Google Translate improves offline translation by 12% and transliteration by 20%.

The language barrier is a problem when traveling, but apps like Google Translate makes it a bit easier to read road signs and even engage in short conversations with locals. Add to that offline translation and you get the perfect translation tool in case you do not have a data plan or you're in an area where the internet is spotty. Google Translate has long offered offline translation, but it was not a great experience in some cases. According to Google, the experience just got more accurate by 12% "with improved word choice, grammar, and sentence structure." Sami Iqram said in a blog post that "some languages like Japanese, Korean, Thai, Polish, and Hindi the quality is more than 20 percent." And there's more.

Enter Transliteration. This tool helps spell and pronounce words that are written in a script you do not understand. As an example, "when you translate “hello” to Hindi, you will see “नमस्ते” and “namaste” in the translation card where “namaste” is the transliteration of “नमस्ते.” Google Translate supports transliteration for the following languages: Arabic, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Telegu, and Urdu.

You can download Google Translate in the Play Store.

Google One will now automatically backup your phone data.

Google One cloud storage went live last year offering a paid storage for backing up phone data to the cloud. Starting at $1.99 per month, users are offered storage options ranging from 100GB to 30TB to save messages, photos, videos, and contacts online in case disaster strikes. 

Yesterday Google announced in a blog post they're improving the service. Besides the standard features mentioned above, Google One will now automatically backup your phone. In addition, the service will backup original quality photos, videos, and multimedia messages (MMS). And users will be able to manage all that on their Android devices from the Google One app.

Google said, "With Google One, you already get more storage for your photos, videos, and documents—giving you the peace of mind that your memories and important files are stored in the cloud. Now with automatic phone backup, we're taking another step in helping you keep the stuff you care about safe." 

Source: Google

Google Docs for business now displays word count as users type.

Starting today, Google will be rolling out a minor but very useful update to Google Docs for businesses that will give users the ability to view their word count live while working on a document. This feature can be extremely useful if you're limited to a certain number of words in the document you're drafting.

Word Count has been available in Google Docs for a while, it just wasn't handily available and required users to stop typing, dive into the menus to fetch the data. "Instead of going to Tools > Word Count each time you want to view this information, now, you can simply select Tools > Word count > Display word count while typing to continuously display it in the lower-left corner of your doc.", Google wrote in a blog post.

There's more. Clicking on the Word Count box will provide additional information like page count, character count, and even counts per section of the document.

As I said above, the update is gradually rolling out and is intended for business users. Google did not say if Word Count is coming to home/mobile users.

Source: Google

How to: change the background color of the Google Search widget on Android.

By default, the Google Search widget on Android phone and tablet has a white background. But thanks to Android openness when it comes to customization, it is possible to change the color to your liking and the steps to do so is very simple. Just follow through and you'll be able to customize the search bar to your liking.

If it's not already the case, add the Google Search widget to your home screen.

• Press and hold in an empty space on your Home screen.
• Tap Widget at the bottom of the screen.
• Scroll down until you find Google Search in the list.
• Tap and hold, then drag the widget to your Home screen and release.
• That's it. Now you have the Google Search Widget on your screen.

The next step is to customize the widget with the color you like.

• Tap the Google Search bar to open it.
• Tap "More", then "Customize widget".
• Tap the color palette. That's the third icon from the left.
• Tap the edit icon. That's the first icon from the right.
• Use the color sliders to choose the colors you want. The sliders let you mix the colors to get different color gradients.
• Tap Done when you made your choice.
• Go back to the Home screen and admire your work.

That's pretty easy. You may go back through these steps anytime to change the color to, say, match your mood.

Apple Music for Android updated with new Friends Mix and more.

Apple Music on Android brings over 40 million songs for users to listen online or offline and the app has been downloaded over 10 million times. Which is not bad considering how antagonistic Apple and Android fans are. And the reviews in Google Play Store are quite positive. 

In case you're wondering, I had to resort to Apple Music for my music consumption for the simple reason that Google's Play Music is not available in my region. Sure I can buy or rent Movies, but no music. And now I'm deep into Apple's musical ecosystem, no matter what Google does, the chances to get me out of it equal to zero. So much for you Google.

This update includes some nice features, but my preferred one is the "Friends Mix". Basically, it compiles a list of the songs that the app thinks I'll like from everything my friends are listening to. This is cool and saves me from browsing the long list of songs available on the platform. And better yet, Apple Music also plays the top 100 songs from countries around the world. Again saving me from perusing the list for something I like. I'm kind of lazy if you haven't figured out by now.

Here are the other features in this update:

• Android Auto: The best of Apple Music in your car.
• Search by Lyrics. Use a few of the words to find a song.
• New Artist page: Play an artist with one tap, or browse all the music with the improved design.

Apple Music is free to download in Google Play Store. Subscriptions start at $4.99 per month. 

LocalCast for Chromecast Pro is free provided you're willing to watch short video ads.

On my list of most useful gadgets, Chromecast is deeply entrenched in the second place behind, obviously, my phone. It's amazing how a $35 casting gadget make such an impact on how I consume and share digital content. But like all things, Chromecast also has its limitations and one of them being the lack of support for local files casting. There have been some minor improvements over the years, but nothing compared to apps like LocalCast for Chromecast.

Basically, LocalCast is capable of casting every file formats available from mp4, mkv, 3gp, m4v. And it does that from a variety of sources, not just limited to your devices. LocalCast will happily cast from NAS, Google Drive, Google+, Dropbox and even a webpage.

LocalCast is available in two versions in the Store: The free and pro version. The latter contains no ads; lets you search your device for contents; displays a video preview in certain areas of the app. While I don't mind paying to support an independent developer, it's nice to see that in the latest app update, the developer is making the pro version "free". Well, you have to watch a short video ad to unlock the app's pro features and they remain available until the app is restarted. Not a big price to pay to take full advantage of LocalCast.

The update also reduces the app download size from 10.31MB to "around 9MB".

Check out LocalCast in Google Play Store. Happy Casting! 

Android Messages app gets dark theme; Messages Web gets GIF search and more stickers.

SMS is here to stay and no WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger will ever change that. That's the reason Google keeps updating Android's official app for texting and chat. Android Messages was recently updated with web support, allowing users to send and reply to messages on their computers without having to pick up their phones. A very handy feature that Google is improving furthermore with the last update. 

Android Messages is getting a new look. Not that Google entirely redesigned the app; it pretty much looks the same. But they added a dark theme and if you've been following Android news lately, dark theme is making the headlines as Google kind-of working, not to say struggling, at bringing a dark theme to Android. 

In addition to dark theme, Google is also giving some love to Messages web with the ability to search GIF and stickers. A great addition if you're fans of those.

Of course, this update includes the usual anonymous bug fixes and performance improvements. Android Messages is available for download in Google Play Store.

Google adds quick-side panel to Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drawings to make G Suite users more productive.

Google added a quick-side panel to its productivity suite with the objective of making G Suite users more productive. The quick-side panel will allow users to do their job without leaving Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drawings. Three Google products will be available within these apps and they are google Calendar , keep and Tasks. So far, the side panel has been available in Gmail. This update brings the same feature to Google Calendar where users will be able to use Keep and Tasks, thanks to the side panel.

The update is rolling out now and G Suite users will start seeing it within 15 days.

Source: Google

Google adds new 'Confidential mode' to Gmail on Android to help you protect the sensitive data you share.

Technology makes life a whole lot easier when it comes to sharing data. But it's not without risk. Google is kind-of well aware of that and is introducing a new 'Confidential mode' in Gmail on Android. A new mode that will give users more control on the data they share with others.

Google has started rolling out 'Confidential mode' worldwide and to start using it, bring up the compose email window in Gmail. Tap the three vertical dots in the top-right corner of the screen and choose 'Confidential Mode'. Set an expiration between 1 day to 5 years. Once 'Confidential Mode' is activated, Gmail will prevent the receiver from copying, forwarding, and printing the email and its attachments. However, the receiver can take a screenshot and photo of your emails and attachments. Google also warns about malicious programs on the receiver's device that may still be able to copy and edit the data you're sharing.

Gmail users can also choose for a passcode or SMS passcode be sent to the receiver. Google will handle that for you. Just send the email and the receiver will be notified of your intention to share an email with them. The receiver must sign in with a Google account to view the email and attachments in a browser with the expiration date at the top. The default expiration date is 1 week. Additionally, the sender can revoke access at any time in their own inbox.

'Confidential mode' is a useful feature when sharing data such as health records, business plan or a copy of your passport. While it's an additional layer of protection, bear in mind that it is not entirely fool-proof.

'Confidential Mode' is already being pushed out to users. Just be patient if you do not see it yet, it's on the way. IF you do not use Gmail, you can download it free in Google Play Store.

Google Drive now supports opening and viewing password-protected Microsoft Office files.

Today Google Drive for Android has been updated with Google's cloud storage service now supporting opening and viewing password-protected Microsoft office files. This is a great addition for all of us using Microsoft Office. The latter remains the gold standard as productivity tools with users and enterprises alike and it's great to see Google adding more support to the world's number one productivity tool.

Now, no matter how useful this feature is to Google Drive users, I have a word of advice. Password-protecting an Excel, Word or PowerPoint file prevent others from accessing these files and that is good. However, Microsoft cannot help you retrieve the password should you forget it. There is no official tool from Microsoft. So make sure that you use a password that is memorable, otherwise, you'll have to resort to third-party solutions, some of which are free and some not. In either case, that implies making your files and content available to whichever solution you choose. Definitely not a secure way to retrieve your password and protect your content.

This update also includes the usual bug fixes and performance improvements and is available in Google Play Store for download.

Google Gboard for Android gets 22 more languages including Seselwa Creole French.

If 500 million downloads are any indication, Google's Gboard is a popular keyboard for Android. The app is more than just a keyboard with features like glide typing and voice typing as well as Search capability built right in, giving users the ability to make a search without having to launch the Google Search app. And one of my favorite features is support for multilingual typing. As a bilingual myself, it is very convenient to just type any word in French or English without switching languages manually. Gboard handles that for me along with autocorrect and word suggestions.

Gboard also supports hundreds of languages as listed here, and with today's update, the keyboard is getting support for 22 more. Among them is support for Seychelles Creole, which is close to Mauritius Creole. But the latter is not supported yet. Hopefully in a future update.

In the meantime, here's the list of the newly supported languages:

• Acehnese
• Adyghe
• Banjar
• Chechen
• Seselwa Creole French
• Friulian
• Khasi
• Konkani (Kannada)
• Krio
• Kituba
• Lak
• Ligurian
• Latgalian
• Marwari
• Erzya
• Livvinkarjala
• Guinea-Bissau Creole
• Swati
• Udmurt
• Tshivenda
• Kalmyk
• Mingrelian

Download Gboard in Google Play Store.

OnePlus Beta 8 available for OnePlus 5/5T with May security update.

Before the OnePlus 5T, I've owned several Nexus devices, including the Nexus 6 tablet. I picked the OnePlus 5T because it offers an experience that is closed to the Nexus, and I've got to say, I love it. OnePlus has an excellent beta program and regularly offers security updates. All is not well though. They recently decided to propose Android P beta to the OnePlus 6 only and the latter is not even out yet. The launch is tomorrow. But anyway, I'm not going to complain that much as today, OnePlus is pushing Google's security patch for the month of May. And that is awesome.

Besides the security update, here's what is new in the open beta 8:

Launcher:
- Added Toolbox Card in Shelf
- Added hidden Space in app drawer
- Added support for editing dynamic icons (weather, clock, and calendar)

OnePlus Switch
- Optimized user interface for backup & restore
- Optimized logic for time remaining
- General bug fixes and stability improvements.

Messages
- Added Group MMS.

If you own a OnePlus 5/5T, just hit 'Systems updates' in Settings and enjoy. If you're the non-adventurous kind, the update usually reaches the masses after two weeks or so.

Google Play Store now shows changelog right on 'Update' page.

Last week I blogged about Google making some useful changes to the Play store app with the latter showing app ranking and in some cases comparable apps. These changes have gradually rolled out to users and today, it seems Google is pushing another update to the Play store.

This morning I noticed the appearance of down-pointing arrows next to each app under the Update tab. Tapping on them reveals the changelog in a green box. This is a great feature for me as I get to see what's new right on the Update page rather than opening each app 'Read more' page to find out. 

I did not verify if this new feature is available to everyone, but as I said last week if you're not seeing these changes yet, just be patient. 

[Updated] Google Play Store is showing apps rank and available comparable apps to some users.

Today I noticed a few changes in app listings in the Play Store on my OnePlus 5T, changes that are not available yet on my other devices and my wife's Samsung S7 Edge. As can be seen in the screenshot above, the details for the Facebook Messenger is now showing more information below the 'Uninstall' and 'Update' buttons.

Right underneath the buttons, the store is listing comparable apps available, which in this case is Facebook Messenger Lite. In addition, the app size is also displayed and obviously, tapping on that portion of the screen takes you to the download page of the 'comparable' app.

The Play Store is also showing the app ranking. While this may sound minor, it is very useful if you're not sure how popular the app is and this is in addition to the number of downloads to help you decide on whether to download or purchase the app.

Again, these changes do not yet appear on all my devices, so just be patient as it seems to be a server-side change that Google is randomly pushing to devices out there.

Update: After taking another look at this, it appears Google is actually recommending lite and Go apps to users so they know these apps exist. These apps are great for low-end  Android devices or for users living in areas with a poor internet connection.

Google brings Smart Resume, Bookmarks and more to improve audiobook listening experience.

Audiobooks are not my thing at all and some attempts to indulge ended with me sleeping after about 45 minutes struggling to stay focus on the voice in my head. Same too when I listen to an unnecessarily prolonged podcast. So, when Google launched audiobooks two months ago, it was a non-event for me. But that does not mean I do not cover any news pertaining to audiobooks if this post is any indication.

Two months after the launch of audiobooks in Google Play, Google is releasing some new features and improvements to enhance the listening experience.

Smart Resume
It's hard nowadays to engage in any activity without some form of interruptions. Well aware of that fact of life, Google is introducing 'Smart Resume'. A feature the company says "will intelligently rewind you to the beginning of the word or sentence when you pick up your audiobook again, so you'll jump right back into where you left off."

Bookmarks
Google is making it easy to save bookmarks that readers can refer back to later. Simply tap the new bookmark icon and you're done.

Routines
Thanks to Google Assistant, readers/listeners will be able to add audiobooks to their 'Routines' to begin listening on their commute by simply saying "Ok Google, tell me about my day". Google Assistant will tell you about traffic, whatever item is on your calendar and continue playing your book.

Speed it up or slow it down.
This update lets users choose their reading pace. If you're a speedster, you can listen to audiobooks at 3x speed to get to the end faster. Or you can slow it down to 0.5x for whatever reason.

Share with Family Library
Depending on the book you're reading and the country you live, you can share audiobooks and eBooks to five family members. This feature is currently rolling out in 13 countries including Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Chile, Mexico, Japan (audiobooks only) and South Africa.

These new features are rolling out today on Android and other supported platforms.

Source: Google

Download: Google Play

Google puts Mario in Google Maps to celebrate Mario Day (MAR10).

Someone, someday, declared that March 10 would become Super Mario day thanks to a clever play on words - MAR10 - similar to Star Wars' May the Forth. Since that day, fans around the world celebrate the world most popular plumber and became a huge marketing opportunity for Nintendo to gather the fans around the Mario brand. This year, however, Nintendo is not the only company to take advantage of the plumber's popularity as Google is also joining the celebrations with a treat of its own.

If you launch Google Maps on your device today, you should see a yellow "?" icon next to the Start button. Tap the question mark and you'll get a prompt asking whether you want to enable 'Mario Time'. Once enabled, the usual navigation arrow will morph into Mario in his iconic red kart to guide you around. 

I'm not a Mario fan, but this little treat is a cool way to celebrate Mario Day and it wouldn't surprise me if Google reiterates this on May the Forth. 'Mario Time' will come to users in an update to Google Maps, which I'm not seeing yet on my OnePlus 5T, but Google said that the rollout already started and should be available to everyone during the day.

Happy Mario Day!

And remember to drive carefully.

Download: Google Maps.

Google Duo now lets you leave 30 seconds video messages when families & friends miss your calls.

I really would like to use Google Duo, really. What's preventing me from doing so is that nobody around me uses it, absolutely nobody. I live in an environment dominated by WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and to a lesser extent, Skype. To make things worse, I've asked ten 'normal users' about Google Duo and they had no idea what it was. And I think Google knows about this and the company keeps trying by adding new features to Google Duo in the hope of getting users to jump ship.

In an update that is currently rolling out, Google Duo users will be able to leave 30-seconds video messages in case the person they're calling does not pick up. "If the person you’re calling declines or misses your call, you can record up to 30 seconds of a video (or voice) message. Once you’re happy with your message, you can send it to your friend or family member, who will receive it in the Duo app." À la Snapchat, the videos will disappear "within a day after you first watch them." However, Google will let you save your preferred videos to your device if you choose to. These video messages are secure and end-to-end encrypted. No worry here if you care about your privacy.

So that's it for this Google Duo update. Check it out in Google Play store.

Source: Google

Amazon Shopping now supports augmented reality to visualize products before purchase on supported Android devices.

Back in February, Google launched ARCore 1.0, a platform for building augmented reality apps on Android. To use the AR functionality, you'll need one of these phones, the Pixel lines of devices, Asus Zenfone AR, OnePlus's Oneplus 5, Samsung Galaxy S8, S8+, Note 8, S7 and S7 Edge, and LG V30. Hopefully, Google will make ARCore available to more devices. Now that ARCore is in the wild, we need apps to take advantage of it and, today, Amazon has published an update that adds support for AR to Amazon Shopping for Android.

After installing the update, users of Amazon Shopping will be able to use the in-app camera "to visualize the products" in their living space before adding the product to their shopping cart. All they have to do is to tap the camera icon and select AR view. This feature brings a new shopping experience to Amazon shoppers. See the video below to see how AR View works in Amazon Shopping.

If you own one of the devices listed above, download the update in the Play Store. Now if like me, your phone is not supported, the update will still show up on your device. But again, hopefully, we won't have to wait too long to take enjoy AR capability on our beloved devices.

Google Assistant to become multilingual and support more than 30 languages.

Unlike some other company on the upper-west coast of the United States, Google is gearing up for Mobile World Congress next week in Barcelona with some exciting stuff. Yesterday, the company announced that Android Go devices will be unveiled during the world's largest mobile trade show. And they have more up their sleeves.

Remember how Google Assistant was all over the floor during CES in Las Vegas earlier this year? Well, Google has more in store for the world as it goes global with Google Assistant. The latter is indeed diversifying its language portfolio with the addition of 30 more languages throughout the year and Google says this move will make the Assistant reach "95 percent of all eligible Android phone worldwide." In the next few months, Google Assistant will be available in Danish, Dutch, Hindi, Indonesian, Norwegian, Swedish and Thai, with more to come throughout the year. 

Additionally, Google is making the Assistant multilingual. A feature that will come handy to those individuals or families that speak more than one language. Google says, "with this new feature, the Assistant will be able to understand you in multiple languages fluently. If you prefer to speak German at work, but French at home, your Assistant is right there with you." A very cool feature indeed which will first be available in English, French, and German. Of course, more languages will be added later. As a bilingual myself, I can't wait to try this feature out.

No doubt, MWC promises to be exciting and the Samsung S9 won't be the king of the show.

Source: Google

Google Calendar for Android lets users duplicate or copy events to another calendar.

Google updated its Calendar app for Android with a couple of new features that will make life a tad easier for users. Google added the ability to copy events between calendars. The steps to achieve that is very easy. Simply open an item in the calendar and tap the three vertical dots at the top-right corner of the Calendar app and the option to 'Copy to...' will be there. Select another calendar, then hit 'Save' to copy the event. You may as well make some modifications to the event while you're at it.

Google also added a 'Duplicate' feature which lets you, well, duplicate an existing event and use it as a template for a new event(s). The 'Duplicate' function can be found in the same location as 'Copy to...'.

This update also lets the event organizer choose whether to inform guests of any changes made to events in the calendar. This comes in handy when making minor changes to events that do not necessitate informing participants or, as Google puts it, 'guests'.

Google started rolling out the update to Google Calendar yesterday. Head over to Google Play Store to get it.