Two new paths for Android: Developing nations and ‘material design’

The first initiative, Android One, aims to make smartphones more than a First World problem. With Android One, Google is providing detailed recipes for manufacturers to follow to build “high-quality, affordable smartphones,” according to a Google spokesman. The second direction pertains to the next version of Android—coming sometime this fall, so far known only as “L,” which will in turn feature a “material design” interface that aims to add a sense of depth and motion to everyday interactions.

Those seams and shadows provide meaning about what you can touch and move.

Matias Duarte, Google Design vice president

This year’s Google I/O keynote clocked in at 2.5 hours—relatively short compared with last year’s 3.5-hour stem-winder. And yet some Google products received no mention or only the briefest mention: Google+, Gmail, Google Glass, Google Fiber, driverless cars, the Nexus tablet line and home automation services.

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