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Google I/O 2010: What You Need to Know Today, Tomorrow, And Beyond

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The day is finally here. We’re on the brink of the 3rd annual Google I/O conference and I couldn’t be any more excited. When I woke up, I was recapping how I would be able to keep up with all of the action to come out of the Moscone West Convention Center in “Sunny San Fran”, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

io-ornaments-2010

Thus, I figured it’d be a good idea to round up all of the information you’ll need if you’re planning to follow this event from the comfort of where ever you are forced to be today (aren’t we all wishing we were able to goto I/O?) Google I/O to Android fans like us  is the CES to general tech buffs, the E3 to gamers, and the Antique Road Show to collectors, old folks, and hippies. It’s become a staple event of the Android nation since 2008, and this year it only looks to be even better.

  • We’re expecting an Android 2.2 (Froyo) announcement. It will be a major milestone for the Android platform which introduces some great new features such as Flash Mobile 10.1 from Adobe. We also suspect Google has baked the JIT compiler into the kernel for increased performance. Other goodies are yet to be confirmed or revealed, so when Google takes the stage to (hopefully) announce Froyo, we’re hoping to learn more about what other tricks it has up its sleeve.
  • Adobe will be showing off Flash Mobile in its final or near-final stages. I believe this deserved its own bullet point as we could also hear an announcement regarding its availability on older Android versions, as well (namely 2.1). It’s a long shot, but we’ll be looking out for it.
  • Games will be a main focal point. Everyone knows that Android isn’t the most inviting operating system to use if all you’ll be downloading is games. Thankfully, Google is taking that very seriously as demonstrated through their new initiatives such as acquiring game development experts to help make Android a more approachable system for developers. We’ll be seeing a few sessions focused on game development for Android, today, so hopefully a new age of gaming for Android gets a kick-start with the 2010 Google I/O conference.
  • The first Android-based TV is being announced today. Sony, Intel, and Google have teamed up to create a new space for Android: the television market. From phones to netbooks, tablets to MIDs, and even Android-powered cars: we’re now going to see Android be used to create a unique television experience that could change the way you consume your video content. We’ve yet to get any details on what they might be showing, but recent patent application images might give us an idea.

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With that out of the way, let’s talk about how you can keep a tab on all of the latest news coming from Google I/O.

  • On Twitter, if you’re familiar with it, Google’s dubbing the official hashtag to be #io2010. While it will be a hectic way to follow the event, it’s a great way to get up-to-the-second blurbs about what’s going on at the keynote speeches. This is especially useful if you can’t view videos while you’re at work, because the next bullet-point won’t apply to you.
  • You can view the keynotes live via YouTube. Google will be streaming the keynotes on their own YouTube channel so you don’t miss the important bits as they’re announced. This is great for those who couldn’t make it and for those of us who simply didn’t get a chance to go. While you won’t be getting the full I/O experience, you can at least be excited for some great announcements coming out of the keynotes. (Wednesday’s keynote speech begins at 9:00 am and will last until 10:30 am pacific. Thursday’s keynote will begin at 8:30 am and will last until 10:00 am pacific. Both of these events essentially “kick-off” the day-long conference on each day, so you’ll want to keep your eyes on your favorite news source starting from those times.)
  • Definitely keep your eyes glued to Phandroid. While a live-blogging experience would be deemed unnecessary (thanks to those aforementioned live streams for the keynote speeches), we’ll still do our best to bring you the most compelling and up-to-date coverage out of Google I/O. That means that – along with everything you hear announced at the keynotes – we’ll be working hard to bring you some unique stories and content that you probably wouldn’t find anywhere else.
  • Sessions will be online no later than 1-2 weeks after the event. Similar to last year, Google will be recording most of their hosted sessions and will be posting them online. With this – and the keynotes – you’ll be getting everything that the I/O attendees get, except for the valuable hands-on time with whatever you’re looking to get your feet wet with (and, of course, the free phone that you get just for attending, among other swag).

Google’s made it easy to feel like you’re a part of the event when you aren’t. With streamed keynotes and sessions uploaded to YouTube – not to mention Twitter and our anticipated coverage for the event – you should be very well equipped to follow the latest and greatest to come out of the Android camp.

Quentyn Kennemer
The "Google Phone" sounded too awesome to pass up, so I bought a G1. The rest is history. And yes, I know my name isn't Wilson.

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17 Comments

  1. Can’t wait!

  2. man i never wanted a balloon so bad in my life LOL

  3. when ( GMT time) ?

  4. Can’t believe that this actually excites me. BUT it does!!

    Look forward to the updates guys.

  5. AMZss

    -8.00hrs from pacific time. eg 9am there is 5pm here (GMT)

  6. sorry corr: -8.00hrs FOR pacific time

  7. 16:00 GMT, if i’m not mistaken…

  8. Honestly this is crazy…. I remember us waiting to hear about Google I/O for what seemed to be weeks. Now it’s hours away…. Soon enough we’ll have the EVO in hand and life will be good.

  9. I predict that Google will say the Motorola Droid will be the second phone to get Froyo. I have a Nexus One so I’m not worried about getting the update at all :)

  10. I just wanna know when 2.2 will be pushed to the nexus!!! :)
    Ill worry about the new features after, I just waaaaant it ahaha

  11. I cant wait, lets hope motorola anounce some new phones hopefully the Motoroi (or what ever it will be called in uk/us) with xenon flash?????

    I hope froyo gets a release date.

  12. Well as has been said through out the 2.1 update cycle, google doesn’t control who updates when. Yes the Nexus will probably be the first, but as to who follows suit that all depends on your provider, and the manufacturer of your phone.

    But yes I/O is exciting, hopefully the public beta for Flash 10.1 will be announced when Adobe has their moment, and from there maybe a target date for the recently announced Kindle for Android. On can hope right?

  13. very excited for today and tomorrow’s announcements!

    @ssinisterss – LMAO. i agree.

    @jdog – i doubt Droid will be second. I’d be more likely to be EVO and maybe the Incredible since those are the devices at the high-end and driving the market right now.

  14. @Chris I don’t mention those phones because seeing as how it took the Hero and Eris 5 months to get 2.1 and don’t think the Incredible and Evo will get 2.2 any time soon. Either all HTC Sense phone get 2.2 in 6 months or they all get an update to version 2.x or 3.x in 12 months. Also do you really think those phones will be updated that fast the Hero came out in June 2009 and today is finally getting past 1.5 and thats one of the main reasons I got the Nexus One to avoid those types of situations. The reason I say the Motorola Droid is because it runs vanilla Android so it won’t take to long to get 2.2 ready for it and Verizon has sold so many, maybe 2 million by now so thats a lot of angry customers if they get ignored. In the end I still think that it will take Motorola and Verizon 2 months to get 2.2 out to the Droid. Also I base everything I say in reality and not some fanboys hopes and dreams.

    Go Android!

  15. “baked the JIT compiler into the kernel”

    Not likely. The JIT will be in the Dalvik runtime that is separate from the kernel (runs in user space with an instance for each process) unless Google changes the fundamentals of Android.

  16. i cant believe i missed this year’s google I/O, there are many interesting sessions :(

  17. What is I/O in Google I/O?
    Stands for “Innovation in the Open”?

    Or, Stands for input/output?

    Or, “1” and “0”?

    What do you think?

    @qualitypoint

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