Here’s what we’ve learned from Google I/O 2018 so far

• Android P beta is now available for Pixel phones, and interestingly some others too.
• Google Maps is getting new AR-enabled features.
  
• The Google Assistant will soon speak to humans, like humans.

Two days into Google I/O 2018, the annual developer conference, Google has made some important announcements. Most of these are based on the company’s use of artificial intelligence, and from the Google Assistant to Gmail, everything is getting a AI kick. But how does that matter to Indian users?

Below are the highlights:

Gmail

• Gmail gets smarter: Smart Compose, the dandy new feature is a machine learning based feature which not only predicts words, but entire phrases are rendered -- just keep hitting the Tab button and Google will keep auto-completing sentences. These suggestions are based on the context and usage history. The new feature roll’s out next month.

Google Photos

• Google photos can not just restore our old black and white photos, but also convert them to colour images. The app is even getting smarter, with new options to convert images directly to PDF, machine learning based retouch options and suggested tagging and sharing options.

Google Assistant

• Google’s Assistant becomes more human-like. It is making the Assistant sound more like a human. The Google Assistant will get six new voices to choose from, including John Legend, an American singer-songwriter. Google said that the Assistant will support 30 different languages by the end of 2018. Interestingly, India is part of this initiative, as shown by the map Google displayed on stage when making the announcement.
• You will no longer have to say “Hey Google” for every command, as the Google Assistant now supports continuous conversations. So, one can give direct commands after an initial wake command. This will even let us concatenate commands together, making AI assistant sound feel more natural.
• Google even introduced a new feature called “Pretty Please”. With this, the Assistant will respond politely to commands that include “please”.
• But easily the most interesting was Google’s sneak peek into the future, with a demo of Google Duplex. This new feature will allow the user to make appointments and bookings directly from the Assistant. When you do so, the Assistant will be able to place a call to the restaurant, salon etc. and have a conversation with a real person to set appointments for you. Google did say it’s a work in progress though, so it’ll be a while before it comes to market.

Google News

• Google news is getting an overall upgrade that focuses on highlighting quality journalism. This will eventually learn what kind of news you prefer and display content pertaining to your preferences.

Google Maps

• Google Maps gets a new tab called “For You”, which shows new businesses in your area, plus recommendations based on what’s trending.
• A new feature called “Your Match” also displays the likelihood of one liking a new restaurant based on historical ratings.
• Augmented reality is also being added to Google Maps.

Android P

• Android P brings a ton of new features. The most of important of these is the replacement of old navigation buttons with gesture-based navigation control.
• A feature is being introduced, which will limit the screen time for specific apps of your choosing. This is part of Google’s efforts to enhance user well being.
• There’s a new Dashboard that shows users exactly how they spent their day on their phone. It’ll show you which apps you use and for how long, and it provides other important info as well. Controls will be available to help limit the amount of time you spend on certain apps.
• An enhanced Do Not Disturb mode will stop visual notifications, audio notifications, and vibrations. There’s also a new “Shush” feature that automatically enables Do Not Disturb when a phone is turned face down on a table.
• There’s a new wind-down mode that fades the display to grayscale when someone uses his or her phone late at night.

• Google also announced the upcoming computer vision based project Google Lens, which might even come to India.