This last year was a big deal for Android. Google made substantial changes to its product lineup, took a timeout on smartwatches, and was silent on the topic of tablets. What's going to happen in 2016? I can't know for sure, but I know what my hopes and fears for Android in 2017 are. There are many of them.

Android Wear

I personally like smartwatches, but I'm fully cognizant that my job is basically to be a giant nerd. For regular people, smartwatches have yet to catch on. Android Wear is in an interesting place because Google relies upon its OEM partners to make and sell the hardware. It just handles the core software development. In 2016, the number of new smartwatches dropped off and Google had to take a bogie on the big Android Wear 2.0. Needless to say, I'm worried for Android Wear in 2017.

Motorola and Huawei skipped launching new Wear devices in 2016, and Motorola confirmed it's not even developing more watches. Meanwhile, Google had to delays the release of Android Wear 2.0 when feedback on the developer preview was, to put it kindly, terrible. It's now expected to launch in early 2017. That's not all, though. Google is also releasing new flagship watches.

The word on Google's Wear 2.0 watches came from Google's Android Wear product manager Jeff Chang. There will be two of them that run Android Wear 2.0 out of the box, They'll be the first devices to run the new software, and they'll be sold directly by Google. However, the OEMs branding will still be present. These won't be "Pixel" devices.

This is probably the last shot Android Wear has in its current state. We'll know by around the middle of 2017 if Wear is taking off. If it doesn't I feel like Google is going to have to go back to the drawing board to come at wearables from a different direction.

Allo

I can't think of another Google product that was so hyped up only to be a disappointment… okay, maybe the Nexus Q. Allo was announced as Google's new chat client at I/O 2016 and was released in late summer. All it's accomplished so far is to further muddy the waters of Google's always confusing messaging system. With no coherent messaging strategy, 2017 is going to be a mess.

Allo has some good points, but it doesn't seem to make anyone happy. It's limited to a single device, there's no message sync or backup, no web version, and it only runs on phones. And, haven't we all been trying to get people to use Hangouts for the last few years? What are the odds we're going to get them to switch again? Everyone is far more likely to just start using WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. A messaging app doesn't have to be the fastest or most feature-rich to be the best. It just has to be used by the people you know, and Allo has no momentum.

Google has made the questionable decision to stop pushing Hangouts as a consumer solution. I don't like to get too deep into "Google needs to" territory, but I heartily disagree with this decision. The Pixel doesn't even come with Hangouts installed, which is dumb. Allo isn't fully baked and usage isn't going to pick up until Google addresses the various shortcomings.

My concern is that Google will continue dragging its feet next year with Allo. Maybe it will even come up with rationales to skip features like SMS fallback and multi-device support. That's what people want, though. If Google bungles Allo and keeps moving away from hangouts, we may end up with no unified Android messaging solution. We'll all end up on Facebook Messenger. Gross.

Pixel 2

I'm super-interested to see what Google does with the second generation Pixel. The Pixel and Pixel XL are without a doubt the best Android phones you can get right now. Unlike the Nexus program, it got to dictate all aspects of the Pixel's development. It really shows what Google is capable of when it takes control of both the hardware and software.

From what we've been told, HTC's role as device manufacturer included very little of the design work, but Google did have to work within the framework of HTC's abilities. Huawei backed out of the deal when Google decided the Pixel would not feature OEM branding, so there wasn't a lot of time to get HTC on board. Apparently, future Pixel phones will feature more of Google's aesthetic and less of the OEM's.

I'd love to see the Google adopt a water-resistant design, and possibly find a way to add front-facing speakers to the Pixel 2. I think that would effectively address the criticisms of the first Pixel phones.

Android TV

Google has tried several times to get into the living room, first with the ill-fated Google TV platform. It had a bonafide hit with Chromecast, but Android TV is not catching on in the same way. There have only been a handful of Android TV devices, and only one of them is really worth recommending—the Shield TV. If you don't need the Shield's power and extra features, you're better off with a Chromecast.

Nvidia is doing more work pushing Android TV (specifically the Shield) than Google is. I worry that in 2017 Google will continue neglecting Android TV. Some launch features like voice search are still poorly integrated and there are still a lot of streaming services that don't work. Why hasn't Google been pushing adoption?

At the same time, the rumors of a new Shield TV give me some hope. The Shield was the best first-gen Android TV box, and I'm sure the new one will be faster and better. There may even be two different sizes, perhaps one that sells for much less than the $200 price tag of the first-gen unit. That's what Android TV needs; compelling hardware that's cheap. The MiBox isn't cutting it, and the Nexus Player was a failure out of the gate.

The inevitable Samsung battery fire

Samsung screwed up with the Note7. This is an indisputable fact. After admitting that the battery was prone to catching fire, it did a recall. However, the problem wasn't fixed. More fires, more bad PR, and the Note7 was canned. Shame too. The Note7 was a great phone, aside from the battery fires. The sad thing is this story isn't over. There will be another Samsung battery fire story in 2017. It's inevitable.

I've been writing about mobile devices for a long time now, and I think I get tipped at least once a week about some device or another bursting into flames, and that was true even before the Note7 made headlines. There are always some small number of defective batteries or batteries that have been damaged. They catch fire. It's unfortunate, but not indicative of a systemic problem with a device a la the Note7. This is going to happen to a Samsung phone in 2017, and it's going to become a story.

All it'll take is one person abusing their Galaxy S8 and complaining about the resulting fire, and the cycle will start all over again. Samsung is going to be scrutinized for every battery failure next year. It's going to be exhausting to see these stories.

Tablets and Andromeda

Tablet sales have been stagnant or falling for most OEMs in the last couple years. Even the iPad isn't doing great compared to the old days when tablets were fun and novel. Phones have just gotten bigger and more capable, and the usefulness of a tablet just isn't as clear. It's time for something big to happen.

Right now, Android on a tablet feels a lot like Android on a phone, just bigger. Many of the apps you use on a phone just stretch to fit on the larger tablet screen, which isn't a good use of space. The hidden Freeform window mode in Android 7.0 gives us a hint that Google is thinking about how to make Android on tablets more useful, but I feel like that effort was abandoned in favor of something more dramatic—Andromeda.

All we have to go on here are rumors and leaks, but I'm very hopeful the "Andromeda" project is legit and we hear more about it in 2017. This is allegedly a project to combine some elements of Android and Chrome OS to make a more useful interface for tablet and convertible devices. Chromebooks certainly have their place, but the lack of full apps is tough. Android app functionality helps a little, but it often feels like a hack. Andromeda would make Android more suited to a large display.

Previous leaks have pointed to an Intel-powered device codenamed "Bison," which would take over for the Chromebook Pixel, which Google chose not to refresh in 2016. It is rumored to have a 12.3-inch display and a convertible form factor. We may hear more about Andromeda in 2017, but it'll be an important year for Android regardless.