What was once the domain of science fiction is slowly becoming reality, and Google is taking a major step forward in achieving that reality. The company today announced that Android Things, an Android-based OS for the Internet of Things (IoT), is now available for developers to build commercial products.
At Google I/O 2015, Google first introduced their operating system for IoT devices (which was known as Brillo at the time). After rebranding to Android Things over a year later, the company started releasing Developer Preview for the IoT OS. Last month, the company released Developer Preview 8 with final APIs, and now version 1.0 of Android Things is available for developers to use to build IoT products.
The Internet of Things is still a fresh, untapped market. Technology giants are investing billions of dollars per year into the ecosystem in hopes of dominating households. The end goal is to have every conceivable device in the household connected to one another, though right now most interested users are taking baby steps by starting with products like smart thermostats, light bulbs, doorbells, garage openers, and home monitoring kits. With Android Things, Google wants developers to build new and exciting commercial IoT products that transform the way we live.
New System-on-Modules
Of course, many users are rightly concerned with having so many household products connected to the Internet. For that reason, Google has announced support for new system-on-modules (SoMs) that are certified for three years of long-term support. This includes the NXP i.MX8M, Qualcomm SDA212, Qualcomm SDA624, and the MediaTek MT8516 platforms. The Raspberry Pi 3 Model B and NXP i.MX7D that are already supported by Android Things will continue to receive support, but support will cease for the NXP i.MX6UL. Further information on supported SoMs can be found on the supported platform page.
Software updates
No product is indefinitely secure, so that's why all supported SoMs will automatically receive security patches. Google offers free patches for three years for each SoM that is marked to receive long-term support. More information can be found on the program policy page.
Updates to the Android Things console
The updated console adds an interface to configure peripherals. In particular, developers can enable build-time control of available Peripheral I/O connections and modify properties like GPIO resistors and the I2C bus speed.
Conclusion
We have already seen several products running Android Things come to market recently. The LG ThinQ Smart Speaker and the Lenovo Smart Display are just some of the examples that take advantage of Google Assistant and Google Cast integration. With the release of version 1.0 of Android Things, we'll start to see more products emerge from both startups and bigger brands interested in competing for space in your home.
Developers interested in building a commercial IoT product should read the full release notes for the 1.0 release and visit the Android Things console to build the 1.0 system image for their devices. Companies can also partner directly with Google via the Android Things OEM Partner Program to seek guidance in creating a commercial IoT product. Stay up to date on the latest Android Things news by following the developer site and check out sample code, kits, and community projects on the Android Things with Google webpage. Lastly, join the IoT developer community on Google+ to communicate with fellow developers working on Android Things.
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