Category: App Update

Last month I told you about the latest beta of Microsoft’s Arrow Launcher bringing support for Android tablets.  That support is now official.  The latest update to the popular launcher is rolling out in the Play Store now and with it comes support for tablets along with a handful of other updates & tweaks.  The support of tablets is something that long time Arrow users have requested of Microsoft as it gives a uniform experience across their devices.

Along with with, Arrow Launcher also supports horizontal layout for your apps page from the app drawer.  This is primarily aimed at tablets and it is an option that needs to be enabled.  The backup & restore feature also has more backup options available.  It still backs everything up to OneDrive but you can now have it save things like SMS messages too.

Microsoft Arrow Launcher on a Nexus 9

The utility page, something that was introduced in the last update to the app, can also be configured in this new release.  You can show it or hide it as well as chose if you want the card to be transparent or white.  For those who may have tried Arrow Launcher in the past, the utility page is now where you find things like your recent contacts, your recent documents and other information.  These all use to be separate pages in the launcher so having them all in once place makes life a bit easier.

If you have Arrow Launcher installed on your phone, you should get the update to the latest build over the course of the next few days.  Unless you are in the beta, you will need to go to the Play Store to install it on your tablet.

Microsoft has begun rolling out a nice update to their Bing search app for Android.  The update brings improvements around the travel results for places to go and the best time to go to those places.  This is very similar to Google search which has a bar graph that shows you when a location is busiest.  Along with the improved time suggestions, the app also gives you tips and guides and one-tap directions to the location from your current location.

While those of you who use Google search may give a shrug of the shoulders at this being added to Bing but for those who depend on the Microsoft

Bing Local Travel Results

search solution, this is certainly good news.  Bing has continued to make solid strides in the search space over the past two years and while it is certainly behind Google in overall usage, those who are deeply tied in to the Microsoft ecosystem continue to leverage it for their search needs.

In addition to the new location information, this update also gives warning about malicious websites and has a homepage gallery filer.  This feature allows you to filter and find your favorite Bing homepage images.  If you haven’t checked out the daily images from the site, you are missing a treat.  Some of them are spectacular.

If you have the app installed then you can expect the update to hit your phone over the course of the next few days.

App Shortcuts, the ability to tap-and-hold to get to specific parts of an app in Android Nougat 7.1, continues to grow and Google is catching up too.  The latest update to Google Play Newsstand now supports the shortcuts, allowing you to quickly get to your curated news, digest of news, Magazines and items you have marked for reading later.  Newsstand undergone a lot of changes in the past six months, most of which have been pretty good.  The big knock I had on the app was that in the redesign, getting to your magazine subscriptions became confusing and not-so-easy to figure out at first.  It’s still that way but with the shortcut now available, it makes it easier to get to them.

As readers probably know, in order for app shortcuts to work, you must be running Android Nougat 7.1 or higher.  That means it is almost completely for Pixel and Nexus devices as very few other devices from other manufactures have 7.1 as of yet.

The official Formula 1 app for Android has received a nice update this week ahead of the start of the 2017 championship in a few weeks time.  The update brings a significantly improved UI to the app with bottom navigation buttons and a brighter overall look to the app.  All of the content that you have had in past seasons is still there but there are a load of new notifications you can sign up for within the app, including the current pre-season testing that is going on in Barcelona.

The Formula 1 app is a subscription-based app.  For free, you get live timing at each race, post-race interviews, video highlights and standings.  The $2.99 per month subscription gets you access to all of that plus timing & scoring for all sessions (practice & qualifying), in-car audio, in-race commentary and full 3D maps that you can view the race in action.

Yesterday I posted on the improved support for Exchange in the latest update to the Gmail app.  The update to the app now allows you to manage your Exchange tasks from within the app so you don’t have to go elsewhere to do so.  There is another nice update that came with the 7.2 version when it comes to the app shortcuts.  Now when you long press the Gmail icon, you will be able with a single tap access any of the configured accounts you have in the app.

As readers likely know, in order for app shortcuts to work, you have to be running Nougat 7.1.1 or later.  That, for now, limits it to just a handful of devices unfortunately.

When you access the shortcuts, you will have one for each of your accounts along with a compose shortcut.  When you select one of your accounts, you are taken to the inbox for just that account, allowing you to focus just on it and not all of your emails from various accounts you have configured.

Microsoft Cortana, the digital assistant named after the Halo character, has been updated for Android with a handy new Lock Screen feature.  The update is rolling out to users now and once it is to your phone, you can go into settings in the app to give it Lock Screen access.  Once done, you will be able to swipe to access Cortana and all of your information like weather, schedule and other information.

For those keeping score, the updated build is version 2.5.  If you haven’t installed Cortana on your phone yet, when you go through the initial setup process, you can give it access to your Lock Screen.  One thing to keep in mind that, unlike Google Assistant, you can’t speak to Cortana from the Lock Screen.