As I mentioned in my previous post, there was no new version of Android announced at Google I/O this year. I speculated, and suggested why I think they waited with the release of it, but since then I’ve been watching the keynote videos, checking what Android authorities are saying and I must admit, I think I got it slightly wrong previously.
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I don’t think my reasoning was wrong, but I completely underplayed how important what we got instead of a new version of Android is. The newly announced Google Play Services tackles Android’s biggest criticism, fragmentation, and gives power over the OS back to Google. This may sound ridiculous for a 20MB app on your phone, but that’s the magic behind it. Let me explain:
Firstly, what are Google’s Play Services? Well, they’re a set of powerful APIs (application programming interfaces) combined into one place that allows devices running Android 2.2 and above to make use of the very latest Google services. APIs are snippets of code that allow one piece of software to communicate with another, and what these new tools from Google do is that they allow developers to use them as a conduit to access a lot of Android’s core features.
You probably didn’t even know you had the application installed, yet when it updated along with the I/O announcements, Google instantly regained control over their OS from the OEMs and carriers. “But how?” I can hear you asking. Well, Google pushed its new Play Services app to all of the 900 million activated Android devices, giving users stuck on Gingerbread and Froyo access to the very latest and greatest Google features, without having to rely on carriers and OEMs to push OS updates.
Fusing services
So enough about the new Play Services, let’s get into what the actually do. Some of the new Play Services include the new fused location service, the Play Games service, as well as the improved Google Cloud Messaging and the new panorama API. Google have basically pulled these APIs from the OS and injected them back via the Play Services. Before I/O I remember reading a lot about the still missing Android 4.3 and its “brand new unified messaging solution.”
Google power
This did make me a little nervous because as the past has demonstrated only the Nexus range really gets to enjoy the latest and greatest from the Android team, and THAT is why the new Play Services are so much better than a new OS version. Everyone can enjoy the new Hangouts app which is gorgeous, if not completely where I expected it to be on release, but it’ll get there. Google are empowering themselves, their users, and even users of their products on other platforms, yes, including iOS. And that ladies and gentlemen is what the tech world is about, sharing tools to benefit all users, regardless of mobile OS. Great technology is great for users, your personal preference of hardware should make no difference, and it’s exactly why I’ll back Google over any other mobile OS manufacturer.
