The biggest surprise from Google I/O 2026? Poll reveals majority of Android fans are most excited for Android XR and Gemini Spark— but we’re still waiting to hear more about Googlebooks and the Google Smart speaker | Daily Reports Online
- TechRadar readers voted on what they were excited to see at Google I/O
- Two thirds had their wishes fulfilled, but a couple were missed
- There were no updates about the next Google Home speaker or Googlebook
Before CEO Sundar Pichai had even took to the stage at Google I/O 2026, excitement levels were already climbing for what might be announced, launched or demoed at the developer’s conference.
According to the results of a poll about which of the five most rumored Google products and services TechRadar readers were excited to see at the keynote, 73% saw what they wanted, with the Android XR Smart Glasses being launched, a personal AI agent unveiled and various Gemini Intelligence demos.
But despite rumors floating around about the upcoming Google Home speaker and already announced Googlebook being potentially demoed to showcase more of the AI use cases being rolled out, there was no mention of either of these.
You can see the results of the poll below — just note that majority of votes came via our TechRadar WhatsApp Channel (if you’re not already following us on the messaging app, then make sure to for the latest news, polls and reviews).
Which Google I/O announcements were the most hyped?
Google made 100 announcements at I/O, but the most notable to consumers were the raft of new Gemini-powered features coming to its products and services, which was already largely expected going by the results of the poll.
Given that nearly every company is now working with AI (to be clear, I don’t mean the theoretical version of the word, but machine learning, learning language models (LLMs) and automations), it’s not too surprising that this was the focus for 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 up on the list of tech fans — not least because there had been rumors of an always-on assistant called Remy in the making.
Despite expectations around an AI agent being announced, the single most anticipated tech reveal from Google I/O based on our polls was the Android XR smart glasses, which had a total of 303 votes from readers. We’d already seen a lot about these new wearables from testing prototypes, making their arrival (quite frankly) overdue and slightly disappointing because Google forgot to tell us when they’ll release or how much they’ll cost.
What about the next Google Home speaker and Googlebooks?
Now, what about the quarter of respondents that were excited to hear more details about the new class of laptops “designed for Gemini Intelligence” called Googlebooks and the next Google Home speaker?
Neither product made an appearance during the showcase, despite both already being announced. But then again, Google I/O does tend to be about software developments rather than hardware — although, we did get our first look at Samsung’s Android XR smart glasses.
There’s a chance that we could hear more about these products at the next ‘Made By Google’ hardware event, which took place in August last year. That’s more likely for the Googlebooks, as that would perfectly align with Google saying they will arrive sometime “in the fall”.
On the other hand, with the new flagship Google Home speaker meant to launch sometime in the next week or so, based on the last update we got about it, it’s not entirely clear when we’ll hear more about its pricing and availability.
We’ll be on the hunt for any news about the Google Home speaker and Googlebooks, so make sure to follow us on Google News to see all the latest.
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