Google has unveiled Android TV, Android Wear and Android Auto at its annual developer conference, I/O.
Here’s a quick brush through of all of them.
Android in the living room
Based on Android L, Android L is Google’s latest attempt at redefining content consumption.
It has access to the Play Store where it will be able to access all your purchased content (music and video) for your home streaming pleasure. It will also use this Play Store access to sync your game progress to Google Cloud and rank you in leaderboards just in case you are gaming using Android TV (it is possible to game). Besides streaming content purchased from the Play Store, Google has several launch partners who will also allow users to stream content from their platforms to the TV as well. These include Netflix (House of Cards 🙂 ), Hulu and music streaming service Spotify (all those Tomorrowland mixes can be streamed as well 🙂 ).
Android TV will allow you to stream content using your TV set’s traditional ports like HDMI as well and it supports Google Casts. You know what that means? You can “cast”/mirror content on your Android smartphone or tablet to your bigger display in the living room.
Control of Android TV is via a D-Pad control, voice (just talk to it… Ok Google everywhere) or, wait for it, Android Wear! Yes, you can simply start watching Game of Thrones by tapping the play button on that 1.65 inch G Watch screen.
Google is partnering with the likes of Sony, Sharp, Philips and other players in the TV market so that their next generation high end TV sets ship with built-in support for Android Wear.
Android in the car
This is not something special. It is simply a clean and simple UI that is activated on your device when it detects that you are in the car so that it can be controlled straight from that sizeable screen on your car dashboard. Your smartphone is projected onto that screen but instead of getting that phone UI, you have an organized interface that allows you to listen to music, use Maps for finding your way around or send and receive texts via voice as you drive.
Android in the car is called Android Auto and it will be making its debut in car models made by automakers who are part of the Open Automotive Alliance that Google formed together with them and announced it to the world back in January. With Apple really serious about CarPlay, Android Auto is what Google will be using to counter it as the battle for the car dashboard intensifies. The likes of Maserati, Audi, Mazda, Ford, Jeep, Bentley, Alfa Romeo and others are members of OAA and are expected to release cars with full Android Auto powered systems at some time.
Android Wear
Android Wear was just made official and the hardware partners also got a chance to have their hardware being showcased. You can read more on the first generation of Android Wear devices which went on sale on the Play Store just moments ago here.
