Category: Google

Regardless of if you like, don’t like, or vehemently hate sensor notches on smartphones, the reality is that they are coming into vogue.  Google themselves are expected to have a notched device in the Pixel 3 XL and there are already notched devices out there from the likes of Essential and Huawei.  That said, Android Oreo has never fully supported notches but that changes under Android P.

The Android team over at Google took to the Android Development blog yesterday to outline some key code elements that developers need to use in order to make sure their apps work with a notched device in Android P.  They also laid down the law for manufactures too.  No device will have more that two notches.

Over the course of the past few months, Google has been rolling out a new bright & white look to many of their apps and services.  Gmail and Google Drive are two such examples and it all seems to be tied to the Mountain View company’s efforts to refresh everything and bring more Material Design into their sites and apps.  The latest site to get this new bright & white update is the Google Support site.

Ditching its compact now seemingly dated look, the Google Support site reflects the change in site layout and philosophy from Google.  With a bright white background, the new site has large icons for you to select to get to support information for various Google apps and services.  These naturally look more touch friendly for touchscreen devices like the Google Pixelbook.

How good was the last quarter for Google’s parent company Alphabet?  They still made $2.8 billion after you factor in the recent $5 billion fine from the European Union.  If that doesn’t impress you, then perhaps 26% growth year-over-year will do the trick.

It was a monster quarter for the Mountain View company.

Overall, the company had $32.7 billion in revenue (top line number) with a bottom line revenue number of $2.8 billion.  If you take out the European Union fine, Alphabet would have made just shy of $8 billion for the quarter which would have been around a billion more than the same quarter last year.

After a three year hiatus, Google has announced that they will be hosting an Android Dev Summit November 7th and 8th in the Mountain View, California based Computer History Museum.  The event, as the name suggests, is aimed for Android developers and will provide two days of breakout sessions, keynotes and time to chat with other developers and Googlers.

Registration details and session details have not been announced and readers are encouraged to follow the Android Dev Twitter account for more details (or the hashtag #AndroidDevSummit

Citing illegal restrictions on Android that assure that Google apps are installed on new phones, the European Union today have leveled a massive €4.34 Billion, or $5.06 Billion fine against Google.  It is the largest fine ever given to a company by the EU, with Google already owning the now second largest fine which was issued last June.  That fine was $2.7 Billion.

The crux of the issue that the European Union has with Google in this fine is around Android and specifically how contracts with manufactures are written around the platform.  The EU took exception to the fact that these contracts require that OEMs pre-install Google apps.  The Union sees this as anti-competitive and wants it to stop.

Last month, Google announced that a new, Material Design laden sign in screen was coming to everyone.  The original plan was that it would roll out June 14th but due to “unforeseen delays”, it is now rolling out over a month later.

Functionally, you aren’t going to find anything different in this new sign in screen other than the brighter, more contemporary Material Design look to it.  It does exactly what you would expect it to do which is to allow you to sign into your Google account.  But the update brings the site in line with many other Google apps and services as the Mountain View company has been working diligently on updating their wares to Material Design.