YouTube uploads and more now available on Android

If there is one thing I've always wanted, that is to be able to record and share special moments in my life, anytime, anywhere. Needless to say, I am quite excited that I can now pick up my Android-powered phone, start recording videos left and right- and then even upload them to Youtube!

Video uploads is just one of several new Google mobile features and improvements in the new Android 1.5 release:

• YouTube: record and easily upload videos to YouTube.
• Picasa Web Albums: upload photos directly to your Picasa Web Albums.
• Gmail: multiple-thread selection to easily archive, delete, label or mute several threads at once.
• Search by voice: improved speech recognition.

I seem to always forget my video camera when there's a funny moment that I wish I could record (like my facial expression after tasting a durian for the first time). Now I don't have to worry about that! I can record and play back videos whenever I have my phone with me, and I can easily share them or upload them to YouTube directly from my phone. It's easy- just tap 'share' and select YouTube.

What's more, YouTube gives me full control of my privacy, so I can decide if I want to make my videos available to the entire Web or just a subset of invited friends.

This Android update also enables easier Picasa uploading by reducing the number of clicks needed to share your pictures with others. Just like YouTube- after taking a picture tap 'share' when viewing a photo and select Picasa.

As someone who uses Gmail on the desktop, I appreciate the new 'batch edit' functionality on Android. Instead of selecting and archiving dozens of emails on my phone, one email at a time, I can now select multiple Gmail conversations and act on all of them as a group, saving time for the more important stuff.

And last but certainly not least, we've made it even easier to search with your voice by improving speech recognition. I've personally been surprised and entertained by the cute pictures that appear in my search results when speaking "pictures of Pygmy Marmosets" - give it a try!

Posted by Jonathan Matus, Product Marketing Manager, Android Team