For quite a while now, Google has had a Chrome Cleanup Tool on Windows that scans and removes software that might affect or hijack the browsing experience. Today, the feature is being upgraded with a simpler UI and more powerful detection, while Chrome has improved handling with nefarious extensions.
One of the more under the radar features of the Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL is the support for Embedded SIM cards, or an eSIM. Since Project Fi is one of the first carriers to add support on Android, Google has uploaded an eSIM Manger app to the Play Store ahead of the Pixel’s launch later this week.
Over the past several months, Google Wifi has been launching in more and more countries around the world, as well as getting updated with new features. The latest is another family-focused feature called Site Blocking.
With a Motion photo, a short video that can be used to make clips and other animations is captured before and after every shot. Originally believed to be exclusive to Google Clips and the Pixel 2, a new version of the Google Camera app adds Motion to the original Pixel and Pixel XL.
One of the more unique features about the Pixel Launcher on the Pixel 2 is its bottom Google bar. While odd, it is quite clever given how on large phones — like the XL — it is harder to reach the top of the screen to perform a Search. While the new Made by Google phones won’t be available until next week, you can install the launcher right now.
If you can not only capture Pokémon but also artistic photographs of them, Niantic is inviting you to submit your photos in a competition held on Instagram …
When last year’s Pixel launched, Google uploaded the phone’s Wallpapers app to the Play Store for any Android device to download. In the past year, the app has been steadily updated with new wallpapers and today is adding many more. Notably, some of the new categories are exclusive to Pixel devices.
At last week’s Made by Google event, we saw two new Pixels, both sporting a new calendar widget. What’s nice about this widget is its sheer simplicity, prominently showing the user’s next calendar event, its scheduled duration, and the current weather.
Since we don’t know if this will make its way to other phones, an app developer has recreated the widget for all to use on any Android smartphone…
Ahead of last week’s October 4th hardware event, Google uploaded the “Pixel Ambient Services” app responsible for the Pixel 2’s music recognition feature. Today, the battery app found on Pixel and Nexus devices has been similarly added to the Play Store for easier updates.
YouTube already has an “Autoplay” feature that will automatically start suggested videos after the current one finishes. However, Google is now testing auto-playing in the main feed of the Android app.
Snapchat is partnering with several services including OpenTable and Lyft to launch something new called Context Cards. These location-based cards bring relevant information like business hours, reviews, contact information, and travel options to Snapchat.
Following the announcement of longer 280 character tweets, Twitter has revealed that it is developing a bookmarking feature to save tweets. A highly requested and obvious feature, one product manager at the company today shared an early prototype.
Last month, Google began testing a “Save” feature in the Google app that allows users to add and organize URLs to a new “Saved” section of the Android app. This evening, that feature is now widely rolling out.
For the past several months, Google Search has been A/B testing several new designs. An update to Image Search is now rolling out on the mobile web (via Android Police) and features a brighter interface and rounded buttons.
Google’s Duo app has been improving a lot in the past several months, and that includes how it integrates with the rest of the Android ecosystem. Now, we’re finding out that Google has even deeper integration coming, and it’s looking pretty awesome…
Custom launchers are one of the best and easiest ways to customize your Android device, and one of the most popular has been Nova Launcher. TeslaCoil’s app has been a favorite in the Android community for a long time, and now it’s racked up over 50 million downloads on Google Play.
At the Made by Google event earlier this week, the search giant announced two new Pixel smartphones which showed an updated Pixel Launcher. The most notable difference was the search bar which got moved below the app dock. Thankfully, one of the most customizable launchers available for download has already been updated to allow users to bring this look to any Android phone…
Last month, a teardown of YouTube for Android revealed a string that referenced a new “YouTube Plus” service. Likely complimenting the existing “Red” subscription, another reference for YouTube Plus has now appeared in YouTube Music.
Following the release of Chrome 61 to browsers and Android last month, the latest version is now finally rolling out to Chrome OS. A big update, Google’s cloud operating system adds a new Lock Screen, App launcher, and better window management for tablets. There are also a number of small changes to Settings.
Following a recent redesign to the Play Store’s high-level organization that separated various types of media into their own tabs, Google Play is testing a change that better highlights app rankings. When applicable, an app listing will now include a top chart rank.
Google’s rumored Snapchat Discover and Instagram Stories competitor for publishers could launch as soon as this month. Rumored to be built on Accelerated Mobile Pages, it will allow sites to surface video and other rich content right in Search. In the mean time, Google has been spotted testing renaming AMP labels in Search results.
Much like how Google Assistant was announced at I/O 16 and initially premiered with the Pixel last year, Google Lens is seeing a similar release schedule. These “set of vision based computing capabilities” for performing tasks like visual search is launching first on the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL.
Late last month a rumor started to make the rounds that the Google Pixel 2 would have an always listening feature that would recognize music playing in the background. It would then use this information and display the song on the handset so the user could easily see what is playing. A new ‘Pixel Ambient Services’ app just showed up in the Play Store which has confirmed this functionality…
In our teardown of the latest Google app beta this morning, there were several strings describing new tabs for the app. Since then, we have been able to activate it and now have our first glimpse at what is most likely the redesign we’ll see tomorrow of the Google app for the Pixel 2.