(Cross-posted from the Google Reader blog)

Today we’re excited to announce some updates to the official Google Reader app for Android. Over the last couple of months, we’ve added some of your most-requested features:

Unread count widget - choose any feed, label, person, or “all items” and get the unread count on your home screen. Clicking on the widget takes you to straight to that stream.

News ticker widget - if you prefer a bit more information, you can add a larger size widget that cycles through items on any stream you want in Reader. Clicking any headline will take you to the article, while clicking the folder will take you to that stream.

Mark previous as read - if you’ve used the mobile version of Reader before and missed this feature, it’s now back! As you scroll down your reading list, hit “Mark previous as read” at any time to only mark things above the screen as read.

Posted by Brian Shih, Product Manager

If you’ve ever cursed a phone’s tiny screen as utterly inadequate for sifting through an overflowing inbox you’ll be pleased to hear that the Gmail mobile web app now supports Priority Inbox. Priority Inbox helps combat information overload by automatically identifying your important messages so you can focus on those first. Until today it was only available on the desktop and on Android devices.

Now, once you set up Priority Inbox in the desktop version of Gmail, you’ll see Priority Inbox sections when you visit gmail.com from your phone’s browser and click on the ‘Menu’ screen. You’ll also see importance markers in your inbox, so you can quickly identify which messages are important.



This feature is available for most mobile browsers that support HTML5, such as devices running Android 1.5+ and iOS 3+. Currently, you can’t set up Priority Inbox or mark messages as important or unimportant from here. If you have suggestions or want to learn more, visit our Help Center and forum.

Posted by Nathan Bullock, Software Engineer

Over the past two years, developers around the world have helped make Android Market the go-to place for more than 100,000 apps, games and widgets. Previously, you could only access Android Market directly from your device, but today, we are introducing the Android Market website that lets you browse and search for great apps right from your web browser.

The website makes it easy to discover great new apps with a bigger, brighter interface. You can also send apps directly to your Android device with just a few clicks—no wires needed. We’ve built in new social features, too. You can share apps with your friends through Twitter. And you can read and post app reviews directly to Android Market from the web or from your device.

And what about all those apps you’ve already purchased and downloaded? Sign in to the website with your Google account and click “My Market Account” to see all the apps you’ve purchased or downloaded. It makes managing all your apps quite easy.

The Android Market website was officially unveiled today during an event at Google headquarters where we showcased Honeycomb (Android 3.0), our latest Android release built from the ground up for tablets. Honeycomb has a completely redesigned user interface, with more interactive notifications and widgets, improved multi-tasking, and the latest and greatest Google Mobile services optimized for tablets. We also showed off pre-release applications optimized for Honeycomb, from over 17 developers including:

• AccuWeather
• CNN
• Disney Mobile
• The Economist
• Fuze box
• Glu Mobile
• Google Body
• Grocery iQ
• Intuit
• Ngmoco
• Pulse News
• Quickoffice
• Time Magazine
• TouchType
• Trendy Entertainment
• War Drum Studios
• Weatherbug
• Zynga

Stay tuned for more at Mobile World Congress (February 14) in Barcelona where you'll see more than 50 developers demoing their latest phone and tablet apps at the Android booth in Hall 8.

Posted by Eric Chu, Mobile Platforms Program Manager

(Cross-posted on the Docs Blog and Gmail Blog.)

Back in April 2010 we announced Google Cloud Print, a service that in Beta allows printing from any app on any device, OS or browser without the need to install any software. Just last month we opened Google Cloud Print to users in the Chrome notebook pilot program. Today we are very pleased to announce the beta launch of Google Cloud Print for mobile documents and Gmail for mobile, which we will be rolling out to users throughout the next few days.

Imagine printing an important document from your smartphone on the way to work and finding the printout waiting for you when you walk in the door. Just open a document in Google Docs or an email in Gmail in your mobile browser and choose “Print” from the dropdown menu in the top right corner. You can also print certain kinds of email attachments (such as .pdf or .doc) by clicking the “Print” link that appears next to them.

This feature will be rolling out today and tomorrow for English speaking users in the US and will work on most phones that support HTML5, such as devices running Android 2.1+ and iOS 3+. To get started, you’ll need to connect your printer to Google Cloud Print. This step requires a Windows PC for now, but Linux and Mac support are coming soon. You can learn more at the Google Cloud Print help center.


Happy printing!

Posted by Tyler Odean, Google Cloud Print Team

(cross-posted from the Google Voice Blog)

Earlier this year we launched a Google Voice HTML5 web app for iPhone users. Today we’re taking the Google Voice experience on the iPhone to a whole new level with the launch of the official Google Voice for iPhone app.

With this native app, you’ll continue to have access to all the major Google Voice features on your iPhone, like:

• Cheap rates for international calls
• Free text messaging to U.S. numbers
• Voicemail transcription
• Display your Google Voice number as caller ID when making calls

In addition to these benefits, the app provides some features that make using Google Voice on your iPhone a much better experience:

• With push notifications, the app will alert you instantly when you receive a new voicemail or text message
• Most of your calls will be placed via Direct Access Numbers, making them connect just as quickly as regular phone calls

Google Voice for iPhone is available to download from the Apple App Store today. You’ll need an iPhone with iOS 3.1 or later and a valid Google Voice account to use the app. At this time, Google Voice is available in the U.S. only.

Posted by Christian Brunschen, Software Engineer

Google Maps on Android just got even hotter with Hotpot, our new local recommendation engine that helps you discover places you’ll love based on opinions from you and your friends. Here’s how to get the benefits of Hotpot on your phone:

Rate places on the go — Now you can write and publish ratings and reviews from your mobile phone. We make it quick and easy with a new rating widget designed for rating places on the go. Install it from your homescreen by going to Menu > Add > Widgets > Rate Places. You can also post ratings and reviews directly from any Place page. So, when you polish off the crispiest carnitas taco you’ve ever eaten, you can pull out your Android phone to celebrate the event and give that taqueria the public love it deserves.

Get personalized recommendations — Why rate the places you’ve been? First, your ratings will personalize your search results by customizing them according to your tastes. Even better, when you add friends to the mix using Hotpot on your computer, your ratings will point them in the direction of the best enchiladas in town the next time they crave Mexican food, wherever they happen to be.

Of course, this works the other way too — so to reap the rewards, you’ll want to add friends to get recommendations for the places they love. Notice how John Hawkins, a colleague of mine in London who knows a lot about English pubs, recommends The Grenadier below.


Get Google Maps 4.7 for Android 1.6 and above everywhere Maps is already available. Just search for Google Maps in Android Market (or tap here from your phone).

By the way, if you’re an iPhone user, good news: we’ll soon have a Places app that allows you to rate and get place recommendations as well. Alternatively, you can rate and get place recommendations from your phone browser (iPhone and Android) in the US. Just visit the Places tab at google.com as we roll out over the next day.

We hope you enjoy getting and giving personalized recommendations to make place finding better and more fun.

Posted by Mat Balez, Product Manager

Searching with Google on your mobile phone can be an eye-opening experience. Now your phone’s camera can even help to find out more about the world around you.

Back in December we introduced Google Goggles on Android: it lets you search by taking pictures. Today, we’re excited to announce that Goggles is now a feature of Google Mobile App for iPhone. Google Mobile App already lets you speak your queries, and it can also use your phone’s location to give you more relevant search results.

In the new version of Google Mobile App just tap on the camera button to search using Goggles. Goggles will analyze the image and highlight the objects it recognizes -- just click on them to find out more. You can see how this works in this short video:



Computer vision is a hard problem and Google Goggles is still a Labs product. It works well for things such as landmarks, logos and the covers of books, DVDs and games. However, it doesn’t yet work for some things you might want to try like animals, plants or food.

Google Mobile App with Google Goggles is now available in the Apple App Store. Just search for “Google Mobile App” and download the latest version - it’s free. It will gradually be appearing in all App Stores around the world starting from today.

Goggles is enabled only for English-speaking users, and since it requires an auto-focusing camera it is supported only on iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 running iOS 4 or above. Visit our Help Center to learn more or send us your feedback and questions in our Help Forum.

So step away from your computer, get your Goggles on, and search the world around you.

Posted by Milan Broum, Software Engineer, Google Mobile Team

All the phones in the gallery include Android Market, Google Search, and other Google Mobile services such as Gmail, Maps, and YouTube. There are tools that make it easy to compare phones side by side: you can filter phones by country, manufacturer, and carrier; view and compare technical specifications and features; and find where each phone is available for sale.