Category: Android

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.

The news is a bit disappointing this morning for those who have been waiting for the Nextbit Robin to come in a CDMA flavor.  It isn’t going to happen according to company co-founder and CEO Tom Moss.  There are several reasons why the cancellation happened including the timelines involved and the information they were going on about building a CDMA version was inaccurate.  The news means that for those of you who were wanting the Robin on Sprint or Verizon, it won’t be happening.  If you are one who backed Nextbit through their Kickstarter program or if you pre-ordered a CDMA version of the phone, you will be a full refund.

There are a lot of things I love about Android, obviously, but there are a few things now-and-again that make me kinda batty.  One of these things, and it is a simple thing, is the vibration that you get when you type on your keyboard when using your phone.  Don’t ask me why it bothers me so much, but it does.  It is one of the first things I turn off when I setup a new phone or have refreshed one anew.  It struck me however that finding this setting is a bit difficult if you are new to Android or just simply haven’t dug into a least commonly accessed area in Settings, Language & input.  In this How To I’ll show you where this setting is and how you can disable it if you too don’t like the haptic feedback when you type on your Android phone.

Whether you like the bottom navigation bar or not, it looks like it is here to stay in Android.  Today Google updated the Material Design guidelines for app developers, outlining how a bottom navigation bar should be implemented, along with a list of do’s and don’ts on for it.  To this point, Android has adhered more to a tab or top menu design but now developers are being told that a bottom navigation is the way to go as it is a better user experience.

If you navigate with Google Maps today, you may notice a small but handy change that has come to the app:  Navigation bubbles.  Now when you are in navigation mode, you will see a small bubble with street names of where your next turn is as you go to your destination.  It is a visual cue to back up the audio cue you receive as you navigate and is particularly handy if you don’t use the audio turn-by-turn navigation.  The nice thing is that this new feature is already built into the most current version of Google Maps so no new app update is required.  This all happened on the backend at Google.

Google Cardboard, the app, has been updated with an all-new VR journey for users to enjoy.  The new Arctic Journey brings a fun albeit short demo of what you can do with Cardboard and is a good bit of fun.  In the demo, you can fly along side Arctic terns, you can plant flowers in a field and just enjoy the scenery and stars through your VR goggles.  Again, it’s short but it is well done and accessible in the main menu of the app.

If you are new to the app, this is the main app you use to start with Google’s low cost VR experience.  Here you can do things like fly around on Google Earth, take a tour of historic locations, watch your videos and view any Photo Spheres that you have created.  The Arctic Journey is just adding on to these basic experiences in the app.