2014 Year end review, best news in Android

[pc747]

2014 brought about many advances in tech, everything from Android Wear, an attempt by Google to breathe new life into Android TV, Google's attempt to reach the smaller markets with Android One, finally getting a Motorola Nexus in the form of Shamu, the One plus One with Cyanogenmod, Android and Chrome getting closer together, and Android Silver not coming to fruition.

Of all the news in 2014 what was your favorite news story of the year?

What do you want to see in 2015?

 

[FoxKat]

What I want to see:

Advancement in connected device management. In other words better Bluetooth mannerism allowing more than one connected device to have access to the same interface. I want my car, headset, key fob, watch and stereo headphones all to play together nicely together and be able to have navigation instructions come from the phone's speaker while sending streaming audio to the car and phonecalls to my headset and notifications to my watch. Right now, you can only choose to have phone audio and media audio sent to two different destinations but you can't carve out navigation to go to a different destination than your media audio.

Often times I have my headset on and will use it for phone calls while listening to streaming audio on the car stereo, but I don't want the navigation prompts coming over either the car or my headset.

Then if I have any other device such as my Bluetooth watch or key fob connected to my phone I can't listen to streaming audio on the car stereo system.

The limit to connected devices and the restriction to only one of two possible profiles just won't work going forward.

 

[akhenax]

I would like for my phone to automatically connect to my trusted Chromecast device once in range, or once on the same wifi network. That way it's a smooth transition to share content from my phone to my Chromecast. Now there are way to many steps involved to share my screen, or to share media.

Also, speaking of sharing media, local videos specifically, this should be embedded in the OS or even the Chromecast app. I shouldn't need a special app to share local media with the Chromecast, as it should be an extension of my Android device.

 

[scottysize]

Believe it or not, my favorite new tech was the FireTV. (I can't say the FitBit Surge, because it hasn't been officially released, but it's my favorite tech watch.)
While the FirePhone was a huge flop, the FireTV has potential to be a huge success, that is if it can catch on and overtake the Roku. Already the FireTV has better specs and better inaction, but what's going to hurt it is the same problem I have. Those who already own a Roku, or a jailbroken Apple TV don't need the FireTV. (Notice I said Jailbroken, because a standard Apple TV doesn't have the apps that everyone else has.)

What do I want to see in 2015? I'd like to see phone manufacturers take the next step in displays by producing an image outside the glass. Either a projection, or a 3D image, but something no longer defined by the size of the device. It's time to stop working on the next phablet and start working on imaging.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Man...I don't know if I can pick a favorite story...

Maybe the phablet nexus. I feel like that says a lot about trends, since the idea of that is for Google and an OEM to show everyone else how its done.

Either that, or Android Wear. Since my G watch is my newest toy, a lot of my posts here lately have surrounded it, but it's really a great concept and already quite handy, so moving forward, I'm very excited to see what other advancements and changes are made with it. So, it may not really be that big of a story for this year, but it's definitely one that I'm most looking forward to following into next year and beyond.

 

[akhenax]

I think we need Google Glass for the masses. Paying $1500 dollars for this technology is just a little outlandish. Is there a way to facilitate this technology using my phone instead? Like while my phone sits under utilized in my pocket, a device connected to my glasses, could communicate with my phone via Bluetooth or WiDi to give me a HUD like environment. It would just be another accessory.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

I think we need Google Glass for the masses. Paying $1500 dollars for this technology is just a little outlandish. Is there a way to facilitate this technology using my phone instead? Like while my phone sits under utilized in my pocket, a device connected to my glasses, could communicate with my phone via Bluetooth or WiDi to give me a HUD like environment. It would just be another accessory.

I'm not familiar with exactly how Android Wear works for Glass (that's what they use, isn't it?), but I can't imagine it'd be THAT much different from how the watches work. Biggest hurtle would likely be getting real-time info from things the camera is seeing, but even that seems like it'd work pretty snappy.

 

[Ollie]

So technically my favorite story originates from 2013 with the release of KitKat.

34% of Android devices run it which should put the number of users on that OS at around 340 million.

 

[cr6]

What do I want to see in 2015? I'd like to see phone manufacturers take the next step in displays by producing an image outside the glass. Either a projection, or a 3D image, but something no longer defined by the size of the device. .

Samsung already tried this last year that allowed you to project your screen onto a wall. (Galaxy Beam) It didn't do so well.


S5 tap'n

 

[pc747]

Samsung already tried this last year that allowed you to project your screen onto a wall. (Galaxy Beam) It didn't do so well.


S5 tap'n

and LG did it 5 years ago

 

[combatmedic870]

Nothing really all that great this year. Just small incremental updates. No SD 810 this year or 4G ram. No faster internal memory really. No ddr5, for some reason USB 3 is going away(note 4)....yep...not much.

 

[FoxKat]

Pico projectors have come a really long way since then. Laser pico projectors have amazing picture quality and since it's laser driven there is no focusing required. Also, since they're laser led driven there's virtually no light failure needing replacement. As long as 2 years ago they had them small enough to fit on the top of your finger.

Ref: ST shows tiny 720p laser pico projector prototype says to expect devices soon

Given they were that small then, we should have them completely internalized in our phones by now. The lasers needed draw such little power and deliver bright images that it wouldn't be a huge tradeoff of battery power to display.