More Google Android app updates that you shouldn’t miss
Another round of Android app updates hit the Google Play Store yesterday, and again there were a few important ones that you’ll definitely not want to miss. So, if you’re like me and have your “Auto-update apps” box unchecked in your Play Store settings, go ahead: fire up your phone, and get these updates now.
Chrome for Android (stable)
The latest stable version of my personal favorite mobile browser just got updated to version 26, and along with that, got a few cool new features: you can now access all of your saved passwords in Chrome for Android, just like you have been able to do from your desktop computers for a while now. Auto-complete is another sync option that appears, allowing you to fill out forms much more quickly. And finally, the stable version finally has access to chrome://flags, which allows you to play around with some experimental features that Google is still working on. One of my favorites: mobile data compression for faster page loads.
Download: Google Play
Google Search (a.k.a. Google Now)
If you’re running Jelly Bean, the latest Google Search update now features real-time package tracking from select carriers and faster Google search results. There are also new options to give quick feedback and adjust settings on individual cards by tapping the new “i” information button that appears in the upper right-hand corner of cards.
Another new option in the settings menu, “My stuff,” allows you to quickly adjust the places, sports teams, and stocks that you care about. And tapping on the weather now opens up a new card that lets you select different days and slide to different times to get a more detailed forecast for specific times of day.
Download: Google Play
Google+
The official changelog for the latest version of Google+ lists the ability to set bigger cover photos, with a better aspect ratio; support for strikethrough formatting; and those additional unnamed bug fixes and performance improvements. These are all welcome improvements, as the mobile app is now more in line with the desktop version – those bigger cover photos that Google rolled out a little while ago are now fully supported, and users can see more than just bold and italic fonts on their mobile devices.
Download: Google Play
