First available on the Pixel and Pixel XL, Android 7.1 includues several new developer APIs that let apps add new functionality like launcher icon shortcuts. Google has now announced that Android 7.1 will launch as a developer preview later this month for existing Nexus devices and a final release is planned for early December.
Following in the footsteps of Facebook Messenger, Shazam is releasing a ‘Lite’ version of its popular music identification app. The under-1MB app includes just the bare essentials and is optimized for 2G networks. Unfortunately, it’s only available in select countries on the Play Store, and sideloading the APK also doesn’t work.
It’s been well over a month since Google released Android Nougat to the masses, but out of the eight supported Nexus devices running this latest release, one notable one has been ignored entirely: the Motorola-made Nexus 6. Luckily, that ends today.
Facebook has long been a convenient place to sell unwanted items, but the audience for your sales has so far been limited to your friends and followers. With the addition of a Marketplace feature on mobile, Facebook allows you to expand your audience to everyone in your local community.
Facebook is where people connect, and in recent years more people have been using Facebook to connect in another way: buying and selling with each other. This activity started in Facebook Groups and has grown substantially. More than 450 million people visit buy and sell groups each month — from families in a local neighborhood to collectors around the world.
To help people make more of these connections, today we’re introducing Marketplace, a convenient destination to discover, buy and sell items with people in your community.
Interestingly, Facebook isn’t getting involved in the transactions themselves …
A project called How is the world feeling? is aiming to use an Android and iOS app to conduct the world’s largest study of mental health over a one-week period starting on October 10. The aim is to gather data from ordinary people to identify patterns in emotions, then to open-source anonymized data to mental health professionals in a bid to devise approaches to reducing suicide rates …
Earlier this year, Google added bottom navigation bars to the Material Design spec. Top navigation tabs are still permitted, but apps like Google Photos and Google+ have prominently switched over to the new style. Wikipedia is now the latest to adopt these bottom navigation bars across its Android app…
Google’s Android Pay mobile payment service has been decidedly more restrictive since day one, all in the name of security. How so? Android Pay has always relied on a connection with a supported bank, leaving many other users out of Google’s favor.
Announced at I/O with a focus on messaging, customization and fitness, Android Wear 2.0 has been delayed from this fall to early 2017. Google is using the time to improve the operating system and will release several more developer previews. Today’s release features a Play Store accessible directly from the watch and many other features.
“Ok Google” is especially useful for performing searches and other tasks like sending a text message or playing music when your hands are tied. Now an update to the Google app and Maps for Android adds navigation specific commands that aim to make the voice assistant more useful when driving.
A few months ago we introduced you to a new kind of Android launcher called ‘Evie Launcher’. The useful app is a great alternative to other options, but it still lacked a few features that can almost be considered standard for third-party launchers. Starting today, that’s changing…
Google is increasingly adding machine learning to many of its core products. The latest to benefit is Translate with a new Google Neural Machine Translation (GNMT) system that reduces errors by 55% to 85%. The system is already in use 18 million times per day with the notoriously hard language pairing of Chinese to English.
Following the launch of YouTube Go this morning, Chrome for Android is adding a number of new data saving features of its own. The current Data Saver tool now works with videos and is more efficient with web pages. A new Downloads manager saves sites, music, photos, and videos for offline viewing, while the previously seen suggested articles feature is now live.
After months of anticipation and teases from some of Google’s developers, the company’s new Allo messaging app is finally here. Whether you like the service or not, it’s hard to deny that it has some really cool features. Messaging with Allo is smarter than pretty much anywhere else, but there are a few features you might gloss over, so let’s take a closer look…
Google has repeatedly reiterated that Hangouts will remain as an enterprise-focused messaging solution after Allo and Duo’s release. Version 13 is rolling out now to Android with support for Chrome Custom Tabs and other minor tweaks.
Google Duo has been downloaded over 10 million times since it launched last month and is about to get many more users. According to a report from NDTV, Google is partnering with handset maker Micromax to preload the video calling app on four upcoming phones as part of a promotion.
Allo’s launch very much came and went, but not before introducing a very nifty — or depending on how you look at it, annoying — feature. App Preview Messaging allows those who don’t use Allo to send replies when messaged by someone from the app. Google is now opening up the Google Play Services feature and letting other messaging apps implement it.
Back in May, Google revealed the Daydream platform for high quality, mobile virtual reality. After gathering months of feedback, the Google VR SDK is now out of beta and allows developers to start building high-quality Daydream apps. A partnership with Unity and Unreal even lets existing engines and tools be used to create games.
Update 9/22: According to the app’s co-lead, Allo is now rolling out worldwide. At launch, it was geographically limited through the Google Play Store and iOS App Store.
Last month, Google announced that Accelerated Mobile Pages would soon be coming to mobile search results. The feature is now being rolled out around the world with 600 million AMP documents from partners like eBay, Reddit, and WikiHow.
Search in Google Drive is getting a significant update today that adds autocorrect and Natural Language Processing search. NLP allows users to look for files in a more natural and informal manner, just like with “Ok Google” on mobile. Additionally, Docs is getting a new Columns feature and the ability to download converted documents in their original file format…
Introduced last month, Google’s “In Apps” mode allows you to quickly search installed apps. A dedicated shortcut — first available on the LG V20 — lets users directly jump into the mode from the homescreen. The latest Google app beta makes the shortcut available to all users and renames several major features, including Now on Tap.
After releasing Duo to the masses last month, Google is apparently prepping to launch its next big messaging app, Allo, this Wednesday, September 21st. That’s at least according to the famed leaker Evan Blass (@evleaks).
The Pokémon Go Plus finally launched this week with a previously unknown feature that makes the $35 accessory infinitely more useful to gameplay. Its new ability to track distance in the background means that users don’t have to keep the app open to hatch Eggs or gain Candy with Buddy Pokémon.
