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.
Expand
Expanding
Close
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.
Expand Expanding Close
ARCore is Google’s platform for mobile augmented reality which does not require specialized hardware. As of December, it’s available on 250 million devices and powers features like Playmoji on the Pixel 3. The latest developer release today introduces a new Augmented Faces API and an ARCore Elements app for learning about basic principles.
Playmoji made a big splash at the Grammys last weekend, and just today Google released a new “Love” pack for Valentine’s Day. Revamped alongside the Pixel 3 last year, these AR stickers might be coming to other Android devices this month.
Since launching in 2016, Google Assistant has expanded from speakers to phones, headphones, and Smart Displays. Each platform has a way to surface all of Assistant’s capabilities, with the phone interface recently tweaking the “What can you do?” list of commands and features.
In addition to a homepage Doodle and new ‘Love’ Playmoji for the Pixel, Google is celebrating Valentine’s Day with free Play Store credit for everybody. However, the usual terms and conditions are present.
Since Google Assistant launched on phones, the slide-up panel has featured a carousel of suggestion chips to help surface functionality. This feature has just been tweaked and more likely to draw your attention thanks to colorful icons.
At CES 2019, Google announced interpreter mode for Google Home speakers and Smart Displays. The Assistant feature began rolling out earlier this month, and is now fully available for consumers as Google talks up the benefits for concierge and hotels.
While the Taptic Engine has been a staple of flagship iPhones since 2016, most iOS keyboards — including the system default — do not support haptic feedback. Google today updated Gboard with support for haptics on every key press.
Google is set to deprecate Hangouts classic later this year and move all G Suite users to Hangouts Chat. Ahead of that transition, Google is porting over legacy features, like today’s addition of typing indicators.
Late last month, Google Voice for Android was updated with the Google Material Theme. The revamp is now beginning to make its way to iOS with many of the latest design stylings.
Expand Expanding Close
The latest updates for the Moto Z3, Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus are now bringing the February security patch to devices in the United States.