Unstoppable Google unveils its latest breakthroughs

Despite security concerns about Android, the company that became a verb has just shown off a bevy of new products.

Google Android has been under attack. Concern about security, malware and a lack of privacy for users of the operating system has sullied its regard. But that hasn’t stopped the Mountain View, California, giant. It has carried on. There are now 1.4 billion Android devices around the world, Sundar ­Pichai, Google’s surprise choice as chief executive, boasted this week at a launch event in San Francisco.

And by year’s end there will be more Chromebooks in US schools than all other types of devices combined, Pichai says. More than 10,000 US companies use ­Android, as does the US Army, he adds, and Google Play Music has more than one billion users.

This week Google had much to share. Two months ago founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin reorganised the tech giant, creating a new parent company called ­Alphabet and appointing Pichai, born in India in 1972, to the top job at Google, throwing in a redesigned logo for good measure.

This week Google showcased a bevy of new products, including two Nexus phones, two Chromecast streaming devices and a Pixel C tablet with a magnetically ­attached keyboard.

And that was before we got to Marshmallow, and Google’s plans to reach further into our homes via its Chromecast device.

Google contracts other firms to make Nexus-branded phones on its behalf. Thus LG produced a 5.2-inch Nexus 5x device while China’s Huawei produced a phablet-sized 5.7-inch phone. Both Nexus phones use the pure form of Google’s new Marshmallow operating system, unadulterated by manufacturers’ own apps and tailoring of code.

Many people like the pure form of Android. It is always the latest version of the operating system, with Google regularly pumping out updates. Both phones feature the new USB Type-C ports we saw early this year on Apple’s 12-inch MacBook. These ports allow for fast data transfers and fast-charging devices. You can buy adaptors to connect other devices such as external hard drives.

Both Nexus phones have fingerprint readers that Google calls Nexus Imprint. They’re installed on the back of the phones and, from experience, I can attest to the speed at which they can grant access to a locked smartphone. Google says the software can recognise a fingerprint in less than 600 milliseconds. However, you’ll have to get used to picking up your phone holding it on its sides and supporting it with your index finger.

The event also showcased new smartwatches by Motorola, Huawei and Asus that feature Google’s watch-oriented operating system, Android Wear.

Much attention was given to Google’s new tablet, the Pixel C, with its 10.2-inch display. Its keyboard magnetically attaches to the tablet and charges inductively from it, but can achieve two months of use without charging.

The Pixel C runs the new operating system Marshmallow and Google’s biggest announcements were software-related. While Google Marshmallow, also known as Android 6.0, is an incremental update, in addition to fingerprint recognition it adds a different way of granting apps permission to access data.

Typically we give apps carte blanche permission to access our data when we install them. Now you have a choice about whether you really want a particular app to access all your contacts when the app first runs. Hopefully users will concentrate and make a more deliberative choice. And we’re told it will be easier to revoke those permissions with the new Android.

Among the new announcements was a power-saving feature called Doze that can put your device into a sleep state when not in use. A motion detector decides this. And App Standby helps ­conserve battery life.

Google Now on Tap, an extension of Google Now, automatically offers context-specific prompts to assist your search for products. So if you find a restaurant using the Yelp app, Google Now on Tap prompts you to make a restaurant booking using the OpenTable app or asks if you want to use your ­favourite taxi app.

The Android app drawer remembers when and where you use apps, placing them at the top of the app drawer when you return to the same time and same place. So if you regularly use a transport app in the morning, it reappears at the top of your app drawer when you are nearby.

Marshmallow comes installed on the new Nexus phones and rolls out on other Nexus devices from next week. Users of other phones have to wait until manufacturers incorporate Marshmallow in their operating systems, probably next year.

Then there is Chromecast, the dongle some describe as Google’s “Trojan Horse”, designed to allow the tech giant to penetrate deeper into your home. Chromecast ­allows you to attach entertainment devices and run programs on them, such as Spotify on your TV.

Google aims to disrupt the connected audio speaker industry with a new device called Chromecast Audio. It announced a family music plan that lets six people use Google Music in the US for $US14.99 ($21.30) a month. That’s due to be available later this year.

You can get out an old speaker and attach it to Chromecast Audio’s 3.5mm stereo plug, and Chromecast can stream music to it from apps such as Spotify and Google Music. If you have a series of speakers you can pump synchronised music through each speaker in your home.

Chromecast Audio and a new version of Chromecast for TV are disk-shaped. They work basically the same way. There’s a port for a microUSB connection that powers the device and, in the case of Chromecast, an HDMI connection out or for Chromecast Audio, a stereo plug connection.

Google says the new shape will make it easy for Chromecast to dangle at the back of a TV set and fit snugly behind a mounted TV. The new Chromecast devices support dual Wi-Fi for faster streaming. But you won’t see this in Australia any time soon. We’re not even among the top 17 countries listed by Google to receive them. Maybe later this year. Given the US cost is $US35, we can expect Chromecast to stay at about $50.

Marshmallow may be a soft ­upgrade, but you get the impression Android is getting much more sophisticated as we head towards the second half of this ­decade. But privacy and malware are still issues about which Google needs to allay public concern.

That concern includes a move by Google to let advertisers match Google users’ email addresses with their activities using Gmail, YouTube and Google search called Customer Match.

“Let’s say you’re a travel brand. You can now reach people who have joined your rewards program as they plan their next trip,” Google says in a new blogpost.

“For example, when these rewards members search for “non-stop flights to new york” on Google.com, you can show relevant ads at the top of their search results on any device right when they’re looking to fly to New York.

“And when those members are watching their favourite videos on YouTube or catching up on Gmail, you can show ads that inspire them to plan their next trip.”

This applies to more than just Android device users; it affects users in general that use Google services. According to the blogpost, advertisers get to upload a list of email addresses, which can be matched to signed-in users on Google, but it says “in a secure and privacy-safe way”.

It does illustrate that while the tech giant offers us great new capabilities, it leaves us with a feeling of being increasingly exposed online as well.

Chris Griffith travelled to San Francisco courtesy of Huawei.