Gadgetory

hello again ladies and gentlemen I'm Joe Hindy the android authority app guy happy Friday everybody this week we're going to talk about some awesome updates to Google search a questionable move regarding Google Drive and of course more awesome app news so let's go first up this week is a new update to Google search that brought a whole bunch of features the first one we'll talk about is the new parking feature you can now ask Google now to keep track of where you're parked and it'll let you know where it is when you need to know our own andrew grush took a look at it and found that the results can be occasionally spotty but we expect Google to improve this feature over time apparently google now also includes more detailed restaurant information you can filter restaurants by cuisine type cost rating and other variables so you can plan your dinner outing accordingly there are also screenshots floating around the web of Google now being able to do more with places like malls where you can search stores within the mall which is also really cool well we're on the topic of Google how about all those standalone applications that got released this last week when I reviewed the Microsoft Office application a while back one thing a lot of my comments were saying is how Google Drive is better because it bundles the cloud storage and the office apps into a single bundle unfortunately folks they won't be able to say that anymore because google is unbundling google drive from google docs and now we'll see separate applications opening a file on google drive will now prompt you to use one of Google's Office apps it actually gets just a little bit worse instead of having a single office application in a single cloud storage app Google is releasing Docs sheets and slides all in separate applications this means that the functionality you have with only one application before will now require for apps to have currently only docs and sheets are available in the Google Play Store and slides is coming soon it's questionable and I look forward to seeing how people will receive this move especially after the visceral reception Microsoft got for doing essentially the same thing with office and onedrive so snapchat got an update this last week that adds video calls and text chatting okay so snapchat now supports video and text chats it still keeps that vanilla snapchat experience but if you always wanted a little more out of snapchat than this update is a pretty big deal the text chat is pretty bland right now but we assume it'll get improved over time the video part is actually way more interesting snapchat will notify you in both you and the other person are viewing a conversation by showing a blue pulsing button when press it it'll connect to a video chat and you can continue from there since you can only video chat when everyone is paying attention there is no missed video calls and according to reports the videos connect instantaneously now with more mainstream features it'll be interesting to see if people start taking snapchat more seriously in our last bit of news this week LastPass got an update that integrates it with the galaxy s5 fingerprint scanner and that makes the fingerprint scanner actually useful okay so here's how it works LastPass lets you store passwords for apps and websites and then automatically log you into those apps and sites typically you only need to remember your LastPass password and then everything else is handled by LastPass it's worth mentioning that it's actually on our list of the best password manager apps for Android with the galaxy s5 integration it allows you to log into lastpass with the fingerprint scanner instead of the password this means you can all sensibly log into applications and websites directly through the fingerprint scanner and let's face facts that's infinitely useful and cool the only downside is LastPass requires a one dollar per month subscription but it's always been that way for mobile users so that's not really that new so who wants to check out some trending applications as usual if you want to check any of these applications out you can find the links in the briton companion which is in the video description below first up this week is faces in this unique application lets you sign into a bunch of social networks and when your friends check in nearby it'll show you a notification letting you know that they're around this is great for socialites who enjoy improv Jim meetups and the app features a clean and sleek interface it's totally free to use and supports a range of social networks and they're working on adding more it's also free so why not right next up is a brand new application called slide slide is a fairly simple application that gives you shortcuts to your five favorite applications in the form of floating icons it works pretty much like it looks there's a little dock on the side of your device that you tap once you do your five favorite applications pop up and you can easily switch between them this is a nifty application that can be really useful for people who use the same apps all the time and it gets out of your way when you don't need it it's not an N sense in the Google Play Store and you should give it a look buzz launcher is a popular and unique application that just past the seven million download mark using this app you can theme and organize your home screen and a number of unique ways and has over 300,000 home screens to choose from they've also updated their application recently to include a few new features it's free to download in the Google Place or clumsy ninja is a newly popular game that is kind of cute and also enjoyable you play as a clumsy ninja as you complete various tasks like jumping on a trampoline or catching chickens it's a silly time waster so there's no real gaming value but admittedly it was fun to just play around with it from time to time also it's free last up this week is the venerable HD widgets that releasing version 4.2 the google play store and a staged rollout so some people may have it while others may not have it yet the update includes a completely overhauled interface as well as completely overhauled widgets there are also new themes included including a more modern flat theme as well as upcoming updates to their theme add-on app called color form if you haven't checked out HD widgets yet now is a great time to do so once again I'm Joe Hindy the android authority app guy don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel and if you want to follow android authority myself or the rest of our awesome youtube team you can find our social media links in the video description below if you're hanging out for a minute we have a couple of Awesome videos for you to watch right over there including Josh for guards hands on with the fingerprint scanner on the galaxy s5 as well as the best android apps from april 2014 finally don't forget to check out the briton companion in the video description below for all of the download links as always thanks for watching everybody and have a wonderful day