How Do You Know Android? (Google I/O 2013)

The reason I'm typing this article into Word rather than directly into my site is that the storm, which my Android has been loyally warning me about all day, is making the internet connection chancy. I tried to get a picture of lightning (one of my life goals; it's a lot harder than the sun rays life goal) before clouds closed in and blurred the bolts, but I was on the wrong side of the car.

But this magnificent thunderstorm is not what I wanted to talk about; Google I/O was last week. That’s Google’s annual “Don’t Forget We’re Awesome” conference. I can't seem to confirm this, but my information says I/O is not officially the abbreviation of anything. Google lets us guess whether they mean the technical Input/Output or the old school 1 = On and 0 = Off… I’ve also heard it’s the more imaginative Innovation in the Open. Whatever it might be, this year’s logo was pretty neat:

So what happened at I/O this year?

Google Glass was announced at last year’s I/O, so this was the first time attendees (many, apparently) had the actual device. However, just four little sessions (including one called “Voiding Your Warranty: Hacking Glass” – how can you not love Android?) were dedicated to Glass. But Glass was the undercurrent, whatever else was going on; it wasn’t the focus very often, but how does this fit with Glass? was the question of the hour. It looks like a big part of Google’s plan of attack, in this phase of Glass, is stepping back and letting developers play, learn, and create. Interesting. It means no one is really refuting the Glass is creepy accusations, but it also means developers are going crazy taking advantage of the potential that’s always there with a next big thing. I’m looking forward to following the evolution.

Developers (app designers) were the emphasis this year, but there were some fun new things for the average user… we’ll get to that. For developers, changes include APIs (Application Programming Interface) for creating location-specific apps, as well as new tools for sales and marketing in the Play Store. There was also a lot of discussion about geographically expanding Android’s influence. Big advances in location tracking – increasing precision and decreasing power drain – are another leg-up for developers. An overhaul of last year’s Google Play Developer Console brought a new interface and improved optimization tools, wrapping up the developer-specific highlights.

One topic of interest for users as well as for developers is the new Google Play Game Services. There's even a logo. A lot of changes came along with this release, not the least of which is cloud syncing of progress and rankings, across platforms and devices. Leaderboards now summarize achievements by user, so bragging is much easier. Developers got great new multiplayer interfaces. I’m not a gamer, but I’m still intrigued by the changes coming in the gaming world.  I think the face of gaming is transforming, becoming something similar to an alternate reality, like Google’s own Ingress. Something to watch.

Now on to fun stuff for the typical user. First, some big news that didn’t even hit the rumor mills before the conference: Google has teamed up with Samsung to bring a stripped-down, pure Android version of the Samsung Galaxy S IV to AT&T and T-Mobile on June 26, making the device Nexus-esque (that’s hard to say aloud – try).

Google Maps has been overhauled, and I am impressed (so impressed that I didn’t use the contraction I’m). Remember before the conference, when Google Maps was so much better than anything else out there? The gap has been widened. One of the biggest updates is 3D imagery, some of which is compilations of user-uploaded photos, giving you a quasi-tour of the inside of buildings. Google is encouraging users to upload photospheres, but regular photos are also incorporated into the collage, which is apparently not entirely user-generated. Also, on top of setting your home location on the map, you can set personal landmarks, giving better frames of reference when you’re floating around the map or getting directions. Next, Google’s recommendations are getting a lot more useful. I’ve heard this upgraded recommendation system compared with Pandora’s advanced system. In addition to giving you the travel time for your directions, Maps now suggests speedier public transit alternatives, as well as providing full public transit schedules. Filters allow you to view only businesses your Google+ friends patronize, and tapping a business on the map now results in a lot more information, such as Zagat reviews, related roads, and closest intersections. Uploading public photos for a location has also become a lot easier. A small, but much-needed change is the subtlety of those red pins; they no longer make it hard to tap on what you’re aiming for. Alerts warn of real-time traffic issues and suggest alternate routes, and lastly, real-time cloud movements are now visible. Pretty sweet. Some of these features are only found on the (currently invite-only) new desktop version, but I’ve played around with the app and found a lot of these changes there as well.

Hangouts is officially replacing Talk, with the Talk feature making up only a small piece of what the new app does. It’s a summary, unifying your communications between phone and computer. Chats, voice, or video calls (support for 10 friends), options for sending pictures, tons of emoji, notice of who’s seen your message as well as who’s typing, messaging support even for friends not currently on, video and call history, saved photos previously sent, snooze options, one notification across all devices, and a whole lot more make this a really interesting update.  And of course it’s a beautiful UI. SMS isn’t in this release, but the app’s permissions already include SMS and MMS reading and sending, so we can expect that update very soon. On a similar note, Google+ got a new columns look, with cards that flip, giving more information, when you mouseover. There’s also a new automatic photo optimizer, providing subtle edits to improve photos you upload, and allowing you to upload multiple pictures of the same thing, letting Google+ choose the best to display.

My last big news from I/O is …... *drum roll*……  Google Play Music’s very own music subscription service, much like Spotify. Play Music All Access includes Google’s entire library and options to save to your personal collection, for $9.99/month. Buy before June 30 to get a special $7.99/month price. Or just try the free 30-day trial and see if you find you can’t live without it.

If you’re interested in watching some of the I/O sessions for yourself, or just finding more information about them, visit the sessions schedule or even download the companion Android app from the Play Store.

If you had high hopes for an announcement that didn’t come to fruition, don’t be too distraught: Google releases and announces all throughout the year, not just at I/O – it’ll come.

How do you video chat on an Android?

If your phone has a front-facing camera, as most now do, you can use it to video chat. For those Androidians who are vain and would like to remain vain, though, I do not recommend video chat. None of us looks attractive on video chat. The problem started with webcams, but was amplified when mobile video chat came laughing. I say don't sweat it, though; your yikes... I look freaky is no doubt mirroring your friend's ruminations. You don't actually think the advertising screenshots are real, do you? How could they possibly be holding their phones to get that angle? And with that glowing recommendation, let's talk about how you, too, can be startled by your own face.

The easiest option is found in your Talk app, from Google. It's almost certainly already installed on your phone, so open it up and sign in using your Google account, if it's the first time you've used it. Now touch your name, at the top, to select whether you're available for text, voice, or video chat. In the list of friends, below your name, you'll see green, yellow, or red icons; a circle for text, a microphone for voice, and a camera for video. Like on your computer, green is available, yellow is away, and red is busy. Tap on a friend's name, and then touch the video icon on the right side, to invite the friend to video chat. Your friend will receive an invitation to accept or reject, and once you're connected you'll see your friend's face in the center of the screen, with a small box showing your face, in the bottom right. A few control options, like end chat, send text chat, and mute, are on the screen. If they disappear, just touch the screen to get them back.

Talk is definitely the one I recommend starting with, because it works well and it's already there, but if you need additional options, you can try Skype, Viber, or ooVoo. Skype and ooVoo allow integration with social media sites, so your friend doesn't necessarily have to have an account in the program, but Viber does require that the friend also have a Viber account. There are a lot more options for video chatting, so if there's any specific feature you're looking for, just take a look at some Google Play descriptions to find the right one for you.

And now the elephant in the room: Apple's FaceTime was marketed as the standard for mobile video chat, but did you know many iPhone users agree FaceTime isn't all it's chalked up to be? Until late last year, when iOS 6 was released, FaceTime only worked if the iPhone was connected to Wi-Fi (which frequently means you could be using a laptop, anyway), and now that 3G/4G is (sometimes) an option, most Apple forums are full of complaints about the failures and disconnects... as they were when Wi-Fi was required, as well, actually.

So here we have another way in which Android is the way to go. I like Android so much. Supporting the one that's better is a delightful place to be. It's like a trivial version of being a Christian. I know what's true, so when others try to change my mind, I can listen comfortably, with confidence that I have the answer. A pretty significant difference is found there, though. Could be that someday I'll discover something about iPhone that is superior to Android (though all clear, so far), because humans and human creations change; but other things never change: "... I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able guard until that day what has been entrusted to me." 2 Timothy 1:12 (ESV) Pardon my tangent tendencies, in this off-topic rabbit trail.

How do you get rid of pre-installed apps on an Android?

The first Android phone I owned was the white HTC Wildfire S. I loved it, and I've recommended it for people who want a small phone and don't require a lot of storage. Shortly after I bought it, I added a 16 GB memory card to supplement the 512 MB of internal storage, so that I could have a handful of albums on hand for emergencies  -- like that evening we hiked up to the campfire and then realized we needed music to complete the experience of Ranch Doritos and the hissing and snapping logs we were bopping around. Most apps I downloaded were small -- maybe 5 to 20 MB -- so why did I keep getting that message to open the storage wizard and make more room? It was because of the ridiculous number of pre-installed apps, aka bloatware.

Few phones these days have such a minimal amount of storage, so running out of room is not such a big problem; the reason bloatware is so inconvenient is that many of the apps run in the background, making your phone more likely to hesitate or even freeze, in addition to unnecessarily running down your battery.

The apps cannot be completely uninstalled unless you root your phone, which I don't like to do, but there is an alternative. All the updates to the app can be uninstalled, minimizing the storage space required, and then the app can be disabled, so that it can't run in the background and it doesn't appear in your apps list.

First, open Settings, then Apps or Manage Applications. Tap on the All heading, rather than Running or Downloaded. Tap on the first app you want to disable, like Twitter, for example. This is where you verify that the app is actually bloatware, and can't be uninstalled. You'll see two buttons: Force Stop on the left, and either Uninstall or Uninstall Updates, on the right. If it says Uninstall, then you're in luck: it's not bloatware -- uninstall it, and move on to the next. If the button says Uninstall Updates, then it is bloatware. Before you can disable it, you'll need to (and want to, anyway) touch that button to uninstall updates. After you've done that, the button changes from Uninstall Updates to Disable. Touch it again, now that it's Disable. Now the app will not run in the background, nor it will it appear in your app menus. Do the same with each app you'd like eliminated. A warning, though: don't disable any apps you don't recognize, because a lot of these are essential to phone operations; go disable-happy and you'll soon find you can't open your camera or place calls.

If at some point you'd like to re-enable a disabled app, navigate back to that All Apps menu, and scroll to the bottom to find the disabled apps. Touch the app to find the option to Enable.