Android “Brillo” to Power the Internet of Things Michael Kwan May 21, 2015 News The world of Google Android is about to get even bigger, infiltrating every last corner of your increasingly smart home. Rumored to be unveiled at next week’s Google I/O developer’s conference, “Brillo” is an operating system based on Android that has been specially adapted for use with the Internet of Things. We already have the core Android build for our smartphones and tablets, as well as Android Wear for our smartwatches. At last year’s Google I/O, the company demonstrated a clear ambition to expand Android in even more areas of our lives, including Android TV for our living rooms and Android Auto for our cars. With Android Brillo, the intention is to power the myriad of smart devices and dongles that are a part of the Internet of Things smart home ecosystem. This expands on an existing relationship and framework that Google has established with its “Works with Nest” framework and we see no reason why Brillo can’t take that several steps further for all your smart light switches, smart garage door openers and smart coffee makers. What makes Brillo so different from other builds of Android is that it is said to need only 32MB of RAM, compared to the 512MB necessary for regular Android. Even little, lightweight smart home dongles can run it without too much processing power or on-board memory needed. The timing for Android “Brillo” couldn’t be better either. Microsoft just announced that it will have a version of Windows 10 for the Internet of Things too. Brillo could be its biggest competitor, aside from all the one-off and proprietary platforms that flood the market today. Via TNW Share This With The World!
