The Nexus 5 and Android 4.4 KitKat are out; jealous much? Don’t worry! You don’t have to buy a Nexus 5, or wait for the official update to land on your phone, in order to experience some of the newest bits Google has integrated in the latest iteration of Android. Some good folks have extracted certain parts of the Nexus 5 factory image system dump.
Google already offers handwriting input in its Mobile Search, Google Translate (on web, Android and iOS) and in Chrome but it’s now adding it to its Gmail and Google Drive services.
Currently handwriting input supports over 20 languages in Google Drive and over 50 in Gmail. In order to get handwriting input you need to enable it in input tools in either service.
Microsoft has updated the Outlook app for Android, and with the new version they have brought some changes that they think will make for a better mail experience. The bullet points here are server-side search, improved offline mail storage, new app colors, vacation replies and account aliases. It’s a healthy update to an app that serves millions of users.
Yahoo Mail is 16 years old today, and to celebrate the service is receiving a large redesign to unify its look across the platform. You’ll now notice a cleaner look in the Android app along with changes in the iOS and Windows Phone apps as well as on the web. Functionally, the app now shows email threads in a “conversation” view if you prefer and several basic functions like starring, deleting and searching are easier to perform with one tap.
If you haven’t already tried Google Developer Roman Nurik‘s fantastic DashClock Widget, now may be the time to try. The replacement lock screen clock widget for devices running Android 4.2 or newer serves as a beautiful way of displaying not only the time, but also weather, date, Gmail messages, your next alarm, and more.
THE BEST ALTERNATIVE CALENDAR APPS FOR IPHONE THAT CAN GET YOUR SCHEDULE BETTER ORGANIZED AND HELP YOU KEEP IT THAT WAY.
While the new, built-in iOS 7 Calendar app is clean, it’s a dramatic change from the old one and not a change everyone thinks is for the better. If you’ve been a die-hard Calendar app aficionado, but now you find yourself looking around for an alternative, you’re in luck! There are several really great calendar replacement apps in the App Store, and they can all tie into the same iOS calendar database, so all of your appointments, events, birthdays, and more will “just work” in your new calendar app, the way they always did in the default one.
Here are my favorites!
Last week, Google started pushing out a new update for the Gmail app on Android. One of the changes was a new conversation view with card-based design and some other visual changes, along with improved sync and outbox behavior. But what you don’t see yet is that the app is now ready to support ads, which should be coming in the future.
Gmail for Android recently received a big usability upgrade, but the app’s design hasn’t changed much since it was overhauled for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
With the addition of a left-side sliding menu and, now, a move to a cards-based conversation view, Gmail for Android is beginning to look a lot like the rest of Google’s app ecosystem: clean, simple and white.
The new look also brings some improvements to multi-email selection; gone are the strange-looking avatar boxes in place of checkboxes. It’s a small but significant workflow alteration.
The app is rolling out over the next few days, so keep watching the Play Store for that Update button.
Gmail for Android recently received a big usability upgrade, but the app’s design hasn’t changed much since it was overhauled for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
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