Android AI
Google has already presented the beta version of Android 15, but at the IO conference we learned more about how the operating system will be developed, and much of it was obviously about AI.
When Google talked about Android at its developer conference Google IO, it was about three clear points. It was search with AI support, it was Google Gemini becoming your assistant on the phone and it was finally about local AI on the phone and what it can do.
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Later in the week, Google will release more information about the upcoming Android 15 and beta 2 of the system, but it is only later this year that the system will be released to Pixel phones sharp and later to other Android manufacturers' phones.
Most impressive during the presentation was probably the ability to search with video. Google calls this Project Astra and it should be available in Gemini and thus Android later in the year.
Using video to search, you can point your phone at, for example, as Google did during the demonstration, and ask what a specific part is for, or you can show your record player and ask why it's not working. In these examples, Gemini then understands which model of record player it is, what the problem with the function is and how it can be fixed.
Search with AI support we have already seen, then in the form of Circle to Search which was introduced in connection with Samsung's launch of the S24 series earlier this year. Now that function can also solve math problems and show how they are solved and not just present the answer. According to Google, Circle to Search is available in one million devices today and should be available in as many more before the end of the year. However, it is not yet clear whether more manufacturers will be added.
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The Gemini app is not yet available here in Sweden, but when Gemini becomes the phone's assistant, it also becomes more aware of the context. IF, for example, you call Gemini while watching a YouTube movie or open a large document, it is easy to ask about the content of that particular movie or document. Gemini lays like a floating window on top of the content you had up.
With local AI on the phone, a number of other problems can be solved. For example, we got to see how AI privately analyzes incoming calls so you can be alerted if a fraudster calls and pretends to be calling from your bank. In the example, a warning appeared on the screen when the caller explained that he would help you move your money to a safe account, from your current one.