Google just recently released a new version of Google Play Services, which is version 7.5. It’s now rolling out to devices everywhere, as usual it’s a staged rollout though, so if your device doesn’t have it just yet, hang tight it’s coming. As usual, Android Police has decided to teardown the APK and see what they can find new inside the APK. And there are all kinds of goodies that we’ll likely see at Google I/O. Including one that backs up a report we heard from The Information yesterday.
Android@Home, remember that? Android@Home first was announced at Google I/O 2011, and pretty much vanished, as we haven’t seen or heard anything about it until yesterday, when that report from The Information surfaced about Google’s Internet of things platform. In Google Play Services v7.5, there are a bunch of strings that reference “smartdevice”. Android Police believes that these strings are connecting two devices together, hence the Internet of Things. Android@Home is Google’s vision of being able to control everything in your home from your Android device. That includes the lights, the oven, the microwave, even the smoke detector. Which they’ve started moving into that area by buying up Nest and Dropcam in recent years. And it appears we might be seeing quite a bit of this at Google I/O this year.
Nearby Sharing also makes another appearance in Google Play Services v7.5. We first saw Nearby Sharing before Google I/O 2014, and Google has yet to mention anything officially about it. But it’s back in Google Play Services now, so it’s likely to get turned on from the server side in the near future.
Trusted Devices. It appears Google is really taking Trusted Devices and Smart Lock seriously. Earlier this year, we saw a new part of this feature roll out, where the Nexus 6 could determine when your smartphone is on your, whether in your pocket or in your hand. And it would stay unlocked. Now in this version of Google Play Services, it appears that Trusted Devices will be able to tell when that device is being worn. This is mostly for smartwatches, like the Moto 360.
This just part one of Android Police’s teardown. It appears that there are a lot of goodies inside this update for Google Play Services, which isn’t too surprising considering we are less than a week away from Google I/O taking place in San Francisco. It’s almost like a preview of what Google has in store for us next week.