On May 11 and 12, Google will have the honor of opening the season of developer conferences, a prelude to summer. It will thus shoot before Microsoft and its Build, which will take place from May 24 to 26, and before Apple and its WWDC, which will be held virtually (for the most part) from June 6 to 10.
Android 13, the point on the future
Google conferences are traditionally an opportunity to learn more about Android, the brand’s ubiquitous operating system. In this case, it is Android 13 who should take center stage. The new version of the mobile OS is already released on the world since a first Preview was made available last February, and a second preliminary version was published in March with many elements promising.
We have thus seen new features appear which could make it possible to better manage the avalanche of notifications, or to listen to better quality music thanks to the support of Bluetooth LE Audio.
Of course, the Google I/O will be an opportunity to discover even more, in particular on possible graphic and ergonomic developments. And maybe even on a possible folding smartphone that Google has been working on for some time in parallel with the development ofAndroid-Lversion of its OS intended for large screens or folding screens.
A new mid-range smartphone
But, for once, Google could also take advantage of its conference to talk about hardware, and unveil new products, which is generally rather reserved for the event organized in October.
When publishing Google’s latest financial results, Sundar Pichai, its boss, hinted that his company’s developer conference could be the perfect setting for product announcements. He said, “I’m excited about the products we’re building and can’t wait to say more about them at Google I/O.”
In this case, the 2022 conference could be an opportunity for the Mountain View giant to ride on the success of the excellent Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, launched last fall. A new smartphone would thus be announced, the Pixel 6a. It would ship a new processor designed by Google teams, probably a SoC Tensor identical or very close to those on board the Pixel 6. Not necessarily as powerful as the most powerful SoCs of the competition, whether those of Apple or Qualcomm, the Tensors have for them to integrate a part dedicated to the execution of machine learning algorithms. An area in which Google is at the forefront.
The design of the Pixel 6a could also be inspired by those of its elders launched in the fall. The new smartphone should also and above all rely on a slightly larger battery (4,800 mAh, according to some leaks, compared to 4,680 for the Pixel 5a), in order to ensure better autonomy, which is always good news, even if the Pixel 5a were not doing so badly in this area. In addition, Google would have made wireless charging faster by going from 18 to 30 W. We will have to see if this rumor turns out to be true.
01net.com – Lionel Morillon – The Pixel 6, from Google.
If everything is for the best for the moment, a possible disappointment awaits us however, the Pixel 6a would have a photo partition very close to that of the 5a. There would thus be two rear modules. A wide-angle at 12 Mpixels, and an ultra wide-angle at 12 Mpixels also (against 16 Mpixels previously). No need to howl at the moon, if there may be fewer pixels, the photodiodes would be bigger a priori.
Finally, the Pixel 6a could progress on the display side, with a panel with a higher refresh rate. We could thus be entitled to a 90 Hz screen, as on the Pixel 6 – the adaptive 120 Hz would logically remain reserved for the Pro model. However, not all rumors point in the same direction, some indeed indicate that the Pixel 6a would keep a 60 Hz panel, like the Pixel 5a. We will have to wait for the keynote to be definitively fixed.
Anyway, according to some leakers and several rumors, the device is already in production and its launch could be “imminent”.
Another product, a smartwatch and a new Wear OS
But the Pixel 6a wouldn’t be the only product announced at Google I/O. A connected watch, the PixelWatch, could emerge. It would be a fairly logical follow-up as the acquisition of Fitbit was validated at the end of 2020 and the redesign of Wear OS, announced at Google I/O 2021, seems to have been completed.
According to some rumors, several models could be introduced, and differ in their configurations, such as 4G compatibility, sizes, materials, etc. Since Samsung helped redesign Google’s operating system, the Pixel Watch could borrow some of the Galaxy Watch’s features and sensors. There would thus be a cardiac sensor, an ECG sensor, and a bioelectrical impedance sensor to analyze the body mass of the user.
It is not certain that the new connected watch will be available immediately, and some leakers have already announced that it could be sold between 300 and 400 dollars.
And the rest…
Like it should be, Chromium OS, which is becoming more and more important on the laptop market, should also be entitled to its quarter of an hour of glory. Integration with Android 13 should obviously be one of the strengths of this new version.
Stadiathe video game service in the cloud, could also be entitled to nice announcements and improvements.
Of course, the Google I/O should also be an opportunity for Sundar Pichai and his teams to unveil novelties in the field of artificial intelligence and in the use of machine learning. Progress that is generally found, more or less quickly, in online services or in the various Google devices.
You can of course follow the Mountain View giant’s conference on 01net, and on 01netTV.