Google I/O 2022 is drawing to a close, and now, the company has finally published the schedule. As always, the developer conference is replete with deep dives into app development, Google’s latest guidelines when it comes to user experience, but also general broad announcements that are relevant to everyone, whether you’re a Be the owner or developer of an Android device. We dug through the program so you don’t have to, and here are our top seven panels you don’t want to miss.
Google I/O 2022 Keynote
The Google I/O keynote is the event that kicks off the developer conference, and like every year, it’s the morning of the first day of assembly. If you don’t have a lot of time to follow up on all the other Google I/O activities, this is definitely an event you don’t want to miss. Google will give a comprehensive overview of everything we dive into during I/O, and there are likely to be several announcements. We’ll almost certainly hear more about Android 13, and we may see the ominous Pixel Watch, and Pixel 6a also in store.
This time around, the keynote speech will take place on May 11 at 10:00 a.m. PT (13:00 p.m. ET). If you want a comprehensive overview of Google’s plans for the near future, be sure to tune in.
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Developer Keynote
While you might think that the company would only talk about unsexy technical details in the developer keynote, this has historically proven to be a very accessible thing, with the company sometimes skipping some big announcements that it just wasn’t able to. Include as thi regular keynote speaker.
The event will start right after the regular keynote, so if you have a few more hours on the first day of the conference, be sure to check it out.
What’s new in Android
Once the first two keynotes are over, Google will go deeper into what’s new in Android. Since Android 13 is the latest beta release of its OS, and it’s likely that its second beta will drop during I/O, we’ll almost certainly hear a lot more that Google has hidden from our view so far.
This is also the first year that Google is running two beta programs simultaneously, with the June feature drop of Android 12 also available as a beta under the QPR beta moniker (quarterly platform release). Since the stable launch of this new feature drop isn’t too far away, we wouldn’t expect the company to talk about it too much during I/O, but we’ve never been in this dual beta state before, so who knows.
What’s new in Google Pay
We suspect Google has quite a bit of news regarding Pay, seeing as how a new “wallet” branding has been doing the rounds in recent leaks. While details are still scant, imagery and app teardowns suggest that Google Pay may be in for yet another rebranding, it’s called Google Wallet. If that name sounds familiar, that’s because Google made its foray into payment processing almost ten years ago with its Google Wallet debit card, only to rebrand the service to Android Pay in 2015 and then Google Pay in 2018. For. Either way, Google says that “payments are constantly evolving and so is Google Pay,” which is certainly interesting wording.
While we’re certain Google will announce its new branding during the I/O keynote, you can hear more details about what the company has in store after the developer keynote.
What’s new in Chrome OS
It looks like Google has been purging a lot of resources into Chrome OS lately, building it up as a platform that supports almost all use cases you can imagine on desktops and tablets. The company recently revealed that it’s adding Steam support, and there are several other upcoming features that were already teased during CES 2022, such as deeper integration with Android phones like your mobile device’s on your Chromebook. Ability to interact with the screen.
Like the Android and Google Pay keynotes, this will happen right after the developer conference, so you’ll have to choose the one you’re most interested in.
What’s new in Google Home
Google is constantly expanding its smart home efforts, and one of the more interesting upcoming devices could be the Nest Hub with a separate display running Android. Google promises it will help you “discover a new era for Google Home” in this panel, which are huge words, leading us to believe it has some interesting things to share. Of course, the company could also focus on interoperability. As with other smart home platforms, as it is one of the major proponents of Matter, an industry-wide smart home standard that makes things easier to move forward.
The Google Home session is another one that starts right after the developer conference, so you see, it’s really about picking the date you’re most interested in.
Creating a Privacy Sandbox
Privacy Sandbox is Google’s latest attempt to introduce a replacement for third-party cookies after failing with its initial FLOC initiative. The new privacy-minded ad-targeting technology has just gone live as a preview for developers on Android, so it’ll be interesting to see how Google is going to combine two intrinsically different concepts—privacy and ad-targeting. Is. The team behind Sandbox is going to answer some questions on the technology affecting both Android and Chrome.
The Privacy Sandbox panel is taking place at 9:00 a.m. PT (12:00 p.m. ET) on the second day of Google I/O, so this is one you can associate with the second session.
Some of these events happen at the same time, but don’t worry. Google will record all of these and offer them for later consumption, so if you need to pick one over the other, you can just grab what you’ve missed for later. Covering all the most interesting features and announcements to come from this year’s Google I/O, we’ll have your back – stay tuned!
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About the Author
Manuel Vonau (published 1651 articles)
Manuel is the Europe editor of Android Police based in Berlin, Germany. He first started writing for the publication in 2019, but has been an Android enthusiast ever since he picked up the HTC One S and later the Nexus 4.
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