platforms got significant updates this week.
App developers pushed out scores of updates to their applications this
week. Smartphone and tablet owners can now do more with apps including
Chrome, Facebook, Maps, Skype, Twitter, Vine and Yahoo Mail. Here's
what's new.
-- Chrome: Google offered an update to its popular Android browser
that adds full-screen browsing to tablets. Chrome now lets users hide
the toolbar so Web pages will fill the entire display. The app added
support for Google Translate, which will translate Web pages from one
language to another. Last, Google Chrome for Android added a
right-to-left viewing option to support languages such as Arabic,
Farsi and Hebrew.
Facebook: Facebook was updated this week for both the Android and iOS
platforms. For Android, Facebook gained the ability to share news
stories privately, a new swipe-left-to-open messages gesture, the
ability to store and run the app from microSD cards, and drag-and-drop
folder support for Facebook Home. For iOS, Facebook added support for
verified accounts, which lets iPhone and iPad owners stalk, er, search
for and follow celebrities and other high-profile users. The app also
made it easier to edit Places within Facebook.
[ What's new on Microsoft's smartphone? See Windows Phone Scores More
Key Apps. ]
-- Google Maps: Google rolled out a huge update to Google Maps. The
update hit Android devices this week and will reach iOS devices soon.
The new Google Maps makes it easier to search for nearby places with
an Explore feature, and also added the ability to automatically alert
drivers to changing road conditions ahead. Even better, Google is
going to offer a version of Maps specifically for tablets.
-- Skype: Microsoft gave Windows Phone devices some love with a new
version of Skype. Skype 2.8 for Windows Phone 8 makes significant
improvements to the app's start-and-resume performance. Essentially,
users who've multitasked away from Skype will see much faster resume
behavior when they return to the app. Skype also makes changes to how
it tallies unread conversations on the Live Tile and made the app
available in South Korea.
-- Twitter: Twitter revised its application for Android and iOS
devices, as well as its dedicated Mac desktop application. The most
significant new feature in this version of Twitter is that it will
sync direct message status across devices. One of Twitter's most
nagging problems has been its inability to mark-as-read DMs between
devices. Now, when a Twitter DM is read on one device, such as an
Apple computer, it will be marked read on mobile devices as well.
Twitter also refreshed the search tool, which provides more user
details in results, and made it easier to join ongoing conversations.
-- Vine: Vine, Twitter's video-sharing social network, added tons of
features to its Android app that should make users happy. The update
gave Android devices a new quick-capture widget that can be put on the
home screen and used to jump straight to recording a video. The app
added 15 new channels through which users can browse for videos, and
added the ability to share videos, which Vine calls re-Vining, with
others. It also gained a new mute button and performance improvements.
-- Yahoo Mail: Yahoo updated its email app for both Android and iOS
devices. Yahoo Mail for Android devices added integration with
Dropbox. That means Yahoo Mail users can access and share their
Dropbox files from within the email program. The app also now lets
users swipe from message to message, and adds support for business
mail accounts. The iOS version of Yahoo Mail gets business mail
support, too, and throws in support for multiple accounts for good
measure.
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