Audio is something that’s important to me when it comes to a smartphone. Headphones or not, I appreciate being able to get quality sound out of my device. While the Galaxy S8 has its flaws in this area, Samsung helps to make up for that with fantastic audio controls behind the scenes. Now, with a new app, Samsung is giving users even more control over their audio experience.
Google has long surfaced personalized results from Gmail, Photos, and other services in Search when it is relevant to a query. There is now a new “Personal” tab (via Search Engine Roundtable) on the web and mobile to quickly see these results from your various Google apps.
Back at I/O 2017, Google released an updated version of the Android O Developer Preview. With it came some small graphical changes including the addition of notification dots that appear on top of an app. Now, Nova Launcher has brought these dots to its 3rd-party launcher, making this feature available to all versions of Android…
At I/O 2017 last week, Google Photos announced a number of upcoming smart features like Google Lens, Shared Libraries, and Suggested Sharing. It now appears that the latter is laying the groundwork to launch with a new prompt in Photos asking users to confirm who they are.
Pokémon fans have long been waiting for an official game to make its way to the App Store. Last week seemingly out of nowhere, the company announced it would be releasing a new game, titled Magikarp Jump. Having been released in select countries earlier this week, it is available now in the US and rest of the world.
Google is constantly working on new features for its various services, and Chrome is one of the apps it plays around with most frequently. Just a couple of weeks ago we saw the addition of a super fast new search widget, and today we’re finding that the latest version hides a new feature for entering URLs.
AOL, now part of Verizon, is today launching an updated version of its Alto email app that it first launched back in September of last year. Today’s update includes new calendar integration, Amazon Alexa support, and more.
One of the highlight new features arriving in today’s update is full calendar integration in the app’s Dashboard interface:
Samsung’s Gear S3 sits upon my wrist day-to-day, and it seems I’m not the only one who’s fallen in love with it, as Samsung’s Tizen OS recently surpassed Android Wear. Now, Samsung is bringing some new features to owners of its Tizen-powered wearables.
While a number of exciting features are in store for Google Photos in the coming months, the service is currently rolling out a simple, but very useful addition. With Archive, you can remove images from the main Photos tab without deleting them from your library.
Google Lens was one of most exciting announcements of I/O 2017, but we unfortunately have to wait until later this year for it go live. However, signs of it are beginning to show up in the latest Google beta, along with app shortcuts and other minor changes.
Update: Google has reached out to clarify that while Opinion Rewards is available now in India and Turkey, it’s not coming to Singapore until May 31st.
Occasionally, one of Google’s apps will get an update just to expand international availability. Today’s update to Google Opinion Rewards, the company’s app that pays you in Google Play credit to answer short surveys about topics (sometimes) relevant to you, is one of those cases.
Since its relaunch in January, Google Voice has seen a major update approximately every two months. Version 5.2 is beginning to rollout and along with it are a number of very useful widgets and other minor features.
Google has increasingly added family friendly functionality in its products. Today, the company is introducing a “Family Group” feature to easily share calendars, photos, notes, and content subscriptions.
As rumored earlier this month, Android Pay is continuing its international expansion by launching in Russia. Google’s mobile payment system is now available in its 11th country and is live with a slew of support from local retailers, applications, and bank partners.
Instagram’s Explore tab already features search and discovery for finding new photos and videos on the service, and now the social network is introducing new location and hashtag stories.
The new location stories will appear when you’re near that current location and other Instagram users are posting with the format and tagging location. Hashtag stories will appear from search results and include stories that use specific hashtag stickers.
While typing support in Google Assistant only began rolling out last week at I/O 2017, the feature is already seeing its first update. The initial iteration kept Gboard’s native suggestions row, but Assistant now uses a customized bar that lists full search phrases.
Hangouts was once Google’s go-to platform for all things messaging, but now, the company seems to announce another new messaging platform every few months. As Google shifts Hangouts to the enterprise and focuses in on other options for consumers, the company is pulling out another component of Hangouts — SMS support.
One of the best features tucked away in the Chrome browser for Android application is the ability to create shortcuts to your favorite websites as well as web apps and have them placed onto your home screen. With Android O, these shortcuts take advantage of the OS’s new adaptive icons feature and add a background layer to the website’s logo…
Although Google Photos is all about backing up all of your photographs to the cloud, Google announced that you can now turn your favorite memories into photo books. This feature was enabled online right after its announcement, but it now looks like the feature is rolling out to the Google Photos app on Android.
During an award ceremony at I/O, Google has announced the 2017 winners of the annual Play Awards. Highlights include Woorld for best AR Experience and Mushroom 11 for Standout Indie.
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.