Your next Android phone might come with Waze pre-installed

Every time you start up a new Android device for the first time you see a bunch of pre-installed Google apps. These apps include the Play Store, Gmail, YouTube, Maps, Chrome, and more. All of these services are bundled together in a package that Google offers to handset makers. It’s Google’s way of having some sort of control over a free open-source OS. If you want to use the Play Store, which all Android users expect to have, you’ll also have to include a bunch of other Google services.

Google may be adding yet another app to this bundle. Back in 2013 Google acquired the ultra-popular crowd-sourced traffic service, Waze. Since then they have been slowly adding some of Waze’s features into Google Maps, but the data from Waze is still gathered from actual people. In order to get even more users on Waze they will be adding it to the Google bundle.

This is awesome news for anyone that uses Waze. There is already a massive user base, but this is a service that only gets better with more users. Waze will also start to display Amber Alerts if you’re driving in an area that has one issued. All of this news should cement Waze’s position as one of the best apps to have in your car.

[via The Verge]

Google Hangouts has been pre-installed over 1 billion times

When an application crosses a billion installs on the Google Play Store, it always sounds like a big deal. It’s an illustrious club that few belong to. Apps like Facebook, WhatsApp and more recently, Facebook Messenger, have all joined the 1 billion downloads club and that’s saying something. Most of those apps had to be physically downloaded (not all the time, but mostly) by Android users before they could hit that milestone.

Then there are a handful of Google apps that are also apart of this club. Apps like Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps, and Google Search. You know, the apps that stand in the back of the room with their embroidered blazers, smoking their pipes, telling stories about how they easily joined up because of their family name. These are the apps that already come pre-installed on your Android device before you even take it out of the box. It should come as little surprise to anyone that another app from Google’s software suite is joining that list, with Google Hangouts now crossing the 1 billion downloads mark.

If nothing else, this milestone — which, by the way, means nothing — points a spotlight directly on an app that is in bad need of an overhaul. With more than a billion “installs,” we think it’s time Google finally gives Hangouts a little TLC. Giving the app a new coat of paint with Material design and bringing it up to speed with its iOS counterpart (which has the ability to send video clips) would be a nice start. Can you think of anything else you’d like to see in a Hangouts refresh?

Hangouts (Playboard) | Hangouts (Play Store)