A Brief Look at Google I/O 2014

This week in San Francisco the 2014 developer conference for Google, Google I/O, took place and there was some really interesting design and development topics that were discussed.  One of the big topics that was discussed was the new L-release for Android.  The new L-release boasts 5000 new developer APIs along with the synchronization of Google's new Material Design.  Material Design seemed to be aimed at two major point, one giving depth to interactions, and two providing consistency for all applications across all platforms.   In my opinion, Material Design is more of an integration tool than anything, using the new design guidelines, you could develop an application that runs on the Chrome Store, Mobile Web, and on an Android device all using the same UI/UX.  Which in a time where you could have a tablet, a phone, your desktop, and your TV all trying to server you the same application.  Integration in a key factor in keeping this easy to use and relevant.

Another item talked about at Google I/O was the staggering number of devices Android has out in the world today.  During the keynote presentation Sundar Pichai announced that 1 billion Android devices had been shipped world wide since the release.  That is pretty amazing.  Apple could not even come close to those numbers with the iPhone.  Pichai then went on to discuss how Google was working together with OEM's in India to bring the Android phone to users that cannot afford a 300$ initial upfront investment.  Something that Apple tried to do last year with the iPhone 5c, but failed to achieve in my opinion.  The new androidone platform with support phones that are under 100 dollars as an initial upfront investment.  Making platforms like androidone successful, I think will be key to the success and the longevity of the Android phone in years to come.

One of the last things I found interesting about Google I/O this year was the further discussion about Polymer.  Although Polymer has been around for almost 2 years now, it looks like it is really matured and is ready for web and application development.  What is Polymer?  Polymer is a different way to write HTML, up until now you have CoffeeScript, SaSS, Less, and Jade, but you could never import HTML blocks unless you are using a server side language.  Polymer gives you the flexibility to create custom HTML templates rendered in the shadow DOM that contain their own sand boxed styles and scripts.  Then they are referenced right to a HTML file and render out.  Pretty cool right.  There looks to be lots of legs for Polymer and a team that is developing a UI for a product or a team that is developing applications.