Category: App Update

Google Translate, the language translation app that allows you to translate typed text, your voice, a voice conversation or text via your camera, has a new update rolling out today in the Play Store.  Version 5.17 of the app brings a few refinements to the UI that was updated in the last build, but focuses more on language updates and overall performance improvements.

In the 5.17 update, offline translation and instant camera translation from English has seven new languages:  Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu.  That brings the total number of supported languages to over 100, with 59 of those available offline.

Google has released an update to the Google+ app for Android.  The new update, version 10.1.0.187555767 for those keeping score at home and who like to play version numbering BINGO! brings mostly minor cosmetic changes to the social and community network app.

The most noticeable change when you get the update will be the bottom navigation bar.  That bar had a dark theme to it in previous versions but now sports a light background.  Essentially it makes the UI of Google+ much more white.

A new update to Google Gboard is rolling out over the next few days that will bring support for 20 new languages to the keyboard.  Those language additions include two of the most requested of Google:  Korean and Chinese, both traditional and simplified.  The addition of the languages brings the total languages supported by the app to over 300, covering 74% of all of the world’s languages according to Google.

Google has a comprehensive list of all of the languages supported by Gboard.  You will note in the list that there a few that do not have an available dictionary to download.

There is a new update to Microsoft’s SwiftKey keyboard app rolling out today in the Play Store.  The update, version 6.7.8.25 for those keeping score at home, brings support for nine new languages as well as a number of bug fixes.  It also brings support for Hiragana layout for Japanese language users.

As for the new languages, users of SwiftKey now have these new ones available:  Afar, Banjarese, Fulani, Gayo, Guarani, Madurese, Minangkabau, Nias, Bengkulu.  That brings the total number of languages supported by the keyboard app to well over 200.

Android’s gaming hub app, Google Play Games, has a new update rolling out that brings a new Arcade tab to help you discover new games to play.  The update follows on from the major update that that app received in January.  That update brought a completely new look to the app along with some built-in games but there was no way to discover new games from within it.

This new 5.5 version of Google Play Games addresses that issue.  Now you have a new tab where you can find games to play and can filter your results based on what is new, kids games, premium games as well as genres like Action, Adventure, Board games, Racing, and RPG to name but a few.

Twitter has begun rolling out a handy new feature to their mobile apps and site:  Bookmarks.  The bookmarks feature allows you to save a Tweet in your feed to read later or to share later.  There appears to be no expiration of the bookmarks either so you can, in theory, save them for as long as you want.

The new feature is rolling out as a cloud-side update to the Twitter apps for both Android and iOS and is also live on the mobile site, mobile.twitter.com.  It does not appear to be on the main Twitter site, at least not yet.