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An APK teardown of the latest Google app release – version 7.17 – has now been conducted, showing off a redesign to Google’s Assistant, new Chrome syncing features, more Lens functionality, and even some hints that code will soon begin to be added for the next iteration of Android itself. As is always the case with teardowns, it’s important to remember that nothing found is destined to find its way into future iterations of the software. The changes are also not necessarily promised to appear on any specific device since the app version does vary from handset to handset.
Starting things off, however, the update appears to bring some changes to the app’s settings. First, the lines between menu options appear to have been removed, while other options are now embedded for separation. That shortens the menus up a noticeable amount and provides for a cleaner interface overall. Meanwhile, the navigation bar now bears a lighter look, as compared to its previous dark scheme. Meanwhile, although minimal changes seem to have been brought to the functionality of the setting itself, the “Shared devices” setting menu has been renamed as “Voice Match.” New functionality includes the option to retrain voice models and to send invites for others to add their own voice models to shared devices. Beyond that, now that Google Lens is beginning to roll out more widely, the company seems set on adding features more quickly. The teardown reveals some code tied into the translation of text viewed through a given device’s camera and a feature dubbed “Remember This.” The latter of which may or may not be linked to another feature that allows images captured with Lens to be shared more easily between Lens and Google Keep.
Setting those functions aside, the new APK also fills out several other features that are expected to arrive soon, including more functionality for what is rumored to be a new, screen-enabled Google Home device. Starting with the latter, the rumored Quartz device appears to gain some additional recipe-related functions and some code related to pairing the device, with this latest update. Looking past that, as it is probably best not to speculate until some sort of official announcement from Google, the app also adds some strings that seem to suggest the app could allow for syncing between the app and the web version of Google Chrome in the future. There’s also an icon associated with that functionality included in the APK. Meanwhile, the built-in podcast player could soon have offline playback added and the deleting of a given file during playback could soon be disabled. Finally, a reference has been added pointing to platformBuildVersionName=”P”. That shouldn’t be altogether too surprising, with consideration for the fact that Google’s next I/O developers event is already just around the corner, taking place in May.
