I/O, Google’s annual developer conference, kicked off in Mountain View. CEO Sundar Pichai spoke to a live audience of 7,000 and more via livestream. This year’s conference focused on helpfulness, user privacy and security, and AI for social good. Below is a summary of key announcements.

PIXEL 3a AND 3a XL
The Pixel 3a and 3a XL are Google’s new smartphones have a more affordable price point, bright new colors, and powerful camera.

• Photos. They’ve incorporated many of the same industry-leading features of the Pixel camera to help capture the moments that matter. Pixel 3a’s camera is optimized to take beautiful photos with Portrait mode, in low light with Night Sight, and add a bit of fun with Playmoji packs on Playground.

• Google Lens. Built directly into the camera on Pixel 3a, Google Lens lets you search what you see. Just by pointing your camera at an object or visual, you can get answers to questions like, “What’s that flower?” “Can you show me a similar lamp?” or, “Who painted that?” Need to learn a foreign language fast? They’ve incorporated the smarts of Google Translate into Lens, allowing you to translate text to more than 100 languages, overlaying the translation right on top of the original text. Want restaurant advice? Menu highlights in Lens helps you see which dishes are popular on the physical menu in your hand. Tap on a dish to see what it looks like thanks to photos and reviews from Google Maps. Need help calculating a tip? Just point your camera at the receipt. In addition to Pixel 3a, Lens is also available via Google Photos, Google Assistant, and in the camera app on many Android phones.

• Digital Wellbeing. A recent global survey showed that 1 in 3 people have taken steps to find a better balance with their personal tech use, and more than 80% have reported this having a positive impact on their wellbeing. With Pixel 3a, you have a variety of digital wellbeing features at your fingertips, allowing you to use your phone to take a step away from your phone. Flip to shh puts your Pixel in Do Not Disturb when the phone screen is flipped down. A Digital Wellbeing dashboard notifies you of time spent on each app, allowing you to set limits on particular apps.

• Google Assistant. The smarts of Google Assistant have come right into Pixel 3a to act as a personal assistant, available anytime, anywhere. With a simple squeeze or “Hey Google,” the Assistant can help with any question, app access, timer-setting, music-playing, phone-calling, and also lets users screen calls from unknown numbers. For music lovers, Pixel 3a has Now Playing Song History, a music discovery feature that identifies a song when it’s playing, saves that song, and allows you to listen later.

• Battery. Pixel 3a has an all-day battery that lasts up to 30 hours, plus with the 18W in-box charger, you’ll get 7 hours of juice in 15 minutes. These phones also have Adaptive Battery, which learns how you use your apps over time and can prioritize apps that you use most often, saving battery in ways that make the most sense for you.

• Security. Pixel 3a offers the same security features as with Pixel 3, including the Titan M security chip to make sure your phone has the latest hardware security for protecting your passwords and log-in credentials, alongside the three-years of operating system security updates.

• Pricing. Pixel 3a will start at $399 and $479 for the Pixel 3a XL. The phones will come in three colors, clearly white, just black and purple-ish, and are compatible with both USB-C and 3.5 mm headphones.

GOOGLE NEST HUB MAX
Google Nest Hub Max is the newest smart display powered by the Google Assistant. It has a 10” HD screen and Nest Cam features built-in so you have help at a glance and crystal clear visuals, whether you’re watching the news, video chatting with our video calling service Google Duo, or keeping an eye on your home while you’re away.

• An Assistant made for you. Just like with the rest of the Google Nest family (Google Home and Nest’s new brand name), you can use Voice Match, allowing the Assistant to recognize your voice and respond specifically to you. They’re expanding your options to personalize via the camera with a feature called Face Match. For each person in your family that chooses to turn it on, the Assistant guides you through the process of creating a face model, which is encrypted and stored on the device. Then, whenever you walk in front of the camera, Hub Max recognizes you and shows just your information, not anyone else’s.

• Keep in touch with Google Duo. Use Google Duo to make video calls from your Google Nest Hub Max. The wide angle lens will capture everyone in the view, so group calls are clear and the person on the other end can see everyone’s faces. Leave a virtual Post-It note with Video Messages — for example, ask your roommate to give your dog some kibble, or remind your kids to start their homework before you get home.

• Play videos and songs from YouTube and your favorite music services. Access millions of videos from YouTube with your voice. Watch the news while you prepare dinner, keep up to date with your favorite sports team on YouTube TV, or look up how-to videos (“Hey Google, show me how to poach an egg”) with a simple voice command. Listen to music on YouTube Music, Spotify, Google Play Music, and more. Google Nest Hub Max’s camera lets you use Quick Gestures to pause or play entertainment with your hand (just hold up your hand in front of the screen to pause and restart ) .

• The ultimate digital photo frame. See your photos on rotation plus new ones in real time with Live Albums from Google Photos, and use your voice to find and view any photo in your library.

• Get help at a glance from the Google Assistant. Head into your day feeling organized and prepared: ask Hub Max for weather info and personalized details about your commute, calendar, and reminders. Get answers to your questions with visual help from YouTube or Search in the blink of an eye.

• Control your connected home. Hub Max has Nest Cam features built in, so you can monitor your living space when you’re away and even talk or listen (for example, tell your dog to get off the couch!). You can also view and control your connected home devices — like smart lights, thermostats, and other speakers — from one simple dashboard. Hub Max works with 30,000 smart devices.

• Pricing. Google Nest Hub Max will retail for $229 and will be available on Google Store, Target, Best Buy, Home Depot and more retail outlets later this summer.

ANDROID

• Emoji. What do mechanical arms, people holding hands, otters, and waffles have in common? They’re all new emoji you’ll find in Android Q! The latest release will include 59 brand new emoji and dozens of updated designs that strive to make emoji more representative, including new non-binary designs for emoji that are defined as “genderless”.  These new emoji are available now in beta on Android Q, and live to all users in August.

AR IN SEARCH

Sometimes the easiest way to wrap your head around a new concept is to see it. Over time, Search has evolved to include more rich, visual content in your results, like images and videos. With new augmented reality (AR) features rolling out at the end of the month, now you can view 3D objects right from Search and place them into your own space.

• Knowledge Panel. We’re bringing AR to the Knowledge Panel in Search starting with select animals. So if you search for say, Great White Shark – you’ll get an option in the Knowledge Panel to view a life-sized Great White Shark in 3D and place it right in front of you in AR.

• 3D Models for All. The company is also working closely with partners like New Balance, Visible Body, NASA, Lowe’s, Volvo and Wayfair to help them bring 3D models that can be viewed in AR on their sites or directly in the web results from Search.

  

FAMILY LINK
Navigating technology for your family can seem like a daunting task, but the company is continuously working to make the tools available to families more useful and seamless. They’ll be making Family Link part of every Android device, starting with Android Q. This means that Family Link will be accessible from device settings, making setup even smoother. Look for it under the setting “Digital Wellbeing and parental controls” in Android Q devices rolling out later this summer. New Family Link features that will be available soon include:

• Time limits on the apps kids use. Since not all screen time is created equal, parents will soon be able to set app-specific time limits to help kids make better choices about how they’re spending time on their device.

• Giving kids bonus screen time. And while parents love that they can set a bedtime or daily screen time limit, sometimes kids just need a few more minutes to finish up what they’re doing on their devices. Soon, parents will be able to give kids bonus screen time directly from their own device.

PRIVACY/SECURITY
You should be able to understand and manage your data—and make privacy choices that are right for you. At I/O, they’ve announced a number of additional privacy and security tools across their products and platforms:

• One tap to Google Account. As the number of Google products has grown, they’re making it even easier to find these controls in just one tap across more products including Search, Maps, YouTube, Chrome, the Assistant and News. Your Google Account gives you one place to access your privacy and security settings. To quickly access your controls, just tap on your picture and follow the link to your Google Account.

• Auto-Delete. Last week the company announced a new control that lets you choose a limit for the amount of time your Location History and Web & App Activity data will be saved—3 or 18 months. Any data older than that will be automatically and continuously deleted from your account. This new control is available today for Web & App Activity and coming next month to Location History.

Incognito. Since launching more than a decade ago, Incognito mode in Chrome has given you the choice to browse the internet without your activity being saved to your browser or device. As phones become the primary way we access the internet Incognito mode is available in the most popular apps. It’s available in YouTube and coming soon to Maps and Search.