Last week, Google announced that its latest Google Play Services, version 5.0, is finally available to devices worldwide. Google Play Services 5.0 comes with new API for Android Wear, Google Drive, Analytics, a whole lot of new Google play Games services, and more, and now, the company is beginning to roll out updates to its mobile apps including Google Play services, Gmail, and Maps.
First up, Google Play Games 2.0 comes with a host of improved as well as new features like Level-up notification controls, XP rankings, and a few UI changes. Some of the changes includes a new “Play Now” screen to see your XP level and how much XP you’ll need to proceed to the new level, a revised inbox with separate tabs for invitations, quests and gifts, and a couple of UI tweaks here and there.
Gmail has also been updated with better integration with Google Drive. The new Gmail allows you to easily and quickly share something from Google Drive. There is now an “Insert from Drive” option right at the drop down menu; previously users would have to drill through a couple of layers before they can attach a file from the company’s very own cloud service.
As for Google Maps, the desktop version has also been updated with features that were previously only available through Google Labs. You can now map out a route and get the exact distance between any number of points or stops.
The updates are not available for me yet (at the time of writing), so if you can’t see it in your Play Store but wish to enjoy the latest features, AndroidPolice has APK links for you to download – Google Play Games 2.0 and Gmail.
(Source: GSMArena, AndroidPolice (1), (2))
