What's new about Google's apps?

Ahead of the release of Android 6.0 Marshmallow, Google has announced a few changes to some of its key GApps. Let’s take a look at what’s changing.

As covered in a previous post, Google Now is getting an upgrade – it will now show things relevant to the app currently open on your screen, with over 100 apps supported at the launch date. This will be useful for finding out what artist you're listening to or what sports teams are playing, and other day-to-day tasks. Google has also released a competitor to streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, with their family plan; giving access to 6 devices for $14.99 a month (Which is an incredible discount compared to the normal $9.99 per person per month!)

Google Photos is also getting an upgrade: chromecast support is finally being added, meaning that sharing photos on the big screen from an Android device is now possible! Another cool feature is that you can add labels to your pictures (Only visible to you, of course), so that searching for certain pictures, for example, pictures of your mother in Yosemite National Park, becomes so much easier. You can also make shared albums, so if you have a group holiday, for example, everyone’s pictures will be in one place! What’s more, there’s no setup, and it will be compatible with any device!

Google Newsstand is also reaching new countries – Japan, Thailand and Malaysia! (Google Play Music has also been released in Japan!)

Google Maps has also reached the Apple Watch, for those of you who just aren’t happy with Apple’s stock maps application.

Although this event mainly focused on the new devices Google brought to the table, yesterday was also the perfect opportunity to let people see what’s coming in the very near future, which is useful, as many of us don’t bother to read what’s included in the latest update of our apps. All in all? I think that this is definitely a step in the right direction for google, and their native apps.

Sources: | Google | AndroidAuthority | Mashable |