Google I/O Connect in Amsterdam
Google I/O Connect is the place to experience the latest innovations and announcements from Google I/O. You can also learn how to apply new technology to your workflow through hands-on experiences and live demos, get answers from Google experts, and connect with other developers.
I attended Google I/O in San Francisco twice, in 2015 and 2018. This year, Google organised 4 regional I/O Connect events for us in Miami, Amsterdam, Shanghai, and Bengaluru. I was fortunate enough to attend the event in Amsterdam, and in this blog post, I would like to share my technical notes and experiences from that event.
Would I prefer to be in San Francisco instead of Amsterdam? The answer is both yes and no. While attending more Google I/O events before 2020 would have been desirable, it has always been a challenge to coordinate work, accommodation, and travel to the US. Nevertheless, being in California holds a special place in my heart 😏
The conference provided an exceptional opportunity for engagement and enlightenment. It featured four stages:
- Mobile stage: Develop for a range of audiences and form factors.
- Web stage: Create fast, secure sites and apps for the open web.
- AI stage: Bring the power of machine learning to apps and workflows.
- Cloud stage: Simplify and scale end-to-end development.
Here is the link if you want to explore technical sessions and workshops.
Links for codelabs here.
Google experts were there for us
The event witnessed the participation of numerous esteemed and influential figures from Google. Dan Galpin, Laurence Moroney, Alejandra Stamato, Manuel Vicente Vivo, Maru Ahues Bouza, Nick Butcher, Jolanda Verhoef and many more.
It was a great opportunity for us developers to participate in live Q&A sessions with Google experts. All of them were incredibly approachable and kind individuals. Of course, we missed having names like Chet Haase, Romain Guy, and Yigit Boyar.
More about Mobile Stage
Since I am interested in the Mobile track, I compiled a list of the Mobile-specific agenda and videos covered throughout the day.
Video links:
Playlist for Multi-device at Google I/O2023
Machine Learning for mobile with MediaPipe and Flutter
Building the future of Android
Unfortunately there is no recording for Android fireside chat.
If you are an Android developer like me, I strongly suggest you watch the following:
What’s new in Kotlin for Android
What’s new in Android development tools
As a developer working at Ford Motor Company, I find these news from the Android Auto side very exciting:
What’s new with Android for Cars
Android Auto allows drivers to connect their Android phone to the car to access their favourite apps right on the display. I have Android Auto in my car, and I love using Google Maps and Spotify on the same screen.
Many top car manufacturers already offer models with this experience and all of these brands will have cars with Google build in available this year.
🔜 Calling with Zoom, Teams, and Webex will be coming soon.
🔜 Multi-screen support is coming to Android Automotive OS 14.
🔜 Browser apps will be available in the car.
In the video, there is a section about how the revamped Waze app was built using the Car App Library, which is very interesting.
If you want to explore more, you can get started here: g.co/androidforcars.
Cross Device SDK
The Cross Device SDK was announced at Google I/O 22 and is set to exit Developer Preview soon. It seems like an interesting one!
Baseline Profile
We have watched numerous videos about performance and Baseline Profile since last year. It seems like a compelling reason to utilise the latest AGP version.
Booths in the venue
Meeting with great developers
I have had the opportunity to meet amazing people from all over the world, make new friends, and engage in meaningful discussions. One of the standout individuals in the field of Android Auto is Carlos Mota. Carlos collaborated with John O’Reilly to add Android Auto support to John’s impressive Confetti app. What an inspiring collaboration, isn’t it? I had the pleasure of meeting both of them. 😎
Marc Reichelt is another Kotlin enthusiast. Talking about Kotlin, KMM and TDD with him was inspiring :)
In conclusion, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Google for organising this event. I strongly recommend anyone who is interested to participate in a Google I/O Connect or a Google I/O Extended event in their local region.
