Gmail and Drive will benefit from a new ultra-practical feature on Android

Google regularly enriches its apps, whether on PC or Android. Recently, Mountain View has been working to standardize the user experience across all its services. Of course, a standardization through the design of applications, but also through the mutual integration of services. Search with maps. Maps with Hangouts. Hangouts with Gmail. Gmail with Drive. Etc. And of course, these integrations are tested before being implemented on consumer versions available on the Play Store.

XDA Developers site revealed two new APKs only available in beta. The first is about Gmail. And the second Drive. By examining these two archives, two innovations emerged. First in Gmail APK. And the second one in the Drive archive. These are two very interesting functions, even if they do not revolutionize the use of the messaging client or online storage service.

First, it is an excellent example of improving the integration of services with each other. Enriched with Gmail for AndroidPreview of attachments stored in Drive. Until now, the file selection interface only offers a list of folders and files (with the date of last modification) if you want to attach one to an email. The new version of Gmail presents folders and files as an icon. If a preview is available, it is displayed to make it easier to select the correct file. It works with all file types that already benefit from the preview in the custom app.

Google Drive: Is a browser as good as Acrobat soon?

The second innovation discovered is therefore directly in the Android version of Google Drive. And more precisely in the scan tool. Two changes have been made. Before everything, scan automatically corrects scanned documents so that they are flat (more practical for reprinting, for example). This tool is clearly inspired by better known browsers like Adobe Acrobat. Next, virtual buttons to access image editing tools driven to the bottom of the screen, taking advantage of a slight reorganization of the interface. Therefore, phablets are easier to reach.

These new functional and ergonomic features are not yet available in consumer versions of Gmail and Drive. If Google finds that these aren’t interesting enough, they may never be. But there is a good chance that they will succeed.

Source : XDA Developers