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Tech News
Android Authority discovered a hidden feature in Google app version 17.54.10 that lets the Gemini overlay automatically shrink into a floating button while it processes a request. This would let users keep using their phone instead of waiting with the overlay locked on screen. The feature isn't live yet and appears to still be in internal testing.
Google is rolling out a new live translation option within Gemini Live's voice settings, allowing the AI to translate spoken conversations between languages in real time with on-screen captions. The rollout also includes a smaller interface tweak, replacing the keyboard exit button with a clearer X icon and adding a 'Tap to interrupt' control, as part of a gradual server-side update following April's UI redesign.
Google has released Gemini 3.5 Transcribe, a new speech-to-text model that converts raw audio into clean, formatted text while handling background noise, jargon, and disfluencies better than prior systems. It's available to developers via the Gemini API in Google AI Studio and the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform, split into a real-time streaming option and a pre-recorded audio processing option.
Google is expanding Gemini Live beyond casual conversation, adding features like Personal Intelligence, Daily Brief, hands-free Gmail management, and integration with Gemini Spark. The Spark integration lets users speak unstructured thoughts aloud, which Gemini Live then organizes into actionable, multi-step tasks such as meal planning or grocery lists. Some features, including Spark and Daily Brief, require paid Google AI Pro or Plus subscriptions.
Google's newest Gemini Live update introduces distinct features—chat, Spark, and Daily Brief—each with its own icon and navigation slot in the Gemini app. Daily Brief pulls data from Gmail and Calendar to generate proactive updates, but it often surfaces unsolicited or unsettling information, like resurfacing old search history, rather than truly useful alerts. Spark, meanwhile, is a capable AI agent for taking actions on a user's behalf, but Google has needlessly turned it into its own branded sub-product rather than folding it into a unified assistant experience.
Google is developing several unreleased interface upgrades for Gemini, discovered in Google app version 17.52.12.sa.arm64. The changes include splitting Pinned chats into their own section separate from Recents, adding a dedicated Notifications area, introducing filters for finding past chats, and a Customize section for managing Gemini Spark's Skills and Apps. A new setting would also let users hide Gemini's icon from the status bar.
Google has begun rolling out an 'Ask Gemini' shortcut inside Android's text selection menu, letting users send highlighted text straight to Gemini without manually copying and pasting it first. The feature was spotted in Google app versions 17.51.18 and 17.51.19, though it's unclear exactly when it started appearing for users.