The Android team’s quarterly release of new features is rolling out today. You can find the Wear OS additions here, but most of them, like new Google widgets, are for phones and tablets.
Android on large screens will particularly benefit from a trio of new widgets. The one for Google TV will let you “find personalized movie and TV show suggestions.” Shown off on the Pixel Tablet, you can scroll through the suggestions with shortcuts for search and the TV remote at the top.
There’s also a new stocks widget powered by Google Finance that’s part of the Google app. Lastly, the Google News widget is getting a Material You revamp, with the app just recently getting the new bottom bar and tablet optimizations.
In Play Books, Google is adding reading practice to help improve vocabulary and comprehension skills. This will let kids hear the pronunciation of unknown words, practice words they’ve mispronounced, and receive other real-time feedback. This is supported by thousands of children’s ebooks badged with a “Practice” label in the Play Store.
Google also has updated Gboard Emoji Kitchen for the summer with aquatic-themed emoji combinations.
Lastly, Dark Web Reports for Gmail addresses are now “available for most Google Accounts in the U.S.” First announced at I/O 2023, free users can open the Google One app or website to see if their email has been exposed and receive guidance on what to do if so. Being a Google One subscriber expands that to your Social Security Number.
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