Apr

Google Search Update Brings Real-Time Package Tracking, Faster Search Results, And Quick Feedback

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, Google, News

You know what we just can't get enough of? Google Now cards. Today, the data giant updated its search app with a new real-time package tracking card (as opposed to the static "Your order has shipped" option before). In addition, regular old search results should be faster, which users on older devices are likely to love.

As a bonus, the app now provides quicker access to feedback and settings on the cards themselves. All in all, this is a fairly small update, but the bump from the nice but mostly useless package tracking card from before to proper real-time tracking is a great benefit.

Mar

[Updated] Sprint's Epic 4G Touch Gets An Update To Jelly Bean, Requires Kies Due To File Size

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Epic 4G Touch, News, Sprint

We sure weren't expecting this, but today Sprint announced on its support site that the Epic 4G Touch (the Now Network's branded version of the Galaxy S II) is getting an update to Jelly Bean. Undoubtedly version 4.1, but this would still be a welcome upgrade as it brings with it the ability to access Google Now, among a host of other features.

The update will require Samsung's Kies software to install. Apparently the file size is too big to rollout over the air. Though, if we had to guess, the fact that the device is nearly two years old by this point and is relatively low-priority for Sprint played a factor in the decision to let consumers foot the bill for the bandwidth.

Mar

Samsung Galaxy Stellar Jelly Bean Update (JZO54K.I200VRBMA1) Coming Soon, Google Now Comes To The Mid-Range

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Galaxy Stellar (SCH-I200), News

Last Updated: March 4th, 2013

Samsung seems to have gotten the hang of updating phones besides the major flagships. While it's still coming about nine months after the release of Jelly Bean and nearly six months after the release of the handset, the Galaxy Stellar will be upgraded to 4.1 "soon", according to these Verizon support docs. The OTA will bring the much-beloved Google Now as well as expandable notifications and all the other goodies of the newest tasty treat.

The update is 403.6MB in size, so you're going to want to be on WiFi when you download it. While we don't yet know exactly when the OTA will start, it usually doesn't take too long between the arrival of these support docs and the initial rollout.

Feb

[APK Teardown] [Update: Art Project Is A Google Site!] Google Search 2.3 - New Features For Flights, And What The Heck Is 'Art Project'?

Posted by Ron Amadeo in APK Teardown, Features

The Google Search app just got updated, so that means it's teardown time! I still rip into every interesting Google update, but I only write an article when I find something interesting. Things have been slim lately, I know, but today there's good news! I found stuff.

Google Search is the hardest app teardown to do. You can never really be sure if what you've found is in the app or not, because everything is so predictive and context heavy. So I'll just aim for "new stuff that's not in the change log." If you find any of this in the actual app, let me know.

Feb

Google Search App Updated, Adds Google Now Widget, Movie Ratings, Real Estate Listings And More

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

Google just pushed an update to its Search app (which, as you know, includes Google Now). Among the new additions are the Google Now widget that we've all been hearing so much about, movie ratings, the ability to pull up movie passes purchased from Fandango, and real estate listings from Zillow when Google thinks you're in the market for a home. Now that's fancy.

Additionally, the update also adds a music button when a song is playing in voice mode, though that feature is currently limited to the U.S. only. It also adds support for U.S. college sports. We've seen some of this integration before, but now it's official.

Feb

Google Now Update: NCAA Basketball Teams Can Be Manually Added To Sports Card

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Android OS, Jelly Bean 4.1, Jelly Bean 4.2, News

Good news, basketball fans. Google has been gradually upgrading the Now service to include a wider range of sports teams, and today Division I NCAA basketball teams from all over the US can be manually added to your personal Now results. Go into the Google Now settings page, tap "Sports," and search for your favorite school. Only basketball is supported at the moment - here's hoping that football teams are added before the season starts.

Previously, a few NCAA teams were showing up in the Sports card dynamically, if you searched for them enough. Now you can make sure that you'll be alerted whenever your guys hit the boards.

Feb

Google Shows Off The Cooler Parts Of Now And The Nexus 4 You Don't Have In The Latest TV Spot

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Google, LG, Nexus 4

Yes, we know - the Nexus 4 is still thin on the ground basically everywhere. (Americans, both the 8GB and 16GB versions are currently shown as "ships in 2-3 weeks" on the Play Store.) Even so, the LG flagship is the logical showpiece for Google Now, and it's doing some fine service in Google's latest mobile search ad. This one shows off Now's ability to automatically bring up contextual information for your time or location. It seems that Google is also pretty sure that American tourists don't know what sea urchins look like.

This commercial makes a little more sense than previous Now spots, since it's displaying the app's ability to predict the topical information you want as soon as you perform that distinctive swiping function.

Feb

Stock Android Isn't Perfect: Jelly Bean 4.2 Edition

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Features, Jelly Bean 4.2, Stock Android Isn't Perfect

Last Updated: February 7th, 2013

A few months ago I wrote "Stock Android Isn't Perfect," an article where I turned my usual harsh UX critique on stock Android, instead of just picking on TouchWiz and Sense all the time in my reviews. The article went over pretty well, and even got a few responses from Googlers! I didn't cover everything that was wrong with Android, though, and there have been a bunch of updates since the original article, so it's about time I wrote a sequel.

So we're officially making this a series now, and it'll serve two purposes: One, there's a new version of Android out, and more things to complain about; and two, to give credit where it's due, because, since I wrote that article, a lot of things have been fixed.

Jan

NCAA College Basketball And Football Are Finally Starting To Appear In Google Now, Still No Manual Team Selection [Update]

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in News

One of the most often requested additions to Google Now's card system is college sports for the US, and it looks like at least some people are finally starting to see it. A very small number of Google Now users have seen cards appear for their favorite NCAA football and basketball teams (sorry, women's ice hockey fans, no dice). The results seem to be entirely contextual at the moment; you can't add college teams in the settings menu yet, but a few sports fans are seeing the relevant cards appear after they search for their team.

Unfortunately, even that little bit of information doesn't seem to be live for everyone.

Jan

Android: A Look Back To 2012, And A Look Forward To 2013

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Editorials, News, Rumors

Last Updated: January 7th, 2013

Happy New Year! It's that time again; with the new year comes our new annual prediction post. I tackled this last year, and rather than do a bunch of crazy, pulled-from-thin-air predictions, I ended up with a link-filled research-fest for the year. It worked out pretty well, so that's what's on the docket for today. First though, I'll take a look and see just how many of last year's predictions and rumors came true, and provide some updates for the more important topics.

A Look Back To 2012

What a crazy year. 2012 brought us two versions of Jelly Bean: 4.1 and 4.2. We saw a complete transformation of Google Search with the Knowledge Graph, Google Now, voice output, and Google Goggles integration.