Shortly after Google’s 57 hour keynote ended, the Bluetooth SIG published a press release saying support for Bluetooth Smart will be coming to Android in “the coming months”. What exactly is Bluetooth Smart? It’s an ultra low power version of Bluetooth meant for things like sensors, smart watches, and other sorts of devices with tiny batteries.
It’s ok if you never heard of Bluetooth Smart, because it’s not been marketed very properly, but you should know that it’s part of the Bluetooth 4.0 specification.
At one of the Google I/O sessions, someone, I’m assuming a Google employee, said Android API release 18 will get Bluetooth Smart functionality in “a couple of months“. What the hell is Android API release 18? That’s a fancy way of saying the next version of Android. Android 4.2, the current version, is API release 17.
Now earlier today, DigiTimes published a piece about Microsoft’s upcoming small Surface tablet. At the bottom of that article, there was this nugget of information:
“Google is also set to start selling its second-generation Nexus 7 in July with a sales target of 6-8 million units for the second half. The upcoming Nexus 7 will feature Japan Display’s (JPI) 1920 by 1200 LTPS TFT panel and a Qualcomm processor, and be priced the same as the first-generation model.
Connecting the dots, I’m going to predict that Google will host an event in July where they’ll announce Android 4.3 and this new Nexus 7. I don’t think that’s too much of a stretch, right?
