google drive

Oct

[Update: Street View And Movies, Too] Four Google Apps Updated: Wallet, Shopper, Play Music, And Drive

Posted by David Ruddock in Applications, News

Google went on a minor update spree this afternoon, issuing revisions to four Google apps on the Play Store, including Play Music, Wallet, Drive, and Shopper. All four updates are relatively mundane, but here are the various changes.

Hidden in the old Drive changelog from the previous update (here) is a small note regarding gestures. The new version is 1.1.4.29.

11. Updates to gesture detection

Google Drive

QR code for https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.docs

Google Shopper

Shopper has received the most substantial update of the four to v2.6, with changes to filtering options and search, as well as performance and stability improvements.

What's in this version:

* Filter weekly sales at featured local stores by category so you can focus on your favorite deals
* Browse visually similar products when searching for apparel
* Improved performance and stability

Shopper

Google Wallet

Wallet has been bumped to version 1.5-R81-v4, and will now suck down less of your battery (did it before?).

Sep

Google Drive Update For Android Brings Improved Presentation Viewing, Basic Table Support In Docs, And More

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, Google, News

Before I get your hopes up, no they haven't improved spreadsheets yet. However, that is on the way. What is arriving now, though, is the ability to add comments to your documents, view tables, and improved Google presentations viewing support. You'll even get speaker notes and the ability to swipe between slides.

There are more features on their way. Here at Android Police HQ, we've been eagerly awaiting proper spreadsheet editing (which is currently horrible to an unusable degree), and Google has seen fit to name check that very feature in its "More to come..." section. Hopefully it won't be too much longer, and we'll finally be able to see the results of that Quickoffice purchase.

Jul

Dropbox Upgrades Its Pro Plans, Doubles Storage Space For No Extra Cost, Adds 500GB Tier

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News

When Google first announced Google Drive, the company made waves, if not by being better than Dropbox, then at least by being cheaper. 100GB of storage on Google Drive was $4.99 a month to Dropbox's $19.99. Well, today Dropbox is getting closer to being competitive with Google by increasing the amount of storage for its Pro users.

From Dropbox's blog entry on the subject:

Today we’re happy to announce that our upgrades are getting a huge upgrade! Dropbox Pro now comes in flavors of 100 and 200 GB, but at the price of the original 50 and 100 GB plans.

Jun

Google Drive Updated To Version 1.1.1.6, Brings The Ability To Transfer Any File Type, Faster Navigation While Transferring, And Text Alignment In The Document Editor

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

Google Drive just saw its first update since back in April when it shed the Docs nametag. The update is relatively minor, but still brings some worthwhile enhancements and tweaks:

Quickly find files that have been recently opened, edited or shared with you
Upload/Download all file types to/from your Google Drive
Selecting contacts to share with is easier
Faster navigation of folders when syncing in the background
Choose text alignment in the documents editor

Frequent users of the Drive app will surely take pleasure in the faster navigation while sync is in progress, as the app could get quite sluggish at times; the ability to upload all file types is definitely a welcome improvement and one more step in Google's quest to take out cloud storage heavyweight Dropbox.

Jun

Google Drive SDK Version 2 Announced With Full Mobile Support For Android, More File Operations

Posted by John Thompson in News

The Google Drive SDK has only been available since April, but there's already a new update on the horizon.

Version 2 of the SDK, which has just been announced by Google, now includes full mobile support for both Android and iOS apps, allowing mobile apps to read and write directly to Google Drive. Android Drive users will also be able to choose from a list of supported applications when opening a file from Drive, allowing them to edit files on the go using either a phone or tablet.

In addition to this, the new API has added a number of methods that were previously unavailable to developers, such as the ability to list and search files, convert between formats and share files with other users.

May

FolderSync Is An Amazingly Powerful Syncing Utility With OCD-Level Controls

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

Alright, control freaks (otherwise known as "my people"), this one's for you. FolderSync is a fantastic little app we've just discovered that lets users sync folders between local storage and a number of online storage services. The app supports one- or two-way sync and provides a host of settings to tweak the app to all your sync needs.

Sync can be done on a schedule or when a folder changes. The user can also control how the app handles overwriting old files, whether to delete missing files, syncing of subfolders, and even to utilize MD5 checksums when syncing. The app works over 3G/4G, although this is disabled by default to preserve your precious geebees.

May

The Ultimate Google I/O 2012 Preview

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Jelly Bean 4.1, News, Rumors

Last Updated: June 27th, 2012

Google I/O is coming and it's time to get excited! It's like Christmas in June! It will be here in just a few ~~short~~ agonizing weeks - and we need to prepare. There is background information you need to know, rumors you should have in mind, and past announcements and acquisitions that need to be remembered. Google always leaves little news breadcrumbs for those that pay attention, and I pay attention. Fanatically.

This post will be part news recap, part rumor roundup, and part speculation. The last time I did this went pretty well, and now it's time for another look at what the little elves at Google HQ are working on.

May

[New App] CloudOn Gives You Access To Microsoft Office On Android Tablets, Stores Files In Your Preferred Cloud Storage

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

Tablets have, historically, been less-than-ideal for productivity. Part of the problem is that developers are still trying to catch up to the new world of connected devices. One solution, as CloudOn demonstrates, is to bring together the best options from various platforms and merge them into a fluid product. CloudOn lets you use what appears to be remote access to Word, Excel, and Powerpoint from an Android tablet.

The app might be best utilized if you have a connected keyboard and mouse at times, as the UI is still very much the Windows-style. No special, touch-centric designs here. However, since Android supports the use of a keyboard and mouse, having the option is a huge boon.

Apr

Google Drive "Support" Is Coming To Linux, Pray That It Doesn't Involve WINE

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Applications, News

Good news, Penguins! Google is working on a Drive client for your favorite OS!

Google Drive, if you haven't heard, is Google's Dropbox/Google Docs hybrid. It launched yesterday with 5GB of cloud storage and desktop apps for Windows and Mac, but our tuxedoed counterparts were left out in the cold.

The lack of Linux love caused a bit of an uproar on Google+, where #driveforlinux was a trending topic for a good part of the day. Teresa Wu, the Community Manager for Google Docs, took to a G+ thread and gave the happy news:

We're working on Linux support - hang tight!

Apr

Editorial: Can Google Drive Dethrone Dropbox, The Cloud Storage King?

Posted by David Ruddock in Apps/Games, Editorials

A long time ago (read: about 4 years), in a galaxy far, far away (read: Silicon Valley), a guy named Drew Houston started a little company called Dropbox. After securing seed funding from Y Combinator, Dropbox officially launched in 2008 at the TechCrunch50. To say nothing of the complexities of implementation, the idea was simple: put your files in one place, access them anywhere. And apparently, the idea was also a really good one: as of October last year, Dropbox had over 50 million users, doubling from a figure of 25 million in April.

Today, Dropbox is without a doubt the preferred method of sharing and storing repositories of files (as opposed to mere individual ones) on the web.