Google Drive is one of our favorite cloud-based file storage solutions, and the seamless integration withWorkspacemakes it all the more desirable to those in the ecosystem.Uploading videos to Google Driveis as easy as it gets, thanks to sharing tools built into the Android share sheet. But video playback hasn’t been on par with fellow Google-run service, YouTube, even if the video player looks indistinguishable from the video streaming platform. The Google Drive team has now announced a couple of features for Drive, one of which tries to remedy the subpar video playback on the file storage app.
How to use Google Drive: A guide to making your storage helpful
Make the most out of Google Drive
Writing on the Workspaceblog, Google talks about the addition of DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP) transcodes for videos going up on Drive. In Google’s own words, DASH transcodes enable adaptive bitrate playback, offering higher or lower-resolution videos depending on factors such as the quality of the local network.
Overall, this will reportedly result in significantly quicker “join times,” referring to the time taken from the moment the video is clicked to beginning playback. Re-buffering has also been cut down for both high-speed playback and normal playback, per Google. DASH transcodes will apply to all new videos uploaded to Drive from here on, and Google says it will update existing videos in Drive by the end of the year.
The second feature addition announced by the Workspace blog refers to improved search filters for Google Drive’s Android and iOS apps. We first spotted these updated filters on Google Driveback in October, but they were hidden under flags. Meanwhile, the web version picked upthese filters (and more) in November. Google is now finally getting around to rolling out these new filters to the Drive app on mobile devices.
But the filters will only be available on iOS for now, and they’re listed as “coming soon” for Android, with no specific timeline provided. But the company says it will offer an update when it’s ready to hitAndroid smartphones.
When these new filters are available, you will find three filters when tapping the search bar —Type,People, andModified. The People tab displays files from your recent contacts, while Type and Modified make it easier to filter search results based on the file type (documents, images, videos, etc) and recency. Google says the filters are widely available to Workspace customers and people with personal Google accounts.
