Official Android Blog: 2012

Introducing Magazines on Google Play for the UK

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Google Playbuy digital versions of your favourite magazines for reading on the goMen’s FitnessoliveSlimming WorldT3Total FilmHello!New StatesmanThe SpectatorCosmopolitanGlamourTatlerWhat Car?Good HousekeepingElleHarper’s BazaarVogueWired

play.google.comPosted by Avi Yaar, Product Manager, Google Play

Sound Search for Google Play widget, now available on Google Play

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Sound Search for Google Play

Google PlayPosted by Annie Chen, Software Engineer

New in Google Currents: Scan through your favorite categories, editions and breaking news

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

The Los Angeles TimesCBS SportsAndroid CentralThe GuardianShortlistForbesScan through categories The AtlanticABC NewsThe Telegraph

Scan through editions Popular Science

Scan through breaking stories

Cars.comVoice of America NewsNew Scientistexpanded Google Currents internationally700 publisher editionsdownloadPosted by Mussie Shore, Group Product Manager

New Google Now: the perfect travel companion for the holidays

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Google Now

Google SearchGoogle PlayPosted by Baris Gultekin, Product Management Director

Edit spreadsheets on the go with the Drive mobile app

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

just like you can with Google Docs

Google PlayPosted by Shrikant Shanbhag, Software Engineer

Google Shopper 3.0 - New features to help with your holiday shopping

Friday, November 9, 2012

As you hit the mall this holiday season, chances are you’ll be accompanied by a reliable personal shopping companion: your mobile phone. Four out of five mobile phone and tablet owners plan to use their device for holiday shopping - for comparing prices, locating nearby stores, and searching for coupons. Today, with the launch of Google Shopper 3.0 for Android, you can easily browse for gift ideas, research products, and locate great deals on the go. Search for products and get gift ideas on the redesigned home pageThe app’s redesigned home screen features a bigger search box for easier navigation. When you browse curated gift ideas and latest trends on the home page or search for apparel and accessories, larger photos let you view product designs in more detail.

Find great sales and special offers Shopper now makes it quick and easy to find great deals at local and online stores. From the new Sales page, you can view weekly circulars from nearby stores, along with a handful of featured current promotions which you can redeem online or in person. Shopper also shows you store promotions, such as ‘30% off’ or ‘free shipping’, as you search for products in the app.

Use GoodGuide rating to Identify healthy, safe, and eco-friendly products Whether you shop with a conscience or would like a reason to start, Shopper now features GoodGuide ratings, a rating system that indicates on a scale of one to ten whether a product is healthy, safe and environmentally friendly. When GoodGuide ratings are available for a product, you can view these by scrolling down the product detail screen, as shown below. You can learn more about the GoodGuide rating system here.

You can download Shopper 3.0 for your Android device from Google Play.

Posted by John Shriver-Blake, Product Manager, Google Shopper

Nexus: The best of Google, now in three sizes

Monday, October 29, 2012

People increasingly have more than one device, and they switch between them many times a day. Nexus—Google’s hardware line for Android devices—gets rid of the hassle. Just sign in with your Google Account and everything is there ready to go, whatever device you’re using: photos, emails, contacts, bookmarks, even your entertainment on Google Play.
Today, we’re excited to announce three great new Nexus devices … in small, medium and large. And they all run Android 4.2, a new flavor of Jelly Bean—which includes the latest version of Google Now and other great new features.

Nexus 4 with Google Now and Photo Sphere Nexus 4 is our latest smartphone, developed together with LG. It has a quad-core processor which means it's super fast, a crisp 4.7" (320 ppi) display that's perfect for looking at photos and watching YouTube, and with wireless charging you just set the phone down on a charging surface to power it up, no wires needed. While Nexus 4 is incredibly powerful under the hood, it also features the latest version of Jelly Bean, Android 4.2—the simplest and smartest version of Android yet. Starting with the camera, we've reinvented the photo experience with Photo Sphere, which lets you capture images that are literally larger than life. Snap shots up, down and in every direction to create stunning 360-degree immersive experiences that you can share on Google+ with friends and family—or you can add your Photo Sphere to Google Maps for the world to see.
Android 4.2 brings other great goodies like Gesture Typing, which lets you glide your finger over the letters you want to type on the keyboard—it makes typing fast, fun and a whole lot simpler. Android 4.2 also adds support for wireless display so you can wirelessly watch movies, YouTube videos and play games right on your Miracast-compatible HDTV.
Learn more about all of the new features in Android 4.2, Jelly Bean, here. Google Now—even more useful We designed Google Now to make life simpler by giving you the right information at just the right time in easy to read cards, before you even ask. And the feedback has been awesome. So today we’re adding more cards that we hope you’ll find useful. Flight information, restaurant reservations, hotel confirmations and shipping details—how often have you found yourself wading through your email to get this information at the last moment? So next time you book a table for dinner, you’ll get a reminder with all the details without ever having to lift a finger. You’ll also get cards for nearby attractions, interesting photo spots, movies times at nearby theaters or concerts by your favorite artists.
Nexus 7: Thin, light and now even more portableNexus 7 brings you the best of Google–YouTube, Chrome, Gmail, Maps–and all the great content from Google Play in a slim, portable package that fits perfectly in your hand. To give you more room for all that great content you can now get Nexus 7 with 16GB ($199) or 32GB ($249) of storage. But we also wanted to make this highly portable tablet even more mobile. So we added HSPA+ mobile data. Nexus 7 is now also available with 32GB and HSPA+ mobile ($299), which can operate on more than 200 GSM providers worldwide, including AT&T and T-Mobile in the US.
Nexus 10: Powerful and shareable Nexus 10 is the ultimate tablet for watching movies or reading magazines. We wanted to build a premium entertainment device, so we partnered with Samsung to do just that. Nexus 10 is the highest resolution tablet on the planet with a 10.055" display at 2560-by-1600 (300ppi), that's over 4 million pixels right in your hands. It comes with a powerful battery that will get you up to nine hours of video playback and more than 500 hours of standby time. With a set of front-facing stereo speakers, you can watch movies right from your Nexus 10 and they simply sound awesome. But what makes Nexus 10 unique is that it's the first truly shareable tablet. With Android 4.2, you can add multiple users and switch between them instantly right from the lockscreen. We believe that everyone should have quick and easy access to their own stuff -- email, apps, bookmarks, and more. That way, everyone can have their own home screens, their own music, and even their own high scores.
Google Play: More entertainment, more countriesWe’ve recently added a ton of great new entertainment to Google Play, such as movies and TV shows from Twentieth Century Fox. Earlier this year we expanded our service beyond movie rentals and now you can purchase movies and build a library of your favorites in Google Play. Today we’re bringing movie purchasing to more countries - Canada, the U.K., France, Spain and Australia.We’re also excited to announce two new partnerships. We’re now working with Time, Inc. to bring you even more magazines like InStyle, PEOPLE, TIME and others. And we’ve partnered with Warner Music Group who will be adding their full music catalog with new songs coming each day. We’re now working with all of the major record labels globally, and all the major U.S. magazine publishers, as well as many independent labels, artists and publishers.
On November 13, we're bringing music on Google Play to Europe. Those of you in the U.K, France, Germany, Italy and Spain will be able to purchase music from the Google Play store and add up to 20,000 songs—for free—from your existing collection to the cloud for streaming to your Android devices or web browser. We’re also launching our new matching feature to streamline the process of uploading your personal music to Google Play. We’ll scan your music collection and any song we match against the Google Play catalog will be automatically added to your online library without needing to upload it, saving you time. This will be available in Europe at launch on November 13 and is coming to the U.S. soon after. This will all be for free—free storage of your music, free matching, free syncing across your devices and free listening.
Great valueWe’ve always focused on building great devices at great value. And we think today’s devices offer the very best that money can buy. Here are more details on when and where you can pick up your next Nexus device:

Nexus 4: 8GB for $299; 16GB for $349; available unlocked and without a contract on 11/13 on the Google Play store in U.S., U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain and Canada. The 16GB version will also be available through T-Mobile for $199, with a 2-year contract (check here for more details).

Nexus 7: 16GB for $199 and 32GB for $249; available in U.S., U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Canada and Japan, and also through our retail partners Gamestop, Office Depot, Office Max, Staples and Walmart.

Nexus 7 with 32GB and mobile data: $299 and unlocked, on sale 11/13 in the Google Play store in the U.S., U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain and Canada.

Nexus 10: 16GB for $399; 32GB for $499; available on 11/13 in the Google Play Store in the U.S., U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Canada and Japan. You'll also be able to purchase the 32GB version in over 2,000 Walmart stores in the U.S.

A Nexus device is much more than simply a phone or tablet. It’s your connection to the best of Google—all of your stuff and entertainment, everywhere you go with no hassle. Now you have three new Nexus devices, a new improved version of Jelly Bean and more entertainment than ever before—all available on Google Play. The playground is open.
Posted by Andy Rubin, SVP, Mobile and Digital Content

Bringing Google Calendar to the Play Store

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Posted by Michael Chan, Tech Leadmanage all your calendars

Snooze events directly from a notification if you’re not quite ready and want to be reminded later.

Use predefined messages to send quick "I'll be late" updates to your event participants directly from the notifications or the event itself (of course, you can always write your own).

Pinch to zoom in and out of a day.

Set a home time zone to help you manage your time better when traveling.

Google Play

Official Gmail Blog

Google Play hits 25 billion downloads

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Google Play

Turning the page with a new Google Play Books app for Android

Monday, September 24, 2012

Google Play BooksPlaces and dictionary

Explore locations using info cards in Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time

abliguritionjentacularTranslationHighlighting and notes

The Benefits & Importance of Compatibility

Friday, September 14, 2012

http://source.android.comvirtuous cycleOpen Handset AllianceincompatibilitiesSystemClock.sleep(millis)SecondsMilliseconds“one size fits all”http://source.android.com/compatibility/cts-intro.html

Voice Search arrives in 13 new languages

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Basque
Bulgarian
Catalan
European Portuguese
Finnish
Galician
Hungarian

Icelandic
Norwegian
Romanian
Serbian
Slovak
Swedish

Voice Search app from Google Play

Use any credit or debit card with Google Wallet

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

(cross-posted from the Google Commerce Blog)Google Walletsix phones from Sprint and Virgin MobileNexus 7 tablet25 national retailersA wallet with all your credit and debit cardsonline walletmore info hereonline wallet

To support all credit and debit cards, we changed our technical approach to storing payment cards. The Google Wallet app now stores your payment cards on highly secure Google servers, instead of in the secure storage area on your phone. A wallet ID (virtual card number) is stored in the secure storage area of the phone, and this is used to facilitate transactions at the point of sale. Google instantly charges your selected credit or debit card. This new approach speeds up the integration process for banks so they can add their cards to the Wallet app in just a few weeks. Banks that want to help their customers save cards to Google Wallet, including their custom card art, can apply here — there is no cost.
A wallet you can lock — and remotely disable We take security very seriously and have always had a dedicated Google Wallet PIN to prevent others from making payments with your Google Wallet. And as always, we encourage Google Wallet customers to set up the phone’s screen lock -- as an extra layer of protection.

Today, we’re adding a Google Wallet security feature that makes it possible for you to remotely disable your mobile wallet on a lost phone. It’s easy. If you lose your phone, just visit the ‘Devices’ section in the online wallet and select the phone with the mobile wallet you wish to disable. When you successfully disable your wallet on a device, Google Wallet will not authorize any transactions attempted with that device*. If the Google Wallet online service can establish a connection to your device, it will remotely reset your mobile wallet, clearing it of card and transaction data. There is no way you can do that with your leather wallet.

The new Google Wallet app is available now on Google Play, and if you have a supported NFC device and are in the United States, we encourage you to give it a try.

Posted by Robin Dua, Head of Product Management, Google Wallet

* For now, Google Prepaid Cards and some Citi MasterCard cards will remain active until Google Wallet can remotely connect and reset your mobile wallet.

Android @ I/O: the playground is open

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Last year at Google I/O, we talked about momentum, mobile and more. This year, we’re picking up right where we left off. More than 400 million Android devices have now been activated—up from 100 million last June. And twelve new Android devices are activated every every second—that’s more than 1 million a day. Today, we’re rolling out a new version of Android called Jelly Bean, adding more entertainment to Google Play, and introducing two powerful—yet distinctly different Nexus devices to bring you the best of Google.Jelly Bean: simple, beautiful and beyond smart Ice Cream SandwichGoogle Play: more entertainmentGoogle PlaymagazinesHouse Beautiful, Men’s Health, ShapeWIREDmoviestelevision showsplay.google.comNexus 7: powerful, portable and designed for Google PlayNexus 7 Condé Nast TravelerPopular ScienceGoogle PlayNexus Q: It’s a sphere!Nexus QPosted by Andy Rubin, Senior Vice President of Mobile and Digital Content

A new friend just moved into the neighborhood...

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

The statues on the front lawn of the Android building got a new friend this afternoon... Posted by: Hugo Barra, Director of Product Management, Android

Shop and travel smarter with Google Maps 6.7 for Android - now with Google Offers and indoor walking directions

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

(Cross-posted on the Lat Long Blog)6.7 releaseDiscover great offers near youGoogle Offers in Google Maps for Android Explore the great indoors with walking directions and Business Photos.indoor mapsGoogle Maps Floor Plansyou want to go inside

Get Indoor walking directions in indoor maps (photo: Macy’s San Francisco)
Google Business Photos

See the interior of participating businesses with Business Photos (photo: Toyjoy)Google PlayGoogle Maps YouTube channelPosted by Benjamin Grol, Product Manager for Google Maps for Android

Galaxy Nexus now on sale in Google Play

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Devices sectionGalaxy NexusIce Cream SandwichfeaturesGoogle WalletappssongsbooksmoviesPosted by Andy Rubin, Senior Vice President of Mobile and Digital Content

Google Currents goes international

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

launched Google Currentsapppublisher editionsGoogle Currents ProducerPopular Science, Scientific American, Space.comBleacher Report, CBS Sports, SurferHarvard Business Review, Inc.Celebuzz, HollywoodLife, Now magazine, TMZMen’s Health, Yoga JournalColossal, DwellThe Atlantic, PRI, SlateRead in more placesThe GuardianLaStampaFinancial Times DeutschlandABC NewsNeue Zürcher ZeitungHindustan TimesRead in your favorite languageGoogle TranslateCorriere dello SportScientific American

Read fresh content, automaticallyheredownloadPosted by Mussie Shore, Product Manager

Crossing the 50 billion km mark & giving Google Maps for Android a fresh look

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

(Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog)Google Maps for Androidvoice-guided GPS navigation

A new look for Navigation on Android 4.0+ phones
In today’s release of Google Maps 6.5 for Android we’ve redesigned the Navigation home screen in Android 4.0+ to make it easier to enter a new destination or select from recent and favorite locations by swiping left or right.

Left: New Navigation home screen Right: Navigation in Google Maps for Android

Crisper, faster maps for high pixel density devices
If your device has a high pixel density screen, such as those on Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S II, Droid Razr and others, you’ll now get higher resolution map tiles that take better advantage of the pixels-per-inch on your screen. The result is a crisper, less cluttered map that is easier to read:

Left: Previous style Right:New style in Google Maps 6.5 for Android

Compare our new map on the right to the previous map on the left. The road network is easier to see, less obstructed by labels, and has more color contrast. At more zoomed-in levels, you’ll notice a more controlled amount of maps labels to avoid cluttering the map and blocking out street names. The new style also helps maps react faster to panning, zooming, and twisting.

You'll start seeing the new style as you navigate around new areas on the map; however, you can see these changes immediately by clearing your cache from the Maps settings.

Pick your preferred public transit mode and route option
Google Maps 6.5 for Android now lets you choose to prioritize a particular transit mode (such as the bus or subway) and route option (like taking the recommended route, one with fewer transfers or one with less walking). Whether you just need to get somewhere as fast as possible, or you want to avoid the risk of a missed connection or you prefer not to tire your legs, you can get the transit directions that best suit you. Transit directions and schedules are available for 475 cities around the world.

Google Maps 6.5 for AndroidGoogle PlayGoogle Maps YouTube channelPosted by Harlan Hile, Software Engineer

Google Voice for Android, now with Ice Cream Sandwich voicemail integration

Thursday, March 22, 2012

(Cross posted on the Google Voice Blog)

To turn this feature on, download the latest app from Google Play and check “Voicemail display” under settings. This new feature requires Android 4.0+.

Posted by Yong-Hoon Choi, Software Engineer

Introducing Google Play: All your entertainment, anywhere you go

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

(Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog)Entertainment is supposed to be fun. But in reality, getting everything to work can be the exact opposite—moving files between your computers, endless syncing across your devices, and wires…lots of wires. Today we’re eliminating all that hassle with Google Play, a digital entertainment destination where you can find, enjoy and share your favorite music, movies, books and apps on the web and on your Android phone or tablet. Google Play is entirely cloud-based so all your music, movies, books and apps are stored online, always available to you, and you never have to worry about losing them or moving them again.With Google Play you can:

Store up to 20,000 songs for free and buy millions of new tracks

Download more than 450,000 Android apps and games

Browse the world’s largest selection of eBooks

Rent thousands of your favorite movies, including new releases and HD titles

Starting today, Android Market, Google Music and the Google eBookstore will become part of Google Play. On your Android phone or tablet, we’ll be upgrading the Android Market app to the Google Play Store app over the coming days. Your videos, books and music apps (in countries where they are available) will also be upgraded to Google Play Movies, Google Play Books and Google Play Music apps. The music, movies, books and apps you’ve purchased will continue to be available to you through Google Play—simply log in with your Google account like always.To celebrate, we’ll be offering a different album, book, video rental and Android app at a special price each day for the next week in our “7 Days to Play” sale. In the U.S., today’s titles include the collection of top 40 hits Now That's What I Call Music 41, the popular game Where's My Water, the novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and the movie Puncture for just 25 cents each. In addition, you'll find great collections of hip-hop, rock and country albums for $3.99 all week, detective novels from $2.99, some of our editorial team's favorite movies from 99 cents, and our favorite apps from 49 cents.In the U.S., music, movies, books and Android apps are available in Google Play. In Canada and the U.K., we’ll offer movies, books and Android apps; in Australia, books and apps; and in Japan, movies and apps. Everywhere else, Google Play will be the new home for Android apps. Our long-term goal is to roll out as many different types of content as possible to people around the world, and we’ll keep adding new content to keep it fresh.To learn more, head over to play.google.com/about or keep up with the latest on our Google+ page. If you’re headed to Austin later this week for South by Southwest, come to the Google Village to see Google Play in action. We can’t wait for you to try Google Play and experience a simpler way to manage your entertainment.Posted by Jamie Rosenberg, Director of Digital Content

Android@Mobile World Congress: It’s all about the ecosystem.

Monday, February 27, 2012

The Android Stand on the eve of Mobile World Congress 2012Android ADKandroid.com/mwc+AndroidPosted by Andy Rubin, SVP, Mobile and Digital Content

Collaborate and edit anywhere with the updated Google Docs for Android

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Google Docs app for Androidsomething important
Google Docs on Google+Posted by Vadim Gerasimov, Software Engineer

Introducing Chrome for Android

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

launched
SpeedChrome fastomnibox
Simplicity

View open tabs: Access the tabs you left open on your computer (also signed into Chrome)—picking up exactly where you left off.

Get smarter suggestions: If you visit a site often on your computer, you'll also get an autocomplete suggestion for it on your mobile device, so you can spend less time typing.

Sync bookmarks: Conveniently access your favorite sites no matter where you are or which device you’re using.

Android Marketphonesdeveloper communityPosted by Sundar Pichai, SVP, Chrome and Apps(Cross-posted from the Chrome blog and the Official Google blog)

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