Google made many announcements and introductions today at Google I/O (see keynote video at the end of this article) about the next version of Android, a cloud music service, movie rental on Android Market, and new development tools for accessory gadgets.
The next version of the Android operating system, Android 2.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, will bring everything Honeycomb onto tablets and phones, including the holographic user interface, more multitasking, the new launcher and richer widgets.
Music Beta by Google is a new cloud music service for streaming to your computer and Android devices. Music and playlists are automatically kept in sync. So far, the service is for the music you currently own and is not a buying service or a monthly service yet. You can listen to music offline. Recently played music is stored on Android devices. The service is launching in beta today to U.S. users and is available by invitation (see video at the end of this article).
Movie rentals in Android Market offers thousands of movies to rent starting at $1.99 per view via Android or home computer. Today's spotlight picks are Inception ($3.99), The Kings Speech ($3.99), and Harrry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 ($3.99). Google appears to have movies that Netflix does not yet stream.
Google released Android Open Accessory to help developers start building new hardware accessories that will work across all Android devices. They showed Android@Home that allows Android apps to communicate with appliances and other gadgets at home.