Category: App Update

On the official Android blog, Google has announced that they have begun rolling out a new update to Android Wear.  This new 1.3 version for those keeping score is going to be huge with a lot of new interactions and with Google Translate embedded into the release.  What Google has done with it is great and should make it much easier to get help in up to 44 different languages right on your wrist.

How it will work is simple.  You tap on the Google Translate app on you Wear device and speak into it.  When you are done, flick your wrist over and the person you are interacting with can read your question or statement in their own language.  You can do it all on your wrist and there is no need to get your phone from your pocket unless you want spoken translations.

It appears to have been a busy day for the Google Docs team.  Earlier today they released an update to Google Sheets that bring auto-fill to cells and now they have updated Google Docs itself with a long, long time requested feature.  You can now view print layouts from your Android phone or tablet.  Like the update to Sheets, the release notes for this update to  Docs only state that there are bug fixes and performance improvements.  But once again the team took to Google+ to share the news of the new feature.

Google Docs for Android – Free – Download Now

The personal finance, Mint for Android, has received another minor update that brings with it a new Weekly Summary Page.  If you aren’t familiar with Mint for Android, it is designed by Intuit, the same folks behind Quicken and Quickbooks.  Mint is for personal finance, allowing you to quickly add your banking, credit card, loans and investment accounts to the service which allows you to quickly and easily track them as well as your budget and spending.  This latest update, build 4.3.4 for those keeping score at home, is available now in the Google Play Store.  To use the app and service, you will need a Mint account which is free & you can sign up for it within the app itself or on the Mint website.

Mint for Android – Free – Download Now

Google has released a minor update to the YouTube for Android app that should help those of who have been challenged when trying to use your Chromecast with the app.  This latest update deals squarely with those issues and should make things a bit better.  The updated version is build 10.31.55 for those keeping score at home and it is available now in the Google Play Store for both Android phone and tablets.

YouTube for Android – Free – Download Now

All joking aside, the updates to the Transit App for Android are great.  The latest build, version 3.7.3 for those keeping score at home, has a lot of bug fixes for some annoying things that were in the app.  For those who aren’t familiar with it, Transit App gives you public transportation, Car2Go information and other transportation information for you where you are and how to get where you are going.  It services a long list of cities around the world and it is my go-to app when it comes to figuring out when my next bus or train is leaving for a destination (I’m one of the maybe 3 Americans who doesn’t actually own a car by choice).

Besides all the bug fixes in the release, and there are plenty, I have to give the Montreal based company a lot of credit.  They can certainly poke fun at themselves.  The release notes along are worth the update just so you can read them.  Again and again.

Transit App for Android – Free – Download Now

Google’s push to make their apps a robust communication and productivity solution is continuing.  We saw the big announcement on Monday about Google Hangouts being updated and now Google Slides has been update too.  Why is that a big deal?  This update to Google Slides brings the ability for you to present your slides to a Hangouts video call audience that you have in your calendar.  Simple and seamless presenting without having to go through the pain of a separate app or service.  This update to Google Slides is version 1.2.312.15.35 for those keeping score at home.

Google Slides – Free – Download Now