Google is prepping for their annual I/O developer conference where we are expecting a whole host of groundbreaking announcements. Android is expanding into wearables this year with the aptly-named ‘Android Wear’, and so beyond the next major Android update, you can expect a big focus on how developers can take advantage of their new platform.

Ahead of I/O the company begins to update its core apps and services with surprises and support ready for their big on-stage reveal. Google’s “Play Services” in recent times has begun to contain the most crucial APIs so, even when an OEM doesn’t update to the latest Android version, applications can still take advantage of the new features.

Play Services 4.4 arrived yesterday and it was a large update coming in at 4MB. This doesn’t sound like much in an era where we tend to talk in GBs – but it results in an update almost 30% larger than the previous version.

Most of the juicy stuff is still hidden underneath, which we’ll get to in a minute, but Google has posted what they officially want to reveal at this point on their Android Developers Blog…

Official announcements

Google Maps Android API

Developers can now tap into Street View to embed imagery into an activity so your users can explore the world through panoramic 360-degree views. The API allows for control of the zoom and orientation of the Street View camera, whilst camera movements can be animated over a given duration.

Indoor Maps are now more customisable. Instead of having to use the default floor picker, this can now be changed for your own. Detection abilities have been added for when a building comes into focus, and for finding the current building and floor.

Activity Recognition

The Location API previously had the ability to recognise whether the user is in a vehicle, on a bicycle, or on foot. An updated version of this API has added two further activity detectors for running and walking; which is fantastic news for fitness trackers.

Games Services Update

In 4.3, Google added the ability to “gift” games. The system worked whereby a user can request a gift from another player. In a small but useful update the user can now select multiple recipients when making a request.

Mobile Ads

New APIs have been added for publishers to display in-app promo ads for users to purchase advertised items directly. More specific targeting is now available whereby, for example, high-value users are displayed an ad for product A, or new users with an ad for product B.

Wallet Fragments

It is now easier for developers to place a “Buy with Google” button in an app. The ‘WalletFrament’ API integrates Google Wallet’s Instant Buy with an existing app – you only need to configure these fragments and you’re away.

Unofficial findings

Android Police has performed one of their brilliant APK teardowns with some interesting findings and hints at some things we can expect in the near-future (or, more likely, at Google I/O…)

In total, the APK has 18 new permissions required. There are two brand-new permissions created by Play Services which have a protection level of ‘signature’ that prevents non-Google apps from accessing those APIs. The two are for ‘BIND_NETWORK_TASK_SERVICE’ and ‘CHECKIN_NOW’.

Android Wear Support

Instead of a companion app, it appears Google will be baking Android Wear support straight into the GMS package so any device running Google’s Apps will automatically be able to make use of Android Wear hardware. For full notification support the user will still require Android 4.3 and above.

Messaging Changes

It is thought that Google is preparing to expose an API for Hangouts so apps can initiate and send messages through the network. Considering the ‘START_HANGOUT’ permission this would make a lot of sense.

Screen Mirroring via Cast

Little more to say here other than it appears the highly-anticipated screen mirroring support will be available very soon.

Google Apps Permission

Plenty of new strings have shown up in the APK which appear to ready more Google apps to be accessed but with some form of further security step. Each clearly show “perm” for permissions, but are all unconventional up to Google’s norm.

Firmware Updater

This could be the most interesting finding in the teardown. An initial guess would be to be able to push the latest stock Android to non-“Play Edition” devices; but this would break partnership agreements with manufacturers as well as violating carrier policies.

It’s far more likely it’s in preparation for the end of Google’s “Nexus” programme and in preparation for its successor, Android Silver. It is thought whilst stock Android will still run on these devices, Google will retain far more control.

Current “Play Edition” devices run stock Android but the manufacturers still produce and distribute the update… a firmware updater like this may bypass altogether.

Will you be making use of any of the new additions to Play Services? Let us know in the comments.

If you are interested in wearables, please visit IoT Tech Expo Europe in London’s Olympia, December 2-3 2015.