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Remember that time you were super jazzed about Hangouts 4.0, and when it finally came out, it wasn't that great? How about when v5.0 began its rollout, and it was basically the same thing, but with working animated GIFs? Version 5.1 is now making its way out into the world, but if you weren't happy with the previous releases, you're probably not going to be too thrilled with this one. It looks like a relatively light bug fix update, and nothing more.
I also couldn't help but notice the strings use the 'gray' spelling while one of the icons listed above went with the 'grey' spelling. It doesn't matter in the least, but I can't help but notice when that happens.
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Not everybody is into live streaming gameplay, but for those that are, and particularly those that play a lot of games on Android, this week's update for YouTube Gaming was a pretty big deal. It brought much-needed support for recording and live broadcasting your screen directly to YouTube. While the update is significant for the features we now have, it also happens to include some signs for a few more things we can expect in the future. We can see a few of YouTube's newer features are going to hop over to the gaming side, including background playback, offline playback, and even Cardboard support. There are even a couple of great jokes meant just for teardown readers.
Yesterday brought a brand new update to the Play Store, bringing the version up to 5.10.29. There are some new UI elements, even if most of us aren't allowed to see them yet, and we can now copy text from the what's new and description sections. Naturally, Google included a few hidden tricks and treats just waiting to be discovered. We can expect to see books organized by series, apps described with size, and some friendlier welcome and exploration messages.
Google wants to be the undisputed leader in live streaming video games. With the announcement of YouTube Gaming, Google declared its intention to do battle with Twitch over an industry that may eventually amass a mind-blowing number of viewers. We're now receiving the first major app update to YouTube Gaming, and it's a huge one. Version 1.1 introduces screen recording and live screencasting directly from an Android device. On the content consumption side of things, the Watch Later feature from YouTube has been added in, and there's also a new import tool for quickly and easily porting your gaming-related subscriptions over to the new app.
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The Nexus Factory Images are out and the OTAs are scheduled to begin distribution sometime today. That means it's time for a huge AOSP code drop. Google is in the process of uploading Android 6.0 Marshmallow and its first official build MRA58K to the Android Open Source Project. Coincidentally, there are a handful of Android 5.1.1 updates (r19 through r24) making an appearance, no doubt to fulfill the monthly security update for October.
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If you're looking forward to a night of kicking back on the couch for a serious Game of Thrones marathon – or maybe Archer – you might want to check out the latest update to Play Movies & TV. Google's premium video app just got an update to v3.9 and it adds a feature many of us will know all too well: binge watching. Also making the latest version is an easier setup experience for Roku devices.
The first Android Studio v1.4 preview release came out just a short six weeks ago, and now it's moving into the Stable channel, right on schedule. The features remain largely the same as the original v1.4 preview, but a ton of bugs have been fixed and a few of the capabilities have been improved in some awesome ways.
Google Maps received a fairly minor update last night, bumping it up to v9.15. There aren't any big visible changes, and even the teardown was pretty light, but there is one addition to the Settings screen that's worth mentioning. Under the Notifications section is a new checkbox titled "Traffic information." Obviously, it lets you shut off traffic notifications, which might be fairly handy if you already know they're coming or there tend to be a lot of false positives reported in your area. It's not the most exciting feature, but it will certainly matter to a few users.
The Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P are packed with a number of cool hardware improvements over previous generations, like a shockingly fast fingerprint reader and a fast-charging USB Type-C connector. During today's presentation, Dave Burke spoke about a brand new piece of hardware dubbed Android Sensor Hub that can significantly extend battery life and allows even more inventive features to these phones. It's a dedicated low-power processor designed to efficiently manage sensor data so the main processor can go to sleep for longer periods of time.
Among the Android modding circles, there's no app more recognizable than SuperSU. It has a well-earned reputation as the de facto standard for rooting your phone, tablet, and really just about anything that runs Android. Chainfire, the creator and developer of SuperSU, has been maintaining it himself since 2012, but now he's ready to hand off the reins. In a post on Google+, Chainfire says he's transferring ownership of SuperSU to Coding Code Mobile Technology LLC, or CCMT.
