There were some exciting announcements at Google I/O 2022. We saw details about the Pixel 6a, Pixel 7, the long-awaited Pixel Watch, and even the Pixel Tablet arriving in 2023. However, among the intriguing revelations were a handful of updates about the technology and services that have existed over the years. , We’re not entirely sure why there was so much buzz about old things, but now we’re going to take a look at some of them.
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More apps on Wear OS, again
This may need to be filed under “Every Year We Hear”. Although Google announced a few new things for Wear OS this year, it couldn’t resist another update on app compatibility.
Despite being out for years at this point, we now have announcements of hit new music apps like Deezer and SoundCloud, with “many more” coming soon. In case the satire wasn’t blatantly obvious, Deezer and SoundCloud are ancient music services. Google’s inability to get developers to treat Wear OS as a development priority comes to the fore on an almost annual basis. Frankly, it was a bit disappointing to be reminded that such apps weren’t already available on Wear OS 3.0.
See all: The best Wear OS watches you can buy
Now here’s the real question: Do we believe Wear OS is a must to become a wearable platform? Google has been beating the drum since Wear OS launched seven years ago, but things have changed a bit in this space. Samsung now has Wear OS watches and the new Pixel Watch is finally a flagship watch. Perhaps the new wave of really interesting devices will inspire developers to create more Wear OS apps. We’ll have to see, but hearing it again in 2022 was a reminder of Google’s ongoing difficulties in the wearables space.
Google Wallet re-announced
For real, dear readers, did you hear that Google is launching something called Google Wallet?
You weren’t alone in a double-take during Keynote, because this is actually the second time Google has announced and released Google Wallet. Google Wallet was originally launched in 2011 and this year’s release really felt like an announcement from 2011. The new is basically the same as the old. You input your cards, tap-to-pay at terminals, and you can add things like membership or rewards cards.
The new Google Wallet looks a lot like the old one.
There are some new tricks in this, but new tricks also seem old. You can add your driver’s license to this version of it – a feature Apple Wallet introduced in 2021. We also knew it was coming because it was one of the new features in Android 11 two years ago. Seeing Google employees talking enthusiastically about Google Wallet felt like deja vu because those of us who have been in the tech blogging industry for a while have literally seen this before. it was awesome.
It turns out casting on TV is a big deal, again
It was a matter of curiosity. During the Google I/O 2022 keynote, there was an entire section about the importance of casting your phone’s screen to other screens, like your TV. He also talked about how much better it would be if it were more widely available. In the real world, Chromecast is the most popular streaming stick and Google has sold 55 million of them since 2017. This indicates to me, at least, that Google has already won the war on TV casting and we’re not sure why they brought it up again like it’s becoming relevant right now.
See all: Chromecast with Google TV Everything you need to know
In Google’s defense, he used the casting material as an argument to talk about the new Fast Pair feature. The new feature lets you quickly and automatically connect to devices over Bluetooth. We’re not sure why he opened this segment by talking about the benefits of casting, which we’ve all been enjoying since 2013, but it was another flashback to an earlier era.
Google cares about tablets again
At the very least, a new Pixel tablet was announced at the end of the tablet segment and that’s really exciting. I’m a big fan of the older Nexus 7 devices and I wish Google would launch a tablet since then.
Most of the other tablet-related announcements, however, seemed to date back to 2011, when Android Honeycomb was announced. Also among the announcements were that Google was updating 20 Google apps to give them tablet-specific UIs sometime next week or so. We have been waiting for this for literally 11 years. I think it’s too late than ever.
The Pixel tablet is exciting, but it’s taken years for Google to optimize 20 apps for the form factor.
There were some good things though. We saw some functionality out of Android 12L, along with some neat tricks like dragging and dropping notifications to open apps. During the demo, Google showed off the ability to drag photos out of Photos and into Gmail. Granted, iPads have had many of those features over the years and Microsoft Windows PCs have had that functionality for decades. It’s still good that Google is at least trying to break out of that big hole when it comes to tablets.
Can’t wait till 2023: Best Android Tablets to Spend Your Money on
My Ad Center lets you re-customize your advertising experience
Google announced the My Ad Center experience during Google I/O 2022. It lets you customize your own advertising experience by telling Google what you do and what you don’t. However, you’ve actually been able to do this for centuries. Hit this link while in a browser logged into your Google Account and you’ll get your advertising profile. You can see what Google thinks about your age, gender, and the languages spoken, along with a huge list of things Google thinks interest you. You can tap on any information and tell Google you’re not interested in it and even change things like your age. The site has been around for a long time.
So, how does My Ad Center change the experience? It is not. It simply moves what already exists to a different place with a new name and a new UI. The only thing that seems different is that you can have access to more information in My Ad Center than in the earlier Ad Settings website. We’ll have to wait for its full launch before we know for sure.
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For the record, it’s not a hit piece on Google. There were some really interesting announcements and with all the work Google is doing, it looks like it will be beneficial in the long run. It was just hilarious to see Google re-playing their greatest hits with all the real new stuff. Stay tuned with Android Authority for more Google I/O 2022 coverage.
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