Following a slew of other redesigns this week, the latest Google Material Theme revamp is for Jamboard on the web. While most known as a large interactive whiteboard, Jamboard has mobile and web apps for cross-platform collaboration.
For most users, Google Drive is their primary homepage when interacting with the web suite of productivity apps. However, Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides on the web also have dedicated homepages, with all three recently gaining Material Theme tweaks.
Last month Slack ushered in the new year with a new look for its iconic logo. This week, the company is updating its mobile apps on both Android and iOS to adopt a white background for the app’s homescreen icon.
At Cloud Next 2019 last July, Google announced grammar suggestions for Google Docs in early beta. Google is today rolling out the web feature to paid G Suite Basic, Business, and Enterprise customers.
At MWC 2019, Google announced Assistant for Messages on Android, expanded availability in Google Maps, and more languages for bilingual support. The next feature for Google Home speakers and Smart Displays appears to be Apple Music integration.
Following design tweaks on Android and iOS over the past month, the Google Material Theme is now rolling out to Google Voice on the web. This is not a drastic redesign, but aids in ensuring visual consistency across all three platforms.
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Last July, Google introduced an “intelligent search box” for Drive’s web interface. This updated lookup experience is no longer limited to the Enterprise edition of G Suite, and will soon be available for all G Suite Editions.
Following yesterday’s MWC 2019 announcement that more phones will feature dedicated hardware buttons, Google is expanding where users can access Assistant. It will soon be available in Messages for Android, and coming to more languages in Google Maps.
In late January, Google announced a big redesign of Gmail for Android and iOS that takes advantage of its updated design language, and brings features first introduced with the web revamp last year. The Google Material Theme is now rolling out to Gmail for iOS.
Finally, the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ are getting the full stable release of Android Pie and all that One UI brings with it. The update appears to be rolling out in stages with reports via Reddit that much of Northern Europe has begun seeing the OTA appear.
Last August, Google Fit was completely overhauled with new metrics, the Material Theme on Android, and a prominent role in Wear OS. With this new focus on mobile, Google is killing the service’s desktop web client next month.
The opioid crisis in the U.S. is an ongoing public health emergency, with Google noting that searches for “medication disposal near me” reached an “all-time high” in January. In light of that, it’s now easier to find those locations in Google Maps and Search.
Since I/O 2018, the Google Material Theme has rolled out to many first-party apps, with major ones like Gmail for Android just coming aboard. Many of the newer redesigns feature a faster account switcher, with Google Contacts now the latest to adopt this UI element.
Last October, Google made Cloud Text-to-Speech with realistic WaveNet voices from DeepMind available to all developers. Updates to Cloud TTS and Speech-to-Text today introduce additional languages, voices, and more affordable pricing models.
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In recent months, Google Maps has added a number of features from a complete Material Theme redesign to revamped trip sharing. The latest update adds a new feature to the “For you” tab that allows users to follow stores and get updates.
With Accelerated Mobile Pages, Google set out to deliver a faster web experience on Android and iOS. Developing advertising that worked in a similar fashion was an important step to boost adoption, with Google now displaying AMPHTML ads on non-AMP pages.
Back at Cloud Next 2018 in July, Google previewed the Material Theme for Gmail on Android. That redesign is officially beginning to roll out today on mobile and features the company’s latest design stylings, as well as a handful of features first introduced on the web.
It’s going to be a busy week for Samsung, but the company’s software has been going through a lot of changes for the past couple of months. As One UI and Android Pie continue rolling out to the Galaxy S9 and Note 9, the company is now updating its own app store to match. Along with that, the new One UI-redesign Galaxy Apps store is also getting renamed to the Galaxy Store.
Android Auto is becoming a selling point for cars nowadays, and to that end, it can definitely make or break what music service you use. Mind-bogglingly, Google just added support for Android Auto to YouTube Music this week. Let’s take a quick hands-on look.
Back in 2017, Google and many initial launch partners for the Apple Watch pulled their wearable applications. The company is now back with a full-featured Google Keep experience for watchOS.
Recent updates to YouTube Music have added major features like Sonos integration, and more minor tweaks from Queue changes to expanded “Add to playlist” availability. YouTube Music 3.03 adds Android Auto support, and continues work on letting users play “sideloaded” songs.
The Samsung Galaxy S7 might be three years old, but like the Galaxy S6, it is still getting support from the South Korean tech giant. Samsung Galaxy S7 users in the United Kingdom and Austria have been receiving the February 2019 security patch, which is rolling out right now (via SamMobile).
Stardew Valley turned out to be a massive hit on PC when it launched a little under two years ago. Now, following an iOS release last year, Stardew Valley is heading to Android in the not-too-distant future.
For the past several weeks, Google has been testing a Play Store redesign of “Ratings and reviews.” Covering all app, movie, television show, book, and music listings, this revamp leverages the Google Material Theme and is now widely rolled out.
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