Android is resurgent in Australia, according to new research from International Data Corporation (IDC). The research firm found that devices with the popular Google operating system (OS) had rebounded to account for 63% of smartphones shipped in the country in Q2 2017, while Apple’s iOS was installed on 37% of devices shipped that quarter. Android’s share […]
Google is rolling out the ability to make hands-free phone calls to the US and Canada via Google Assistant on Google Home. In a blog post, Google said users in the US simply say, “Hey Google, call…” and calls will be made over users’ Wi-Fi connections. Google Home can call businesses and Google contacts, but it […]
Google has introduced a feature to Maps and Search that helps people find out all they need to know about a location they have searched for. With Google’s ‘Questions & Answers’, people are able to ask questions, get answers, and answer other people’s questions about places on Google Maps. The most informative questions and answers […]
Google is reportedly going to pay Apple billions of dollars to continue as the default search engine on iPhones and iPads. According to a note to investors from Bernstein, it is believed Google will pay Apple in the region of $3bn (£2,3bn) this year – up from $1bn three years ago – and that Google […]
One of the primary drivers of app use is communication, but US smartphone users are less likely than their counterparts in Europe to use apps for that purpose, according to recent data from Ipsos MORI and Google. A May 2017 survey of smartphone users in the US and five countries in Europe found that respondents in the Netherlands […]
Mobile services company CM has joined Google’s Early Access Program for RCS Business Messaging, an initiative that enables businesses to send richer, more useful messages to their customers. Richer Native Messaging SMS has long been limited to just plain text. RCS (Rich Communication Service) upgrades messaging with popular chat features like typing indicators, read receipts, high-quality […]
Google is reportedly developing a feature, based on its AMP (accelerated mobile pages) service, that works in a similar way to Snapchat’s Discover section. Stamp, a portmanteau of ‘Stories’ and AMP, will see publishers create visually-oriented content through a series of ‘swipeable’ slides including text, photos and video – according to the Wall Street Journal. The […]
Google has launched its Trusted Contacts location-sharing app for iOS devices, seven moths after the feature first arrived on Android. With Trusted Contacts installed, users can designate any of their contacts as “trusted,” which means those individuals will be able to see their activity status (e.g. ‘Active Recently’) and request a specific location. The activity status allows friends and family to […]
Advertising is the lifeblood of the internet. Google parent company Alphabet makes more money from digital ads than any company on the planet — it’s expected to make $73.8 billion dollars in net digital ad sales in 2017 after subtracting for traffic acquisition costs, according to internet research firm eMarketer. Google represents 33 percent of the […]
Google has launched Triangle, an Android app for managing mobile data usage, in a pilot in the Philippines. Triangle enables users to monitor their data usage and, for participating networks, check their remaining balance. Perhaps the biggest draw, though, is the ‘Data Saver’ feature for controlling unwanted background data. Users can block individual apps from […]