Kategorie: Android

Our new Apps, Games & Insights podcast is for app and game enthusiasts—whether you play them or build them. We’ll talk to experts from across the industry about topics ranging from privacy and accessibility, to responsible growth and player engagement. Here are eight things you’ll learn from the series:

1. Diversity creates better games

In episode 1, we hear from Sarah Fuchs, VP, Covet Fashion and Judy Chen, Director of PM at Crowdstar on why it’s important for the diversity of their company to reflect their players. The team who designs one of their games, Covet Fashion, is 60 percent women. In their words, “If you want to create an environment that will attract women or attract probably more diversity, you need to create an environment and model the behavior that it’s OK to have a life. And if you have a life and you enjoy your life, you will be better at your job.”

2. Mergers and acquisitions are like a marriage

Zynga has deployed more than $1 billion in mergers and acquisitions over the last 10 years, including the acquisitions of Gram Games and Small Giant Games. In episode 2, we’ll hear from Chris Petrovic, SVP at Zynga, who says that it’s about building a partnership that brings together the best of both businesses. 

3. Streaming sports wasn’t easy until now

When planning the launch of their service and mobile app, DAZN gave themselves just a year to get all the technology in place. This was challenging because it was unthinkable to miss the start of the football season. In episode 3, hear how DAZN brought together some of the best players in subscription management and payment solutions, and how they’ve grown the business.

4. Investors take sustainable businesses and products seriously

When venture capitalists look at a business, it’s not just about whether the business has a hot product or service, it’s as much about the founders, their team, and their business processes. Venture capitalists are always looking for a solid foundation on which to build—learn more in episode 4 of the podcast.

5. Privacy matters more than ever 

As more countries and territories introduce strict laws on consumer privacy, episode 5 explores why it’s increasingly important to ensure that apps and games are privacy-friendly for businesses and consumers. It’s not just about staying on the right side of the law—one security breach can easily destroy trust in your app, and winning back that trust isn’t easy. 

6. The best games put players first 

According to Jagex Games Studio, over 270 million people have played one of their RuneScape games. In episode 6, Ben Clarke, Senior Global Marketing Director at Jagex, talks about their approach to launching and testing, and keeping players engaged every day. For example, when adding a new feature, they open a polling booth within the game where players vote on the feature.

7. Accessibility debt is a real thing, and it matters

According to the World Bank, there are over 1 billion people worldwide with a disability. As a public broadcaster, a central part of the mission at the BBC is to be accessible and inclusive. This mission is as much a priority for their apps, such as iPlayer and Sounds, as it is within their traditional broadcast channels. In episode 7, find out how the BBC tracks this by what they call “accessibility debt,” and why it should be important to everyone.

8. Mobile games aren’t always on mobile

Many of your favorite Android games are now available on more devices than just your smartphone. Mobile game developers want you to have every opportunity to play your favorite game, regardless of the gaming platform. Gameloft has embraced a multi-platform approach. In episode 8, listen to Maximiliano Rodriguez, Platforms Operations Director at Gameloft, talk about how Gameloft considers games for ChromeOS and Android TV platforms as soon as they start developing a game for mobile.

Join us for all eight episodes to find out more about these topics and the apps and games industry. Listen to the latest episodes on your favorite podcast channel including Spotify, Apple, and Google Podcasts. 

Also, keep an eye out on @GooglePlayDev and @AndroidDev on Twitter where we will be announcing the launch of a new episode each week.

Our new Apps, Games & Insights podcast is for app and game enthusiasts—whether you play them or build them. We’ll talk to experts from across the industry about topics ranging from privacy and accessibility, to responsible growth and player engagement. Here are eight things you’ll learn from the series:

1. Diversity creates better games

In episode 1, we hear from Sarah Fuchs, VP, Covet Fashion and Judy Chen, Director of PM at Crowdstar on why it’s important for the diversity of their company to reflect their players. The team who designs one of their games, Covet Fashion, is 60 percent women. In their words, “If you want to create an environment that will attract women or attract probably more diversity, you need to create an environment and model the behavior that it’s OK to have a life. And if you have a life and you enjoy your life, you will be better at your job.”

2. Mergers and acquisitions are like a marriage

Zynga has deployed more than $1 billion in mergers and acquisitions over the last 10 years, including the acquisitions of Gram Games and Small Giant Games. In episode 2, we’ll hear from Chris Petrovic, SVP at Zynga, who says that it’s about building a partnership that brings together the best of both businesses. 

3. Streaming sports wasn’t easy until now

When planning the launch of their service and mobile app, DAZN gave themselves just a year to get all the technology in place. This was challenging because it was unthinkable to miss the start of the football season. In episode 3, hear how DAZN brought together some of the best players in subscription management and payment solutions, and how they’ve grown the business.

4. Investors take sustainable businesses and products seriously

When venture capitalists look at a business, it’s not just about whether the business has a hot product or service, it’s as much about the founders, their team, and their business processes. Venture capitalists are always looking for a solid foundation on which to build—learn more in episode 4 of the podcast.

5. Privacy matters more than ever 

As more countries and territories introduce strict laws on consumer privacy, episode 5 explores why it’s increasingly important to ensure that apps and games are privacy-friendly for businesses and consumers. It’s not just about staying on the right side of the law—one security breach can easily destroy trust in your app, and winning back that trust isn’t easy. 

6. The best games put players first 

According to Jagex Games Studio, over 270 million people have played one of their RuneScape games. In episode 6, Ben Clarke, Senior Global Marketing Director at Jagex, talks about their approach to launching and testing, and keeping players engaged every day. For example, when adding a new feature, they open a polling booth within the game where players vote on the feature.

7. Accessibility debt is a real thing, and it matters

According to the World Bank, there are over 1 billion people worldwide with a disability. As a public broadcaster, a central part of the mission at the BBC is to be accessible and inclusive. This mission is as much a priority for their apps, such as iPlayer and Sounds, as it is within their traditional broadcast channels. In episode 7, find out how the BBC tracks this by what they call “accessibility debt,” and why it should be important to everyone.

8. Mobile games aren’t always on mobile

Many of your favorite Android games are now available on more devices than just your smartphone. Mobile game developers want you to have every opportunity to play your favorite game, regardless of the gaming platform. Gameloft has embraced a multi-platform approach. In episode 8, listen to Maximiliano Rodriguez, Platforms Operations Director at Gameloft, talk about how Gameloft considers games for ChromeOS and Android TV platforms as soon as they start developing a game for mobile.

Join us for all eight episodes to find out more about these topics and the apps and games industry. Listen to the latest episodes on your favorite podcast channel including Spotify, Apple, and Google Podcasts. 

Also, keep an eye out on @GooglePlayDev and @AndroidDev on Twitter where we will be announcing the launch of a new episode each week.

Have you ever been so overwhelmingly filled with love that it moved you to tears? Or, perhaps you’ve laughed so hard you felt sick—and wished your phone had an emoji to convey that feeling? Whether you’re sending a note to your galentines or your one true love, Gboard on Android now takes your favorite emoji and mixes them into customized stickers, helping you express those nuanced thoughts and feelings.

We affectionately refer to this feature as Emoji Kitchen, because you can explore new “recipes” of expressions using your favorite emoji as ingredients. Using Gboard on your Android phone, tap on any smiley emoji and Emoji Kitchen will reveal a number of stickers specially handcrafted by the designers at Google.

So when you tap the face with a cowboy hat emoji 🤠—YEEHAW now you have monkey cowboy, ghost cowboy, laughing cowboy, kissy cowboy, in love cowboy, pleading cowboy and of course … pensive cowboy.

Emoji have been around long enough that people want to play with them like we do with words—mashing them together, turning nouns into verbs, breaking them apart to create entirely new concepts. Language is infinitely creative just like art and music, and with Emoji Kitchen, your phone’s keyboard becomes an even richer canvas for expression. 

Emoji Kitchen is rolling out to all Gboard users on Android, starting today. If you want to start cooking now, join the Gboard Beta program and try it out on your favorite communication apps, including Gmail, Messages by Google, Messenger, Snapchat, Telegram, WhatsApp, and more. 

Each year, the Unicode Consortium reviews a seemingly infinite number of proposals that result in a list of emoji to be added to smartphones. Then companies like Google design the emoji for their operating systems like Android. 

This week, Unicode announced their 62 new emoji, along with skin tone and gender variants, for 2020. The list has us feeling 🤗, because five of the approved designs were proposed by the Android team. They’re also part of our ongoing effort to create an emoji keyboard that’s more inclusive. Here’s a look at all five:

More representation for a variety of families

Until this year, the only emoji that depicts childcare is the “breastfeeding” emoji. Since an inability to breastfeed doesn’t preclude you from nurturing your child, we proposed First, “person feeding baby with a bottle”—an emoji that everyone can use. (Though in my opinion, as a mother of twins, parenthood is already representable with🌪️💩.)

We also proposed support for all gender variants for “person in veil” and “person in tuxedo,” because our technology should be inclusive of people’s experiences around the world ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

More ways to show empathy

With a new appreciation of how people use emoji, we’ve also been looking into emoji that can communicate empathy, which is often lost when not speaking face to face. That’s part of the thinking behind “two people hugging” and a “slightly smiling face with tear.” 

“Slightly smiling face with tear” is a visual metaphor for feeling simultaneous appreciation and relief—goodness with a dash of sadness. It might come in handy when thinking fondly of the past (#tbt), experiencing the present and not taking moments for granted, or looking hopefully into the future.  

Visibility for the transgender flag 

In addition to the five emoji above, we also sponsored the proposal of the Transgender flag emoji, along with Microsoft. (Googler Tea Uglow co-authored the proposal.) We hope this addition gives the trans community a way to be out and proud, and others a way to provide visible support. 

These five emoji, along with the other new emoji approved by Unicode, will become available for Android users later this year 🥳

Android 10 is here! With this release, we focused on making your everyday life easier with features powered by on-device machine learning, as well as supporting new technologies like Foldables and 5G. At the same time, with almost 50 changes related to privacy and security, Android 10 gives you greater protection, transparency, and control over your data. This builds on top of our ongoing commitment to provide industry-leading security and privacy protections on Android. We also built new tools that empower people of all abilities, and help you find the right balance with technology.

Here are the 10 things you should know, centered on innovation, security and privacy and digital wellbeing: 

Simpler, smarter, and more helpful

1.Smart Reply now suggests actions. So when someone sends you a message with an address or a YouTube video, you can open and navigate in Google Maps or open up the video in YouTube—no copying and pasting required. And Smart Reply now works across all your favorite messaging apps.

2.Come to the dark side… with Dark Theme. You can enable Dark Theme for your entire phone or for specific apps like Photos and Calendar. It’s easier on your eyes, and your phone battery too. 

3.Take advantage of larger, edge-to-edge screens with the new gesture navigation. With simple swipes, you can go backwards, pull up the homescreen, and fluidly move between tasks. After switching, you won’t want to go back to visible buttons. 

4.With a single tap, Live Caption will automatically caption videos, podcasts and audio messages across any app—even stuff you record yourself. Live Caption will become available this fall, starting with Pixel.

New privacy and security features put you in control

5.You can choose to only share location data with apps while you’re using them. You’ll also receive reminders when an app that you are not actively using is accessing your location, so you can decide whether or not to continue sharing. 

6.In a new Privacy section under Settings, you’ll find important controls like Web & App Activity and Ad Settings in one place. 

7.With Google Play system updates, important security and privacy fixes can now be sent to your phone from Google Play, in the same way your apps update. So you get these fixes as soon as they’re available, without having to wait for a full OS update. 

Find the right balance with technology for you and your family

8.You have greater control over where and when notifications will alert you. Mark notifications as “Silent” and they won’t make noise or appear on your lockscreen, so you’re only alerted by notifications when you want to be.

9.Now Family Link is part of every device running Android 9 or 10, right in settings under Digital Wellbeing. Parents can use these tools to set digital ground rules like daily screen time limits, device bedtime, time limits on specific apps, and more. They can also review the apps children install on their devices, as well as their usage.

10.Want to be in the zone but not off the grid? Digital Wellbeing now brings you Focus mode. Select the apps you find distracting—such as email or the news—and silence them until you come out of Focus mode. Sign up for the Beta to try it.

There’s lots more in Android 10, including a new enterprise feature that lets you use different keyboards for your personal and work profiles, app timers for specific websites so you can balance your time on the web, new gender-inclusive emoji, and support for direct audio streaming to hearing aid devices. 

Android 10 begins rolling out to Pixel phones today, and we’re working with our partners to launch and upgrade devices to Android 10 this year. Learn more at android.com/10.

Over the last decade, Android’s open platform has created a thriving community of manufacturers and developers that reach a global audience with their devices and apps. This has expanded beyond phones to tablets, cars, watches, TVs and more—with more than 2.5 billion active devices around the world. As we continue to build Android for everyone in the community, our brand should be as inclusive and accessible as possible—and we think we can do better in a few ways.

Android Q is Android 10

First, we’re changing the way we name our releases. Our engineering team has always used internal code names for each version, based off of tasty treats, or desserts, in alphabetical order. This naming tradition has become a fun part of the release each year externally, too. But we’ve heard feedback over the years that the names weren’t always understood by everyone in the global community. 

For example, L and R are not distinguishable when spoken in some languages. So when some people heard us say Android Lollipop out loud, it wasn’t intuitively clear that it referred to the version after KitKat. It’s even harder for new Android users, who are unfamiliar with the naming convention, to understand if their phone is running the latest version. We also know that pies are not a dessert in some places, and that marshmallows, while delicious, are not a popular treat in many parts of the world. 

As a global operating system, it’s important that these names are clear and relatable for everyone in the world. So, this next release of Android will simply use the version number and be called Android 10. We think this change helps make release names simpler and more intuitive for our global community. And while there were many tempting “Q” desserts out there, we think that at version 10 and 2.5 billion active devices, it was time to make this change. 

A refreshed look for the brand

The Android brand has evolved over time. Back in 2014, we updated our logo and brand color, and this year, we’re introducing a more modern, accessible look.

The design of the logo draws inspiration from the most recognizable non-human member of the community, the Android robot. The robot belongs to everyone in the community, and has long been a symbol of the fun and curiosity at the heart of Android. Now, it has a special place in our logo. 

We also changed the logo from green to black. It’s a small change, but we found the green was hard to read, especially for people with visual impairments. The logo is often paired with colors that can make it hard to see—so we came up with a new set of color combinations that improve contrast.  

We’ll officially start using the updated logo in the coming weeks with the final release of Android 10. Thank you to the community for supporting Android and inspiring us over the years. 

As you hit the road this summer, Android Auto is sporting a new look with features that make driving more simple, personal and helpful. So grab your sunglasses and fill up your tank—here’s what you can expect.

Come on, get app-y

With the new app launcher, you can find all your favorite apps with fewer taps. The bottom left button will open the app launcher, where you’ll find the familiar app icons laid out with your most commonly used apps automatically featured in the top row. Just a couple of taps and you can dive into your favorite podcast, rock out to a new song or send a message to Mom.

Tap and talk for more

You’ll notice several of the icons have the Google Assistant badge. By tapping the icon, your Assistant will tell you about your calendar, give you the weather report, read you the news or set a reminder for you.

Pick up where you left off 

Whether you’re jamming to the greatest hits or deep into an interesting podcast, Android Auto will automatically start playing where you left off. Make sure you check out the many auto-enabled media apps available in Google Play.

This is the fastest route, despite the usual traffic

Never get lost again with your favorite navigation app easily accessible on your display right when you connect Android Auto. Tap on a suggested location or use the Assistant to start navigating. And if you already have a route queued up on your phone, Android Auto will automatically populate the directions and begin routing you to your destination on your display.

Don’t miss a beat… or a turn

The new navigation bar sits at the bottom of your display, and allows you to manage multiple apps, more easily. So if you’re listening to music, you won’t miss your next turn; or if you’re following directions, you can still easily pause or skip a song. You can also jump straight to your app running in the background with one tap.

Missed calls and unread messages

On the bottom right corner, a new notification button houses all of your recent calls, messages and alerts. You can also keep in touch with friends and family, while keeping your eyes on the road. Just long press the mic button on the steering wheel, tap on the mic button on your display or say “Hey Google” to have the Google Assistant help make calls, send messages and read your notifications.

That new car smell

Android Auto is flexible and can morph itself to fit widescreen displays in cars that support it—giving you extra space for step-by-step navigation, media playback and ongoing call controls (dependent on vehicle support). Plus, the new Android Auto improves visibility with easier to read fonts as well as a new dark theme and colorful accents that match your car’s interior.

If your car has Android Auto support, you’ll start to see the new design over the next few weeks. These updates will not be reflected in Android Auto for your phone screen. We will be evolving the phone screen experience from Android Auto to the Assistant’s new driving mode in the future.

Stay tuned for this new update!