You don't have to wait until the Google I/O keynote for a peek at the future of Android. Google today teased a pre-I/O web show that will show off "what’s new on Android."
The prerecorded online event, dubbed The Android Show: I/O Edition, starts at 10 a.m. PT on May 13. A 29-second teaser video Google posted to YouTube featuring Sameer Samat, Google’s Android Ecosystem president, offers no spoilers and little substance.
“Hi, everyone, I’m Sameer, and this year we have something special for you: The Android Show: I/O Edition,” he says while standing in front of a bookshelf featuring various Android phones. “We hope you’ll all tune in on May 13 to see what’s new on Android.”
The obvious subject for this production would be the upcoming Android 16 release, which hit its third beta in March and had looked primed for an introduction onstage at I/O. Google PR says that I/O itself will feature “more updates in keynotes and technical sessions for developers.”
Release notes and other hints from Android 16's beta releases and earlier developer previews indicate this update will add features like a return of lock-screen widgets, AI-generated summaries of notifications from messaging apps, new tools to manage health data securely, and stricter security features.
That description may not sound like enough change to deserve a new version number. (I'd like to see Google copy more of Apple’s app-privacy features, such as the option to limit an app’s contacts-list access to only one or a few items.) But you'll find out soon enough what fills out the rest of the Android 16 sales pitch. As Samat says at the end of the video: “Whoah, May 13, that’s coming up fast.”
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Rob Pegoraro writes about interesting problems and possibilities in computers, gadgets, apps, services, telecom, and other things that beep or blink. He’s covered such developments as the evolution of the cell phone from 1G to 5G, the fall and rise of Apple, Google’s growth from obscure Yahoo rival to verb status, and the transformation of social media from CompuServe forums to Facebook’s billions of users. Pegoraro has met most of the founders of the internet and once received a single-word email reply from Steve Jobs.
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