On Tuesday, Google introduced five exciting new features for Android users, which aim to enhance the way you interact with your smartphones, tablets, and Wear OS-powered watches. If you enjoy finding new music, use accessibility tools, or want to be ready for natural disasters, the latest updates from Google have something exciting in store for you.
Let’s talk about each feature in simple terms to show how they can make our lives more easier and fun.
Have a look at the five new exciting Google updates for Android users:
1. Shazam-like music identification tool:
Have you ever heard a new song, while scrolling through social media or hanging out with friends and liked it so much that you wanted to know what it was? Well, with this feature by Google, you can search for your favorite music.
To activate this tool – Circle to Search on your smartphones, you just have to long press the Home button or navigation bar, then tap the music button to identify the track name, or/and artist and even open a YouTube video to explore more – then get right back to what you were doing.
2. Access Google Maps Right from Your Wrist:
You can now explore a new city with Google Maps, which is now available offline on Wear OS watches. If you have downloaded a map on your smartphone, you can easily use it on your smartwatch as well. With this new feature, you can navigate the streets, find tourist spots, or just get back to your hotel without needing an internet connection or your phone.
Besides this, Google Maps on Wear OS now has two new shortcuts: you can search for places using your voice or see your current location with a tap on your watch. It’s a handy way to explore without always relying on your phone.
3. TalkBack feature for people with low vision:
For Android users who are blind or have low vision, reading text on their screens can be a struggle. However, Google’s Talkback helps in describing images in detail.
For instance, instead of just saying ‘a person,’ the Google Talkback feature can describe what the person is wearing, what’s around them, and what they are doing.
The feature will make it easier for people who struggle with visual imparities. Notably, the new update works on devices that support Gemini.
4. Listen to web pages read aloud:
If you prefer listening to content instead of reading it, Google has made things easier for you. Google has added a new feature to Chrome that will read web pages aloud. Whether you are catching up on the news or following a recipe, you can now have the content read to you.
By using the text-to-speech feature, you can also customize the speed, language, and voice to fit your preferences. This feature is great if you like multitasking. The text-to-speech feature turns any web page into an audio experience, making it easier for users, who may have difficulty reading or who just enjoy listening to the content.
5. Stay Alert with Google’s Earthquake Alert System
Earthquakes can be scary, but Google’s Earthquake Alerts System keeps you safe by giving you a warning before a natural disaster. The Earthquake Alerts System sends an earthquake alert to users based on crowd-sourced detection technology. This feature is now being rolled out to all users in the United States. It is still not available to users in regions outside of the US.
If you’re in an area where an earthquake is detected, you will receive an alert a few seconds before the earthquake and you can utilize these seconds to prepare and find a safe spot for yourself. Not just this, you will also get tips on what to do next after the earthquake.
