- TechRadar readers voted for what they can’t wait to see at Google I/O
- Two-thirds had their wishes granted, but a few were missed
- There have been no updates regarding the upcoming Google Home or Googlebook speaker
Even before CEO Sundar Pichai took the stage at Google I/O 2026, excitement levels were already rising for what might be announced, launched, or demoed at the developers conference.
According to survey results of the five most popular Google products and services that TechRadar readers were excited to see during the keynote, 73% saw what they wanted, with the launch of Android XR smart glasses, a personal AI agent revealed, and various Gemini Intelligence demos.
But despite rumors swirling about the next Google Home speaker and the previously announced announcement of a potential Googlebook demo to showcase more AI use cases being deployed, neither of them have been mentioned.
You can see the poll results below — just note that the majority of votes were cast via our TechRadar WhatsApp channel (if you don’t already follow us on the messaging app, be sure to do so for the latest news, polls, and reviews).
Which Google I/O announcements were the most publicized?
Google made 100 announcements during I/O, but the most notable for consumers was the Gemini series of new features coming to its products and services, which was already widely expected based on the survey results.
Given that almost every company is now working with AI (to be clear, I’m not talking about the theoretical version of the word, but machine learning, learning language models (LLMs), and automations), it’s no surprise that this was the focus of most of the two-hour keynote.
We’d already seen Gemini Intelligence revealed at the Android Show a week earlier, so the unveiling of Google’s 24/7 personal AI agent, Gemini Spark, was already high on tech fans’ lists – not least because there had been rumors that a permanent assistant called Remy was in the works.
Despite expectations for an AI agent announcement, the most anticipated tech reveal at Google I/O based on our polls was the Android XR smart glasses, which received a total of 303 reader votes. We’ve already seen a lot about these new wearables while testing prototypes, which makes their arrival (quite frankly) late and slightly disappointing because Google forgot to tell us when they’ll be released or how much they’ll cost.
What about the next Google Home speaker and Googlebooks?
Now, what about the quarter of respondents who were excited to hear more details about the new class of “designed for Gemini Intelligence” laptops called Googlebooks and the upcoming Google Home speaker?
Neither product made an appearance during the showcase, although both were previously announced. But then again, Google I/O tends to be about software developments rather than hardware – although we did get a first look at Samsung’s Android XR smart glasses.
It is possible that we will be able to learn more about these products during the next “Made By Google” hardware event, which took place in August last year. This is more likely for Google Books, as that would fit right in with Google’s announcement that they’re coming “in the fall.”
On the other hand, with Google Home’s new flagship speaker expected to launch within the next week, based on the latest update we received on it, it’s not entirely clear when we’ll know more about its pricing and availability.
We’ll be looking for news regarding the Google Home speaker and Googlebooks, so be sure to follow us on Google News for all the latest news.
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