It’s apparently “update all the applications” day over at Google today. Google+, Google Maps, and Google Goggles have all received an update of some form or another.
Google+
The Google+ application has been updated today, bringing several new feature enhancements and the standard stability improvements and bugfixes. The full changelist is as follows:
- Search
- +1 photos
- +1 comments
- High resolution photo upload support
- See if someone’s online and currently typing in Messenger conversations
- Start Messenger conversations by just entering a phone number
- Links to posts or profiles can now open inside of the app
- Instant Upload supports videos again
- Several stability improvements and bug fixes
Arguably the biggest improvements are the added ability to “+1” photos and individual comments, two features previously only available in the browser version of the Google+ application. It was beyond frustrating wanting to “+1” a picture or someone’s comment and having to launch a browser when I was around a computer to do so.
Messenger also received a few cool new options, making it more like Google Talk. Within the Messenger section of Google+, you can now see if people are online and whether they are currently typing in your conversation. You can also start a new Messenger conversation by simply adding the recipient’s phone number.
If you haven’t already (or set your market to auto-update), you should probably head over to the market and update your Google+ application.
Google Goggles
Google Goggles also received a fairly significant update to add some pretty cool new features. The changes:
- Continuous Mode allows you to use Goggles without pressing the shutter button
- Goggles can recognize text in a document and return a link to its online version. Try it on your favorite newspaper!
- You can help Goggles recognize more objects. Tap on ‘Do you have a better suggestion’ in the Goggles results page.
- Google Goggles will now show user submitted results in the search results page.
The coolest one of these additions in my opinion is the ability to scan a newspaper article to receive a link to the online version of that story. The other features are pretty cool too.
Google Maps
Google Maps received a very minor update, bringing bugfixes and performance enhancements to several devices.
Final Thoughts
There you have it; Google has provided updates to three of its applications, two of which have pretty significant improvements and enhancements. Head over to the market and give these apps an update.
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