Google Announces October 29th Event
As if in direct competition with Apple and Microsoft, Google has unveiled an October 29th event. The tagline? "The playground is open." I expect that means we are going to see third party Google Now integration, which will be an incredible new feature for the phone. Supporting that is the design of the invitation, patterned on the Google Now interface.
Of course, it could be that Google will also be unveiling a whole new set of Nexus phones and devices. We've seen at least one purported Nexus already out there, that LG quad-core phone with the questionable performance. There are also rumblings of a Sony Nexus device, and we've previously heard about as many as 7 Nexii being released. One of the less substantiated rumors mentions a new Nexus tablet shipping for a mere $99.00, though I'd call that one an outside bet at best.
The timing of the event is interesting. Apple is holding one on the 23rd, a week earlier. Microsoft is holding one on the exact same day as Google, which should show how much Google fears Microsoft. Google could have chosen a time that didn't directly clash with two of the other largest tech companies in the world, and yet, they didn't.
Google will be streaming the event live on the internet for those who want to tune in from home. You will be able to catch the stream on the official Google Youtube channel.
Google Now is an incredible integrated digital platform designed to give you information before you even know it. Launching Now brings up traffic time to home, check ins for nearby restaurants, movie times, sports scores, and more. And all that ignores the incredible Siri-esque component that powers its search functionality. The one thing that the platform has been missing is third party integration. IF you wanted to sign in with Foursquare rather than Latitude, you were out of luck. Cards couldn't appear without being first-party, etc. If Google loosens the restrictions on the platform, we could see Google Now make Android far better at voice and search than iOS could dream of. Well, for the foreseeable future, anyways.
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