Google Contacts, Phone Apps Briefly Listed on Play Store

Google recently published its standalone Contacts and Phone apps on Google Play. The company however pulled the apps soon after. So far, there has been no announcement when the apps will again be available to download.

The new Contacts and Phone apps, as expected, can only be installed on devices (such as Nexus range) that already come preinstalled with these apps. The move to launch new official Contacts and Phone app on Google Play overcome the problems of updating system apps with firmware updates, as it is easier to just rollout updates to single apps. Earlier, any updates to the Contacts and Phone apps had to be bundled with an Android software update.

Android Police reports that the Phone apps added new features for dialler including a new call blocking feature and a tweaked in-call UI for businesses listed under Google's Caller ID system. Another neat addition to the dialler was it showed nicknames of contacts rather than full name, if only already saved in Contacts. For carrier bundled devices, a new voicemail count feature was also added. The Contacts app, on the other hand, received some streamlined tweaks.

We will have to wait for Google to bring back the Contacts and Phone app to Google Play.

Google Play received a major overhaul which was first teased by the company in October. The revamp include creation of Apps & Games and Entertainment tabs, amongst other changes. Previously, the Google Play homepage shows combined contents from all the sections including Apps, Games, Movies and TV, Music, Newsstand, and Books. The new design replaced the earlier visible interface.

An earlier report indicated that Google was also testing the Review Highlights feature with select users. Listed under each app on Google Play, it offered a quick glance at common phrases used in reviews of the app, thus giving users an idea of what to expect before they download it.