Category: App Update

Microsoft’s lock screen app, Next Lock Screen, has seen an update today that brings several bug fixes along with several new features to the app.  If you aren’t familiar with Next Lock Screen, it is a lock screen app that provides you notifications, calendar updates and now an app usage aware quick launchpad all from your lock screen.  It is actually a very informative and elegant lock screen app that gives you a good amount of information without having to actually unlock your device.  So why use a lock screen app like this instead of the Android built-in lock screen?  Mainly so you can get more customized information.

Microsoft has released updates to their suite of Office apps for Android, bringing several new features to each of the apps.  The updates are for Excel, PowerPoint and Word and while some features are unique to each app, there are some common improvements across all of them.  One of those is the ability to send a file to someone as a PDF.  Before this update, you were not able to share a file in any other format than the native Office format.  Now when you go to share a file as an attachment, you can still do that or you can send it as a PDF.

The latest update to Android Wear is rolling out in the Google Play Store, bringing with it improved connectivity between your watch and your phone.  The updated build is version 1.5 for those keeping score at home and the new feature essentially takes the Wear app and allows you to turn off the battery optimization so your phone communicates with your watch on a more consistent basis. In other words, it forces the app to stay connected to your watch even if your phone is in Doze mode.

Let me explain.

The Project Fi app for Android has been updated with a new but important diagnostics tool for the Fi team.  When you update the app and go to the Privacy settings, you will note a new Network Diagnostics toggle which will send information about your cell tower connectivity and location to Google.  The idea is for Google to collect information so they can improve the service and network quality.

When you go to Privacy settings at the bottom of the app, you will see this new feature with a description of what it is doing exactly.  “Automatically send cell tower info and approximate location history to Project Fi from your phone to help improve network quality”

Google has released an update to the OnHub app for Android that brings you historical data on your network connection testing.  The update you are looking for is version jetstream-BV10057_RC0007 for those keeping score at home & who like Google Version Naming Bingo and it is available now in the Google Play Store.  The OTA is also rolling out so you should have the update soon if not already.

If you read my review of OnHub, you know that you can do some testing of your network connectivity within the app to give you an idea of what your download and uploads speeds are through your ISP.  The idea is to see how close you are getting to what you are paying for through your provider.  This particular part of the app I was critical of in my review because the results were wildly inaccurate.  That, it seems, has been resolved in this update as well.

Google Photos saw a small but important update yesterday that gives you more control over your videos you have stored in the app and online.  The updated version is build 1.6 for those keeping score at home and it is rolling out to the Google Play Store now.  If you have the app, you should see the OTA for it in the next few days.  The big change is that you now have the ability to fast forward and rewind videos that you have stored as you watch them.  Previously you could only pause videos but if you wanted to go back in the video, you had to tap the play bar to go back or start over.