The first day of Google I/O 2016 happened. They announced Google Daydream, two new chat apps Allo and Duo, Android Wear 2.0 and Google home. Oh yeah don’t forget Android N. I’m not going to get into what these are because the internet can do a better job than I can. What I’m going to cover is if any of this will last. Let me get this out of the way. I picked the Apple ecosystem but I love tech. I was excited to see what Google had to offer but the fact that Google hangouts is being replaced (yeah I know there’s no mention of them removing hangouts but the writing is on the wall) by Allo (messaging on crack) and Duo (FaceTime clone) is why I don’t root for Google anymore. The apps/services that you use today can be replaced by something else later on down the road. Instead of improving their existing hangouts app they decided to create two completely different apps with stupid names.
To me it feels like Google is lacking consistency. The Nexus phone that you buy this year will be completely different next year by a different OEM. The design isn’t allowed to mature. On top of that how long will the Nexus program last? The shiny new things Google offered up at I/O are really cool from a person that is hungry for change but what about the average Joe that just wants things to work well?
Maybe it’s just my age talking but I want features that are useful. What I saw were features/apps and services that wouldn’t be useful for me. The Google home stuff sounds cool but I wouldn’t really use it. What I would use is a technology that removes blue from the screen to help me sleep better at night. Or change the temperature of the screen to make reading easier on my eyes. Those to me are useful features. Not searching within an app for something. I personally get zero value from that.
What’s great is that Google and Apple are going in different directions. Google seems to be going towards the people that want to customize and talk to their phones while Apple of late is making moves that benefit me. Ever since Google killed Google Reader I don’t trust Google services anymore. Remember when Google had a standalone podcast app? Yeah I used that too. Currents. You can see my point. I really like Google Inbox. I won’t use it because I doubt that it will last.
Tags
GoogleWould you like to hire me?
Side projects, Employment Opportunities, you want to give me a [big bag] of money.
Contact