers (@googledevs) 7 May 2019

Google is working on a Stay Transcribe software project that is capable of transcribing the speech in real time. This will enable Google devices to add captions via Stay Caption program to any video in real time. Not only that, during the Google I/O 2019, the company executives announced about Google’s Project Euphonia, which is working on improving the speech technology that will help those people use their voice assistant smoothly who have the communication conditions that affects their usage of the voice assistant. custom tailoring its models to an individual user’s speech to better help them communicate.

Android Q Dark Mode

Over the years, smartphones users have been demanding to have the system-wide dark mode in their mobile devices. This year, Google has decided to come up with this most anticipated and demanding dark mode on their Android phones via Android Q.

Focus Mode

A focus mode helps you to manage your apps, For example, if you are doing some work and you are distracted by other apps, using this mode you can make a list of apps which is distracting to you – flip a switch and the apps will disappear until you turn off the focus mode.

Google Maps AR Mode for Google Pixels

See where to go in AR with Explore I/O, a new feature in this year’s I/O app. You can filter by your personal schedule of sessions you’ve bookmarked, or by sandboxes, restrooms, food, and more. #io19

Try on Android → https://t.co/YAVuvmcZNW
Or on iOS → https://t.co/0xkd9sW8jn pic.twitter.com/VMiieqWull

— Google Developers (@googledevs) 7 May 2019

Google is quite serious about making its Google Maps application more advanced than ever before. Reason being, not so long ago we have covered the news of Google introducing ‘Clever’ feature that made the ‘Google maps get directions’ feature handier.

Now, Google has come up with another feature that will add an Augmented Reality (AR) mode to the previous Google maps app. Yes, you heard it right! Google is going to introduce the AR navigation feature in its Google maps application. Though you might have to wait for a little more time as Google is planning to release the latest Google Map app for local guides viz. advanced Google Maps users in the initial stage.

This mode has been in beta for a while and should start hitting Pixel phones later today.

Augmented Images From Google

To make experiences more realistic, they’ve focused on the actual fact that things within the real world don’t always stay still. That’s why google change augmented images — The new API that lets individuals point their camera at 2nd pictures, like posters or packaging, to bring them to life. The updates enable users to track moving pictures and multiple images at the same time. This unlocks the flexibility to create dynamic and interactive experiences like animated playing cards where multiple pictures move at a similar time.

Light Estimation

Last year, Google introduced the concept of light estimation, which provides a single ambient light intensity to extend real-world lighting into a digital scene. In order to provide even more realistic lighting, we’ve added a new mode, Environmental HDR, to our Light Estimation API.

Environmental HDR uses machine learning with a single camera frame to know high dynamic range illumination in 360°. It takes in available light data and extends the light into a scene with accurate shadows, highlights, reflections and additional. when Environmental HDR is activated, digital objects are lit just like physical objects, therefore the two blend seamlessly, even when light sources are moving.

Environmental HDR provides developers with three APIs to replicate real-world lighting:

• Main Directional Light:  placing shadows in the correct direction
• Ambient Spherical Harmonics: helps model ambient illumination from everywhere ( All-Directions)
• HDR Cubemap: provides specular highlights and reflections

Scene Viewer

Google introduced the Scene Viewer to improve AR experience, which can be launched right from your website without downloading a separate app.

Follow these steps – to make your assets accessible via Scene Viewer,

1. add a glTF 3D asset to your website with the <model-viewer> web component,
2. add the “ar” attribute to the <model-viewer> markup.

<script type="module" src="https://unpkg.com/@google/model-viewer/dist/model-viewer.js"></script>
<script nomodule src="https://unpkg.com/@google/model-viewer/dist/model-viewer-legacy.js"></script>
<model-viewer ar src="examples/assets/YOURMODEL.gltf" auto-rotate camera-controls alt="TEXT ABOUT YOUR MODEL" background-color="#455A64"></model-viewer>

They’ve also added that experiences with the Scene Viewer will begin to surface in your Search results later by this year.

Incognito mode Privacy and Security Settings

Seems like each and every announcements these tech companies made nowadays must have some improvements in the privacy and security of the users. So, keeping up with the tradition, Google, with its Google I/O 2019 platform, has announced a new feature – Incognito Mode – that will focus primarily on the users’ security and privacy. Currently, as we are aware of, the Incognito Mode is available for the Google Chrome only. However, we will see the Incognito Mode in Google’s other apps such as YouTube, Google Maps and Google Search as well.