24
May
Untitled

Google Services Bug Causing Location Issues For HTC Owners, Google Working On A Fix

Posted by in HTC, News

Sometimes, updates break things. That seems to be the case for some HTC owners who, upon receiving a silent update to the newest version of Google Play Services, are having trouble using apps that rely on location data. According to HTC phone users in this support thread, Google Now continually asks to turn Location Services on, location-dependent applications like Foursquare and WeatherBug don't function properly, and Maps is unable to lock onto a location.

The good news? Google's looking into the problem. The bad news? No ETA. And unfortunately, because Google Play Services updates in the background automatically, wiping data won't help.

22
May
nexusae0_unnamed-1_thumb1_thumb

'Search With Camera' Has Been Removed From Google Search, And We Have No Idea Why

Posted by in News

At the end of last year, a Google Search update came out that added a "Search with Camera" feature. With Google Search, you could fire up your camera, snap a picture of something, and it would do an image search - it was basically Google Goggles integration. Besides the usual Goggles stuff, it was also really useful for scanning QR codes.

But, a few days ago, when the Search 2.5 update hit, "Search With Camera" got kicked to the curb.

wm_2013-05-20 13.49.08wm_2013-05-20 13.45.55

On the left is 2.4, on the right is 2.5. In 2.5, the "Search with camera" menu option is gone, and none of the voice commands work - camera search is completely disabled.

20
May
unnamed (6)

Google Knowledge Graph Search Reminders Can Be Sent From Google Search On The Web To Google Now

Posted by in Google, News

You forgot Mother's Day. Again. With Father's Day coming up wouldn't it be nice to have a reminder among your often-used Google Now cards, in addition to the ones you've set in Google Calendar, Google Keep, and the sea of sticky notes attached to your monitor? It's possible to set holiday and movie reminders within Google Now on your device, but now you've got another alternative: setting reminders via a Knowledge Graph search on your desktop. Just make sure you're signed in, make a relevant search, and click that shiny new "remind me on Google Now" text.

father's day

At the moment there are a few limitations.

15
May
unnamed

[I/O 2013] Google Search App Updated: Set Voice Reminders, See Suggested Content, And Real-Time Transit Info

Posted by in Applications, News

Google's official Search app (aka Google Now) for Android has been updated with a few new features, though they're pretty awesome ones. First, voice reminders are finally live - you can now say, for example, "remind me to buy milk this evening" or "remind me to take out the trash when I get home." I think we can all agree that's kind of amazing.

2013-05-15_11h04_57

The second new feature is suggested content, in the form of upcoming books, music, TV, and video games you might be interested in. Presumably, this is based on your email and search history. Finally, real-time public transit updates are coming for select cities.

13
May
image

PSA: Removing Or Adding Sports Teams Or Stocks In Google Now Currently Causes It To Crash Endlessly

Posted by in Applications, Google, News, Tips & Tutorials

Listen up, Android users. If you're using Google Now, don't go to its Settings -> My Stuff and try to modify sports teams or stocks right now, as doing so completely borks the whole app. As soon as you go back to the main screen or click into Search, you will experience a force close. Repeated attempts to restart it will result in a crash as well:

wm_Screenshot_2013-05-13-18-20-49

The only thing that works is clearing out Google Search's data in Settings -> Applications, after which you need to re-enroll into Google Now. Changing your Home or Work locations does not seem to trigger the issue - it's just sports teams and stocks.

13
May
image

Head Of Android Sundar Pichai Talks Google I/O, Android, And Chrome - Confirms Focus On Developer Tools, Not A Major Android Revision

Posted by in Android OS, News

Newly appointed head of Google's Android division Sundar Pichai - who perhaps not-so-incidentally also leads the Chrome OS team - recently sat down with Wired for his first interview since Andy Rubin's departure. Though he didn't speak to specifics about any mysterious Motorola smartphone or Chromebook Pixel follow-up, Pichai did shed some light on the state of Android, Google's open-source philosophy, and future projects.

When asked if separate operating systems - Chrome OS and Android, for instance - confuse users, Pichai said the OS is less important than the apps, ecosystem, and backend people rely on. He also emphasized that developers, concerned about distributing their products on particular platforms, appreciate the flexibility multiple operating systems provide.

30
Apr
googlexlimepie

[Editorial] Stop Making Crap Up And Then Whining About It

Posted by in Android OS, Editorials

Let's take a trip down memory lane, shall we? The year was 2012, the Galaxy S III and the HTC One X were still new, and some jerk on the internet suggested that maybe it's cool if people started appreciating their amazing phones instead of complaining about how their device wasn't revolutionary.

In the time since then, certain segments of the tech community have opted to go in the other direction. Rather than accept that smartphones are incredible and that the wow-factor comes from using them instead of hyped up tech events, some people believe that the next revolution is just right around the corner.

29
Apr
2013-04-10-16.09.19

Google I/O 2013: Google's To-Do List This Year

Posted by in Android OS, News
Last Updated: May 3rd, 2013

Google I/O is coming! We'll know about all of Google's new projects in just 2 short agonizingly long weeks. While we desperately count the days until May 15th, we thought it would be a great idea to take stock all of the things we've caught wind of lately.

Calling this an "I/O Preview," sounds a little too certain. I'm not predicting everything here will come out at I/O, this is just a list of everything we know Google is working on - their "To-Do" list. Just like any to-do list, Google could cross something off and release it, or endlessly procrastinate, or completely cancel something.

22
Apr
indigotiny

Indigo Is A Voice Assistant That Knows How To Carry On A Conversation Like A Normal Person (Or Clever Bot)

Posted by in Applications, News

Here at Android Police, we love Google Now (and all the associated voice actions), but the natural language could use a bit of sprucing up. If you'd like to try an alternative voice assistant, Indigo may grab your attention on this front. The pitch here is that the app remembers your conversations and can sync those inquiries across devices.

indigo1 indigo2 indigo3

If you ask a question like, "Where can I find Indian food around here?" you'll get a list of results. Tap on the one you're most interested in. You can then follow that up with "How can I get there?" From the context of your last question, the app can understand that "there" is "the indian restaurant." It even works if you switch devices, provided they're both logged in to the same account.

04
Apr
unnamed

[APK Teardown] Google Search 2.4 - Time And Location-Based Reminders! Plus Website Update Tracking, Mysterious Help Cards, And More

Posted by in APK Teardown, News

Google Search teardowns are always a huge mess, because there's really no way of knowing what is or isn't implemented. I'm up against a scary combination of Now's entirely context-based UI and Voice Actions, which has absolutely no UI. Rather than try and guess at what does or doesn't work, I'll just post everything that Google neglected to add in the change log. If you manage to see something working, send in a screenshot and I'll add it.

If you follow me on Google+, you'll know that APK Teardown has been in a bit of a dry spell lately, but wow, Google has made up for it today - there is a treasure trove of hidden things in this update.

Page 1 of 41234