The first day of Google I/O 2014 might well be winding up for the most part, with the keynote and a number of sessions behind them, but Google had a lot to announce today. The focus today was definitely on Android, and Google’s next wave of design when it comes to mobile, both on Android and the Web. Material Design has been the big thing in Android L, and we’re sure that Matias Duarte, the same man that made the breath of fresh air that was WebOS back in the day, had a lot to do with it. Today, Google announced Android L, Android Wear, Android TV and Android Auto with demos of each onstage for all to see. Clearly, today has been a busy day for Google.
While us technical folk are all about the APIs and the new design lingo, it’s hard for these things to mean a thing to the general consumer. Google has slowly cottoned on to such an idea and in recent years, the Nexus devices have been catered to everyone, not just those of us that care deeply about simple, effective builds of a mobile operating system. To that end, Google has put together a two-minute video that gives general users an idea of what the next generation of Android means for them. There’s lots of Android L goodness in there, but Google is really trying to sell the idea that this is the same Android no matter which screen you’re using it on. Throughout the two-minute trailer, one man and his dog (a show winner, no less) get up to all sorts of things.
First of all we start with the phone, quickly change to the watch, the the tablet and then the car and then to the TV. The point here is that all five of these devices are running Android L in some form or another, and that the design language is the same throughout all of these devices. Of course, whether this stays the same with HTC, Samsung, LG et al putting their own stamp on Android remains to be seen. With Android L scheduled to be released this Fall, OEMs have plenty of time to mess up, sorry, deliver their own take on Android L. Take a look at the video below.