Category: Android

Google has released an update to the Google Photos app for Android that brings the ability to reorder photos in an album and the ability to view shared albums within the app.  The update comes on the heals of the update to the Google Photos website yesterday which brought the ability to reorder photos to it as well.  This latest update is build 1.2.1.99.143001 for those keeping score at home and is available now in the Google Play Store.

Google Photos for Android – Free – Download Now

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

Google has dropped a couple of small updates in the Google Play Store for the Android Wear and Google Messenger apps for Android Phone.  Both updates are in the bug fix and performance improvement categories so don’t look for any new features in either of the releases.  In fact, the updates don’t even update the release notes.

Android Wear, the app that lets you sync up your Android Wear device to your phone, has been bumped to build 1.3.0.2171751 for those keeping score at home.  It builds on the last major update to the app, just last week.  In testing the update this morning with my Moto 360, I’m not seeing any changes in functionality and frankly, it was stable for me before this update so its a bit of a wash.  If however you have been having issues, get this update and see if it addresses them for you.

Android Wear for Android – Free – Download Now

Google Messenger for Android – Free – Download Now

Last week I told you about the all new Google Hangouts 4.0 that was released for Android as well as iOS (with a few less functions).  If you haven’t tried it out, do yourself a favor.  This is not the old Hangouts.  It’s far smoother an experience and generally a much nicer experience.  As part of that release, Google has quietly released a Google Hangouts website that allows you to use your browser to be your Hangouts app.  Like the apps for the mobile devices, it’s buttery smooth and beautifully designed.

Just a bit ago I shared with you the official naming of the next version of Android, Android Marshmallow.  In that post I hinted that the final preview should be coming this week and indeed Google has already released it.  In a post on the Google Android Marshmallow developer site, the final preview has been released along with the official 6.0 SDK to developers.  It is a milestone event for the release and likely signals release is just a matter of weeks away.

After a weekend full of teases and speculation for the last couple of months, we now know the name of Android M.  When the next version of Android is launched later this year it will be known as Android Marshmallow, or likely just Marshmallow by users.  The official statue of Android Marshmallow was unveiled today on the Google campus as has been the practice since the Froyo days.  The guessing game by users has been rampant these past few weeks, with guesses ranging from M&Ms to Meringue to of course Marshmallow.