In case you’re not so much into matters tech and wonder why Google I/O is such a big deal for some of us, here are two things that happened at Google I/O 2013 that should make you eager to hear more about this year’s meet:
- Google announced the first Google Play Edition device, the Galaxy S4 at last year’s event
- Google Play Games
- Google Play Music All Access
Now that I have your attention, this year’s event will be held not in the traditional month of May but a month later, in June. Google I/O 2014 will take place from the 25th and through the 26th according to Android and Chrome chief Sundar Pichai who revealed the news through a post on Google+.
While we’re not sure why Google is breaking with tradition by scheduling I/O for June, word is already making rounds that it is to make sure the time is not “too early” for a refresh of the Nexus tablet line. That can just mean one thing: a refresh of the highly rated Nexus 7 tablet. Though we’re hardly interested in the small tablet more than we are by its larger sibling, the Nexus 10, that’s a good way of looking at it. Makes us look forward to something even though we have no idea what the folks over at Mountain View have been cooking.
Google I/O is where the company usually goes hands on with developers and releases stuff like SDKs while outlining its agenda for the developing community for the next year. In sticking with this, just like Apple will be doing with invites to attend WWDC, Google will be fully in-charge of who attends by not making it a first-come-first-served affair like before but rather randomly handpicking those who show interest in attending I/O by way of application.
While everyone is curious as to whether I/O will give us a hint of Google’s plans for the Nexus line of devices (there have been rumours that Google may discontinue it after that sale of Motorola to Lenovo), my main interest is, will we see Android 5.0 at I/O 2014? If yes, will it finally support 64-bit chips? How different will it be? 64-bit chip powered devices are bound to be popular in 2014 than before and upcoming devices like the Galaxy S5 are rumoured to be packing 64-bit chips, its about time Android had native support.
