Category: Android

Everyone, you can file this one under the “FINALLY!” category.  Google+ has started rolling out link sharing to external services and apps.  I’ll pause here so you can savor the moment….

Up until this point on Google+ when you wanted to share a link, you would only get the link copied to the devices clipboard.  You would then have to go to the 3rd party app (email, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, etc) and then tap-and-hold to past a link to the Google+ article you want to share.  Not intuitive. Not friendly. Not really helpful.

That, it appears, is changing.  Multiple people have posted that they can now use the share menu to share a link directly into other apps on their Android Phone and Android tablets.  I have tried it on both my OnePlus One and my Nexus 7 and it is working for me.  However, this isn’t out to everyone just yet.

With Android Marshmallow only days or weeks away from release, Google is starting to pave the way for it with updates to their various apps and services.  One update that is rolling out now is the Google Play Store app for Android phones and tablets.  The update is build 5.9.11 for those keeping score at home and it has an improved look to it as well as underlying services to improve the overall functionality of the store as it relates to Android Marshmallow.

The update is rolling out in the Google Play Store now so it may take a few days for it to hit your devices.

BLU has announced a new phablet Android phone that spec wise is a bit of a departure from their normal mid-range spec devices.  The Pure XL sports a 6″ display with all kinds of bells and whistles to go along with it.  It includes a fingerprint reader, 64GB of storage which can be expanded, a 24MP rear camera and 3GB of RAM and a 2GHz Helio X10 processor.  The new phone will be exclusively available through the BLU store on Amazon starting September 29th and will be priced at $350.

When Android Wear 1.3 was announced a few weeks back, one of the key new features were interactive watch faces.  The first such face, Bits Watch Face, offers a great cluster view of the things that are important to you and frankly, is my personal favorite interactive face.  Now Bits Watch Face has seen its first major update and it is certainly qualifies as major.  The update is build 1.1.0 for those keeping score at home and brings a host of bug fixes and feature enhancements.  The update is free but remember, if by chance you have not seen Android Wear 1.3 hit your smartwatch, the interactive nature of this watch face or any other won’t work.

Bits Watch Face for Android Wear – Free – Download Now

Google has released the all new Google Street View app today for both Android and iOS.  Previously, Street View was embedded into Google Maps and when you tapped on a location, you could then enter into Street View.  This new Google Street View app is a standalone app that allows you to explore 360-degree views of places all over the world plus gives you the ability to add your own 360-degree photospheres right from within the app.  Think of it as making your own personal street view and if you happen to have a spherical camera, support for it is there as well.

Google Street View – Free – Download Now

A couple of weeks ago I posted on the new Google Hangouts website where you can use the messaging service without actually having to be on your Android phone or tablet.  Now Google is going one step further and moving all traffic from the messaging service to a new domain, hangouts.google.com.

Following the launch of the new standalone Google Hangouts homepage, Hangouts-related services and web traffic will be served from ‘hangouts.google.com’ in addition to existing host names.

This news isn’t really all that shocking and frankly it makes a lot of sense for Google to do this.

Google Hangouts for Android – Free – Download Now