Category: Google

There is an update to Google Contacts that is rolling out in the Google Play Store that sports a new round icon and a new Suggestions page for easier contacts management.  The update is version 1.6 for those keeping score at home and the first thing you will likely notice with the update is the new round icon.  This follows other Google apps that have gone with the Pixelesque round icons such as Hangouts and Messenger.  This new round icon, like Messenger, shows up regardless of which launcher or icon pack you have installed on your Android phone.

After making its debut on iOS some months ago, Google Gboard is now starting to roll out to Android users.  The update is coming to Google Keyboard which, along with the name change, comes with some outstanding features and customizations to the keyboard app.  The update has just started rolling out to the Play Store so it will be a few days before everyone sees it.  Once you do, you will see why all our iPhone friends have loved this app.  It has a GIF keyboard, emoji keyboard, Google search built in and is highly customizable with themes and other things to make your typing life easier.

To be clear, the updated is version 6.0 for those keeping score at home but really, you’ll know you got it when you see Gboard as an update option in the Store app.

The Google Chrome team has posted on Google blog some improvements that are available in the browser today with other new features that are in the pipeline.  Starting now, with a behind-the-scenes change, the browsers Data Saver feature works on videos.  Previously, Data Saver worked on text and images and when you had the feature enabled, Google would compress everything before sending it to your phone.  Essentially it acted like a proxy and the data savings were huge.  Initially the company rolled this out in India given the bandwidth constraints and costs in that country but the feature has now rolled out globally.  Back to this update, if you enabled Data Saver and view a site with a MP4 video, that video is now compressed before it hits your phone, saving you that extra bandwidth.

If you haven’t tried Data Saver, you can enable it on Chrome by going to Settings>Data Saver and enabling it.  I have been using it for months and I’ve had no ill effects on sites plus I’m saving on average 55% of the bandwidth the sites I visit would have required.  It’s pretty impressive.

With the Chromecast Ultra starting to ship out, Google is starting to ramp up support for Ultra HD (4K) videos in the Google Play Movies & TV app.  A check of the store this morning shows that several movies are now available in UHD as well as the already offered HD and SD versions.  The number of movies will only increase as Google licenses out the UHD versions from the production studios and makes them available to end users.

But, if you have the Chromecast Ultra and a 4K television, be prepared to pay for these UHD versions.  In my research this morning, nearly every movie in UHD was twice the price of the HD version.  For example, one of my all time favorite movies, The Fifth Element, is $12.99 in HD but it is $24.99 in UHD.  Also, if you already own the HD version of the movie, there is no option for now to upgrade to UHD – at least for now.

Google Maps has long had the ability for users to attach photos to locations like hotels and restaurants.  The idea is to give your fellow Maps user an idea of what that particular place looks like before they book it.  Now there is an improvement to this around hotels that users will find quite handy.  The latest update brings a dedicated photos gallery of rooms at a particular hotel.  Now you don’t have to go through all of the photos for a particular property.  You can just select the Rooms tab and it will show you pictures of the rooms.

The updated build is version 9.41.1 for those keeping score at home and the OTA update is rolling out now.  You should see it hit your device over the course of the next few days.

There is a nice behind-the-scenes update coming to Google Allo that brings a smart emoji feature and stickers for the new movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them stickers that you can share with friends.  The updates are rolling out now and it could take a day or two before everyone sees them.  The first update, smart emoji, is pretty slick.  As you start typing, you can tap the Smart Smiley in the keyboard and it will give you suggested emoji for your message.  Even if you haven’t started typing, it will suggest emoji based on the context of your conversation (thank you Google Assistant and Machine Learning!).  The idea, of course, is to save time by using emoji but also to get you the right emoji for the conversation.