Google also makes a ton of useful apps and recently it has launched Google Trips, a personal trip planner that lets you make the most use of your time and lets you enjoy more of your vacation or adventure while removing the hassle of making extensive plans as most research studies show that the most stressful aspect of travelling is the planning phase.

Let’s talk about how Google Trips works and what it has to offer? It works as a personal trip guide and breaks down your trip into various categories such as day plans, reservations, food and drink, things to do, getting around etc. The whole app seamlessly works offline as you can download trips for each destination you’re planning to visit thus saving you from costly roaming data charges in the process. Google has brought together the most popular sights, attractions and interesting local offerings into one place from 200 top cities in the world under its day plans category. You can choose from multiple day plans for each city.

The trip also does intelligent planning. Obviously not everyone has similar interests or time to take the whole day trips hence you can choose specific places that you might have already in mind and then Google Trips will plan your itinerary around your selected places and time slot. You can also tap on the “Magic Wand” button for more options to nearby sights.  You can keep tapping to get more options from the said button.

While travelling, keeping track of your hotel, restaurant, car and flight reservations can also be a quite tedious thing to manage. If you use Gmail, all your travel reservations are gathered automatically into the app and are organized as individual trips so you don’t have to go through the hassle of digging up into your inbox and finding the relevant emails. Your pickup, drop off, flight and hotel details are all shown under the “Reservations” tile in the Google Trips application.

Vacations are a chance to recharge and experience new places and cultures while having fun and adventure with your loved ones. For your next trip, let the good folks at Google help you see all the sights you want to see, without all the work. Google Trips is available now on Android/iOS and has you covered from departure to return.

Khurram Zahid

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However apart from all of this, Google had two new announcements related to applications in general as well. The search giant announced two new kinds of applications namely Family Library and Instant Apps. These are for the Android platform. Let’s get to know what these are all about!

Family Library:
This is basically an app sharing feature. For example if you download a paid app on your device, you’ll be able to share it with upto 6 members of your family on various devices without having to pay for the same application multiple times. Google is going to enable this feature for all applications after 2nd July and it’s actively asking developers to enable the Family Library feature for past purchases as well but also warns that this decision will not be reversible. However it is unclear at this moment how Google will verify the family members on each account. Apple has an approach where it lets one family member be the organizer and other family members can make purchases on their behalf and charged under a single credit card. Right now it’s the same way how you share a Google Play Music subscription.

Instant Apps:
The other project that’s becoming a reality is known as instant apps. In a nutshell it means running an app without actually having to install it first. The basic concept behind this is that you get a link for the app and it loads only the relevant parts of the app according to your request or need. This will be done on the fly so there won’t be a lot of waiting time included. If you like the app then there will be a button from where you can actually download the full app itself. This can really come in handy if you wish to try out an app before actually buying it but it depends upon Google and the developers on how this functionality will actually be enabled for existing or new apps in the Play Store. Android Instant Apps will be supported on OS versions going back all the way to Jelly Bean, so this functionality will be accessible to over a billion Android users. The new feature will be out for consumers to play with “later this year”, Google says. In the meantime, developers can start working on making their apps compatible. Google has partnered with a small number companies to “help refine the experience”, including BuzzFeed, B&H Photo, Medium, Hotel Tonight, Zumper, and Disney.

Khurram Zahid

The post Google Brings Instant Apps and Family Library For Android Users! appeared first on Smartchoice.pk.

Allo:
Google’s new smart messaging app is called Allo that uses your phonebook to find other contacts that are also on Allo. It’s an approach similar to WhatsApp, Viber and many other messaging applications. It lets you use emoji, ink, stickers and Whisper Shout, which lets you send text messages in an enlarged font to resemble a virtual shout in conversations! It also has Smart Reply feature built into it that learns how you usually respond to messages and can predict replies for messages from your contacts. Smart Reply even has the ability to analyze photos and suggest suitable replies for you to send e.g if you’re sent a picture of a cake, the suggested reply might be “tasty”, “I love cake” or “Happy Birthday” etc. The more you use the app, the more personalized it will become and learn your conversational traits. Allo even integrates Google Now within the app so you can search for sports scores or restaurants or virtually anything. Additionally it also comes with a personal assistant in the form of an AI chat bot that can help you with various requests regarding flight times, tv shows and the likes. Since AI and privacy don’t sound too good together, Google has integrated an incognito mode with end to end encryption to protect your privacy.

Duo:
This is a fast one-to-one video calling application like Facetime. Duo is also made for both iOS and Android platforms. Like Allo, Duo is also based upon your phone number so you can connect with your friends who already have it up and running on their devices.  It also comes with a new feature comically named “knock, knock” that lets the recipient stream the caller’s feed before actually having accepted the call. The video quality is up to 720p HD and the application will automatically adjust the video quality depending on the strength of your WiFi/mobile data connection. It also promises seamless transition from WiFi to cellular data and vice versa.

Both of these applications will be made available for download this summer on iOS and Android platforms.

Khurram Zahid

The post Google Launches New Messaging And Video Calling Apps! appeared first on Smartchoice.pk.