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Google I/O: New looks for Android

Google introduces a makeover for Android, which aims to unify the Web, desktop, your phone and wearable devices.
By Andy Smith, Contributor
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1 of 10 James Martin, CNET

Executives at Google I/O in San Francisco tag teamed to outline Android's new look, which aims to unify the Web, desktop, your phone and wearable devices. Google's bet is that a clean unified design---coupled with contextually aware notifications and other goodies---can connect multiple screens.

Google's Roberto Duarte is talking about defining grids and other design tools that will help apps to move more gracefully across platforms. That's always a huge problem on Android, as seen from many apps having less than ideal versions on tablets.

More from Google I/O 2014

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Palette

All framework elements can be colored ... new support library called Palette to extract colors from images.

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3 of 10 James Martin, CNET

Tabs

Tabs are presented in a stack with drop shadows -- sort of a mix of what Apple is doing with skeuomorphism and more familiar design.

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4 of 10 James Martin, CNET

The API will recall search results from apps, based on the user's previous actions.

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5 of 10 James Martin, CNET

Search

Search results will mix app results and Web results. The API will recall search results from apps, based on user's previous actions.

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6 of 10 James Martin, CNET

Reminders are immediately synced from watch to phone.

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7 of 10 James Martin, CNET

Google promises fast, fluid, continuous animation at 60 frames per second. This just wasn't possible a year ago.

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8 of 10 James Martin, CNET

New notification: heads-up notification coming.

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9 of 10 James Martin, CNET

There's a ripple effect when touching tabs, and the dialer button floats above UI.

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10 of 10 James Martin, CNET

Note taking.

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