With only a week to go until the biggest android event of the year, Google’s I/O, much anticipation surrounds what the company will unveil at the event. The truth is, nobody’s quite sure what to expect this year. Last year, saw a number of big announcements coming from Google and as such there is debate as to how much will be unveiled at the actual event. However, since Google released the schedule, there has been a number of rumors and speculation hitting the headlines.
First up and almost immediately after the schedule was released, eagle eyed spotters noted that there was a reference to Android M being mentioned in the Android for Work segment description. This immediately led to speculation that Android M (the next incarnation of android’s operating system) would be announced. However, the reference did not last long, as the reference soon disappeared after it was reported. More recently, came the news that Google are likely to unveil a new photo service. This one has been long rumored in the media with many speculating that Google was planning to offer a new photo service which was separate to Google+. In fact, this has pretty much lead to speculation about the future of Google+. As a result, many eyes will be watching this to see if Google do indeed launch a new photo service at next week’s event.
Well, the latest coming out of the I/O rumor house is that Google might be launching a new fingerprint authentication feature as well. The news comes from Buzz Feed (source link below) who detail that the new fingerprint authentication is expected to be unveiled at the I/O event. Apparently, the new fingerprint authentication will be one of the features announced as part of the Android M unveiling. Or, at least will be one of the Android M features. In fairness, fingerprint authentication is nothing new, however, the juice of this particular rumor is that it will allow you to open any of your apps or Google features/services, once enabled. In short, a universal overriding fingerprint authentication for all supported apps. Of course, this is very much only rumored at the moment. However, with only a week to go, it won’t be that long before we do hear what Google has in store for everyone this year.