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December 29, 2010

Top Google Apps in 2010

Here's a subjective list of Google services that were launched or were significantly improved in 2010:

10. Google Scribe - a service that shows autocomplete suggestions as you type. It will probably become as popular as Google Suggest and Google Translate once its integrated with other services.

9. Voice Actions for Android - an application that lets you control your phone using your voice. You can call your contacts, send email, get directions, listen to music, write notes and go to a website.

8. Gmail added many business-related features (Priority Inbox, email delegation, turning off conversation view), improved Gmail Chat (calling phones, video chat for Linux), added a new contact manager, more ways to attach files, Gmail for iPad, Buzz integration, search autocomplete, YouTube previews and rich text signatures.

7. Google Buzz - despite the initial privacy brouhaha, Google Buzz is the best Google service released in 2010. Even if it's less than one year old, Buzz already has an impressive set of features, a powerful API, it's integrated with many services and has a cool factor that's missing from other Google social products. Unfortunately for Google, Buzz is not yet very popular.

6. Blogger added a lot of important missing features: comment management, comment spam filtering, dynamic templates, a new post editor, better post preview, real-time stats, static pages and much more.

5. Google Docs - a new document editor, faster Google Spreadsheets, a collaborative drawing editor, a new equation editor, mobile editing, a more consistent interface, uploading any kind of files.

4. Google Maps - vector-based maps for Android, Google Latitude for iPhone, a new local search service (Google Places), social local business reccomendations, biking directions, walking navigation, Google Earth as a tab in Google Maps, search suggestions.

3. Chrome - 5 major versions released, support for Mac and Linux, a simplified interface, faster browsing, autofill, sync, Google Translate integration, bundled sandboxed plugins for Flash and PDF files, Chrome Web Store.

2. Google Search has changed a lot this year and there were many user interface changes: from Google Instant to Instant Previews, from interactive doodles to custom backgrounds for the homepage, from vertical navigation menus to a consistent interface for most Google search services. Google also launched a completely new interface for image search that lets you explore more images and a new search index with real-time updates.

1. Android - two important releases (Froyo, Gingerbread), huge growth (from 1.4 million smartphones sold in the third quarter of 2009 to 20.5 million phones one year later - according to Gartner) and a lot of new devices, including tablets, TVs, consoles, media players and e-book readers. It's probably the fastest growing product released by Google.

18 comments:

  1. I'm surprised that Google Translate didn't get its own spot somewhere on the list. Buzz is pointless. Google Voice should be #1, or tied with Android.

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  2. I use 5 of those apps, Gmail and Chrome being my favorite of the lot.

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  3. Great post. I agree about Buzz. It's an amazing product

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  4. I use everything on that list, with Buzz being a top fave.

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  5. I use several of those apps. It was luv at first sight, still going strong! Luv google

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  6. Too bad though that Gmail is still not in the newest interface if you're using Google Apps

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  7. Google Apps Script is an up and coming favorite with me--a binding agent that will link up a lot of Google's services. 2011: the Year of the Cloud.

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  8. It’s a great list and I am a big fan of these applications. I hope 2011 brings a whole lot innovation with it.

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  9. Buzz is the best service? You must be kidding! Buzz is the most terrible service. Real name is required which is a NO GO today!

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  10. Google Translate is great, and has improved hugely this year: it should definitely be on this list.

    The pace of innovation in Android is amazing, but that's also kind of a problem. Most of the Android apps which Google launched this year won't run on my Android 1.6 phone which was brand new in January. I'd be reluctant to buy another Android phone when I know the OS will be superseded within months, and they don't seem interested in backwards compatibility.

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  11. Here an interesting experiment:

    Type 'T' [enter] and [enter] and ...

    My result: "The following content has been identified by the YouTube community as being potentially offensive or inappropriate messages "

    Type 'w' [enter] and [enter] and ...

    "with the same title as shown and described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like "

    And so on.

    Very very interesting.

    What do you think? ha ha ha

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ops! JPP again,

    The experiment is intended to run on *Google Scribe* Sorry I miss the little detail.

    Happy new year.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I am not agree that Google Buzz is the best product.Google Scribe is the best.It has improved Search Engine Domain where Google has expertise.Google Buzz is simply replica of Twitter.
    Google Docs and Google Android is also great.

    ReplyDelete
  14. said...
    Here an interesting experiment:

    Type 'T' [enter] and [enter] and ...

    My result: "The following content has been identified by the YouTube community as being potentially offensive or inappropriate messages "

    Type 'w' [enter] and [enter] and ...

    "with the same title as shown and described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like "

    And so on.

    Very very interesting.

    What do you think? ha ha ha

    ReplyDelete
  15. The google apps are so useful...

    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete

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