Like Daydream is an upgrade for Cardboard, Google Assistant is an upgrade for Google Now: a more friendly, more personal, chatbot-powered AI that can answer your questions, book dinner reservations, play games and suggest smart replies to send your friends when you don't have the time or the energy to actually compose a proper message. It looks set to spread across all of Google's apps and services.One place where the Google Assistant is definitely going to appear is in the dinky Google Home device - essentially Google's own version of the Amazon Echo (and Google chief Sundar Pichai even gave a shout out to Amazon on stage). It can answer your queries via the web, play music, control various smart home devices (including Nest) and it's coming out sometime in the autumn of 2016.
We'll also see Google Assistant in the company's brand new messaging app: Allo. Did Google need a new messaging app? Perhaps not, but Allo has chatbot-style AI capabilities, some nice stickers, and the ability to quickly change the font size with a slide of your finger. It looks a lot like this is going to be Google's answer to Apple's iMessage, and it links to your mobile number too.Just for fun, Google launched yet another messaging app at I/O, this time for one-to-one video calls (yes, it's Google's FaceTime). It's called Duo and one of its neatest features is the ability to see a video feed of who's calling before you answer. Like Allo, Duo is going to be available in the summer for Android and iOS. Where does this leave Hangouts? To be honest, we're not exactly sure.
Google's smartwatch platform is getting a major update - like Android N and almost everything else announced at I/O, it's coming in the autumn. The update will enable Android Wear apps to run completely independently of a connected smartphone, plus there are three input upgrades - smart replies, handwriting recognition and a small, swipeable keyboard for your wrist. What's more, your smartwatch will be able to identify exercise activities automatically.We already knew a lot about Android N, but there were some new features announced at I/O: background updates, for example, so Android will eventually update automatically in the same way the Chrome browser does. There's also going to be a quicker way of switching between apps, as well as a bigger range of emoji characters - which we know was something a lot of you were waiting for.
Also coming at some point later this year are Android Instant Apps - segments of apps that are temporarily installed on your phone. So, you can jump into a shopping app to buy an item, for example, or an app made by a particular venue or event without having to go through the trouble of installing the whole app and then uninstalling it five months later, never having used it again.Android Auto is slowly but surely getting better and more widely used, and Google announced some small upgrades at I/O this year. The Google-owned Waze app is going to be built into Android Auto, and there's going to be support for Wi-Fi connections as well as wired ones too. What's more, you'll be able to access Android Auto on your phone, without needing a compatible car headset as well.
Google's Dave Burke admitted that the company is having trouble naming Android N - and so everyone is invited to offer ideas via android.com/n. Before you get too excited, there's not going to be an official poll - Google's decision is still final - but there's a chance that your idea might be the one that's picked. Think dessert names and see where your imagination takes you... you've got until 8 June to make a suggestion.Tablets and laptops with Intel's 7th Generation Core chips code-named Kaby Lake should become available in the coming months.Intel is shipping Kaby Lake chips to PC makers now, CEO Brian Krzanich during Intel's earnings call Wednesday. Systems with new processors usually become available a few months after Intel delivers the chips.
Kaby Lake will succeed current Core processors named Skylake. The new chip has the underpinnings of Skylake and won't necessarily be smaller in size, but it'll provide speed improvements over its predecessor, Krzanich said.That raises a question: should you wait a few months for Kaby Lake instead of upgrading to a Skylake PC now? Experts generally say you should buy a PC as and when you need it rather than wait for the next improvement to come along.Nevertheless, Kaby Lake PCs should come in some interesting shapes and sizes. Intel usually first releases Core M versions of a new processor first, suggesting some innovative mobile designs.Skylake was originally to be followed by Canonlake, a 10 nanometer shrink of Skylake. But last year Intel pushed out its 10 nanometer plans and introduced Kaby Lake as an interim product, with some design tweaks to boost performance.
At Computex last month, Asus showed Transformer 3, which resembles Microsoft's Surface Pro tablet and runs on Kaby Lake. It has a 12.6-inch screen, weighs 695 grams and is 6.9 millimeters thick. It can be configured with a 512GB SSD and up to 8GB RAM. Asus said it would be priced starting at $799.No other major PC maker has announced a Kaby Lake PC yet. Lenovo and Acer are holding PC-related press conferences ahead of the IFA trade show in Berlin in early September. Kaby Lake PCs could also be shown at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco next month.Intel has said 400 devices with Kaby Lake will ultimately become available. Microsoft's Surface PCs and Apple's MacBooks could also get Kaby Lake chips.
Competition to Kaby Lake will come from AMD's chips code-named Bristol Ridge, which reached a handful of PCs earlier this year. AMD's chips excel at graphics, while Intel chips are better at preserving laptop battery.Intel in April said it would reshape its business to focus less on PCs and more on data center products, internet of things and connectivity. The PC market has been slumping for years and has hurt Intel's profits.Krzanich expects the PC upgrade cycle to pick up in the second half this year, mainly in enterprises. Demand for PCs was slightly better in the second quarter, but should continue to decline in the high single-digit range for the rest of the year, he said.Sure, your workstation can run CAD programs, but can it create and test VR applications? MSI continues to break boundaries, launching the WT72 6QN, the first workstation capable of supporting the resource-taxing Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets. When you're not designing or exploring virtual spaces, the laptop delivers good overall performance with a lovely 4K display. However, the $4,999 price of the MSI WT72 6QN may give pause to all but the most deep-pocketed engineers and designers.
The WT72 looks pretty bad-ass for a workstation, and that's because it uses the same frame as the company's GT72 Dominator line of gaming notebooks, albeit with one distinctive change. Instead of the red-and-white backlit dragon emblem, the WT72's brushed-black aluminum lid is adorned with a gleaming MSI emblem set above a green-and-black workstation sigil.MSI WT72 6QNThe majority of the laptop's interior is made of black aluminum with the exception of the semiglass palm rest. A large speaker grill resides at the top of the deck above the backlit keyboard. Buttons for power, GPU, fan speed, KLM backlighting software and a programmed shortcut sit to the left of keyboard. Along the laptop's front lip are two LED strips that can also be customized.
You want ports? The WT72 has them in spades. Starting on the right, you have a pair of USB 3.0 ports and a Blu-Ray burner. You'll find four USB 3.0 ports with jacks for headphones, microphone, S/PDIF and an amp and a SD card reader. In the rear is a Thunderbolt 3 port, HDMI, a mini DisplayPort and the power jack. That means that this monster can support up to four monitors or a VR headset if you're so inclined.
The WT72 might be one of the most powerful workstations in the land, but at 8.6 pounds, the 16.9 x 11.6 x 1.9-inch behemoth is most certainly the chunkiest. The 16.4 x 10.8 x 1.2-inch Lenovo ThinkPad P70 is a full pound lighter.Whether you're watching movies or creating them, the WT72's 3840 x 2160 display is a sight to behold.
The Dell Precision 5510 (14.1 x 9.3 x 0.66 inches) and HP ZBook Studio G3 (14.8 x 10 x 0.71 inches), both of which have 15-inch screens, weigh 4.6 pounds, while the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display measures 4.5 pounds, 14.1 x 9.7 x 0.71 inches.
Whether you're watching movies or creating them, the WT72's 3840 x 2160 display is a sight to behold. Actor Byung-hun Lee stood larger than life against a pale, blue sky and a field of green at his back in the 1080p trailer of The Magnificent Seven. Details were sharp enough that I could see the individual jet-black hairs in his mustache as well as the fine stripes in his shirt.
The matte panel can reproduce 173 percent of the sRGB color gamut, topping the 129 percent desktop-replacement average. The ZBook wasn't too far behind at 169 percent, while the ThinkPad P70 hit 158 percent. However, the Precision 5500 got the win at 177 percent. The MacBook Pro delivered a disappointing 86 percent.
The WT72's vividness is matched only by its accuracy. When tested, the display registered 0.87 on the Delta-E test (0 is ideal), besting the 1.3 category average. The MacBook Pro, ZBook and Precision 5500 posted 2.1, 2.4 and 2.6, respectively. But the ThinkPad P70 proved the most accurate at 0.7. When measured for brightness, the WT72 averaged a glimmering 305 nits, easily outshining the 291-nit average, but not the Precision's dazzling 322 nits. The WT72 fared better against the MacBook Pro, the ThinkPad P70 and the ZBook, which produced 303, 277 and 241 nits each.Thanks to the pair of Dynaudio speakers, the WT72's bark is as big as its bite. Paired with a bottom-mounted subwoofer, the top-firing speakers filled my small test space with loud, mostly clear music. Listening to Chance the Rapper's "Angels," I got a nice thump of bass paired with a playful steel drum and the artist's singsong-y vocal. The background vocals sounded slightly distorted, which was a bit off-putting.