Google rolled out a new version of Google Play Services this past week, which brings it to version 6.1.71. And this comes just a week after the last version. So what’s new in this version of Google Play Services? Well Google doesn’t tell us everything that’s new. But the folks over at Android Police have gone ahead and torn apart the APK to see what’s new in there.
One of the features is Nearby Players. Now we did hear about this in an earlier update, but now we have the animations that show when your device is looking for players nearby to play games against. Which you can see in the gallery at the bottom of this post. It kind of looks like a WiFi icon, even though it isn’t. Sticking with Google Play Games, there is also an achievements progress bar. So you’ll be able to see how close you are to achieving that achievement bar. There’s a new layout called games_achievement_description_activity.
There also seems to be a difference with Android L from Google I/O 2014 earlier this year. Google announced in Android L that it would be including Personal Unlock. However, that appears to have changed in this latest version of Google Play Services. It appears to now be Smart Unlock. Which you can see from the code below.
“old:
<string name=”auth_google_trust_agent_title”>Personal unlocking</string>
<string name=”auth_personal_unlocking_name”>Personal unlocking</string>
<string name=”auth_personal_unlocking_service_name”>Personal unlocking (Google)</string>
new:
<string name=”auth_google_trust_agent_title”>Smart Lock</string>
<string name=”auth_personal_unlocking_name”>Smart Lock</string>
<string name=”auth_personal_unlocking_service_name”>Smart Lock (Google)</string>”
So that’s about all that’s new in Google Play Services 6.1.71. There will probably be another version of Google Play Services that hits before, or shortly after Android L starts rolling out. Which should be in the next few weeks. But in the meantime, we can have fun with Google Play Services 6.1.71.