This morning, when I turned off the alarm on my Nexus S, I verified that there were almost a dozen pending updates and all were from Google applications. Had the warning system gone crazy? Have I ever received for the third or fourth time an update to a Google app that was actually the same as the one I had installed. But this time those who have gone crazy have been Google. Taking advantage of the start of Google I / O, they launched updates for almost all their apps.
The first to be updated was Google Play itself. Taking advantage of the arrival of Jelly Bean, Google has released version 3.7.11 of the Play Store. In theory it is only available now for the Nexus 7 tablet and the Nexus phones that the lucky ones who are at Google I/O have. But the APK file of the new store is already circulating on the internet. We have installed it and we have verified that it includes elements such as the possibility of choosing by which means you can share a new application. It also brings new features such as Magazines and TV Shows but this is not yet available in Spain. In addition, the web version of the Play Store has been redesigned. Now, in addition to the possibility of installing applications from the computer on our mobile, we can also uninstall them.
I don't have all the Google apps, but I do have most. And I have eight pending updates since yesterday. Going in order, the first one I see is the Chrome browser, which has already removed the adjective beta. Unfortunately for many, it is still only compatible with Android 4.0 or higher.
Next on the list is Google Earth 7.0. Now includes guidebooks and a large 3D image gallery. The first cities to be recreated in three dimensions are San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston and, in Europe, Geneva and Rome. They announce more for the next few weeks. In parallel they have also updated Maps and Street View. For the first, comes something that had already been announced and that is a breakthrough. Now we can save the maps to see them later when we have no connection. For its part, Street View has given greater sensitivity to the compass mode.
One of the biggest updates has been Google+. The new version has a renewed graphical interface now compatible with tablets. In addition, it includes the new Events function with party mode and they have improved navigation and redesigned the management of Circles.
Even greater is the one that YouTube has received and twice. For devices with old versions of Android (2.4 for backwards, ie Gingerbread, Froyo or Eclair), you can now enter YouTube with the Google account. In addition to the resolution of several bugs, it also incorporates HD playback for mobiles that have that capacity, of course. But the bulk of the news are intended for the most current mobiles, with Ice Cream Sandwich. It brings a new interface, preloading the videos via WiFi, access to the history of the videos you have seen on the different devices or the possibility of turning the mobile into a remote control to play the videos on another device.
Finally, at least in the Google apps that I have on my terminals, there is a double update of Google Play Books and Google Play Movies. The first now allows you to add bookmarks, play video and audio inserted in the ebooks and some more details. While in Google Play Movies I have not detected any news. It may be what it said at the beginning, that the store had gone crazy and was sending me a ghost update.