Android & Chill
One of the web’s longest-running tech columns, Android & Chill is your Saturday discussion of Android, Google, and all things tech.
Google I/O is right around the corner, and if you’re a tech fanatic, you’re already waiting for all the cool things that it’s going to bring, or at least talk about. Even if we never see them (remember Project Soli?), the ideas that come from Google’s genius worker bees can be cool as heck.
But hearing them can also be a pain in the you-know-what. It’s always been that way, and the reason has never changed — Google I/O is not for you and me.
Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. If you’re a software developer interested in Google’s consumer products, or if you are interested in becoming one, then it is for you. If you’re a regular Jane or Joe, like most of us, then it’s a couple of days of talk about tokens and APIs with a tiny bit of interesting stuff sprinkled through.
It’s my job to pay attention, and I still love to dabble with development, but even I get overwhelmed. Not that I’m some sort of tech Superman, but I am closer to the actual intended audience than most.
Don’t worry though, because after all these years I have figured out exactly how to digest what’s cool and different coming from Google’s annual developer conference: don’t pay a lot of attention to it.
Really, I’m serious. If you’re a bit of a nerd, then the keynote and What’s New in Android presentations can be fun to watch, but be prepared to hear about stuff like those tokens, limits, AI engines, and analytical training for most of the hour.
Let people like me, who are forced to watch and pay attention, do it. Then we tell you about it, without all the tech-nerd gobbly-goo. Anything cool will be all over your favorite tech websites; we’ll be covering it extensively because it’s what we at Android Central do best. We might even get a little nerdy from time to time (I forgive you if you don’t read my I/O nerd articles).
When everything is said and done we will have a complete wrap-up of everything announced as well as the gems that get hidden in the individual sessions. So will other Android websites, or general tech sites like The Verge.
Read all of those. If it sounds cool, read it twice, even. Then, be prepared to never see any of it materialize so that when some of it does happen, it’s a pleasant surprise. Cynical, but healthy.
Like I said earlier, Google I/O isn’t for you. Really, even the stuff about what’s coming in Android 16 isn’t for you. On its surface, it is meant to get developers ready, but at its core, it’s all done for the shareholders.
Like it or not, all businesses work this way, and Google isn’t an exception. Every single decision has to start with “How does this affect share value?” or eventually there will be no decisions to make because there will be no Google to make them.
What Google has planned for its own Pixel phones is often cool as heck, and sometimes we even get to see some of it rub off on the software from other companies. If you really want to know about Android 16 for the Galaxy S25, for example, you should watch Samsung’s developer conference.
Either way, hearing about it can be fun. Learning about it without sitting through the slog and trying to pay attention is even better.
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