The search giant has today released the latest beta version (#7.1.21) of its Google app for Android and it has some pretty neat features hidden under its covers. The teardown of the apk (Android’s application package) file suggests two new toggles, which might be on the way of development. According to the report by Android Police, Google may soon advance a pollen counter to the app and debut a search bar in the notification shade of your Android device.
It seems like Google is planning to alter the notification panel altogether and will also include a space for the search bar in it. The search feature (not live yet!) might be placed somewhere between the quick settings tiles and the actual notifications. There are actually two things possible for this search bar — this could be a simple quick tile that displays a search bar floating on top of your screen similar to the quick access buttons of WiFi and Bluetooth or it might just not be that.
However, we are not sure of anything yet, these are just speculations based on the teardown. Nothing can be confirmed as of now until it’s officially announced and released. A search bar in the notification panel doesn’t make much sense, but all we can say that Google is behind this mysterious feature, so there must be some interesting theory behind it. However, we can always be incorrect and something entirely different could be underway!
The second feature is a pollen counter. For those unfamiliar with this new term, pollen count is the measurement of the number of grains of pollen in a cubic meter of air. The higher the number, more the people will suffer if they are allergic to a particular pollen, for instance, hay fever. Google App already displays weather updates such as expected rainfall, low and high temperature. But with a pollen counter, a person allergic to a specific plant such as grass, ash or olive can cross check both the things (weather and pollen counter) before stepping out. This could be a neat addition to top up their existing weather experience.
