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Google I/O 2015 to cover Android M, Voice Access and more

by Mark Tyson on 7 May 2015, 10:21

Tags: Google (NASDAQ:GOOG)

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Google's official schedule for its I/O 2015 conference went live yesterday. From the first looks through the two day schedule (day 1 and day 2), a couple of standout developments under the spotlight at the conference appear to be: the next version of Android, codenamed Android M, and an accessibility feature called Voice Access. Hopefully there will be more interesting revelations kept under wraps for the conference itself.

The Mountain View firm made specific mention of 'Android M' in a section about Android for work, however that document and reference has already been pulled, reports Android Police. That event was in the schedule at 2.30pm on day one but is now not listed in the schedule. Luckily some bright spark made a screenshot of the Android M reference, as seen below.

As you can read in the above screenshot description, a major new feature of Android M is in helping Android devices fit into the workplace. Last year Google used the I/O to talk about Android L which subsequently materialised as Android Lollipop. Android Lollipop powers just under 10 per cent of active devices according to Google's own stats.

The touch screen that most Android devices rely upon for input and interaction works very well in most cases but sometimes hands-free is more convenient or simply a must. Now, thanks to personal assistants on all the major mobile platforms, you can do lots using your voice but Android M is to bring further touch UI replacement techniques to the OS.

Under the auspices of accessibility Google is developing Voice Access. This looks to be some software tools that will enable developers to make their apps hands-free. The Google I/O session is called "Your app, now available hands-free". In the talk developers are told of a feature where they can "give anyone access to their Android device through voice alone," with little or no development overhead.

Google I/O 2015 runs from 28th to 28th May. It is held at the Moscone Centre in San Francisco, CA. The keynote and select sessions will be live streamed online.



HEXUS Forums :: 7 Comments

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I wonder what they'll call the new Android OS. I can't think of any desserts starting with M.
Meringue
Marshmallow

or if they go down the mainstream tie-in they used for K:

Malteser (clearly the option Hexus is favouring ;) )
Mars
McFlurry
I'm going for milkybar, it's a nestle product like kit kat :)

You know the only ‘voice’ feature I would like is for google now to do things like adding an appointment without needing to access the web first (well I'd like it to add it to my hotmail calendar not force googles on me but that's another matter…). So I suppose that's basic voice recognition and ability to do certain actions without using data connections and then sync when in an authorised wifi area say. Obviously I doubt this would happen as google would lose all that valuable data.
didn't this give you a clue?

So
cptwhite_uk
didn't this give you a clue?

So

um kit kat was originally called key lime pie so it can all change…. :p