Right off the bat here at Google I/O, the company is telling developers about some awesome new tools for apps. A new series of APIs will enable a variety of new services for both developers and end users. Here are some of the highlights.
Version 2 of the Location API, which includes:
- Geofencing (assigning triggers to specific geographical locations) and up to 100 fences per app
- a fused location provider, which should allow for active location gathering at just 1% battery drain per hour or increased accuracy
- Activity recognition - API can recognize if users are walking, biking, driving, et cetera. Advanced applications can read confidence values for different activities.
Authorization API:
- cross-platform simple sign-on
Google cloud messaging (now part of Google Play Services)
- Persistent connections between Google and API servers
- Upstream messaging! Use GCM to send data from devices to servers
- Cross-device synchronized notifications! You won't have to dismiss an alert on both your phone and tablet.
Google Play Game Services (See full Games post)
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Achievements
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Leaderboards
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Cloud game saves
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Multiplayer auto-matching and invites