In case you missed all the recent Googe App Updates - Here's what you need to know

[Lloydbm41]

Google Search Updated To v3.2. What do you get?

• New Google Now Launcher name with splash screen on start up
• 6 columns on tablet home screens (up from 5)
• AirBNB reservations in Google Now
• Fixes disappearing icon in the hotseat bug
• Hotword detection now works in British and Canadian English
• Icon imports from old home screen
• App drawer no longer resets to first page when you close it
• New animations for expandable card bundles
• Voice volume is now dependent on media volume (instead of system volume)
• Customize TV provider and on-demand options
• When setting alarms, Google Now says "setting alarm for [time]" aloud
• UI enhancements for getting to appointments early or on time
• Action overflow button has moved from left side of cards to right
• Fixes icon alignment in app drawer on some devices
• A Winter Olympics 2014 Google Now card with medals and the upcoming events

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Google Play Newsstand 3.1 Adds Widget, Mini Cards, And Translation Options. What you get:

• Widget: A 4x3 widget that will display a single story at a time, complete with headline and embedded image. Tap the arrow button to advance to the next headline, or anywhere else to go directly to the story in Newsstand.
• Inside the app: The interface has been updated to include the new standard slide-out menu design, which is where the primary link to the Settings page and the Help menu are now hiding. The drop-down menu in the action bar (top right corner) still holds the refresh button and "on device only" view, but you also have a new option for "Mini cards."
• Mini-cards: The cards compress the larger article previews down to a one- or two-line headline and a much smaller thumbnail, giving the app a look more like a mobile-optimized website. Category cards are slightly larger, with a small banner and two links, and some image-heavy articles may get an automatic expanded view.
• Translation: Users can now automatically translate entire feeds or single stories.

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Hangouts Updated To v2.0.303. What you get:

MMS and bug fixes. And new option to enable or disable sending of usage statistics to Google to improve the app.

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Google Drive Update. What you get:

• Brings New 1x1 Quick Scan Widget
• Support For Animated GIFs

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Google Maps v7.6. What you get:

• Offers: An enhanced "Your Offers" interface, which now separates out offer history from active offers, with the former storing used or expired offers. You can also sort offers by location, business name, or start/expiration dates.
• Preferred Transit Modes: A switch from radio buttons to check boxes for preferred modes is now instituted. Instead of choosing just one method (Bus, Subway, Train, or Tram) as the preferred mode, users can select any, all, or none of the options.
• Bug fixes and UI adjustments: Maps has switched over to the rounded vertical ellipsis icon used in overflow menus across some of Google's other apps.

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Google Play Services 4.2. What you get:

• Refines Play Games: the interface for inviting players has been refined to show "active" players as a separate group from everyone else in your circles, and warns users that "auto-picked" players will be able to see their Google+ profile and relevant activity information.
• Adds Cast API: the Google Cast SDK and integrating the relevant Android API into Google Play Services
• Signs Of Auth Enhancements: New strings that appear to be related to account authentication. The strings point to things like password reset, login activity, and two-step verification.
• New Icon:
  
  

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Google Wallet App Update 2.0-R151-v8. What you can expect:

• Loyalty Cards: Auto-populate information when scanning in loyalty cards
• Location Based Offer Alerts: Brick-and-mortar stores that also support Google Wallet's deals and offers, can now alert you when you're physically near the store in question. (Sounds similar to what iBeacons is doing.)

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Google Play Books Update v3.1.31. What you get:

• Upload PDF or EPUB files to your library. Enable PDF support in Settings, then touch a file in email or Downloads and choose Upload to Play Books.
• Settings and Help have moved to the main navigation menu.
• Performance improvements and bug fixes, including a fix to prevent the screen from sleeping while the app is reading aloud.

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Android Device Manager Update v1.1.7. WHat you get:

• Account password challenge at application start and when switching accounts. In other words, it will prompt for a password each time it starts up.
• Bug fixes and performance improvements

 

[tbayrgs]

Hot word detection now works in British and Canadian English:

Canadian English? Does that mean 'OK Google Now, aye?' activates Google Search?

My apologies in advance to our Canadian Macrumors brethren, I couldn't resist.

 

[Stuntman06]

Canadian English? Does that mean 'OK Google Now, aye?' activates Google Search?

My apologies in advance to our Canadian Macrumors brethren, I couldn't resist.

It's not "aye." "Aye" is what you say when the captain gives you an order.

It's, "eh." Got that, eh?

 

[tbayrgs]

It's not "aye." "Aye" is what you say when the captain gives you an order.

It's, "eh." Got that, eh?

I knew the sound/pronunciation (spent much of my youth across the Niagara river in Buffalo, NY), just poor choice of spelling--my apologies. That's for the lesson, eh.

 

[hallux]

Interesting, I got the updates on both my tablet and my phone. My phone has the newsstand widget but my tablet doesn't..

 

[Stuntman06]

I knew the sound/pronunciation (spent much of my youth across the Niagara river in Buffalo, NY), just poor choice of spelling--my apologies. That's for the lesson, eh.

Now you know the proper spelling. Either that or it's your unusual American spelling that is just different than pretty much the rest of the world.

 

[sviato]

It's not "aye." "Aye" is what you say when the captain gives you an order.

It's, "eh." Got that, eh?

I was fully going to correct him but I see that you've got a handle on this, thanks.

 

[Dontazemebro]

This is why you can't compare android OS updates to iOS. Good feature list of updates right there.