Google has updated several of its mobile apps and web pages over the past few days. The Gmail web app now looks the same on newer BlackBerry phones as it does on Android and iOS devices. Google News now displays properly in the Opera Mini web browser. And Google Translate now supports more spoken languages.
Gmail for Blackberry
Google basically has two versions of its mobile Gmail site. One is built with HTML5 and functions almost like a native app, letting you check boxes and interact with on-screen menus without loading a fresh page. The other presents an ugly little list of links and looks like it was designed to run on the smartphones of 2002. Up until recently that ugly interface was the only option BlackBerry users had.
But now that newer BlackBerry devices have HTML5 compatible web browsers, Google has flipped a switch hat brings the attractive new Gmail web app to BlackBerry users.
Google News for Opera Mini
Google has improved the layout of its mobile news site for phones with the Opera Mini browser. The light weight web browser doesn’t just work on smartphones. It also comes preloaded on many feature phones, allowing users a better experience than they would get with the standard web browsers that come with those devices.
The new Google News layout for Opera Mini features thumbnail images, links to videos, and easier navigation for feature phones.
Google Translate in more languages
The Google Translate for Android lets you translate text from one language to another with written or spoken results thanks to a text to speech feature. This week Google added support for text to speech in Japanese, Arabic and Korean, bringing the total to 24 supported languages. The company also says it’s improved performance for a number of other languages.
While text to speech is available for 24 languages, Google Translate for Android supports written results in 58 languages.
