Android Will Show You Google+ Photos For Incoming Calls Beginning In 2014

Google is making Android’s dialer smarter, and it already talked about KitKat features that add automatic caller ID for businesses that Google has in its places database.

Early next year, the basic phone dialing app will also pull in your Google+ profile pic to show a call recipient via caller ID, according to Android Central. It’s an option that’s on by default, too, so long as you’ve verified your phone number through your Google account.

Users who want to hide their image can pre-emptively disable access by going to their Google+ profile, clicking the image of your profile picture in the top right corner, hitting the “Account” link, and then navigating to the “Phone numbers” subsection. Click “View” and then Google provides an option to check a box for each phone number you have registered with its services, in order to allow/disallow the use of that information for finding your via Hangouts or other Google Services. It also makes it so that “people may be able to see your name and profile photo when you call them or they call you,” according to Google.

This is nowhere near as troubling as Google using your profile photo in its own ads, and in fact, I consider it a remarkably useful feature addition as someone who gets a lot of inbound calls from sources I’m not necessarily familiar with.

The fact that it’s opt-out versus opt-in probably isn’t ideal, and could surprise a lot of users who aren’t entirely up-to-date on what exactly Google is doing with the information they provide. If it is an issue, follow the steps above to either disable the option to find you via phone number, or remove them entirely.

Other Caller ID features already implemented in Android 4.4 include matching business and service numbers, as mentioned, and also looking up information from your Google Apps domain, should you organization use that, to let you know when someone from work is calling. KitKat is already available to Nexus 5 users right now, and will be rolling out to Nexus 4, Nexus 7 and Google Play edition devices in the “coming weeks.”

Google’s Search Results Can Deep-Link To Your Android Apps

It should be clear by now that there’s much more at play in Android 4.4 KitKat than some early reports alluded to, and one of the more interesting (to me, anyway) tidbits managed to escape the early leak treatment.

Tucked away toward the tail end of Google’s Nexus 5/KitKat presentation was a mention of a feature called App Indexing that should get companies (and the Android app developers that work for them) a little worked up.

That’s because Google has developed a way to deep-link to the contents of an app from within a user’s Google search results with a feature it calls App Indexing.

Here’s how it works. Say you’re using the Google Search app to dig up some dirt on that Ender’s Game movie that doesn’t look very good. If you happen to have the IMDb app installed on your device while you search, you’ll be treated to an info card in that results stream that includes an “Open in app” button.

Give it a quick tap and the IMDb app will spring to life and immediately direct you to its Ender’s Game listing.

Naturally, the feature isn’t just limited to showing off movie details so far the full list of supporters includes Allthecooks, AllTrails, Beautylish, Etsy, Expedia, Flixster, Healthtap, IMDb, Moviefone, Newegg (yes!), OpenTable, and Trulia.

The way Google sees it, the move is all about providing these companies with a choice. If they think their mobile interfaces are enough to keep users engaged, they can simple go about their business.

But if they already have an Android app (or are in the process of building one) that can do a better job of engaging with its users, a little extra work to implement those deep links may be well worth it.

It’s not hard to look at this as a move to bolster Android app development, either. There’s little doubting that Android is a global force which may be only compounded by the fact that Android 4.4 KitKat may drive device sales in developing markets by bringing a more advanced feature set to cheap hardware and in many cases the Google Search app is going along for the ride.

That means that with any luck, huge swaths of the global Android community will be searching for stuff using the Google search app and seeing those deep linked “Open in app” buttons when they’ve got the right apps installed. Tell me that’s not a compelling reason for a company to develop an Android app if they haven’t already.

Despite the buy-in from all those app partners, it’ll be some time before users like me will actually start getting those results in the wild.

Google is testing the feature with those previously listed partners, but the updated cards that will display that information won’t actually roll out until some time in November.

Nexus 5 Launch Likely Coming Today, Here’s What We Know So Far

Google’s Nexus 5 is not a real thing yet, but at this point it’s a foregone conclusion; Google will update its Android reference smartphone, which comes with the clean stock version of its mobile operating system, and it’ll probably do it today. Which is why it makes perfect sense that the leaks are now flying fast and furious.

The Nexus 5 will reportedly be unveiled later today, sometime around 8 AM PST according to a report from GottaBeMobile, and it’ll begin shipping tomorrow, November 1 with orders starting immediately.

Whether or not it happens right at that time, the case remains that we’re probably going to see the phone today at some point, since a number of earlier reports also indicated Oct. 31 as the time for its official debut.

Google’s Nexus 5 is likely sourced from hardware partner LG, just like the Nexus 4, and it is said to have a 4.95-inch, 1080p display, with a Snapdragon 800 processor running at 2.3GHz, 2GB of RAM, 16 or 32 GB of storage, an 8 megapixel rear camera/1.3 megapixel front, and Android 4.4 KitKat.

It’ll likely be the first KitKat device, which is a software update that brings a lot of refinements, along with replacing the stock SMS app with Google Hangouts now that it has SMS integration, we’re hearing.

According to one T-Mobile employee, the Nexus 5 will be available at that carrier the same day it’s announced, and will cost roughly the same as the Nexus 4 did on T-Mo last year (which is to say, at a considerable markup).

Google has also updated the look and design of the Play Devices web store, prompting some to note that this could be in preparation for a Nexus 5 listing.

Google’s Nexus 5 seems like it’ll be a match for the current crop of top Android smartphones, at least on paper, and it’s a handsome device if early render and photo leaks are to be believed.

Price and international availability remain the biggest question marks at this point, as well as the exact timing of availability, but we’ll be sure to bring you more as soon as we get any official info from Google.