Google’s booth at CES is usually fun, interactive, and informative. At CES 2023, Google announced many new features. This includes more ways to keep all your devices and media under one umbrella. Most importantly, a major update to the Android Auto system.
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video transcript
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Charlyn Law: In recent years, Google has used CES as a platform to showcase ideas for a world of Better Together. It’s the name Google uses for their vision, which basically means that everything but Apple works well. At this year’s CES 2023, the company announced several updates, including a recap of Better Together’s recent progress, plus he made two new announcements.
That’s why we’re partnering with Spotify to bring the Spotify connection tool into the Android UI. We then previewed what we call ambient suggestions or notifications. For example, let’s say you just walked into your house and you’re playing music on your headphones. As you walk into the front door and begin undressing, your Google Assistant will say: Suppose you’re sitting on the couch after this and want to move the music there to smart his home her speakers.
I checked out a very controlled demo, but it didn’t really seem to work. And I was told that this is a future feature. No word yet on timing. But it’s interesting to watch.
Google usually has one of the more fun booths at CES too. One year they kind of went on a roller coaster ride. The other thing was that there were like big ball pits all over the place. Compared to that, this year feels a little quieter.
The most exciting thing, at least for me, was the two luxury cars here at the booth, showing off two different things. One is the Volvo EX90 with Google built in. The other was the BMW i7 with a new version of Android Auto that was first announced at Google I/O last year.
Well, this is the first time we actually publish this version of Android auto. The software is in closed beta. So maybe some of you have seen it before. But this is also the first public demo.
The biggest change here is that Android’s Auto UI can now scale or adapt to screens of any size. It has a split-screen interface and the right or right column is intuitive and similar to where Google Assistant suggests apps and notifications based on your actions. Because some people don’t want to see jam while driving. But if you get bored with the songs, you can swipe in from the right to get a list of recommended playlists.
There is also a new column of keys on the left side of the screen. From top to bottom, a is the recently used music app, b is the most recently used navigation app, and c is the most recently used communication app. Number four on that list is your most recently used app, whether it’s a calendar or a calculator. Below that is the Google Assistant shortcut button, but it can also be accessed using voice commands or the steering wheel button.
There are also some interface tweaks throughout Android auto. First of all, instead of the status bar, which is always a space at the top of the entire screen, Google has moved some of these status symbols to the top left corner. It also changed how notifications, incoming call alerts, etc. are handled. For example, when you receive a text message, it will appear on top of what you have on your main screen, as usual. With one swipe, you can kind of close it, but you can’t get rid of it completely. .
The advantage of this adaptable screen size format is that if you prefer your app to be in full screen instead of split screen mode, you can tap the app icon in the left tray to expand it and really focus on it. of your drive. This is interesting, especially since the latest version of his CarPlay is on the horizon. Apple has announced that it will make changes to its car interface at WWDC. we haven’t seen it yet. At least Google beat Apple in that regard.
It’s the only one out of the Google booth at CES 2023. If you want to learn more about Spotify connectivity and the Ambien notification feature I described, visit engadget.com and read the news article. And keep an eye on Engadget for all CES 2023 news.
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