Apps & Services
Google Home App Gets a Refresh with New Features and Enhancements
Utilizing products and services from Google and your preferred companies, Google Home creates a customized smart home to assist you with your duties, ranging from smart locks to smart lighting. While previewing the potential feature to “see more data from sensors,” which may already be in beta, Google recently summarized the most recent Home app releases. Three new traits:
- Rotation
- Fan speed
- Multisensor
All will be supported by the Home app, according to Google. Displays for light, motion, humidity, and temperature will be added to the expanded device controls. The complete functionality of a device may occasionally be unavailable or uncontrollable through the Google Home app.
Updates to the Home app have revealed new features and details to some app users, as per the source, Android Police (via 9to5Google). Controls for appliances like ceiling fans and sensor readings on lights and other devices are examples of this. It appears that a large number of users already have access to these upgrades in the app, even though the business stated that the public preview will be available shortly. The next feature to add should be the ability to obtain additional sensor readings from devices that may provide such information in addition to their primary use.
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It may already be available, but Google claims it’s “coming soon to public preview.” There’s plenty to discover if you’re still controlling your smart home appliances by hand using the Home app. Without a doubt, the app is now more useful thanks to the upgrades that Google has made over the past year. The firm has made it quick and simple to take advantage of these advantages without difficulty or time commitment, even if you have no interest in coding or putting up intricate automations. By the end of 2023, Google hopes to have integrated artificial intelligence (AI) into the Home app, enabling users to construct sophisticated automations using just their mobile devices.
Your smart driving companion Android Auto getting a new beta update and it’s ready to download.
Google is active in upgrading the Android Auto facility since continuously it delivers new updates to offer new functionality and fix bugs as per the requirements, and now it is delivering an Android Auto Beta 12. Android Auto is a Google-designed application that helps drivers keep focused on the road by using Google Assistant to manage entertainment, calls, messages, locations, and more.
Android Auto 12 Beta update Available to Download
The new version is beta 12, and as per ritual, Google has not published an official changelog with the new features introduced. It’s quite inconvenient for users not to easily get detailed information about the new features and improvements that arrived with the update. But you can get the latest Android Auto 12 Beta update here.
Possibly even with this version, the developers have limited themselves to fixing a few bugs that were present in the previous version and were creating a kind of inconvenience to users in their seamless experience and making some minor general improvements.
A couple of days ago, Google delivered the Android Auto 11.9 stable update. Android Auto offers you dozens of facilities to make drivers’ driving experience more comfortable, as it lets you make calls using Google Assistant and answer incoming calls with just a tap, offers you updates on your route, ETA, and hazards in real-time, access your contacts folder and send and receive messages with the Google Assistant using SMS, Hangouts, and many more messaging apps, and so on.
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The Matter is an open standard platform for smart home technology that lets the device connect with any matter-certified ecosystem using a single protocol, which provides a smooth experience while using the smart home devices. Now the platform has started grabbing new updates with v1.3, and with the latest update, it has started to support more smart home devices.
Metter 1.3 brings support for ten more devices with new features
The Matter platform partner company has announced the release of the Matter 1.3 update, which will provide support for several smart kitchen appliances, electric vehicle chargers, sensors, and valves. You can check out all the smart devices listed below:
- Cooktops
- Dryers
- Electric vehicle chargers
- Extractor Hoods
- Freeze detectors
- Microwave Ovens
- Ovens
- Leak Detectors
- Rain Sensors
- Water Valves
Along with the expansion of the device support list, the latter update for software updates also brings some new features like energy tracking, which lets users track the energy usage of the device throughout the day. Secondly, it has introduced scenes, which help users do several actions in batch form. For instance, you can create a scene in which room lights turn on when you close the door.
Additionally, now the TVs that support Matter can display notifications about the progress of other home-based devices. With this functionality, Matter Cast becomes a great alternative for other systems like AirPlay and Google Cast.
Samsung should quickly bring Matter’s new version to SmartThings
Samsung has adapted the Matter functionality with its SmartThings platform, but the company hasn’t focused on bringing innovations for the devices and hasn’t brought the Matter 1.2 support, and it looks like the company may take some more time to bring the functionality for the smart things. So for the latest 1.3 updates, it looks like Samsung Galaxy device users have to wait for a couple of months.
Google Message works similarly to the stock Android messaging application until you use the RCS functionality, which allows users to send or receive messages instantly through the internet. With the RCS functionality, the application provides a similar experience to other instant messaging applications like WhatsApp. However, currently, it lacks some necessary features that provide more privacy to the user, so to make it more user-friendly, Google is working to enhance the block contact service.
According to the information, a new Google Message beta version arrived that carries a new feature that activates the functionality to block the contact and ban it from messaging in groups. For starters, currently, when you block anyone from your side, the messages of those contacts still appear in the group.
It is worth noticing that the feature is currently spotted in the beta version, which means it will take time to arrive at the stable version of the application. Generally, it takes more than a week to pass the testing phase, so it is expected that the company will make it available publicly in the next couple of weeks.
Google Messages is gradually moving forward to grab all the cool features that have already been available in the market on other platforms; however, the company has to face tough competition to grab the attention of the user, but with the leverage of control over the Android ecosystem, the search giant could take some innovative steps like integrating Gemini to beat the competition.