By Jonathan Takiff, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Google unwrapped lots of goodies at its developers conference in Mountain View, Calif., on Wednesday: a spiffed-up virtual reality platform called Daydream VR, Android Wear smart watches that communicate directly with the Internet, and a retort to Amazon's red-hot Echo wireless speaker/virtual assistant called Google Home.
Come fall, Google Home smart speakers will improve on the competition, it's claimed, by offering multiroom audio streaming plus "far-field" hearing capabilities from across the room and smarter responses to your voiced "difficult questions," said product management vice president Mario Queiroz.
Google Home also promises voice control over smart home devices, starting with Google/Alphabet-owned Nest thermostats and security cameras. And in good time, partnerships with outside vendors will enable users of the new Google genii to verbally summon pizza and rides, hands-free.
Mock-ups of the smart speakers weren't much to look at, though, resembling salt and pepper shakers. And no prices for any products were revealed.
Daydream VR builds on the virtual-reality project Google Cardboard. But while a dirt-cheap Cardboard viewer works with everybody's smartphone, Daydream VR's sophisticated headset will be optimized for "Android N" series smartphones and be far more interactive, growing beyond the passive viewing experience with a wireless remote that utilizes a clickable touchpad.
Virtual reality VP Clay Bavor said Daydream-optimized, high-resolution phones (to stuff in the viewers) will be available come fall from Android platform supporters Alcatel, Asus, HTC, Huawei, LG, Samsung, Xiaomi and ZTE.
As has Samsung's rival Gear VR platform (developed with Oculus), Google is lining up major-brand content support for Daydream VR. Wearers will be able to watch virtual big-screen content on Daydream goggles from Netflix, Hulu, HBO, NBA, MLB and IMAX, play games from Electronic Arts and Ubisoft, follow news from the Wall Street Journal, CNN and the New York Times, and take in plenty of Daydream platform-enhanced YouTube VR content. (YouTube is yet another Google/Alphabet possession.)
Smarter wrist things are also forthcoming come fall, said Google, running on the Android Wear 2.0 operating system. This upgrade will enable multiple apps to appear simultaneously on an Android smart watch's virtual face. Users may respond to messages by writing directly on the watch screen.
And wherever Wi-Fi service is available, the watches will be able to connect directly to the Internet for content streaming and calls. There is no need for a smartphone to act as intermediary.
©2016 The Philadelphia Inquirer. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
