The keynote address starting off Google I/O 2014 -- this year's edition of the Mountain View giant's annual developers conference -- was a rapid-fire demonstration of Google's ambitious plans for Android: Everywhere you can use it, a single, continuous Android experience will be there. This includes wearable devices, cars, homes and your living room.

Google presented the future of Android as a single software environment that would work on multiple screens of all sizes, from a tiny smartwatch screen to smartphones to the largest screen in your house. Executives took turns showing off the capabilities of Google's new interconnected, cross-platform Android experience, which included a tour of Android Wear for smartwatches, Android Auto for the car, and Android TV for the living room, with big improvements both on the surface and within the mobile operating system.

Android Wear: Seamless Wrist-to-Smartphone Interaction

A lot was known about Android Wear before Wednesday's keynote, including Google's vision of seamless, simple operation and automatic information right when you need it.


But there's a difference between seeing a promotional concept video and seeing it in real time on stage. Google showed off LG, Samsung and Motorola smartwatches, with different screen sizes and shapes, all working on the same platform. In demonstrations, Google employees swiped through screens intuitively configured to show apps and notifications vertically, as well as some apps like weather, where users can swipe left and right for more detailed information.

Beyond letting the user interact with the screen, Android Wear includes Google Now's natural language voice-activated commands, like "set an alarm for 7 a.m." or "play some music." Other Android Wear features demoed include auto-unlock for password-protected smartphones (as long as you're wearing your paired smartwatch while unlocking the device) and quickly answering or ignoring telephone calls with a single swipe. You can also decline a call and reply back in a preset text message, like "I can't talk right now. What's up?"

Perhaps the most important feature with Android Wear is the instant compatibility with Android smartphones. Any of your smartphone apps that have a comparable smartwatch app will automatically install and update your wearable, according to Google. And it turns out that Google got Samsung -- which has slated the Gear 2 to be running its own "Tizen" smartwatch OS -- onboard with Android Wear for the "Gear Live" smartwatch, which goes live on the Google Play device store along with the LG G smartwatch Wednesday.


Android Auto

Google has expanded its Open Automotive Alliance, with over 40 manufacturers onboard. But that's not the big news from the Google I/O 2014 keynote. Google unveiled what it calls Android Auto, a version of the Android UI specifically designed for use in cars.

But following with its Android everywhere theme, the interface differs little from Android on other screens and, more importantly, developers can use almost identical tools (which will be released shortly) to program their apps for the car. In the demonstration, the driver used minimal taps and swipes to navigate through simplified music apps, for example, but used Google Voice Search and Google Now commands to do most of the work -- just like with Android Wear. Without looking away from the road, the driver heard and replied to a text message, looked up a location and used Google Maps Navigation to get live directions.

Android Auto will not be a feature fully baked into cars, though features like a microUSB data connection, Android-compatible dashboard touch screens and a press-to-talk button on the steering wheel are going to be available on new cars, some beginning at the end of the year.

But the software itself will live in your phone, not the car. There are a couple of reasons for this, but the best reason to keep Android Auto on the smartphone probably comes from Google's previous experiences with OEMs like Samsung and LG, where manufacturer-customized versions of Google's software updates would take what seemed like ages to finally be released to customers. When it comes to cars, those months (which sometimes seemed like years) waiting for an update could actually be years, and Google doesn't want that.

With 40 manufacturers, including some of the most popular in America, onboard for Android Auto, Google is in a good position to compete with Apple's own CarPlay, which the company unveiled this year, but with limited partnerships among car companies like Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo.

But so far, it looks like Android Auto will only be useful to people who can and will buy a new car in the next year or so. With more Americans keeping and driving decade-old cars than ever, it'd be nice if Google (which prides itself on being more inclusive than Apple) partnered with third-party installable in-dash touchscreen makers, like Sony, Pioneer and Kenwood, to make Android Auto available for the rest of us.

Android TV

The rumors panned out, and Google is back on the entertainment system warpath, after a failed Google TV bid a few years ago, with Android TV. The newly dubbed Android TV is yet another customized face of the new Android everywhere system, and it will run on both new Smart TVs from Sony and Sharp (due out in 2015), along with set-top boxes from Razer and Asus.

Android TV is a more consumer-friendly version of Google TV and Chromecast, which gives users a home screen with options like Netflix, Hulu and Google Play, along with search (including the soon-to-be ubiquitous Google Voice Search), which makes recommendations based on context. If you're watching Game of Thrones, Google can provide an immediate answer to "What actor plays Jon Snow?" along with links to more information.

Google is also focusing on gaming with Android TV, taking advantage of enhanced GPU support from the upcoming Android update, which can (as demonstrated) run the Unreal Engine 4 (a PC-level game engine) on a 64-bit Nvidia Tegra K1 tablet.

Interconnectivity with Android TV for gaming comes via Bluetooth and USB, with game pads and even smartphones and tablets being used as game controllers. Onstage, Google employees demonstrated multiplayer NBA Jam -- a Google Play Games app -- on the big screen, using a game pad and a tablet simultaneously.

Android TV: Chromecast Support and Update

Google is not abandoning the Chromecast for Android TV, but will continue offering both concurrently, as we predicted. But Chromecast device streaming will be baked into Android TV, offering anyone with a television featuring Android TV or an Android TV set-top box the ability to stream from tablets and smartphones.

But Google is also adding new features to its popular Chromecast HDMI dongle starting in the summer. One of the top new features will put Chromecast in competition with Apple TV: screen mirroring. Many Chromecast enthusiasts have complained about its absence, so it's nice to see it finally coming as a standard part of the casting experience. In demonstration, there was very little latency between the small screen and the TV, which may not be universal, but we hope it is. Google says an update would be available in beta for HTC, Samsung, LG and Nexus devices, and so far, screen mirroring looks to be a limited release.

Another new feature for Chromecast, this one coming a little later in the year, will allow casting from multiple devices straight to Chromecast -- without needing to connect to the local Wi-Fi network. This was demonstrated from a phone connected to only its cellular network, yet the casting button was instantly available on the phone's YouTube app.

Google says it uses several proximity-based standards to keep open casting secure, and even if your Chromecast can't automatically tell if someone's device is in the same room, that person can connect directly by entering a PIN displayed on the TV.

Finally, Google added more pretty photos to Chromecast. The demonstrator explained that, while we generally watch about five hours of TV a day, TV spends the majority of its life as a blank canvas. To change that, Google added "Backdrops" to the Chromecast -- customizable with Google+ albums, along with Google-curated categories of Art, Places, Weather, News and Lifestyle. These backdrops will display high-definition images to gussy up your living room, as long as you can afford what will almost certainly be the exorbitant electricity bills incurred by keeping your HDTV on all day.

Android Begins Invading Every Aspect of Your Life This Fall

None of these major new faces of Android will be available, except for the smartwatches, until the next big Android update, currently called "Android L" for short, which is slated for wide release in the fall. Android TV in HDTVs and Android Auto in cars will take a little longer still, and that's if you can afford a new TV and/or car.

But make no mistake: Google has staked its claim to practically every aspect of life that can involve software (though Nest smart home products were curiously absent from the presentation). The next version of Android will be a make-or-break moment for Google as it takes the first step toward unifying the "Internet of things," starting with your commute, your work, your wrist and your family room.

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