YouTube App Being Rebuilt for Daydream Google’s VR Platform

YouTube App Being Rebuilt for Daydream Google’s VR Platform

As announced during yesterday morning’s keynote, Google is rebuilding its YouTube app, making it more enjoyable for those who plan on using the service with virtual reality. The announcement goes hand-in-hand with the unveiling of Daydream, the company’s VR platform for Android devices.

Once the changes are live and Daydream is available to consumers, a revamped UI will be seen, just like the own shown in the header image above. Explained by YouTube, the goal is provide an, “easier, more immersive way to find and experience virtual reality content on YouTube.”

The YouTube app will still feature the things you know and enjoy, such as voice search, easy discovery, as well as your playlists of videos. Once live, it will all just be tweaked to better work inside of a VR headset. Naturally, if you aren’t using VR, the YouTube UI won’t be changing.

YouTube claims they have been working with many creators to have a ton of VR and 360-degree video content available at the time of Daydream’s launch. Additionally, YouTube is collaborating with the NBA, BuzzFeed, and Tastemade to deliver all new experiences to VR users.

Like everything else from Google I/O this year, expect to try it for yourself later this year in Q3.

Via: YouTube

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Google Current Smartphones Unlikely to be Supported by Daydream VR Platform

Google Current Smartphones Unlikely to be Supported by Daydream VR Platform

Google’s overseer of Virtual Reality, Clay Bavor, states that folks looking to get into Daydream, the Android VR platform, should hold off on upgrading their smartphone for a couple of months. For anyone who wanted to upgrade within the next few weeks, if VR is an important purchasing factor, you may want to take Bavor’s advice. According to Bavor, it is “unlikely” that many current devices, or any at all, will be “Daydream-ready” out of the box when the platform is made available to consumers later this year. 

Stated by Bavor, “I can tell you that there will most likely not be any retroactively Daydream-ready phones.” Apparently, Google’s standards for internal components to support Daydream are so high, many of the current devices on the market, such as the Galaxy S7 and HTC 10, may not make the cut. Bavor continued with, “We want to hold a very high quality bar, and for that to happen all of the components need to be just right. So, to VR fans, I would say, hold off for a few months to get your next phone… and get a Daydream-ready phone.”

Google has yet to publicly announce what exactly separates a “Daydream-ready” smartphone from an already available high-end smartphone, but the company did list a few general bullet points for what is inside a would-be Daydream device. Phones will need low-persistence displays, a high performance SoC (system on a chip), as well as a myriad of low latency and high quality sensors. Also note that a phone must be running Android N to enable the VR Mode that is required for Daydream to work properly. Even with this information available, we still don’t know the exact requirements or if any current flagship device carries them. While most current high-end devices would meet the SoC and display needs, it’s likely that the built-in sensors are not quite up to the standards Google is requiring. Right now, specifically for developers, Google lists only the Nexus 6P as a supported device for Daydream development, but Bavor did not state whether or not it would be supported once Daydream is officially available.

Alongside the announcement of Daydream, Google listed a few partners who would have Daydream-ready smartphones later in the year, including ZTE (the company announced its first Daydream-ready phone this week), Samsung, LG, HTC, and more. If getting into virtual reality is something you have been contemplating, and don’t want to wait for a Daydream-ready smartphone, you can purchase a Galaxy S7 and Gear VR headset.

Let’s see hands for who all is fine waiting until Google’s partners release their Daydream-ready phones. Anyone?

Via: Road to VR

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Fitbit Acquires Coin’s Wearable Payments Platform Will be Used in Future Products

Fitbit Acquires Coin’s Wearable Payments Platform Will be Used in Future Products

This morning, Fitbit announced its acquisition of the wearable payments platform from Coin, the payments startup that released a universal credit card replacement. According to Fitbit and Coin, the acquisition will include, “key personnel and intellectual property specific to Coin’s wearables payment platform.”

Undoubtedly, Fitbit will use this purchase to create wearable devices that feature Coin’s technology, allowing users to not only track their steps, but to make purchases at supported retailers. As reported by Engadget, Fitbit previously mentioned that there are no plans to release such a device in 2016, but the door has been left wide open for a release in 2017. 

Detailed in the press releases, this deal excludes the Coin 2.0 credit card hardware. Mentioned by Coin, your Coin card will still work (until the internal battery dies in 2 years), but the company will no longer sell the device, although, they are holding onto inventory for warranty replacement purposes. Furthermore, Coin Rewards and the Coin Developer Program are being retired with this announcement.

Via: Engadget | Coin | Fitbit

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Android Wear 2 0 Biggest Update for the Platform Yet

Android Wear 2 0 Biggest Update for the Platform Yet

According to Google, Android Wear 2.0 is the “most significant Android Wear update” since the platform launched about two years ago. That’s a bold statement, even for Google. Available later this year in the fall season for everyone, Android Wear 2.0 includes standalone apps that access the web without the help of a smartphone, UI changes to make interactions with a smartwatch better, handwriting input methods, a new Complications API for developers, as well as big changes for the Google Fit platform.

For UI changes, Google has redesigned its app launcher and notifications, making the launching of apps on Android Wear much more timely. The system UI also adopts a dark color palette and makes better use of round displays, which is a bonus for owners of the Huawei Watch, Moto 360, and Watch Urbane models. Google also baked in a new handwriting input method, which allows users to essentially draw whatever they want typed, instead of having to speak everything to the smartwatch.

The Complications API for Android Wear 2.0 allows any app to add data directly to a watch face that allows for the API. For example, if you use a 3rd-party watch face, and also have an Android Wear app that shows sports score, you can add a complication to your watch face that shows those sports scores. That’s just an example, though. A complication could be added for weather, stocks, or anything else.

For Google Fit, improvements for the platform make it easier for apps to collect and use fitness data, as well as detect ongoing activity. Developers will also find it easier for their apps to get consistent daily step counts on Android Wear. Thanks to the changes, apps will better detect when a user starts walking, running, or biking.

If you are the type who does not care for waiting until the fall, a developer preview of Android Wear 2.0 has been made available for two devices – the Huawei Watch and LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition. Just like flashing an image to a Nexus phone, the process is very straightforward if your computer is already setup with adb good to go. You can download the necessary images right here.

Exciting, right?

Via: Android Developers

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Daydream is Google’s Virtual Reality Platform for Android Devices

Daydream is Google’s Virtual Reality Platform for Android Devices

Previously expected to be called Android VR, Google announced Daydream at Google I/O this morning, its virtual reality platform for Android devices. To clarify, Google already had a feature inside of the Android OS called Daydream; It was basically a screen saver that was displayed when devices would sit idle. Now, the Daydream name represents Google’s stronger commitment into VR for mobile devices.

Daydream has a few branches that you will hear more about over the next few months. For Android smartphones, specifically ones running Android N, a VR Mode has been built into the OS. This mode optimizes the device’s performance, since VR can be quite the processing hog.

Additionally, it must be noted that Google has yet to announce any competitor hardware to Samsung’s Gear VR, but has released a reference design for a VR headset and handheld controller device. This reference material can be used by 3rd parties to create actual hardware for Daydream. Daydream also brings a recreated Google Play, specially made for virtual reality.

Like pretty much everything else Google announced today, we won’t have much hands-on with Daydream until later this year, sometime around the fall season.

Via: Google

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