1/ This is a thread about why Google’s Slices are potentially "really, really exciting."
2/ I work on a short-term R&D team, so I can rarely share what I work on. Unless, of course, something ships and then I can share the public announcements, which happened this week at Google's big annual I/O event!
3/ You probably missed it. There was a big phone call demo, and you didn’t notice the announcement of Slices at #io18. The seemingly small thing could be a big deal, changing a building block of tech. Excited to finally mention them, and why I think they could change computing.
4/ This is about to be a little nerdy, but I think it's worth the journey. After all, in the words of Engineering Lead Dan Sandler @dsandler “this is really, really exciting.”
5/ Let’s rewind to understand the #UX implications. 1973, Xerox PARC created the graphical user interface we know today. In it, you click on an app icon — and bam! — that app launches. (That was a big deal in 1973).
6/ Steve Jobs saw this in the late 1970s, and his words about the whole thing: "I thought it was the best thing I had ever seen in my life."
7/ Fast-forward 40 years. Today, we generally use our smartphones with the same model: tap on an icon, get a full screen app. (Yup, we've been doing this for over 40 years).
8/ There are so many ways to make it better.
9/ For ex, apps have tons of good stuff in them, but the good stuff can be buried sometimes.
10/ So what you do on your phone can look something like this:
I want something ➡ App grid / Search ➡ Tap Icon ➡ Launch App ➡ Hunt for stuff you want inside app ➡ Get the stuff you want
(And if it doesn't have the stuff you want, you repeat again with another app). 😤
11/ So some of us asked, what if we could reduce screen time?
I want something ➡ Search ➡ Get the stuff you want
Or even better...
I want something ➡ A slice of the app with the stuff you want
11/ “What if we could surface part of the app itself, right when you need it most?”
blog.google/products/andro…
12/ From what I saw, @RonAmadeo @arstechnica first noticed Slices in the Android beta.
arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/0…
13/ Then the developer @seebrock3r went deep, real deep, speculating with these lengthy pieces before the big announcement, and probably rightly so.
blog.novoda.com/android-p-slic…
blog.novoda.com/android-p-slic…
14/ Finally, #googleio2018 to reveal the real work we've been doing.
Here’s the straightforward demo Engineering VP Dave Burke @davey_burke showed on main stage. It’s subtle, but powerful: the good stuff you want from inside the @lyft app when you want it.
(Thx @lil_dill)
15/ While you process what that means, look at what Sameer Samat, VP of product management for Android, told @backlon @verge:
It's the “decomposition of apps.”
Yeah, that’s a powerful quote for the millions of apps out there.
theverge.com/2018/5/8/17327…
16/ OK, so when do you get Slices? As Product Director Stephanie Cuthbertson said, on 95% of devices immediately on launch. 😊
17/ Slices “are not plug and play” PM Artur Tsurkan @tsurantino explained on stage alongside Jason Monk and Mady Mellor, you put your information in a "priority order" and it adapts responsively.
Nerds, feel free to 🤤.
18/ As Mady said, they can "shift form" across the OS.
19/ They’re getting some good press so far
yahoo.com/entertainment/…
20/ And lastly, and maybe most importantly, there’s a lot more Slices potentially coming… 🎉
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