At an I/O session this evening, the inaugural winners of the Google Play Awards were announced. With 10 categories, winners were selected by the Google Play team based on launching or having a major update in the past 12 months, app quality, and innovation.
The Play Store is adding a few features for both developers and users. Betas are now easier to find and join from the Play Store with Google even highlighting beta apps in a new Early Access section. The store also has new smart collections for tasks that require a combination of apps.
At yesterday’s I/O keynote, Firebase received the most enthusiastic applaud from the crowd of developers. Purchased two years ago, Firebase is a cloud backend service that does the heavy lifting of managing an app’s data. Firebase is now a complete solution for building and maintaining an app on multiple platforms.
Back in April at Microsoft’s Build conference it was revealed that Cortana for Android users would soon be able to have their smartphone notifications show up on a Windows 10 PC. Now it seems that feature is rolling out, at least to some beta testers/Insiders.
Following the announcement of Allo this morning, many assumed that Hangouts would be replaced. However, Google has confirmed to numerous publications that Hangouts will remain a separate product and continue to live — for now at least.
Earlier today, Android Pay finally launched in the UK. At an I/O session this afternoon, Google announced new features for its contactless payment solution and the ability to use a phone to withdraw money from Bank of America ATMs.
Alongside all of the Google I/O announcements today, Google announced a new resource for app developers in the form of the new ‘Playbook by Google Play’ app available in beta now.
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Google shared some updates on company stats today while kicking off its Google I/O developer conference including updates on Chromecast, active users, new Android phones, Google Play installs and more.
In addition to showing off its new chatbot-style Google Assistant, Amazon Echo-like Google Home device, new Allo and Duo messaging apps, and Daydream VR platform, the company also announced 25 million Chromecasts sold, 200 million Google Photos users, 600 new Android phones launched over the last year, and 65B Google Play installs.
Head below for the roundup of all the numbers Google announced during I/O today and check back for more as the event unfolds.
Update: Allo’s Play Store listing offers the ability to preregister to get notified when the app is available for download.
Next up at I/O this year are two new communication apps that integration Google’s services and AI. The first is called Allo and has the Google Assistant built-in right into the app. In addition to integrating Google’s services, it also secure and private…
New televisions and boxes running Android TV have been released throughout the year and Android N will add new features like a picture-in-picture mode. Google I/O tomorrow might see more announcements including ‘new Nexus Players’, but until then ESPN is launching a new app that will allow subscribers to stream live sporting events.
T-Mobile today announced new services being added to its Binge On program, which allows its wireless subscribers to stream video content from certain apps without dipping into their mobile data caps.
Niantic Labs and The Pokémon Company have been working on a Pokemon game that allows players to collect, train, and battle Pokémon characters in the real world. After being tested in New Zealand and Australia, a Field Test is now coming to the United States.
Update: Spaces is now live on the Play Store, App Store, and on the web.
Google can’t seem to stop making social networks and messaging apps. In fairness, the just announced Spaces is referred to as a tool for small group sharing. While similar to the Communities feature that Google+ is now built around, the new app seems like a much more focused version of group messaging that better highlights content.
Google wields a lot of influence on the web as the developer of the most popular desktop browser in the world. As detailed in a draft proposal (via Venture Beat), the company wants to effectively kill Flash by blocking the plugin and prioritizing HTML5 by the end of the year.
In this week’s top stories: Google’s upcoming standalone Android VR headset, OnePlus 3 leaks, Galaxy Note 6 gets a release date, and we take a look at official accessories for the Galaxy S7 Edge, new apps, & much more. Head below for the usual roundup of links to all this week’s most shared stories and video.
Depending on how long you’ve been using cell phones, you might remember the days when you could store SMS text messages on your SIM card. Typically these were just stored there temporarily so that — when switching between phones — you didn’t lose anything sentimental. Now, it appears (via Android Police) that the latest version of Google’s Messenger app lets you manage these SIM card messages…
Following the launch of Gboard yesterday, Google has released a version of the I/O 2016 conference app for iOS. With the dedicated app, attendees who use iPhone won’t have to rely on I/O’s mobile site.
Some people heavily rely on Evernote to take notes and keep track of tasks. With a new Google Drive integration, Evernote users will be able to add Docs, Slides, and Sheets into notes and quickly search for files stored in their Drive.
After announcing Gboard for iOS, the team behind it had a chat on the curation site Product Hunt to discuss the new keyboard. When asked about Android support, product manager Bri Connelly said Google is currently working on porting over the features.
Third-party keyboards have been possible (but flaky) on iPhones since iOS 8 in 2014, and today Google has joined the likes of Microsoft and others that are trying to offer a better software keyboard to iPhone owners. Meet Gboard, Google’s brand new iPhone keyboard that’s launching today and packed with features including search, GIF lookup, and gesture typing.
Starting today, YouTube is rolling out (via Wired) a new native sharing and messaging feature in its Android and iOS apps. While the video network is already a popular destination, YouTube wants to keep people in the app by having conversations about popular videos start and remain there.
Launched at the end of last year, Shared Albums in Google Photos will now let people comment on pictures. As part of the Android and iOS update, a new smart suggestions feature will also recommend the right photos to add to a Shared Album.
Google Translate is getting a bevy of new features today that will make translating on mobile easier. Android gets a new feature that will get rid of the need to manually copy and paste into the Translate app, while iOS finally gets an offline mode. Additionally, the Word Lens instant visual translation feature now works on both Simplified and Traditional Chinese.