Google Drive was launched in April of 2012 and encompasses Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, among other Google apps. In addition to being an office productivity suite, Drive allows users to upload their files and photos. Users get 15GB of free storage between Gmail, Photos and Drive, with the option to purchase more on a monthly basis.
Like with Docs, Google allows users to create links to share uploaded files. Google Drive supports a variety of image and video formats, as well as Microsoft Office and Adobe file formats. Third-party apps can integrate and store data in Drive, while the official Mac and Windows apps allow automatic syncing of local data from a desktop.
On Chrome, the Drive app can sync files for offline viewing. Android and iOS apps allow users to view all their files on the go and make edits.
If hardware quality was the only factor in buying a phone, you could stop reading right here and go out and buy the HTC One M8 – it is the best looking, best built (AFAICT after 3 days) phone out there, bar none.
The front will look familiar, if elongated, to current One owners. It still has separated stereo speakers which incidentally are again the best you’ll hear in a phone by a long shot, but the screen is bigger and unfortunately so is the bezel around the screens.
That extra length tallies to a centimeter taller than its predecessor making an already big phone now almost phablet-like in stature. Add to that HTC’s insistence of putting a power button on top of the phone which you must shimmy up and down to reach and you’ve got yourself some usability experience issues before you even turn on the phone.
The back of my gray “stainless steel” unit matches up nicely with my fridge in the kitchen. I mean that in the nicest possible way. It looks gorgeous, though I’m not sure I’d say the same for other color variations offered, particularly the gold model. The improved curves are super nice in the hand and also look the part. You’d almost forgive how long this thing is…almost.
The M8 may not be terribly repairable by iFixit standards, but HTC has your back with a pretty impressive repair plan called HTC Customer Advantage. In it, you get a free screen repair within 6 months, a somewhat vague promise to keep Android updated to the most recent version (the website says “We are committed to keeping you current” but at the show they said 2 years of upgrades), and 25-50GB of extra Google Drive space.
Besides the length coupled with the power button, I’m still a huge fan of the exterior. But then there is the interior with HTC’s insistence on Sense 6.0 and this new 3-camera system… Expand Expanding Close
We’re getting set for tomorrow’s big launch event by watching previews of what we’re going to see. A lengthy claimed video of the long-awaited successor to the HTC One has been posted, and while it’s unverified, it certainly looks convincing.
The M8 is simply the codename for the handset, just as the One was codenamed the M7. It’s not known whether HTC will brand the replacement as the new HTC One or give it a new name. Separate rumors have suggested the HTC One 2, and the HTC All New One, both of which sound pretty silly.
We’re expecting to see a Snapdragon 801 or 805 processor, 2GB RAM, a choice of 16 or 32GB storage, support for microSD cards of up to 128GB and a full-HD (1920×1080) display, running Android 4.4. The casing appears to be all-aluminum, with a brushed finish. Rumors have suggested that it will be available in a choice of silver, gold and grey colors … Expand Expanding Close
Google announced today on its blog that it’s lowering the monthly pricing plans it offers for users buying extra storage on Google Drive. Google attributes the changes to “recent infrastructure improvements” that is allowing it to offer more affordable storage options. Google reminds us that, as always, Drive storage purchased through the new plans counts towards storage for Drive, Gmail and Google+ Photos.
The new plans begin at just $1.99 for 100GB down from the previous $4.99 for the same amount of storage. There is also a new $10 plan for 1TB (down from $50 previously), and a 10TB and up option that starts at $99.99. Google will also continue offering the free 15GB option that comes with your Google account for Drive, Gmail and Google+.
How big is a terabyte anyway? Well, that’s enough storage for you to take a selfie twice a day for the next 200 years and still have room left over for… shall we say… less important things. Like before, storage continues to work across Drive, Gmail and Google+ Photos. And, of course, the 15GB plan remains free.
The new pricing plans for Google Drive are available now through www.google.com/settings/storage. Users that are already signed up for a monthly plan will be automatically switched to the new, better plans. Expand Expanding Close
For those who may be waiting to choose between the Samsung S5 and the new HTC flagship handset code-named the M8, HTC has a little sweetener for you: a free, one-time replacement of the screen if you break it within the first six months of ownership. The company is also promising to offer Android updates for two years.
Now when customers buy any HTC One they can rest assured their device will be future proofed, with major Android updates for 2 years from launch. And it’s nearly accident proof too, because we will replace a broken screen for free once within the first 6 months you own it—let’s face it accidents do happen and we want to keep your device in great condition … Expand Expanding Close
If you’re finding that app data is using up more and more of the storage capacity on your Android phone, Google has just rolled out something that is likely to help: an API that allows developers to store app data on Google Drive instead of in your phone’s flash memory.
It will also mean that data created by apps using the API will be automatically synced between device.
The change will be completely invisible to users – it will Just Work. When an Internet connection isn’t available, data will be cached locally until it can again reach Google Drive. There will be some impact on data usage, but for most apps this is likely to be trivial.
Google just added a nice new feature to Google Drive that will make it easier for users to track and review changes made to files and folders. The new Activity Stream sits next to your files and folders and shows all changes that are being made by contributors on your shared files. You’ll also be able to filter the stream by selecting a specific file or multiple files as highlighted in the gif above. Here’s how to access it:
When you open Drive, click the ⓘ button in the top right corner and the activity stream will appear, showing you who has taken action on files and folders in My Drive. You’ll see a rundown of what your team has been doing, such as editing and commenting on notes, adding a new spreadsheet, renaming a presentation, and more.
The new activity stream isn’t available to everyone yet, but Google says it will roll out to all over the next week.
Google last updated its Play Services app back in October when KitKat and the Nexus 5 launched with a plethora of improvements. Today via the official Android Developers Blog, the company has announced another rather significant update to the app, brining it to version 4.1.
First off, the update will allow for developers to start implementing turn-based multiplayer capabilities into games entirely with Play Services. This will allow for improved asynchronous games with friends and opponents. The update also adds a developer preview of a new Google Drive API that lets users read and write Google Drive files from any device, with or without a data connection, and have their changes synced across other devices and platforms.
Chalk up another Google Drive update for iOS as Google just announced a new sorting feature for files. Google’s iOS version of Google Drive has received quite a few updates in recent months to bring it in line with its Android counterpart. The new sorting feature should prove useful to just about every Google Drive user as it’s a much-needed and important feature.
Google is rolling out support to its take out service for exporting email and appointment data from its Gmail and Google Calendar services, the company announced today.
While Google often supports data exporting when sunsetting a service, the company says in this instance it’s simply allowing users the ability to better archive personal data and switch to other services with less friction. Expand Expanding Close
On its Official Apps blog, Google has just announced that within the next few months, it will be revamping the sign-in page for Google Apps accounts. The interface will now be consistent between all Apps services, including Gmail, Calendar, Drive, and any other tools. Google says that it is doing this to improve security and make it easier for users to switch accounts.
Early next year, the sign-in page for all Google Apps customers will be updated to be consistent across all Google Apps services. In other words, the sign-in page for Gmail will now be identical to the sign-in page for Google Calendar, Google Drive, or any other Google Apps service. This change will improve security and make it easier for users to switch between accounts.
Details are scarce at this point, but Google says more information will come in the next few months.
– Multiple Account Support. You can now switch between personal, work, or any other Google account – Single Sign In: Sign in once to Google Drive and you’ll automatically be signed in to apps like YouTube, Google Maps, Chrome, and G+ – Print your files now with Google Cloud Print or AirPrint – iOS 7 Support
Notably, users can now have multiple accounts on Drive for iOS and the app supports single-sign-on across Google apps on iOS. Also new is increased compatibility for iOS 7 and printing either via AirPrint or Google Cloud Print.
Billed as ‘the lockscreen that learns,’ Cover is an Andoid app that notes which apps you use in which locations, and then puts the apps you’re most likely to need onto your lockscreen.
At home you might get weather, news, traffic and Twitter; at work, calendar, Google drive and LinkedIn; in the car, maps and music … Expand Expanding Close
HTC, a global leader in mobile innovation and design, today announced the HTC One max, a super-sized smartphone that brings the award-winning design, functionality and performance of the HTC One to fans of larger handsets. A new Fingerprint Scan feature takes convenience to a new level while acclaimed features including HTC BlinkFeed™, HTC Zoe™ and HTC BoomSound™, combined with the new HTC Sense 5.5, which are all enhanced to continue to deliver the best overall smartphone experience, now on a larger screen.
Most of the specs are as per the rumors we’ve reported over the last few months, including the almost non-existent bezel, 5.9″ full HD1080p display, 3300mAH battery, (optional) capacitive stylus and fingerprint scanner. The fingerprint sensor unlocks the phone, of course, but also has a neat feature where you can assign a different app to each finger, switching on the device with that app loaded.
The CPU is, however, less powerful than rumored. Everyone had been expecting a Snapdragon 800 processor running at 2.3GHz, but instead the Max has the same 1.7GHz Snapdragon 600 chip as the phone on which it’s based, the HTC One … Expand Expanding Close
Google today announced that it’s rolling out a few new features to Slides, the company’s presentations app built into Google Drive. Among the new features is support for widescreen presentations, which will now be enabled by default:
Since the majority of monitors and displays are now widescreen, new presentations will be widescreen by default. You can change the size of your slides using the pull down menu in the theme chooser, or by visiting Page setup in the File menu.
Google is also including another highly requested feature that brings the ability to customize the preset fonts, colors backgrounds and more for themes:
One of your top requests has been to customize these presets throughout your presentation. With editable master slides, you can now easily tailor how content appears on every slide by selecting “Edit master” from the Slide menu. For example, you can set all of your header fonts to Alconica, make all of your first level bullets bold, and add a logo in the bottom right corner.
Google has a support doc available here that will walk you through everything you need to know about editing master slides and layouts for themes.
First, you’ll notice each editor’s product icon displayed in the header, which doubles as a quick link back to all your files in Drive. Next, you’ll see that the header is more streamlined and compact, helping you to focus on what matters most—your content.
You’ll notice the changes in Docs, Sheets, and Slides (as pictured above), but also in Drawings, Forms and Apps Script.
Google Apps experienced some downtime today, bringing down Gmail and parts of Google Drive for about an hour. During the downtime, Google Apps customers were unable to send or recieve emails (or experienced delays in doing so) or use the docuement and slideshow creation tools.
Everything appears to be running smoothly now, however. Google has not yet said what caused the downtime.
Google announced today on its Google Drive blog that it’s rolling out a new update to its Google Keep note taking app that will introduce both time and location based reminders. After updating to the latest version of the app, users will be able to select a small reminder icon at the bottom of each note and select from a time reminder to set a specific date and/or time of day, or a location-based reminder that provides suggestions for nearby destinations as you type. The feature will let users ‘snooze’ the reminders if they choose, and the update also brings a new and improved navigation drawer for the app:
Of course, sometimes plans change. If you get a reminder you’re not ready to deal with, simply snooze it to a time or place that’s better for you. It’s now even easier to get to all of your notes using the new navigation drawer, which includes a way to view all of your upcoming reminders in one place. And for people who want more separation between their home and work lives, the drawer also lets you easily switch between your accounts.
Google Keep will also now allow users to attach photos from their device’s photo gallery opposed to just being able to snap a new picture: Expand Expanding Close
A new update for the Google+ Android app rolling out in the coming days will make it easier for users to switch between multiple accounts, improve location sharing controls, and finally get rid of the in-app Messenger to make way for Google’s new Hangouts app.
Google employee Virgil Dobjanschi shared details on the new version of the app, noting that switching accounts will now be as easy as it is with Gmail:
Just like Gmail for Android, you can now switch between multiple Google+ accounts with a couple of taps (vs. signing out and signing in again). And the Google+ pages you manage are likewise in the app menu at all times.
The updated app also brings the ability to view and share photos and videos that are stored in Google Drive, and improved location sharing controls: Expand Expanding Close
Google announced today that it will start offering suggestions for hyperlinks directly in Docs and Slides. When highlighting text and clicking “Insert Link” Google will automatically start generating URL suggestions based on the text:
You can hyperlink text in Docs and Slides when you want to attach related information to a word or sentence — for example, when writing a paper on Athens, you can highlight “Acropolis” and link it to a Google search result, a specific website, a heading or bookmark in your document, or even another file in Drive.
Starting today, the link tool now offers you suggestions based on the text you are hyperlinking just in case you don’t have the URL you need offhand. To try it out, select the text you want and click the “Insert link” icon from the menu bar (or use Ctrl K).
Google’s new $35 Chromecast device has huge potential in a living-room environment, but as PC World notes, the device also could be a major player in the enterprise market as a presentation tool. If you have to give a presentation now, it’s tricky to make sure you have the right converters to connect to the projector at the office, and if you get there and it turns out you needed VGA, not DVI, you’re in big trouble. With the Chromecast, all you would have to do is bring it to your meeting and have your documents stored in Google Drive. From there you can cast all of your Chrome tabs to the big screen with no issues.
The Chromecast would also be the perfect device to take on a family outing, as it would allow you to easily watch Netflix content on any TV with an HDMI connection at your hotel.
While it may take a little work to get all your documents in Google Drive, the process has gotten simpler and simpler over time and with more businesses switching to Google Apps anyway, there’s no reason not to use a Chromecast in the office. Expand Expanding Close
Google announced today that its rolling out the ability to print Google Forms created in Drive that will be automatically reformatted to make it easier to fill out on paper:
Say goodbye to the days of trying to create a form or survey in a text document — you can now print your Google Forms with ease. When you print a form, each question is formatted in a way that makes it simple for people to fill in when printed on paper. To try it out, just create a form and press the print button.
Google announced today on its Google Drive Blog that it is adding a number of new languages for its Google Drive apps including Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides on both mobile and desktop. The new languages include:
Google noted that the majority of the languages are also supported by the built-in spellchecker in Drive and users will also be able to switch back and forth between languages. You’ll also be able to collaborate on Drive files in one language while collaborators use another.
A nice little pre-I/O surprise today from Google: Everyone who uses Gmail, G+ Photos and Google Drive now gets 15GB of free space across all three platforms instead of the previous 10 GB for Gmail and another 5 GB for Drive and Google+ Photos. That’s a lot of combined space
We’ll also be making updates to the Google Drive storage page, so you can better understand how you’re using storage space. Simply hover over the pie chart to see a breakdown of your storage use across Drive, Gmail, and Google+ Photos. And if you need more storage, this is your place to upgrade, with plans starting at $4.99/month for 100 GB.
Pro tip: This change means you’re no longer limited to a 25 GB upgrade in Gmail—any additional storage you purchase now applies there, too.
These changes to Google Drive storage will roll out over the next couple of weeks. Google Apps users will also be getting shared storage, so visit the enterprise blog to learn more.
If you are having issues with Google Drive, you aren’t alone. We’ve just lost our access to our online documents though our local sync seems to be working fine. Google’s Apps status page just went code orange indicating they are investigating the issue. Now let’s start talking about how safe your documents are in the Cloud.
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