In its continuous effort to consistently and frequently improve all of its applications, Google is rolling out an update to its Google Clock. The updated app now includes a more user-friendly design and some new functionality. A clock app is something that pretty much everybody uses, but which most users tend to not think too hard about. In fact, generally speaking, most users are also likely to stick with the one that’s already on their device when they buy it unless it is missing a feature they absolutely need. There isn’t anything necessarily wrong with either the stock app on most devices or the other clock applications available in the Play Store – many of them even offer truly unique features. However, that certainly hasn’t stopped Google from making marked improvements over the last several years to the usability, functionality, features, and design of its own clock.
The previously released version 4.6.1 of Google’s Clock application saw the addition of shortcuts to allow the creation of alarms and timers from the home screen, as well as the addition of some code that allowed timers and stopwatches to keep running through a full device reboot. With the update to version 5, the company has decided to focus much more on the design language and intuitiveness of its time tool. For starters, Google has increased both the size and boldness of the in-app text and digits. Time, date and the number pad weren’t the only sections to see adjustments in sizing, either. Switching functions with the tabs by either swiping or tapping has now been made much more intuitive thanks to an increase in the tabs’ icon size – stretching the tabs section completely across the screen. In addition to the icon size increase, some context-based text has been added below the function icons stating precisely what each tab is for.
This should be helpful to users who are new to smartphones or icon-based navigation in general. A seconds readout has also been added to the main clock’s digital display, where seconds were only visible in the analog display mode in previous versions. For those users who have cities from other time zones added to their clock readout, both the time and time-difference are also now shown – whether that time zone is ahead or behind. If you’ve been looking to try out a new clock out and want something that functions well, looks clean, and doesn’t waste space with a bunch of unnecessary features or code, the latest version of Google’s Clock app may be just what you’re looking for. However, as with all application rollouts, it is worth bearing in mind that it may take some time before the update hits every user or device.