Mobile tips

(Cross posted from the Google Australia Blog ) As an engineer I like to solve problems and I like to test stuff, the bigger the better. A couple of months ago I was intrigued by a challenge: Australians have the second highest smartphone penetration in the world (second only to Singapore) but we have one of the lowest usage rates of Google Voice Search. This had some of us scratching our heads, because Google Voice Search understands our Australian accents. So we thought it would be fun to show Australians how well Google Voice Search works by conducting a series of experiments in remote Australian locations. I went to the middle of the South Australian desert with James, a fellow engineer. We found some of the hottest, reddest earth in the country to test a long distance voice search - 50 metres away from the phone! Here�s our adventure: Meanwhile, our fellow Google engineers Noel and Alice went up north to the beautiful Great Barrier Reef, to test Google Voice Search underwater. Now...

(Cross-posted from the  Google Commerce blog ) Neiman Marcus is known for the outrageously beautiful and unique merchandise showcased in their annual Christmas Book. Think of the most amazing gifts you can imagine -- a beautiful Chanel handbag, a Orefici watch, or perhaps your very own tailored mermaid suit or customizable cupcake car. For this holiday season, Google Catalogs has collaborated with Neiman Marcus to offer you a free, browsable copy of this year�s Christmas Book. We�ve also created the very first historic compilation of Neiman Marcus Fantasy Gifts from the past ten years. It�s called the Fantasy Gifts Retrospective and you�ll only find it on the Google Catalogs app for iPad, available for free in the App Store . To celebrate the Fantasy Gifts Retrospective, we�ve picked out our favorite gifts from the past 10 years! Sadly, gifts from prior years are no longer for sale, but we trust you'll enjoy the 2011 gifts and the walk down memory lane. Posted by Madhu Punjabi, S...

(Cross-posted on the Official Google blog ) Beaming a video with a single tap or unlocking a device with only a smile sounds like science fiction. Now, you can actually do these things (and more) with a phone that fits in the palm of your hand. Wednesday morning in Hong Kong�together with Samsung�we unveiled Galaxy Nexus, the first phone designed for the latest release of Android 4.0, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich. With a super slim profile, Galaxy Nexus features a 4.65� Contour Display with true high definition (720p) resolution and a lightning-fast dual core 1.2ghz processor combined with 4G LTE or HSPA+ technology. Galaxy Nexus also features the latest in software: Ice Cream Sandwich makes Android simple and beautiful, and takes the smartphone to beyond smart. Beauty and simplicity With Ice Cream Sandwich, our mission was to build a mobile OS that works on both phones and tablets, and to make the power of Android enticing and intuitive. We created a new font that�s optimized for...

(Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog ) We�re hearing from people at check-out counters throughout the country that paying with your phone is a little like magic. Just look at the ecstatic reaction on the faces of our friends who made their first Google Wallet purchases last Thursday. Today, our partners American Eagle Outfitters, The Container Store, Foot Locker, Guess, Jamba Juice, Macy�s, OfficeMax and Toys�R�Us are rolling out an even better Google Wallet experience. For the first time ever in the U.S., at these select stores , you can not only pay but also redeem coupons and/or earn rewards points�all with a single tap of your phone. This is what we call the Google Wallet SingleTap experience. With Google Wallet in hand, you can walk into a Jamba Juice, American Eagle Outfitters or any other partner store. Once you�ve ordered that Razzmatazz smoothie or found the right color Slim Jean, head straight to the cashier and tap your phone to pay and save�that�s it. You don�t have t...

(Cross posted on the Official Google Blog and Google Translate Blog ) Mobile technology and the web have made it easier for people around the world to access information and communicate with each other. But there�s still a daunting obstacle: the language barrier. We�re trying to knock down that barrier so everyone can communicate and connect more easily. Earlier this year, we launched an update to Google Translate for Android with an experimental feature called Conversation Mode, which enables you to you translate speech back and forth between languages. We began with just English and Spanish, but today we�re expanding to 14 languages, adding Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Russian and Turkish. To use Conversation Mode, speak into your phone�s microphone, and the Translate app will translate what you�ve said and read the translation out loud. The person you�re speaking with can then reply in their language, and ...

(Cross-posted from the Google Docs blog ) Earlier this year, we introduced the Google Docs app for Android . Since then, many users have downloaded the app and enjoyed the benefits of being able to access, edit and share docs on the go. Today�s update to the app makes Google Docs work better than ever on your tablet. With an entirely new design, we�ve customized the look to make the most of the larger screen space on tablets. The layout includes a three-panel view, which allows you to navigate through filters and collections, view your document list, and see document details, all at once. Looking at the details panel on the right side, you can see a thumbnail to preview a document and its details before opening it. From the panel, you can see who can view or edit any doc. New 3-panel view for improved browsing Autocomplete makes sharing with others on the go even easier These features are now available in 46 languages on tablet devices with Android 3.0+ (Honeycomb) and above. You can ...