The first video is an all-inclusive video list that keeps in tune with all things Android that went down at Google I/O. These are the videos that you did not see in the live streaming events during the week, instead concentrating on the events that went on behind the scenes and off-camera. That is to say off-camera until now, of course.

For those of you that want to hit up a slightly smaller category, you’ve got the following three to utilize, each of these having a playlist of their own:
• Design
• Develop
• Distribute

You’ll also be able to follow the rest of our Google I/O 2012 coverage through out giant I/O 2012 portal, and be sure to check out the devices that were released at the events as well: We’ve got full reviews of the Nexus 7 tablet and the Nexus Q media streamer, and of course Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, ready for your perusal!

[via Google Developers Blog]

This hands-on – or eyes-on rather is just a glimpse of what you’ll be working with in the near future once you grab the update to the app you’ve already more than likely got running on your devices right this minute. This 3D mapping adventure comes at essentially the same time as Apple has announced their own 3D mapping project to be tied in with Apple Maps on the future versions of iOS for the iPhone and iPad. That said, this Google Earth action will also, once again, be available for iOS more than likely sooner than the Apple equivalent.

The folks you see above are both Googlers, speaking during the Lives Stream of the Google I/O events you may have caught from a different perspective earlier today!

Have a peek at the hands-on video above and peek at the couple photos above and below as well, and grab the update for your Google Earth app from the Google Play app store now! Also be sure to continue following us all week for all the most fabulous Google I/O 2012 action!

To access Google Now, you’ve only to access it from your lockscreen or to tap on the Google Search widget or app icon. From here you’ll find that you’ve got a lovely and super simple search bar at the top that’s ready to accept all typed or spoken voice commands as well as search terms. The real magic of course is in the cards that sit below the search bar before you do your search.

Above you’ll see the Nexus 7 connecting to this service via the lockscreen – in the hands-on video below you’ll see the Galaxy Nexus working with Google Now.

These cards include Weather, Public Transit, Places, Traffic, Flights, Sports, Appointments, Translation, Currency, and Time Back Home. The last item on this list is something you’ll have to program, it simply needing to know when you’ll want to see a map back home – and it’ll need you to mark where your home is, but just once. Appointments are connected to your Google Calendar, Translation and Currency appear when you go to a foreign country, and Sports show the scores of your favorite teams.

Flights is a card that’s able to track your flight information, how late you’ll be, and how long it’ll take you to get where you’re going. The same is true of Traffic and Public Transit, these connecting to Google Maps and Navigation to bring you the information you need, while Weather and Places are the most common cards as they’ll almost always be active to bring you information on the place you’re physically at.

Once you’re done with the info these cards can bring you, you can head straight back up to the search bar where results will spill over the cards to bring you deeper into the web.

Stick around as we continue to bring on the heat via our I/O 2012 and Android portals all week!

This update has the Chromebook world moving to the retail universe in a very big way, though it is a bit strange that they’ve chosen Best Buy to do the deed as they’ve had so much retail trouble as of late. Chrome will likely come up several more times before the end of the day here in the second day’s keynote at Google I/O, so stay tuned.

This keynote is part of an extended set of events that you can check out in our I/O 2012 portal – stick there all week for all the action!

This update also works with text recognition. You’re now able to search through the images you’ve got in your Google Drive folders by the text the system recognizes in each of those photos. This system also works with instant syncing with Google Docs via Chrome and Chrome OS, with instant updating on each device if they’re connected to the web.

Google Docs has been updated as well so that you’re able to edit your documents offline with instant syncing once you’ve re-connected with the web. Offline Docs as well as Google Drive for iPad and iPhone will be available later today – check em out! Be sure to also hit up our I/O 2012 portal for more news from Google’s developer conference all week!

The extreme speed at which the browser works back and forth between the operating system and the browser was shown off on stage in real time. The Chrome browser was shown off on two Apple systems as well – both the iPhone and the iPad.

The Chrome browser was demonstrated onstage with both the iPhone 4/4S as well as the iPad 3 with no less than the same syncing powers as the rest of the device universe. Now not only will you be able to work with Chrome on your Android and desktop systems, you’ll be good to go with iOS as well. Check it out on the iTunes store today!

Also check out the timeline below to see all sorts of recent Chrome news, and hit up our I/O 2012 portal for more news from Google’s developer conference all week!

Hardware

This tablet certainly isn’t the thinnest 7-inch tablet in the world at 0.41″, but it’s extremely light, and the relatively soft plastic back is super comfortable to handle. This device is sized at 7.8″ x 4.72″ x 0.41″ so you can fit it in your back pocket if you wish, and the display, at a whopping 7-inches with 1280 x 800 pixel LED-backlit IPS (216 ppi), is more than fabulous enough for your HD-loving eyeballs. For comparison’s sake: the Galaxy Tab 7.7 is 196ppi and the iPad 3 is 264ppi, so you’ve got a device that’s right up there in the big leagues.

It’s brighter than you could possibly need it to be in any average day’s activities indoors, comes in a couple different color combinations: black and black (though our Google I/O edition with a black/white combination may be a sign of things to come), and feels really nice to work with. The front-facing camera is certainly OK, but isn’t a vast improvement over anything we’ve seen before, with quality just high enough that we’ll not be taking many photos with it at all – a good thing, too, since this device does not come with a camera app installed because of its push for Google+ hangouts – and eventual Project Glass interaction.

You’ve got a bit of a hidden bonus in the fact that this is one of the only tablets on the market today that uses a standard microUSB for charging. You’ll want to use the included power converter from the package, of course, but running through that little standard port is good for everybody. The speakers are generous on their own, with a single slit running down the back for blasting, but as you’ll come to realize through this review, this device was made more for sharing to other devices – like the brand new Google Nexus Q, introduced at Google I/O 2012 right alongside the Nexus 7. Have a peek at the Q in action here:

Software

Inside of this device you’ll find Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, an updated version of the Google mobile operating system that takes what Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich did for both the smartphone and the tablet and pumps it up with a few applications and features that make it all just a bit more tasty. This device is focused heavily on the Google Play store, as it will be immediately apparent once you’ve had a peek at this hands-on video:

This device is also ready to rock with the TegraZone for games. NVIDIA’s gaming portal TegraZone is a place we’ve visited quite a few times in the past few months here on SlashGear – have a peek at games such as Max Payne Mobile and Renaissance Blood to see what beasts await your game-loving fingers.

Then other than the Jelly Bean upgrades you’ve seen above, there’s not one whole heck of a lot here that wont be available to the rest of the Android universe immediately if not soon. If you loved Ice Cream Sandwich on your tablet – or even if you loved Honeycomb on your tablet, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how this device’s software takes advantage of everything great from those previous versions of the OS and adds a bunch more in all the right places.

Have a peek at a few benchmarks from this device as well to see how the software and the hardware add up with one another:

Connectivity

Though we’ve seen this device connect with the Nexus Q, and quite impressively so, we’ll need a bit more convincing before it’s time we call this a device better at sharing than the HTC One series or the Galaxy S III. Sharing is indeed at the center of this device’s launch, on the other hand, moving forth with mostly its hands on music and videos at parties and in the home. We saw this device demonstrated once and then demonstrated again with its ability to connect via Wi-fi to the Nexus Q. With the Nexus Q in tow, this tablet appears quite apt to control your whole home media experience quite easily – and it’s fun, too!

Battery

This device’s battery works fabulously well, this more than likely due to the fifth core in NVIDIA’s architecture under the hood. The fifth core is designed to be sort of like a “ninja” core, waking up and taking on the low-power processing necessary when the device has its display off. This has the rest of the cores turned off at that point as well, this making low battery drain a reality.

Because of this we’ve seen several days of life when the device is asleep. When the device is being used heavily, we’ve got something like a 6-8 hour lifespan. That’s when you’re doing nothing but playing heavy requirement games and streaming video from your wi-fi connection. Light use you’ll get a day’s worth of uptime, no problem.

Wrap-Up

What you’ve got here is a fun machine. Google worked with ASUS and NVIDIA here to bring on a media beast like no other, offered at a price that, sold exclusively through the Google Play store online (for now), is almost undeniable. Even those who want a tablet just to fiddle with should and probably will be considering this device first in the near future – unless they want an iPad.

With the iPad and the Amazon Kindle Fire being this device’s biggest competitors, you’ll want to know: which one is worth buying? There’s no perfect answer, but if I had a choice between the three and would get the chosen product for free, I’d of course pick the iPad – it costs more than 2 times this device’s base price for a reason. If I had to choose between the Nexus 7 and the Kindle Fire, I’d not think twice about picking the Google product. Every single feature on this tablet, unless you’re an Amazon junkie, is better than the Fire.

Consider this tablet the next time you’re getting prepped for a new tablet experience, and one that’s inexpensive enough to toss down a couple of bills without hesitation. Hackers – this is your key to the future, there’s no other choice.

Also remember that, as it is with all of our reviews: this isn’t the end. If you’ve got questions you still need answered, want us to do additional tests, please feel free to ask or request – we’ll do our best! Meanwhile don’t forget to hit up our Android portal for more Google mobile OS action through the future!

The Google Nexus 7 is a tiny little beast of a tablet – where the iPad is an iconic piece of machinery, the Nexus 7 seems to be a bit more of a solid set of elements pounded together with a hammer into a device that’s meant to be perfect for the several specific purposes it was made for. The Nexus 7 was made to be a device with which you download and consume media from the Google Play store – movies, television shows, music, books, and magazines – and of course games. The iPad, on the other hand, was made to be a companion for you in all situations where the iPhone is too small.

As far as a simple specs comparison, you’ve go the following. And keep in mind we’re using the 3rd Generation iPad, aka the Retina Display iPad:
Screen Size: iPad 9.7-inch 2048 x 1536 pixel LED-backlit IPS (264 ppi) / Nexus 7 7-inch 1280 x 800 pixel LED-backlit IPS (216 ppi)
Device Size: 7.31″ x 9.5″ x 0.37″ / 7.8″ x 4.72″ x 0.41″
Processor: Apple A5X / NVIDIA Tegra 3
Cameras: 5-megapixel iSight camera, VGA front-facing camera / 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera
Connectivity: AT&T and Verizon 4G LTE, Wi-fi / Wi-fi only (at the moment)
Internal Storage Size: 16, 32, 64GB / 8GB, 16GB
Battery: 11666 mAh / 4325 mAh
Media: iTunes Store / Google Play Store
Color Options: White, Black / White/Black combo, Black

Additional elements:
iPad: Bluetooth 4.0, 30-pin dock connector port, accelerometer, magnetometer, ambient light sensor, gyroscope, GPS, AirPlay mirroring to Apple TV.

Nexus 7: Bluetooth 4.0, MicroUSB connector port, accelerometer, magnetometer, ambient light sensor, gyroscope, GPS, NFC.

Both of these devices have been pushed as heroes for their respective pusher’s app and media stores, and both devices are certainly going to get their fair share of 3rd party accessory support (if they haven’t already.) The Nexus 7 has the bonus – if you can call it that – of having several hardware/software companies with vested interests in its success: Google, ASUS, and NVIDIA. The iPad, on the other hand, has quite a few 3rd party supporters, with developers aiming apps at the one device specifically as well as Apple’s attention squared solely upon it for its software.

The price is going to be a giant factor for you if you plan on heading out to purchase a tablet today. The starting price of the Nexus 7 is just $199 while the iPad, in the iteration we’re looking at here and above, starts at $499. The iPad is an iPad, and there’s no replacement for that. The Nexus 7, also, is the only Google tablet in the position that it’s in at the moment as well with the backing of three companies in the way you’re seeing this week, and having a real push from Google (as heard in the keynote today – see our I/O 2012 portal for more) for hacking.

Have a peek at the photos and video above and below for a bit more hands-on action and be sure to let us know what you think of this battle asap! Also hit up our Android portal and Apple portal for the most awesome portal battle of all!

You’ll see the following hands-on demo video working with the Nexus 7 tablet, another piece of equipment revealed by Google this year also as part of the Developer Pack. This device is made to be the perfect companion for Google Play and all of its many bits of media in a way that requires not only a speaker system, but another Android device as well.

What you’ve got here is a magical looking undeniably heavy little spherical device that’s got half a sphere dedicated to turning the volume up and down (as well as a few other functions) that’s accented with a bit of color-changing action as well. This device connects to a series of audio and video outputs including 4-channel speaker-system devices and 1080p HDMI devices as well. You’ll be able to have several devices adding songs or videos to a list or you can control the device with one device on its own.

The whole device has a capacitive touch sensor for muting as well as off/on, you’re working with a Texas Instruments OMAP4460 (dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU and SGX540 graphics core) inside, and both 1GB LPDDR RAM and 16GB NAND flash memory under the hood.

Have a peek at the hands-on video and photos above and below and also check out our Google I/O 2012 portal for more Google developer action all week! Also hit up our Android portal for all kinds of developer news throughout the week and the future as well!

This device you’ll see working on its own with Jelly Bean as well as with the brand new Nexus Q as well, that being a bit of streaming action for your HDTV and home audio system. This device works with an NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor with a 12 GPU cores for ultimate gaming action, and has access to the TegraZone for games. The Nexus 7 is a vanilla device, this meaning that you’ve got the most naked version of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean that you’re going to see on the market.

The tablet experience here takes you to a new level of home entertainment – or that’s what it’s mean to do from what we’ve heard and seen thus far. Have a peek at this Nexus Q demonstration working with the Nexus 7 from this week as well:

The display you’ve got on this device is a massively dense 7” 1280×800 HD display (216 ppi), it’s back-lit IPS that seems here to be more than generous enough for daily use, and up top you’ve got a modest 1.2megapixel camera. This device weighs in at a light 340g, and feels fabulous to hold. We’ll be reviewing this device in full soon – stay tuned to both our Google I/O 2012 portal and our Android portal, not to mention our brand new Nexus 7 portal just opened this week for more!

In the demonstration after the big drop, it was revealed that the display is not in front of your eye when you use Project Glass, not in front of it. The camera lines up with the eye line of the user so that moments can be captured from the user’s perspective, while the design philosophy behind this project remained “ridiculously light.” Of course the units used on the air drop were certainly prototypes, while the final product will “weigh less than mini-sunglasses.”

As the device has been tested over the past few weeks, Google revealed that they found that the units would not only have to be light, but incredibly sturdy as well. Communication with images is set at the heart of this project, with the capture of fleeting moments being one of the primary activity of users in test form thus far. A first person point of view is being pushed here, and noone is safe, not even you shooting a terrible shot in a game of pool – beware!

Stay tuned all week for the rest of our I/O 2012 coverage and head to the Android portal as well to stay up to date on the mobile world of Google!

This update has a brand new bit of notification, a brand new profile selection series, and a wholly upgraded interface that basically looks like more fun to use than the web-based version. Check back at SlashGear soon to get a full review of both the iPad and the Android version – out now! This version has of course also been introduced for the betterment of the Nexus 7 tablet as well.

iTunes Link for iPad
Google Play App Store link for Android tablets

Stick with us all week for all things Google I/O 2012 through our I/O 2012 and Android portals alike!

This system can also connect to your HDTV and transmit your data wirelessly from Google Play. The content comes from the cloud, your Android smartphone or tablet works like a controller. All of your systems are connected to Google Play, and it all works, again, completely wirelessly – save for the connection between the Nexus Q and your television.

Google has also released a video of the system in play here:

Check out the gallery below for more information on the Nexus Q and check out our Nexus Q portal as well – and stick around all week at our I/O 2012 portal and our Android portal too!

This device was revealed this week to the throngs of users working at and enjoying the 2012 edition of Google I/O in California. Have a peek at our I/O 2012 portal to make sure you’ve got all of the information we’re dropping all week long. Also have a peek at the timeline and gallery above and below to see everything there is to see on Jelly Bean as well as the Nexus 7 too!

This device has been revealed to show off the Jelly Bean experience, but also to push the Google Play app store to the forefront as well. This device has a new widget called “My Library” – it connected to your cloud in the Google Play shop.

The new Google Play magazines app is included in this release, with a full selection of one of the newest items on the Google Play store. This device is obviously also made to show off the new Google Play TV show episodes and Movie purchasing revealed this week as well.

Have a peek at our I/O 2012 portal as well as our Android portal this whole week to keep up to date on all things I/O!

Google has pushed C2DM to the next level with Cloud Messaging as well, with a completely free bit of usage for developers with no quota limitations. Developers are clearly at the center of attention here – as they should be – in Google Play and outside of the shop across Google I/O. Have a peek at the rest of the news from Google I/O through the following portals:

• I/O 2012
• Google I/O
• Android

And hit the timeline below to see all the most recent Jelly Bean action as well!

Google Now works with Sports in that it’s got updated sports scores, your favorite teams included from your already loved bits from Google+. This update works with Travel – with cash exchange rates, translations, and current events. Google Now works with traffic, will get you where you want when you want, and can understand your requirements no matter what you’re going to use to get there.

If you’re headed to a Minnesota Twins game, you’ll get game scores, ticket information, shows food information around the area (if you’re downtown Minneapolis, that’s a lot), and connects to Google Maps to bring you there.

Have a peek at our Jelly Bean timeline below and stay tuned all week to each of our portals!
• I/O 2012
• Google I/O
• Android

In notifications, we’ve got the same lovely notification features we’ve had before, including the swiping away of already read items. Inside notifications for Gmail, Google has included a set of canned responses, such as “I’ll be there soon.” For TuneIn Radio – and other radio apps in the future – you’ve got brand new mini controller notifications.

Pulse has perhaps the most awesome boost of all, it being able to be expanded in a way that allows you to see several tappable icons next to one another. This is only the beginning of the large amount of treats included in this lovely update – check out our I/O 2012 portal and out Android portal to get up to date all week!

This update to Jelly Bean includes elements from all around the Android device, including Bluetooth, accessibility, and language updates across the board. The camera has been boosted, there’s Voice Recognition offline, and more! Stick around all day and week to see all of our I/O 2012 action, and hit the timeline below for more Jelly Bean as well!

Also beginning again with momentum speaking on how the Android activations this year had broken the 400 million activations mark – this explosive compared to last year’s 100 million. Up from last year’s 400k daily activations, the activations of Android device this year has hit 1 million devices – daily.

A heatmap of the world showed the device activations for Android not in the USA, but the rest of the world bigger instead. Stay tuned for the rest of the keynote and the event all week long through our big I/O 2012 portal!

What you see above and below is the t-shirt as it’s given away to developers and press affiliates at the door. The other shirts have the same design but are different colors like blue and green. The front of the shirt shows a series of widget-like mechanical bits, and the back has a code which can be inserted into the Google I/O Input / Output machine that was revealed several weeks ago in preparation for the convention.

Creating one Yellow Trampoline will set this flat set of lines and levers up in the corner of your screen. From there you can pull the gadget down and move it around until you’re satisfied with its placement, and you can start the launch! Have a peek at our solution here: [SlashGear's Google I/O T-Shirt Solution] – make a few and bounce away!

Be sure to stick around the whole week for more Google I/O action as it unfolds across the Google developer universe. Stick to the Android portal for all things Google mobile, too!

There are several ways to follow SlashGear as we traverse the landscape that is Google I/O, starting with our Android portal – which you’ll see below this paragraph in link form – and moving on to our in-post timeline system (in each post you’ll see covered this week.) You can find more information on Chrome through our Chrome tag, and of course our Google portal will bring you the whole series of events as well. The same is true of our IO 2012 portal which went live this past week!

Head to any of several important articles linked in the timeline below to get caught up as we head into the main event starting tomorrow morning. We’re sure to see so much Google software and hardware that it’ll make your gadget-loving mind burst!

We’ll be at Google I/O 2012 all week long bringing you updates on this software as well as everything else Android, Chrome, and Google’s online apps as well. I/O is an event that’s not to be missed by all Google-loving developers as well as seekers of the next big things in the mobile universe. Have a peek at our Jelly Bean timeline below to see everything that relates to what we’ve seen thus far of this ghost of an operating system as well.

The photo above comes from Google Developers on Google+, another fabulous place to check out our updates on this event at SlashGear+. And of course stay up to date through our Google I/O 2012 portal all week as we bring the updates as quick as a bunny from all corners of the software-sphere. Also don’t forget the hardware – we’ve already seen a glimpse of what very well may be the tablet that’ll be revealed this week, Nexus style – stay tuned!

UPDATE: Nothing new has been revealed on the contents of the software, but the statue has apparently been continuing to get updated throughout the day. As far as Google’s Louis Gray can show, this may well be the same Android we know and love, just filled with a few more sweets than before – it’s symbolism!