As we noted in a past teardown of the Google app, IFTTT integration was in the works for Assistant. That functionality has now popped up on one of our devices, and it allows users to easily make new commands and manage existing ones.
Update: After several of our staff updated, it appears that Android Pay is fully working for some, but not all. Two of us previously had our credit and debit cards set up in the mobile wallet, and they appear to be working fine. But for one of us and the individual who didn’t previously have a card setup, the application won’t let them add their cards to the application.
Alongside the unveiling of several new features coming to Android O, Google announced that it would be pushing out the second build of the developer preview. This meant that the program was now in beta and people could enroll to have new beta builds sent to them via OTA updates. A day later and now Pixel and Nexus owners are receiving another update…
This week saw a number of Google Assistant-related announcements for phones from keyboard input to Actions on Google. The latest is a redesign of Assistant’s settings on phones that is starting to widely rollout today.
During a keynote focused on VR and AR at day 2 of I/O 2017, Google announced Daydream 2.0, a major update slated for later this year. Codenamed Euphrates, there is a focus on easier sharing, improved interface, and Chrome.
At I/O 2017, Google has announced a slew of new features for their Home connected speaker. Major new features include hands-free calling, Bluetooth support, and visual responses.
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Google is today releasing an update for its Gmail mobile apps that introduces a new Smart Reply feature with suggested quick reply buttons within emails.
The feature is something Google is bringing over from its Inbox by Gmail and Allo apps where similar functionality was already available. Google says that the feature accounts for around 12% of replies sent in Inbox, for instance.
We’ve known for a while that a web view for Google’s Allo is coming, but the company hasn’t given us too many details about when it would actually debut. Recently, Google’s VP of product management, Nick Fox, has given us a more concrete timeframe for when it will make its debut.
Last week, our APK Teardown of Allo 11 revealed lots of interesting things about forthcoming versions of Allo, including the integration of Duo and more. Now we’ve discovered (with a little more tinkering) that Google is also testing a couple different ‘New chat’ buttons in this new version of Allo.
Since Google uses Material Design on their text messaging apps, they’ve always been using a Floating Action Button as the “New chat” button. Here are some examples of this in other apps:
But in Allo 11, Google is testing 2 new ‘New Chat’ buttons. They do the same action (basically allowing you start a chat with the contacts of your choosing), but they just look different.
This is definitely minor, but an interesting change nonetheless. Google has used FABs for this functionality in its apps since the inception of Material Design — the FAB is a pretty notable part of the language. So it’s interesting to see Google play with straying from that design.
Ahead of the I/O 2017 keynote, Google has released a new VR app for developers to “learn about principles and best practices” for Daydream.
When Futurama creator Matt Groening talked about the upcoming iOS and Android game back in February, he teased that it will effectively contain some entirely new episodes.
We’re gonna sneak some more Futurama episodes in there on whatever device people are gonna be using.
The company has now released a trailer showing that the game will indeed live up to this promise …
Instagram is rolling out a new Snapchat-like AR feature today called face filters. These work with both the photo and video camera to apply real-time face-tracking filters over subjects.
YouTube TV launched earlier last month in five major markets around the U.S. Today, the cord-cutting solution from Google is adding seven new cable networks to its basic $35 package.
Netflix is one of the biggest streaming services on the planet and thus, a lot of people use its app on mobile platforms. On Android, the app hasn’t come with too many restrictions, but it seems that the company is starting to block some users from accessing the service.
For several months, Google has been preparing selfie-generated stickers in Allo. We gave you an exclusive preview of that feature about a week ago. Now, Allo 11 is officially introducing those selfie-generated stickers for everyone, but this update also packs evidence of several other features coming in future updates.
Navigating an unfamiliar city can be difficult, and it can be easy miss a turn even when using apps like Google Maps. An update rolling out today to Google Maps is making it even easier to arrive smoothly at your destination by allowing users to see exactly where to turn and what lane to be in using Street View images…
According to Google, last week’s phishing scam that imitated a Docs invite was quickly countered by existing security measures. The company is now announcing changes aimed at developers to prevent future attacks.
Google loves putting easter eggs in its various apps and services and through the years, we’ve seen some pretty spectacular ones. Today, a new easter egg has been discovered in the latest version of Google’s Phone application for Android.
Google Contacts for Android received its last major update in August, with the web app only reaching visual parity earlier this year. Version 2.0 of the mobile app is now rolling out with a number of changes, including a better account switcher and a redesigned people view.
Rolling out today, Uber is making it easier for you to remember destinations other than your home and work addresses with Saved Places. Whether you visit a particular friend or relative’s house, restaurant, or even a park fairly often, it can get annoying trying to remember the exact address when hailing an Uber. Now, these saved locations can be saved as a shortcut…
Search is at the core of Google’s business, so it’s constantly making it easier for users to access it in one way or another. Most Android devices have a Google Search widget on the homescreen, but it’s not all that fast compared to directly searching in Chrome. Now, Google is speeding things up with a new search widget in the dev version of Chrome.
Google Search on mobile is adding a new view that better surfaces and summarizes events from sites like Eventbrite and Ticketmaster. Available on mobile, users will now be able to filter based on location and other factors.
HDR has been growing in popularity on the big screen, but with new phones on the market such as the Galaxy S8, Sony’s Xperia XZ Premium, and the LG G6, it’s going mobile too. Arguably the biggest collection of easily-accessible HDR content is on Netflix, and now, the streaming giant is opening support for HDR in its Android app.
Google and VMware have announced an “extended partnership” to accelerate the adoption of Chrome OS devices in the enterprise market. New software will extend security to virtualized apps, while deeper integration is in the works.