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This morning in our Mountain View, CA backyard, we kicked off Google
I/O, our annual developer conference. Much has changed since our first
developer event 10 years ago, and even more since Google started 17
years ago. Back then, there were 300 million people online, connecting
through desktop machines; today that number is over 3 billion, with the
majority using mobile devices as their primary way to get information,
organize their day, get from point A to point B, and stay in touch. In a
world in which the mobile phone has become the remote control for our
daily lives, Google’s mission “to organize the world’s information and
make it universally accessible and useful” is truer and more important
than ever before.
The Google assistant
When we think of the Google search experience today—a rich panel of
information on [Zika virus], or an alert telling you your flight is
delayed—it’s striking to see how far things have come from the early
days of 10 blue links. Many of these advances have been thanks to
machine learning and artificial intelligence—specifically, areas like
natural language processing, voice recognition and translation—and they
have helped us build an increasingly useful and assistive experience for
users. They are the ingredients that make Google speech recognition the
most accurate in the world, and that let you take a picture of a sign
in Chinese and see it translated into English.
Progress in all of these areas is accelerating, and we believe we are at
a seminal moment. People are increasingly interacting naturally with
Google, and aren’t just looking for the world’s information but actually
expecting Google to help them with their daily tasks.
Which is why we’re pleased to introduce...the Google assistant.
The assistant is conversational—an ongoing two-way dialogue between you
and Google that understands your world and helps you get things done. It
makes it easy to buy movie tickets while on the go, to find that
perfect restaurant for your family to grab a quick bite before the movie
starts, and then help you navigate to the theater. It’s a Google for
you, by you.
The assistant is an ambient experience that will work seamlessly across
devices and contexts. So you can summon Google’s help no matter where
you are or what the context. It builds on all our years of investment in
deeply understanding users' questions.
Today we gave a preview of two new products where you’ll soon be able to draw on the Google assistant.
Google Home
Google Home is a voice-activated product that brings the Google
assistant to any room in your house. It lets you enjoy entertainment,
manage everyday tasks, and get answers from Google—all using
conversational speech. With a simple voice command, you can ask Google
Home to play a song, set a timer for the oven, check your flight, or
turn on your lights. It’s designed to fit your home with customizable
bases in different colors and materials. Google Home will be released
later this year.
Allo and Duo
Allo is a new messaging app that also comes complete with the Google
assistant, so you can interact with it directly in your chats, either
one-on-one or with friends. Because the assistant understands your
world, you can ask for things like your agenda for the day or photos
from your last trip. If you’re planning a dinner with friends, you can
ask the assistant to suggest restaurants nearby, all in one thread.
Allo includes Smart Reply, which suggests responses to messages based on
context, and comes with fun ways to make your chats more expressive,
including emojis, stickers, and the ability to get creative with photos.
There’s also an Incognito mode that provides end-to-end encryption,
discreet notifications, and message expiration.
In addition to Allo, we’re introducing Duo, a companion app for
one-to-one video calling. With Duo, our goal is to make video calling
faster and more reliable, even on slower network speeds. We also
introduced a feature called Knock Knock, which gives you a live video of
the other caller before you answer.
Best of all, both Allo and Duo are based on your phone number, so you
can communicate with anyone regardless of whether they’re on Android or
iOS. Both apps will be available this summer. Read more
here.
Android N, Wear, VR, and Instant Apps
Today we shared details about what’s coming in Android N, including
better performance for graphics and effects, reduced battery consumption
and storage, background downloads of system updates, and streamlined
notifications so you can power through them faster, and updated emojis
including 72 new ones. And we want your help coming up with a name for N
that can be a sweet successor to Marshmallow.
Read more and help us #NameAndroidN at
Android.com/N.
On top of Android N, we’ve built a new platform for high quality mobile VR called
Daydream.
Together with Android manufacturers, we're working on upcoming phones,
and sharing designs with them for a VR viewer and controller that will
be really immersive, comfortable and intuitive to use. Your favorite
apps and games will be coming to Daydream too, including Google's—like
YouTube, Street View, Play Movies, Google Photos and the Play Store.
More to come this fall.
We also previewed
Android Wear 2.0,
including a revamped user experience and standalone apps that run right
on the watch, no matter where your phone is or even if it's off.
Finally, we’re introducing
Android Instant Apps—which let you run Android apps instantly, without requiring installation.
Firebase
Today we launched a big expansion of
Firebase,
our most comprehensive developer offering to date. Going beyond a
mobile backend, the platform helps developers quickly build high-quality
apps, grow their user base, and earn more money across iOS, Android and
the mobile web.
Tackling global challenges with smarter tools
Machine learning and AI are changing not only computing, but also the
way in which we tackle problems we’ve never been able to solve before.
The opportunities are even greater when we harness the powers of
open-source tools
to make them available to the broader developer and researcher
community. Imagine what we could do if we work together and use these
technologies to tackle challenges in climate change, health care or
education. As our machine learning and AI capabilities get smarter and
more versatile, these possibilities are starting to appear on the
horizon. These are very exciting times indeed.
Posted by Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google
Whether it’s welcoming a new baby, celebrating the winning shot in
overtime, or discovering the best taco stand ever—we all want to share
these moments with friends and family the instant they happen. Most of
the time, this means picking up our phones and sending a message or
starting a call. Today we’re sharing a preview of two new apps that take
a fresh look at how people connect.
Allo, a smart messaging app
Allo is a smart messaging app that makes your conversations easier and
more expressive. It’s based on your phone number, so you can get in
touch with anyone in your phonebook. And with deeply integrated machine
learning, Allo has smart features to keep your conversations flowing and
help you get things done.
Emojis, stickers, Ink, and our Whisper Shout feature in Allo
Allo has Smart Reply built in (similar to
Inbox),
so you can respond to messages without typing a single word. Smart
Reply learns over time and will show suggestions that are in your style.
For example, it will learn whether you’re more of a “haha” vs. “lol”
kind of person. The more you use Allo the more “you” the suggestions
will become. Smart Reply also works with photos, providing intelligent
suggestions related to the content of the photo. If your friend sends
you a photo of tacos, for example, you may see Smart Reply suggestions
like “yummy” or “I love tacos.”
Smart Reply suggestions in Allo
Allo also features the Google assistant, bringing the richness of Google
directly into your chats—helping you find information, get things done,
and have fun. You can chat one-on-one with the assistant, or call on
Google in a group chat with friends. Either way, you no longer have to
jump between apps to do things like book a dinner reservation with
friends, get up-to-date sports scores, settle a bet, or play a game. The
assistant in Allo lets you bring things like Search, Maps, YouTube and
Translate to all your conversations, so that you and your friends can
use Google together.
The Google assistant in Allo understands your world, so you can ask for
things like your agenda for the day, details of your flight and hotel,
or photos from your last trip. And since it understands natural language
patterns, you can just chat like yourself and it’ll understand what
you’re saying. For example, "Is my flight delayed?" will return
information about your flight status.
Google assistant in Allo
Privacy and security are important in messaging, so following in the
footsteps of Chrome, we created Incognito mode in Allo. Chats in
Incognito mode will have end-to-end encryption and discreet
notifications, and we’ll continue to add new features to this mode.
Duo, a video calling app for everyone
Duo is a simple, fast one-to-one video calling app for everyone—whether
you’re on Android or iOS, a fast or slow connection, in New York or New
Delhi. Like Allo, Duo is based on your phone number, allowing you to
reach anyone in your phonebook. And its simple interface fades away when
you’re in a call, so it’s just the two of you.
Video call in Duo
One of our favorite features of Duo is Knock Knock, which shows you a
live video preview of the caller before you pick up. Knock Knock invites
you into the moment, making calls feel spontaneous and fun. Once you
answer, Duo seamlessly transitions you right into the call.
Duo calls are in crisp HD video (up to 720p) and audio. We’ve optimized
Duo to work well even on spotty networks, so if bandwidth is limited it
gracefully adjusts quality so you’re still able to connect. We also
seamlessly transition calls between cellular and Wi-Fi, so you don’t
need to worry about what network you’re on. Finally, we built Duo with
privacy and security in mind and all calls on Duo are end-to-end
encrypted.
Both Allo and Duo will be available this summer on Android and iOS. We can't wait for you to try them.
