One of the highlights for Pixel and Nexus phones is having access to all of the latest and greatest services from Google. Some of these features are limited to Google’s own phones, and while the Google Contacts app was previously one of those, that’s now thankfully changing.
As good as virtual keyboards have gotten, sometimes it’s just easier to send a message or perform a search with your voice than it is to physically type something out. With the latest update to Google’s Cloud Speech API, more users can now take advantage of these features than ever before.
Google Calendar on Android has received a lot of love and updates over the past few years, but the same unfortunately can’t be said for its desktop companion. Google Calendar’s desktop site looks horribly archaic compared to most of Google’s other services, but this looks to be changing very soon..
Samsung’s mobile browser has previously been available primarily for Samsung phones (with the exception of a few other devices like the Pixel and Pixel XL) and while the main version of the app will remain this way, the beta version of the Samsung Internet Browser can now be downloaded for use on Android phone running 5.0 Lollipop or later…
Of all the messaging services that are out there, WhatsApp remains one of the most functional and feature-rich. Its Android app received picture-in-picture support a little less than three weeks ago, and a week later got access to App Shortcuts. In the latest beta version for WhatsApp’s Android app, it would appear that WhatsApp Payments will be the next feature to make an appearance.
Over the past few weeks, OnePlus has released two of its system apps onto the Google Play Store – OnePlus Weather and the OnePlus Launcher. OnePlus moving its apps to the Play Store allows for a faster and smoother update process, and it looks like the company is now pushing three more apps to the Play Store.
Last July, Twitter finally released Night Mode for its mobile app, which brings a much darker UI when scrolling through your timeline. There’s been a Chrome extension since last September that brought similar functionality to Twitter on your desktop/laptop, but it now looks like Twitter is officially testing out its Night Mode directly…
Virtual keyboards have come a long way since the industry first started to move away from physical options, and in their current state, virtual keyboards are now more feature-rich and easier to use than ever before. Samsung is one of many companies that has been regularly updating its own keyboard, and today the company has officially released the Samsung Keyboard on the Google Play Store.
Google Calendar is an awesome tool for organizing your various meetings, appointments, etc., but up until now, it hasn’t been the best for managing large events. Today, Google is updating its Calendar service to be more functional than ever when trying to organize and handle events that are considerably big and demanding.
While we wait for YouTube Music and Google Play Music to merge into a singular, more cohesive service, Google is updating the former to now allow users to save individual songs, playlists, and albums for offline use. This is a pretty basic feature that should have been included a while ago, but we’re glad to see it finally make an appearance.
Email clients are a dime a dozen, but one of the better ones is Newton Mail from CloudMagic. Newton’s polish and large feature set is what eventually made me start using the service back in March, and thanks to a new update, Newton is getting a taste of Google Inbox’s highlight feature.
Instagram for Android is today adding new functionality to its Stories feature that will allow users to reply with photos and videos. Head below to learn how to use the new feature.
In what is not exactly a common occurrence, Google just released a completely new app of its own on the Play Store. The app’s called Android Samba Client, and in Google’s own words, it “allows users to mount an SMB file share in their Downloads/Files app in Android.” I’m not sure if I could word it better than that.
Plex has today announced that its Android app is gaining the ability to play most locally stored video files on your device. The update should make the Plex app a great option for those looking for an easy way to play a wide variety of video file types…
Google has a reputation for the constantly-evolving aesthetics of its software products, despite the thankfully otherwise stabilizing influence of Material Design. The latest version of the Play Store app changes its app icon once again, ditching the shopping bag of old…
The latest version of the Google Play Store is beginning to roll out with strings that point to a new security feature that will alert users when installing apps from unknown sources. Version 7.8 also points to Instant Apps support, pre-registration rewards, and more.
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The Google Play Store app is notorious for its countless A/B tests, and today we’re seeing yet another. New “Similar apps” and related developer apps sections that some are beginning to see have been revamped to allow for easier, smoother left-to-right scrolling…
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Google Allo has received countless updates since launch, adding a variety of features — most of them involving stickers in some way. Now, we’ve managed to enable some features that Google is actively working on within Allo that haven’t yet been enabled. These include a new button for quickly capturing a selfie and the ability to add stickers as decoration on photos…
Google announced last week that it intends to deprecate SMS functionality in Hangouts, and now an update is rolling out which prepares users of the messaging platform to switch SMS apps. Hangouts 18 doesn’t seem to have any functional changes, but it does add the necessary components to help educate users on the forthcoming transition…
Google Translate received a minor update today to version 5.8, bringing easy-to-access definitions for translated words, a quick account switcher like that found in most of Google’s other first-party Android apps, some new strings referencing China, and (assumably) the usual bug fixes…
Right on cue (actually a bit ahead of cue, technically), the long-awaited Super Mario Run is now available for Android. This comes, as tends to be pretty usual in Android app releases, just over 3 months since the app first arrived on the App Store for iPhone and iPad.
A minor update to the Google Home app is rolling out now, bringing a much-requested feature (that, frankly, should have been there from the beginning). You can now view your currently-running alarms and timers in the Google Home app, as well as set a volume level specifically for them. A teardown of the app reveals some other much-requested features are in the works as well…
From 9to5Toys
Two years after releasing Alto’s Adventure, Built by Snowman has revealed the first trailer for the sequel of the award winning title, Alto’s Odyssey. Slated for launch this summer on iOS and, presumably Android, the next rendition continues with visually appealing gameplay. The teaser trailer is quick, but we do get a glimpse of the scenery, which appears to be a desert. There aren’t many more details at this time, but we expect for Snowman to roll out more info over the coming months.
In conjunction with today’s announcement, the original Alto’s Adventure has gone on sale for $1.99 (Reg. $5). You’ll find that and all the rest of today’s best iOS deals in our daily app roundup.
WhatsApp is introducing a new feature in its app called Status that uses a similar format to Snapchat Stories, TechCrunch reports. Like messaging through WhatsApp, however, Status will bring encryption to the popular format.
