Tag: Android

Google Gboard, the keyboard app that is now native on a wide range of Android phones, has a big update rolling out this morning.  The update is version 6.8 for those keeping score but given the number of improvements and changes, this really feels like a major “dot oh” release.

The headline new feature for the app is Handwriting input support.  Now you can use a stylus or your finger to write instead of typing on the QWERTY keyboard.  Previously, to use handwriting input, you had to have a separate app.  If you are wanting to have this new input method in your install of Gboard, you will need to make sure you enable it.

To enable, open up the Gboard app settings and then tap on the Languages section.  At the bottom, tap the “Add Keyboard” button then tap on English (US).  The first option you see should be a Handwriting keyboard.  Select it then tap the Add button.  This will now make it an option on the keyboard.

Now to an app where you would type and you should see a globe icon on the keyboard next to the space button.  Tap that icon and you should alternate between your normal keyboard and the handwriting panel.

Blackberry has announced that the Blackberry PRIV, the first Android based device the company released two years ago, will no longer be seeing regular updates.  The news isn’t shocking and fits with what most manufactures, including Google, do when it comes to software updates.  Most only go out 24 months from release of the device.

For their part, Blackberry is doing their best to spin the news, indicating that they made the PRIV more secure out-of-the-box and it needed less patching anyway.  They also indicated that they will be providing updates should a critical security flaw be discovered and that warranty support is still provided.

One of the better kept secrets of services from Google is Google Flights.  The web app allows you to search for flights and find the lowest price for your travel.  Now Google has taken it a bit further by adding Machine Learning to the service.

Using Machine Learning, Google Flights will now give you trend information on flights you are searching in a new section, Flight Insights.  As the company stated in the release:

Using machine learning and statistical analysis of historical flights data, Flights displays tips under your search results, and you can scroll through them to figure out when it’s best to book flights

The new feature is great because you can see a graph that allows you to see what flight costs over a four day window.  This way, if your travel is flexible by a day or two, you could end up saving yourself hundreds of dollars on your airfare.  You will also see a notification on the Flights site if fares for the trip you are looking into are lower than normal – thus it might be the time to buy that flight.

It has taken a few weeks but the ability to elevate a call within Google Phone to Google Duo has now rolled out to everyone.  The feature allows you to switch a phone call from a voice only call to a video call with a touch of a button within the Phone app.  But, as you would suspect, there is a catch.

First, you and the person you are calling has to be using the latest Google Phone app and the latest Google Duo app.  The latter of these isn’t so tough as you can download it from the Play Store.  The former, however, isn’t so easy.  Many manufactures have their own phone apps and you can’t install the Google app.

Assuming you can get past the apps issue, the other gotcha is that both you and the calling party have to have Duo installed and registered with the mobile number you are calling.  It is only under these circumstances that you’ll see the video call option in the Phone app.

After making its debut on iOS last month, the new Grammarly Keyboard has now made its way to Android.  The new keyboard looks at the grammar used in your emails, texts and other apps to assure that you have proper spelling and grammar.

If you haven’t used Grammarly before, it is an excellent service that has been available as a Chrome extension for years.  More-or-less, this new keyboard app functions like the extension.  This new keyboard option is able to analyze your typing in any app on your phone to provide you suggestions on grammar and spelling.

Google Translate, the app that allows you to translate between 103 different languages, has a small but important update rolling out in the Play Store today.  The update is version 5.15.0.RC08 for those keeping score at home and should be hitting everyone’s devices via an OTA update this week.

The new version brings offline translation support to seven new languages from English.  These translations also include the instant camera translations.  If you aren’t familiar with the instant camera feature of the app, this is where you can point your phone’s camera at a sign in a foreign language and it will be translated into your native tongue. The new offline translation languages supported are:

• Bengali
• Gujarati
• Kannada
• Marathi
• Tamil
• Telugu
• Urdu

In order for the offline translations to work, you will need to make sure you download these languages as well as others to your phone.  Most of the translation packs are less than 50MB in size.