Google Continues Work to Improve Apps on Android Tablets
  • Posted byby Tim

Google Continues Work to Improve Apps on Android Tablets

Google is continuing its push to improve the Android tablet ecosystem, this week releasing updates for Workspace apps like Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Keep that take better advantage of a tablet’s larger display.

For example, Google wants to make it easy to perform certain functions when you have two apps running next to each other. In this example, there is Chrome and Sheets open side by side. With the update, a user would be able to quickly drag text and images from Chrome and drop them into Sheets to create a spreadsheet.

A similar functionality is being added for Google Drive. A user will be able to quickly select and drop content into Drive from an app that is running next to it. Same goes for Google Keep, with Google detailing that a user can, “insert images saved in your Keep notes into other apps by dragging them out from the image carousel.”

Just for Drive, you can now have two Drive windows open simultaneously, allowing you to deep dive into your files and content. This will add new levels of functionality for those who spend lots of time rummaging through Drive, which is me.

Google is also adding familiar keyboard shortcuts for those using an attached keyboard with their tablet. You’ll now have support for Cut, Copy, Paste, Undo, plus plenty else starting soon.

If you are using an attached keyboard to help type, you can now use simple and familiar keyboard shortcuts, such as select, cut, copy, paste, undo and redo, to quickly navigate around Drive, Docs and Slides, without needing to slow down and take your hands off the keys.

Expect to see these changes roll out over the next couple of weeks.

// Google

Written by

Tim

Stumbling upon Droid Life randomly after purchasing a Motorola DROID in late 2009, then setting out to learn everything he could about Android, Tim quickly became an integral part of the site's comment section. After quite some time of strictly commenting on Droid Life, Tim was offered an opportunity to write feature stories for the site, such as custom ROM overviews, as well as interviews with Android community members. Following success of those, Tim became a full time writer and editor for Droid Life, now spending his time on news articles, device reviews, producing videos, and much more. Tim currently resides in Portland, OR with his longtime girlfriend and two wonderful dog children (Loki & Thor). In his spare time, Tim enjoys playing guitar, drinking coffee, practicing photography, and destroying kids on Call of Duty.

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7 Comments

  • Call me cynical, but I see this being a nightmare of only working in certain Google apps and never knowing which two will actually work together. Google’s Android fragmentation has simply moved out of the OS and taken up residence in their apps. Given the choice, I’ll almost always use a 3rd party app over Google’s own. But that’s why I love Android, Google’s bipolar take on messaging and wallet apps be damned.

    • I really deeply hate to admit this, but after years of trying several examples of Android and/or Chrome OS tablets, laptops, and 2-in-1s, I bit the bullet and got an iPad. The experience is so far superior that I honestly don’t see Google ever catching up.

  • I noticed the other day when I hold my Samsung Fold 3 in landscape and I’m in Google Messages if I click a link the browser opens next to messages rather than taking up the whole screen. I really like that. I don’t know if it something Samsung or Google did, or it was a collaboration by both.

    • I think iOS had it for quite some time and is a nice addition to One UI. Same for article, I believe iPads have always been able to do that drag and drop and on the whole OS and is a good point for Android to have.

  • You’re like 7 years late Google! Many of us have switch to a company that actually SUPPORTS their products.

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