Google has just announced an update for its Google+ Android App. With a focus on speed, here are the things we’re seeing in this latest version:

• Massive performance improvements across the app
• What’s Hot!
• View who +1′d a post or comment
• Stream posts shortened to fit more per scroll
• Infinite photos feed in “From your circles”
• Stream no longer jumps to the top for an automatic refresh

Here’s what the Android team had to say about the release:

Today, we’ve made available a new version of Google+ for Android that includes significant performance improvements across the board, so your stream and photos (and just about everything else) should load more quickly.

While speed improvements are most certainly welcomed, it’s important to note that the Google+ app still hasn’t been optimized for viewing on a tablet, which is unfortunate. We’ve been waiting for Google to make sweeping updates to all of its apps to make them prettier on Android tablets, but alas it hasn’t happened.

➤ Google+ for Android

Towards the end of last year, an internal memo was sent to Gannett journalists letting them know that they would be outfitted with new iPhones and iPads to assist them with breaking stories. It’s a forward-thinking approach for an old-school company that owns publications such as USAToday.

Not only is it a forward-thinking, but it’s an expensive one too, with the company reportedly purchasing thousands of devices from Apple. Lets hope that they got some kind of bulk discount. The reason for the purchases was simple, Gannett wants its journalists to be able to keep up with other publications and break news no matter where they are, rather than keep them quiet like Sky News is doing.

These new devices come with great responsibility, as reflected in the FAQ that was sent to Gannett employees along with their Apple products. Much to our delight, Jim Romenesko has published the FAQ in its entirety.

While I won’t rehash the entire FAQ here, there are some interesting things to point out, such as the company’s reasoning for choosing the iOS device over Google’s Android platform:

Why choose iPhone over a device that runs Android?
At launch and over time it’s important for Gannett to manage apps and workflow via a consistent technology. Our training and support will be much better if we focus on one device with one operating system. Android devices do indeed have solid capabilities; however, the wide variety of versions plus, plus inconsistent functionality by vendors/devices, ruled out Android for our initiative.

What makes this interesting is something we’ve pointed out in the past, which is the difficulty in handling the issue of fragmentation of an operating system, which Google’s Eric Schmidt oddly called a “differentiation“. By having different versions of its operating system on a slew of different handsets, Android would be an absolute IT nightmare for a company as large as Gannett.

Along with journalists being able to use their iDevice as a mobile hotspot for on-the-go reporting, Gannett seems to be interested in the strength of Apple’s camera as a way to grab high-quality photos and videos of breaking news:

What am I expected to do with this new device?
The iPhone 4S is meant to enable you to do better, more timely journalism. Of course it is useful to have phone, text messaging and email capabilities for communicating with sources and colleagues. But there are also many basic functions of a smart phone – voice recorder, video camera, still camera, etc. – that enable you to capture notes or imagery you can use in your reporting.

It’s not just Gannett that is embracing Apple’s devices for its staff, as it was reported today that Haliburton would be ditching RIM’s Blackberry devices for iPhones as well. Remember when Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer had a laugh at Apple’s expense, in which he said that the iPhone wouldn’t appeal to business customers because “it doesn’t have a keyboard”?

Something tells me that Apple is getting the last laugh.

In January 2011, Microsoft decided to grace us with its presence on Apple’s App store with its popular note-taking solution, OneNote. At that time, the company said that OneNote was installed on 78M PCs, so it looked like the company wanted to spread the seed a bit.

This past December, Microsoft released another popular service, SkyDrive, on iOS. As our own Alex Wilhelm pointed out at that time, “Sorry Android, Redmond has no goodies for you.”

It took a while, but we finally have ourselves some “goodies” for Android from Microsoft.

In a blog post today, Microsoft announced the launch of OneNote for Android and here’s what it had to say:

For all of you who’ve been asking (and patiently waiting) for a version of OneNote for your Android phones, we have great news: OneNote Mobile for Android is now available! Download it from the Android Market app store today!

Mobile versions of OneNote are currently available on Windows Phone, iPhone, iPad, and now Android. No matter which platform you prefer, OneNote Mobile lets you easily capture and access all of your notes and ideas on the go.

Its presence on Android’s Market now gives the company the smartphone “trifecta” of support for iOS, Android, and it’s own Windows Phone platform. It’s odd that it took this long for Microsoft to pop out an Android app, since it has a better chance of finding PC users on the Android Market than it does on Apple’s App Store.

The OneNote app sports the ability to create to-do lists that include images and bulleted lists, along with clickable checkboxes to mark off the tasks that you’ve completed. Clearly, if you’re a OneNote user on the PC and happen to have an Android device, you’re going to be in heaven:

For those of us who aren’t die-hard PC users, we’ve been playing around with note-taking app Evernote for quite a while on Android devices. In fact, the version of Evernote for Android tablets that launched last July is absolutely gorgeous.

➤ OneNote for Android

Today, Google has finally released its Chrome browser for Android in a beta version.

It’s been four years since Google Chrome launched for the desktop and the mobile version will finally allow you to sync all of your information for a true seamless mobile experience. Unfortunately, it’s not available to everyone, as this version will only run on phones that have Ice Cream Sandwich.

This is what the team had to say about the release:

In 2008, we launched Google Chrome to help make the web better. We’re excited that millions of people around the world use Chrome as their primary browser and we want to keep improving that experience. Today, we’re introducing Chrome for Android Beta, which brings many of the things you’ve come to love about Chrome to your Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich phone or tablet. Like the desktop version, Chrome for Android Beta is focused on speed and simplicity, but it also features seamless sign-in and sync so you can take your personalized web browsing experience with you wherever you go, across devices.

Here’s a video demo of the beta version of Chrome for Android:

Along with being able to sync all of your bookmarks and browsing information, the Android team says they have “re-imagined” tabs specifically for the mobile device. The app will run beautifully on both phones and tablets, with swipe gestures allowing you to go through the tabs that you have open.

The company made no mention of Chrome becoming available for devices running older versions of its operating system, but I imagine that once the beta period has run a decent course, it should support all Android devices.

➤ Chrome for Android (Beta)

The smartphone is now becoming the hub for everything important in our lives. Social connections, payment systems, and banking are all controlled by our phone. Heck, you can even control your thermostat with an iPhone.

While turning your lights on and off with a computer or app might not be a new idea, one guy made something completely awesome and unique using Android. By swiping around on the app, the lamp responds to it. Also, the orientation of your phone dictates the lighting as well.

The french developer of the unnamed project wrote this about the Android controlled lamp of awesome (this is the translation):

The brightness is changed by a vertical scrolling, the saturation by a horizontal scrolling and color varies with the orientation of the phone. The phone used in the video is a HTC Wildfire S Android 2.3.3. The application works with WiFi or mobile network (provided that the lamp is accessible from a public IP address)

The orientation of the phone is detected by the built-in compass (magnetic field sensor 3-axis) parameters hue, saturation and brightness are converted to RGB and then sent via a TCP connection to the Fox board that controls the lamp.

Check out the demo video:

This guy should turn this into a Kickstarter project and pump these babies out. I’d back the project in a second.

While it’s a good thing for developers that there isn’t much of an approval process to get an app in the Android Market, it’s not such a great thing for those of us who download them.

Recognizing that, Google’s Android team has taken the covers off of its initiative to keep malicious apps out of the Market, and they call it “Bouncer”. The service automatically scans all of the apps in the Android Market for malicious software, and it doesn’t require any interaction from the users or the developers.

Here’s what the team had to say about Bouncer today:

The service performs a set of analyses on new applications, applications already in Android Market, and developer accounts. Here’s how it works: once an application is uploaded, the service immediately starts analyzing it for known malware, spyware and trojans. It also looks for behaviors that indicate an application might be misbehaving, and compares it against previously analyzed apps to detect possible red flags. We actually run every application on Google’s cloud infrastructure and simulate how it will run on an Android device to look for hidden, malicious behavior. We also analyze new developer accounts to help prevent malicious and repeat-offending developers from coming back.

According to Google, Bouncer has been at work for a “while now”, and it has helped cause a 40% decrease in malicious downloads from the Android Market. While Apple has a much tougher app review process, it’s completely manual. As those who are trying to add crooked apps to the Android Market get craftier in hiding them, Google will have to update its scanner to detect them. I imagine that this is the type of cat and mouse game that happens with those trying to game Google search results.

A safer Android platform means happier consumers, and the more the company can do on this front, the better reputation they’ll get. Keeping the app submission process a simple and fast one is what Google is betting on to steer developers towards its platform, and Bouncer sounds like the perfect way to keep that intact.

The Google Docs team has announced a few helpful updates for the Android version of its Google Docs app. Most notably, the capability to view documents offline and sync them later has been introduced.

Once you grab the new version, you’ll see the option to “Make Offline” appear for most of your documents. According to the team, Google Sites, Google drawings, Google forms, Fusion Tables and collections aren’t available for offline viewing yet.

Once you select a document to be made available offline, it will download to your device. You can browse it with no connection at all of course, and even make updates. Once you have an internet connection again, the file will automatically sync with Google Docs. You can also manually sync as you go along by tapping “update”.

Along with offline support, the team has made Google Docs prettier for Android tablet users. Documents will now be shown in high-res and you can now swipe through pages as you’d expect on a tablet. This functionality allows for easier reading of documents, especially long ones.

It goes without saying that the best Google Docs experience should be on the Android platform, and incremental upgrades like this definitely make that the case.

➤ Google Docs for Android

Earlier this month, the Android team launched a style guide to help developers build prettier apps on its platform.

Today, the team is taking another step to attract more quality apps by making its support more social by using Google+. In a post this morning, the team shared its plans for the page, by making itself available during office hours to answer questions and give tips:

• Add us to your circles to get info and updates directly from the Android team and join in on conversations around upcoming releases for Android Developer tools, SDKs, Hangouts, and training material.
• Join hangouts with members of the Android developer relations, product, engineering, and design teams. Ask your development questions, and get the inside scoop on the latest APIs and platform features.
• Join hangouts with other Android developers; share your app development stories and see how others have created awesome Android apps.
• See video and pics from Android developer events around the world and +1 or comment on posts to let us know what you think.

While it’s difficult to get a hold of someone at Apple for questions about your apps, the company relies on its Human Interface Guideline and forums to assist the developers on its platform. The only thing about the forums are that you have to be a part of the Apple Developer Program to participate. That’s a bummer for novices who are thinking about developing apps for iOS.

Android is taking a different route with its Google+ page, it’s allowing anyone to participate and it appears to be extremely active, having been circled by 11,520 people so far.

By using Google+ Hangouts and screen-sharing functionality, the Android team can take a real hands-on approach with its developers, rather than sitting back and fielding one out of every thousand questions via email or support forums.

Every Wednesday at 2PM, the Android team will host a live Hangout, where it will field questions and share updates on all of the latest happenings for the platform. Here’s an example from last week’s hour-long session:

When Google says it’s going social, it really means it, as we’ve seen most of the teams at Google interacting with the social network in one way or another, and with this latest Android effort, it sure gives the platform a leg up on the competition. If I’m a developer and wondering which platform to start with first, I’m more than likely to go to the one that will answer my questions and interact with me. Score another one for social, your move Apple.

➤ Android Developers page on Google+

Microsoft has been unafraid to create apps that run on devices made by competing companies, and the latest official app to arrive is Hotmail for Kindle Fire. Previously, Hotmail could be accessed on the Kindle Fire through the browser or the native mail application, but a dedicated Hotmail app developed by Microsoft allows for a more tailored experience. Based on Hotmail for Android, but modified for the Kindle Fire (a custom implementation of Android), the app syncs all mail, contacts, folders and subfolders, thanks to use of the Exchange Active Sync protocol in place of POP3 (which only downloads mail).

“We think it’s critical that our customers can use Hotmail from any device they choose,” wrote Director of Hotmail Product Management David Law on the Inside Windows Live blog, “So, in addition to making Hotmail work great on devices running Windows, we’ll continue to invest in great experiences on other major device platforms.”

Increase in number of Hotmail accounts on iOS and Android, from Microsoft

According to Law, there are over 12 million active Hotmail users on iOS and 3 million on the official Android app.

Our own Courtney Boyd Myers went hands on with the Kindle Fire shortly after its release, which you can read about here.

➤ Hotmail for the Kindle Fire

Wikipedia has had an official iOS app for some time now, but was missing a presence on Android. That ends today with the launch of the official Wikipedia app for Android.

The app hasn’t been in the Android Market very long, but shows that it falls within the 10k-50k download bucket. Android doesn’t provide actual numbers on its Market pages, but gives you a fair guesstimate as to how its doing. Needless to say, Android users are excited about the new app with many reviews simply saying “Finally!”.

Features include:

Save article to read later or offline
Search articles nearby
Share articles using Android “Share” function
Read article in a different language
Full screen search

The app looks gorgeous and utilizes many of Android’s built in features, especially share.

Even though Wikipedia’s mobile version works just fine on all mobile devices, the addition of location-based features with its native app is definitely a reason to download it. Of course, the app is free and hopefully more features will be introduced as has been the case with its iOS counterpart.

➤ Wikipedia for Android

UPDATE: The app is on a tear and now fits into the 100k-500k downloads bucket