Google I/O 2019: Opening Keynote Key Topics and Reactions

Health and Happiness

Technical changes, regarding performance and privacy, are not the only new things from Google I/O. Building technology for everyone is extremely important to Google, and, because of this, many changes regarding user wellbeing and accessibility have been announced. Most of these changes are coming with the new, tenth, Android version — Android Q.

If you are suffering from any degree of hearing impairment, live captions could be a life-changing feature for you, in the next Android update. The idea is to add video caption possibility, just like in YouTube videos, to any form of a video you can watch on your phone. The problem is that videos usually don’t have any captions. Google had to find a way to add captions on the fly in a way that is highly performant and that can be used everywhere, not just YouTube, but also, for example, on applications like Instagram, Facebook, Reddit and so on.

Once again, the answer lies in machine learning! Just like with the previously mentioned model of 100GB, Google has managed to compress a model that helps to process text down to 100KB in size. This model is thus accessible to virtually any device. And not only that, but the feature will also be located in the sound options, allowing you to use it on any video you’re watching.

It’s safe to say that this opens many doors for people with a need of hearing assistance since they’ll be able to experience currently uncaptioned videos in a whole new way! This feature will be available to everyone, through the sound menu, once you hold down the lower-sound button. This means that you can use it any time you cannot listen to the sound of the video as well, like when you’re riding on the train or the bus.

Having the ability to call people using our phones, from nearly anywhere in the world, is beautiful. But it might not be that beautiful for people who cannot hear. Just like with captions, there is room for improvement in making calls to make that everyday task more accessible.

Live relay is just that. First, it transcribes, for the hearing impaired, the voice of the person calling, showing text in a message box. Then, it allows the user to use writing when making a call to communicate with the person on the other line. The text is then read to the other person, trying to mimic a fully synchronous call. Additional help is offered through smart suggestions and replies, just like with emails in the Gmail app. This allows for the conversation to be as quick and efficient as possible, and for both parties to fully understand the other person while transferring their thoughts seamlessly.

One of the most emotional things we saw at Google I/O, other than live captions, was Project Euphonia. It is an experimental project at Google, with which the developers are trying to make everyone be understood. People who suffer from multiple sclerosis, who’ve had a stroke, or have lost the ability to speak, for example, often rely on very slow and unreliable systems to communicate with their loved ones and their friends. But, even with those systems, it’s still hard to convey thoughts for them, so Google is exploring new ways to provide these individuals with assistance with one of the core parts of being human — speech.

Whichever form of speech-impairment you might suffer from, this could be another life-changing innovation. With thorough data analysis and machine-learning models, Google has made good progress, training models that understand speech, which previously wasn’t understandable to the software we use every day. A really heartwarming story featuring Dimitri Kanevsky, one of Google’s research scientists in this area, who demonstrated the model recognizing his speech nearly perfectly, even though he’s had trouble with speech-to-text before, due to his speech impairment brought on by losing his hearing as an infant.

Other efforts of reading facial expressions and mere sounds, from people who have lost the ability to speak, have been made, and there’s progress in building models and software, which would allow them to communicate much faster than they did before, using camera-assisted-eye-contact-typing of words, letter by letter, using an on-screen keyboard.

This is really breathtaking work, showing how technology can truly be used for collective wellbeing, and helping those who are most in need.

Presenting new technologies for easier communication during the Google I/O 2019 Keynote

Presenting new technologies for easier communication during the Google I/O 2019 Keynote

Speaking of wellbeing, there’s been some improvements to the Digital Wellbeing application, first shown in Android Pie. So far, we’ve had the ability to wind down and apply a grayscale filter to our screens and the do not disturb mode, whenever we reached a time in the day we wanted to relax and start going to bed. We could also see which applications took most of our screen time, and from which apps we’d received the most notifications. All of this was to help us use our phone in a smarter way, decreasing our total phone time and enjoying life more.

This year, Google has introduced two new features within the Digital Wellbeing app — Focus mode and Family Link.

Focus mode allows you to disable notifications and pings from disturbing applications for a while, but leaving texts from family members still available. You can easily choose which parts of the media you want to disable to be able to focus.

Family link, on the other hand, allows parents to connect to their kids’ accounts and set up timers and limits for applications so that their kids don’t spend too much time on the phone. However, parents can give kids five minutes of “bonus time” just in case they fall victim to said kids’ puppy eyes. :]

New Pixel Phone

Obviously, the crowd cheered for this new phone like crazy! Google announced the new Pixel phones — the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL. Being a Pixel phone, it’s expected to have an amazing camera, clean Android, and many software updates. On top of that, it has sleek looks and a plethora of awesome Google Assistant services.

With all that in mind, you’d also expect the phone to be rather expensive since it sounds like a bunch of flagship features. With the 3a series, this is not the case! The starting price of these phones is only $399, with the XL version being only $80 more expensive ($479 total). The Pixel comes in three colors – Just Black, Clearly White and Purple-ish. And, to top it all off, the 3a version has brought back the 3.5mm headphone jack! :]

Introducing the new Pixel 3a during the Google I/O 2019 Keynote

Introducing the new Pixel 3a during the Google I/O 2019 Keynote

Given that you can turn in your older Pixel phone for a price reduction, you can get the 3a version for as low as $150. Some of the features you would get on higher-end variants, like dust and water protection for the phone, are not available, hence the lower overall cost. But you still get cool stuff like free original quality Google Photos uploads, unlimited for a few years after your purchase, and guaranteed three years of Android updates.