The key to success goes through augmented reality and the use of Gemini

Android was born as a project of a startup, outside the circle of megacorporations. But Google saw the potential he had and bought it in 2005 To be able to create its own operating system that gave it the prominence in the smartphones that Microsoft had had in the mobiles. This was huge success in countries like Spain, especially because of the way the company managed.

Instead of charging licenses as Microsoft with Windows (and then tried to replicate in Windows Phone), Google allowed manufacturers to use it for freehaving to go through their criteria only if they wanted to have the applications of the company installed in their mobiles. This caused many brands to stop investing in their own operating system.

In this way, they had a possibility of fighting a rival who had emerged from nothing: Apple. First level mobile manufacturers in the twentieth century, such as Nokia or Siemens, they saw how Cupertino’s firm was damaging their sales, but they didn’t know how to turn in time. Other companies that were entering the sector at that time, such as Samsung or Xiaomi, did see what the future would be and bet on it.

Cameras as origin

The Google’s turn when Android bought was not less. The system, which was being designed by Andy Rubin and his team since 2003, I was designed for digital cameras, not for mobile phones. However, in Google they were clear that pocket computing would be the big step of the industry and wanted to use Android to lead it.

That was the first big turn, to go from designing a system for cameras to do it for mobiles. The second, somewhat minor, came from the hand of the iPhone and is that when Steve Jobs presented Apple’s first mobile on Google they realized that they had to change the approach. They were developing what was clearly an alternative to the Blackberrya mobile with a non -touch screen and a huge physical keyboard.

The turn was not completely complete, and the first mobile with this system, the HTC Dream, was thrown with sliding keyboard. However, the HTC Magic and HTC Hero, the next two, have already come with a touch screen as the main introduction form, although they maintained the trackball as a secondary form of control. Yet, would spend little time until the physical keyboards disappear.

Environmental computing

20 years have passed since the purchase of Android by Google and it is clear that now this system is more than a mobile system. Google uses it on tablets, in cars with Android Automotive and in clocks with Wearos. But he also wants his desk operating system, Chromeos, to integrate more with him.

The point is that This is nothing more than the final stretch of this first stage of Androidand now we begin to see the first sketches of what will be the second. It will be designed for environmental computing, leaving aside pocket computing. Android XR is an already advanced project, although we have not yet seen it in a commercial product.

This environmental computing refers to computers we have around us but we do not use directlybut almost collateral. Part of the home automation of our houses, such as speakers or smart screens, are designed with that concept in mind. The next thing will be to go to the glasses.

Samsung and Google are working together on devices that will be put on our faceNot in our hand. We could see Samsung’s Project Moonhan, virtual and augmented reality glasses that remind the Apple Vision Pro. But The most important thing will be the arrival of smaller glassesand benefits, which can be carried at all times.

Google already tried this approach with the Google Glass, but clearly arrived too soon. Brands as a goal are now betting on it, with the Ray-Ban Meta, which are being a success taking into account the niche market they aspire to. And prepare much more ambitious things. Google’s idea (and other companies) is that glasses replace mobile phones for many tasksin the same way that mobile phones have replaced computers, even if they have not eradicated them.

Current technology does not allow the creation of smart glasses that can be economicalpowerful and versatile, and even less that they can be produced in large quantities, but the same happened at the end of the century with smartphones and we have seen how two decades have completely changed the industry.

A new interface

The point is that the use of These new devices will imply a new handling formin which the fingers and screens will already be out of the equation, at least as we understand today. That implies that Android should evolve to function otherwise. And that is what Google works on.

Gemini is his great commitment to artificial intelligence, and it will be the future of interfaces, of what Android will be in the medium and long term when adapting to other types of devices. The graphic interfaces will continue present, but Voice commands and non -keyboard or screen orders and screen will be much more common.

The future that Auguro Her is much more possible now than 10 years ago, and this is something that Google knows, and does not want the same thing to happen to Nokia. You should not be surprised that Android is an operating system for touch screens and must make it evolve for the next iteration of technological products that will accompany us on a day -to -day basis. That is why Google’s bet for AI is so important.

In the company they know. In an interview with El Español – Omicrono to Sameer Samat, president of the Android ecosystem on Google, the Google manager said they were “very excited not only with the mixed reality, but also with the augmented reality. We show some prototypes that we had created. It is a new Android format very exciting because it feels very natural for the advances of the AI.” That is why they are making bets and purchases that show us how the future of the company will be in the medium term.

The person in charge of Android XR Platform & Products, Shahram left, has exhibited his vision in A TED talk in which he explains how the augmented reality and virtual reality are convergingand how artificial intelligence has an important role to play in it.

These chatbots, and the applications that include, as voice conversations, text summaries and the use of these years almost as friends and counselors, will make the new devices move away from what we so far understood as normal. And Android may have a lot to say there if Google knows how to play his cards.