Google I/O 2018: Here’s how to watch Google I/O live stream online, and everything else you need to know

The search giant Google is scheduled to tip off its Google I/O 2018, which is the company’s annual developer conference will be held from May 8, at the Shoreline Amphitheatre at its headquarter in Mountain View, California. Here’s how to watch Google I/O 2018 live stream online, and everything else you need to know.

This annual Google I/O 2018 developer conference is home to a load of announcements about a wide variety of Google’s products and services. The search giant already took the wraps off of news about Android TV, Google Home, Wear OS Assistant. The conference will start at about 10:30 PM IST with Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s keynote.

How to watch Google I/O 2018 live stream

If you can’t make it to Google’s headquarters to attend the developer conference event live, you can still catch the keynotes as well as all of the sessions. Like every year, Google will be live streaming the Google I/O 2018 keynote, which kicks off at 10AM PT (10:30PM IST).

The keynote will be delivered by CEO Sundar Pichai and will be live streamed on dedicated I/O website here – events.google.com/io/. Alternatively, you can also download Google I/O 2018 app on your Android or iOS device, or head over to Google Developers YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/GoogleDevelopers to watch the event live.

Google I/0 2018: What to expect from the developer conference?

Android P

Will it be the year of the Peppermint Patty/Pistachio/Popsicle? Android P is this year’s big update for the platform. The latest version of Google’s mobile operating system seems likely to take centre stage here. Google has already released the first developer preview of Android P detailing features that will be seen on the next version of its mobile operating system.

With Android P, Google seems to be going after another major overhaul with a new gesture support similar to iPhone X and the OnePlus 5T. That should remove the need for the constant navigation bar at the very bottom of the display, allowing apps to take up more space for an immersive experience on bezel-less smartphones. We’re also expecting to get an update regarding an AI-powered smart reply for chat notifications from messaging apps.

Google Assistant

Over the last few months, the search giant has been focusing a lot on the Assistant – its voice-enabled virtual assistant. Google recently announced that its Assistant is now available on more than 5,000 devices. Google Assistant also now supports over a million of Actions – including, most recently, booking a movie ticket – which should see it compete strongly against Amazon’s Alexa.

Google Home

Google Home, which is Google’s smart speaker loaded with Google Assistant, was updated at last year’s Google I/O with a bunch of new features, including “proactive assistance”, also known as push notifications, hands-free free calling, Spotify, SoundCloud, and Deezer integrations, and more. Also, more recently, Google launched two more Google Home speakers: Home Max and Home Mini. It is expected that the company will address its Google Home line and maybe even announce new features for them.

Google Home speakers becoming more widely available worldwide, and Assistant-powered smart displays scheduled to hit the market this summer.

Google AR and VR

Google I/O 2018’s schedule shows that the company is putting a lot of emphasis on the two emerging technologies  — AR and VR. Last year, Google killed the Project Tango AR Platform and instead the focus has been shifted to its ARCore initiative. Google also just recently took the wraps off the Lenovo-branded Daydream headset, setting the stage for some big VR talk at this week’s show.

Wear OS

Google officially rebranded Android Wear as Wear OS early this year and Google I/O 2018 could be an attempt to save its wearable platform. Among key things, Google is likely to shed more light on Wear OS and detail how it plans to shape the platform going forward.