Category: App Update

A couple of weeks ago, a new feature rolled out in Google Plus (G+) that allowed you to leave images in comments on posts.  This was very well received by users on the social platform as it gave a bit more of a personalized response to something (with an image or a GIF) instead of just text.  Now the Google Plus team has expanded that a bit further.  In the latest update, version 8.7 for those keeping score at home, you can now view those images in the replies in full screen and yes, you can save them to your phone to add to that awesome meme or GIF library.

In other words, the images in comments are treated and act like images in an original post on the site.

Google Photos has been updated for Android and with it comes a long requested feature of the app.  Version 2.0 is out now in the Play Store and if you have the app already installed, you will get an OTA update for it over the course of the next few days.  The new feature?  The ability to permanently organize photos in albums.

Prior to this release, photos in an album could be moved around but they could not be sorted automatically (say oldest to newest).  This update to Google Photos brings that feature.

A new version of the Chrome browser for Android is making its way into the Play Store.  The updated build, version 53.0.2785.97 for those keeping score at home, has a lot of security updates and improvements that we’ve come to expect from these types of updates.  However, there is also support for Payment Request API which means that this build of Chrome supports Android Pay.  The Payment Request API is somewhat self explanatory but here is the W3C definition:

This specification describes a web API to allow merchants (i.e. web sites selling physical or digital goods) to easily accept payments from different payment methods with minimal integration. User agents (e.g., browsers) will facilitate the payment flow between merchant and user.

This means that you will be able to use Android Pay to pay for goods and services through the Chrome browser on your phone without having to type in a credit card number.  It should make buying goods online faster and more secure.

The Google Contacts app for Android has been updated and with it comes a new duplicate contact finder.  The updated app, version 1.5.16 for those keeping score at home, will give users the ability to search the contacts on their phone, identify any duplicate contacts, then merge them into one.  If this sounds familiar, it should.  Google Contacts online has had a duplicate contact finding feature for some time now and essentially it works the same as as it does on the Android app.  Now, like so many things we do today, you don’t necessarily have to go to the web to sort this part of your life out.  You can do it on your phone, which is likely always with you.

The Google OnHub app was updated last week and while the official release notes indicated it was primarily around performance fixes and adding support for Phillips Hue lighting, there was another small but important change made to the app.  The OnHub app has always been able to do some network testing and when I initially reviewed the router and app, this was one area that was really in need of improvement.  That improvement has come over the course of the past few updates (I have no hesitation in recommending it now) but the change made to the app last week brings some clarity to those network tests.

To begin, the testing of your Internet connection speed and your Wi-Fi speed are now two separate tests.  You can run both of them or just one of them where as before, they were all lumped in together.  To be clear however, you have to run the Internet test first, every time, to get to the stand alone Wi-Fi test.  Hopefully this will change in the future but for now, it is what it is.

Microsoft has rolled out yet another update to their Android launcher, Arrow Launcher.  The update marks the third significant update to the launcher over the course of the past three weeks as the company continues to improve the performance and information in the app.  This latest update, version 2.3.0.26056 for those keeping score at home, brings a handful of changes with the most notable being IM support on the Recent tab.  Now that tab will show you recent Instant Messages that you have received from Facebook Messenger, Skype and other messaging apps.  Now you don’t necessarily have to open each app to see your latest interactions on those apps.