I/O 2014

During a session at its I/O developer conference today, Google announced that it’s partnering with LG to build a tablet that’s part of its Project Tango program to release to consumers next year. Google earlier this month announced that it was releasing a prototype Tango tablet, but only for developers. The version made by LG will be intended for consumers, and presumably, cheaper than the $1024 developer version.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Today towards the end of its keynote address previewing its upcoming Android L release, Google announced software enhancements coming in the release that will vastly improve battery life. Dubbed “Project Volta”, Google has new tools for both developers and users that will increase battery life and optimize software on devices to be more efficient.

Google showed off a new tool called Battery Historian that will help quickly identify a system task that might be draining battery. The company said it’s already been using the tool to make Google Apps more efficient and hopes it will improve instrumentation of battery data for all. It also has a new Jobshceduler API that will allow a device to better allocate system tasks when users might be low on battery.

Lastly, Google has a new Battery Saver mode that allows things like clocking down CPU, turning off background data, and other tasks that are hard on battery life. The feature can be triggered manually or configured to come on when battery is low. Google said the Battery Saver can offer up to an extra 90 minutes of usage on a Nexus 5 for a typical day.

Reddit user Doopl has come across two screenshots of what appears to be the “L” release of Android. The screenshots come via the Chromium Issue Tracker, which has been the source of leaks many times in the past. The images show a Google login dialog box that looks entirely different than what you’ll currently see on an Android 4.4 device.

Expand
Expanding
Close