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The day is finally here. After whining, asking, begging, and praying, it appears* that the Google Maps team has listened and is working on implementing a way for you to launch navigation, continue using the app as normal, then go back to your directions without interrupting a thing.
Searching for your personal information inside the Google app has been possible for a while. It first showed up as the In Apps tab back in 2016, but was later renamed to Personal and started appearing on the desktop as well, then disappeared again. But recently, Google seems to have given personal searches more prominence inside the Google app on Android by dedicating a shortcut to them in the menu and on the app icon.
If you don't have multiple Google accounts, you probably haven't experienced the agony of using them simultaneously on Chrome OS. Currently, there's no proper support for them on the platform; there are multiple users, and a workaround to sort of be able to use them without logging out and back in every time, but it's a cumbersome experience. Thankfully though, signs are starting to show in Chrome OS Canary pointing to the ability to sign up several Google accounts from one profile.
When you buy a "smart" version of a product, you expect it to behave like the regular version but better, with more features, and to be more practical. Unfortunately though for many Nest Hello owners, their new smart camera doorbell wasn't doing its main job well enough. It wasn't acting like a proper doorbell and notifying them of visitors in a timely manner. Nest is now acknowledging the issue and starting an investigation into what's causing it.
The Google Maps team seems to be trying out different layouts and options for its bottom tabs. Most users have three tabs (Explore, Driving, Transit), in the US and other select countries you also have the For You tab, some users are starting to see another separate tab for the Map, and I just came across this other design with a combined Commute tab.
As we've learned over the past few years, having a Google service available in your country isn't enough to use it on all your devices. Google Pay, for example, is supported for in-store payments in twenty countries, but only if you're using your phone to make the transaction. If you have a Wear OS smartwatch, however, the Google Pay app won't show up on the watch unless you're in a few countries. At first, the feature came to the US and UK, then it spread to Spain, Canada, and Australia, followed by Poland and Russia. The latest country to join the ranks is Germany.
A few weeks ago, the Google Duo team rolled out the option to place a video call through Assistant. All you had to say was "Ok Google, video call contact_name" and Duo would open up and make the call to that person. However, at the time, I thought the feature wasn't live for me. Assistant would tell me it's calling the correct person, Duo would open, but it would stay on the main screen, not placing the call. Clearly, something was amiss and I thought it was a bug that would be fixed with time. It wasn't until a few days ago that I figured out the reason it wasn't working: my contacts had their numbers either saved without a country code or with 00 as the international prefix.
When Google announces that a feature is rolling out to everyone, it should probably follow that up with a huge asterisk and footprint to clarify that it doesn't mean everyone, everyone, just most people, minus a few exceptions, and some more exceptions, and even more exceptions. That's the case with Google One, the company's unified cloud storage solution that was said to be available to "everyone in the US" more than two weeks ago. Not so surprisingly, a lot of users haven't received it yet because of multiple reasons, the most important of which is their promotional Drive storage.
After buying Motorola, Lenovo doesn't seem to know where it wants to go and how it wants to brand things. Currently, it still releases devices under its own Lenovo brand, it has also made countless variants of every Moto E, G, C, M, Z, and X (but Y?), and now it's back to using the full "Motorola" name for its new line-up of Android One devices: the Motorola One and One Power.
Not to be outdone by its closest competitor, Instagram, Snapchat has rolled out an update to its app on the beta channel that adds two important Android Oreo features: adaptive icons and notification channels.
Google Assistant's routines rolled out in March, then gained customization and scheduling a few months later, but in the time since, routines have always been an English (US) feature. If your Google Home or Assistant on your phone was set to any other language, or any other variant of English, you had to make do with the old My Day feature for a morning routine and not much more. In the past day, however, routines have started popping up left and right for users in several countries.
Sony Xperia XZ3 is an incremental improvement over the XZ2, shipping in September with Android 9 Pie
Like clockwork, Sony introduces a new flagship twice a year. No sooner is one phone announced than we start hearing rumors of its successor, and the cycle never ends. At its IFA conference today, Sony introduced the XZ3 and, just like expected, it looks quite similar to the XZ2 series.
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- Users are starting to receive the updated Tez v17, which includes the Google Pay rebrand. You can get it from APK Mirror if it hasn't rolled out to you yet. Below are a few screenshots:
Naming and branding things isn't Google's forte. One day a service is launched, the next it's renamed, and the third it's rolled into another service, which then gets rebranded again. That was the story for Google Wallet and Android Pay, until they were unified into Google Pay. Now Google Tez is also joining them under the same umbrella.
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Google One's launch has been fraught with delays and pseudo-announcements. The unifying storage service was introduced in May, but only select users got invited to try it out, then Google re-announced it again a few weeks ago, saying it was available to everyone in the US. But we all know that just meant it was starting to be available to all. Now comes the news that One is finally stepping outside the borders of the USA and going south to Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina, then sailing across the Pacific to Australia.
You open a maps application, you expect to see a map of where you are. It's common sense, yet we have to start this news article with this pretty basic knowledge bit. The reason? Whoever is behind the latest Google Maps server-side test seems to have missed that "Map app making 101" lesson and went free-styling with their own ideas.
It used to be that the TV show you wanted to watch was on one of a few cable channels and the movies were available as physical rentals from your neighborhood video store. Nowadays, with streaming services popping left and right, you hear about a new show and have no idea where to watch it. Is it on Hulu? Or HBO? Or Amazon Prime? Or the network's own service only? Google took a step to alleviate that in March when it started displaying the streaming services any show or movie is available on after you search for them in Google Play Movies. Back then, it said the same would come to the Play Store, and now it has.
When I see the name "Dell," I always think: practical, reliable, affordable, and probably looks like a tank. This new Dell Inspiron Chromebook, however, aims to change that just a little bit by adding premium features to the company's line-up of Chrome OS laptops.
Android Messages has been teasing us lately with a new Material UI overhaul and a dark mode: it rolled out, was removed, then rolled back again with the latest update to the app. Now the web interface is following suit by donning its own sexy look with an even sexier updated dark theme to boot.
Acer is one of the most prolific Chrome OS notebook manufacturers. In the past few months, the company has announced the Chromebook Tab 10 and the Chromebook 13 and 15 with Spin models, and it's now following up on its successful Chromebook 14 with the new 514. The naming scheme might be getting very confusing, but don't let it dissuade you from taking a closer look at this new model.
When it was announced at CES 2018, Skagen's Falster watch was one of the prettiest and most minimalist Wear OS watches to date. In my review of it, I liked the design but criticized some hardware decisions, like the lack of NFC, GPS, and heart rate monitoring. All three features have been added to the new Falster 2, which has just been announced.