Tag: App Update

Google Map is receiving another update for Android users with this update more or less aimed at those who do a lot of walking or bicycling.  The updated build, version 9.26 for those keeping score at home, brings the ability for you to search for other places to stop along your walking or biking path.  Say, for example, you need to stop at the pharmacy while you are biking home, you can search for a CVS or Walgreens along the way and build in that stop on your commute home.  If this sounds familiar, it should.  Google Maps had this feature for those who drive but it was not available for those who were walking or riding.  Give the number of people who walk or ride bikes to and from work, especially in urban areas, this was a real miss up to this point.

The Skype team over at Microsoft have released a dramatically improved version of the voice and video communications app for Android.  The new 7.0 version of the app is hitting the Google Play Store now and if you already have it installed, you should see the update hit your device via an OTA over the course of the next few days.  The big improvement in this new update is the new Material Design inspired UI on tablets.

We’ve redesigned the tablet UI from the ground up, bringing a number of material design inspired elements.

The app also has a Floating Action Button (FAB) that makes it much faster to start a conversation or call with Skype app.  That FAB is in both the tablet and phone versions of the app.

Microsoft’s Next Lock Screen, their Lock screen app for Android phones, has had another significant update today, bringing a host of fixes and improvements to the app.  The updated build is version 3.2 for those keeping score at home and the first thing you will notice is a streamlined and improved UI with a new color scheme.  Microsoft is driving to emphasize that this app is very much location aware and their new logo and look are meant to reflect that fact.

If you aren’t familiar with Next Lock Screen, it is a lock screen app that provides you notifications, calendar updates and now an app usage aware quick launchpad all from your lock screen.  It is actually a very informative and elegant lock screen app that gives you a good amount of information without having to actually unlock your device.  So why use a lock screen app like this instead of the Android built-in lock screen?  Mainly so you can get more customized information.

A new update to Google Docs, Google Sheets and Google Slides is hitting the Google Play Store that brings a more effortless way to get to your files while you are offline.  In the update, recent files you have been working on are automatically downloaded to your device so you will have them when you are offline.  Right now, if you want to work on a file while you are offline, you have to flag that file to download to your device.  If you forget, you are out of luck until you get back online.  This new feature removes this manual step.

The Project Fi app for subscribers of Google’s MVNO service has been updated and it is an update that fixes a serious bug in the app.  The build you are looking for is version 1.2.1.30 for those keeping score at home and it is just now rolling out to the Google Play Store.  While you won’t find any new features in the release, you will get a bug fix that stops the use of mobile data when you are on Wi-Fi or have completely turned off mobile data.  The bug is a big deal given that mobile data savings is one of the key pillar points of the service.

Google Translate is a great little app that allows you to translate text on your Android phone from one language to another.  The one hitch however is that you would have to copy that text from your original app, where the foreign text is found, and paste that into the Translator app.  It worked, but it was a bit clunky.  Google agreed and in the latest update to the app, you can now do the translation right within the original app via a Translate floating button.  The update is rolling out into the Google Play Store now and for those of you who heavily depend on the app, this will be a big time saver.