Gboard beta brings email auto-completion, unified media search, and more

• The latest Gboard beta includes email auto-complete, universal media search, and additional languages.
• Email auto-complete does not appear to work on every device yet.
• The update is rolling out to Gboard beta testers through the Play Store.

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Google released beta version 7.0.2 of its Gboard keyboard application. Even though it introduces features like email auto-complete and universal media search, not every feature works as advertised.

Starting with email auto-complete, you can start typing someone's email address and have it pop up among the suggestions. Tapping on it will instantly fill the text field with the person's email address.

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However, Android Police had mixed results with the feature. It took anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes for email auto-complete to work, though the feature did not work on some phones. Even when the feature worked, some email addresses were not in the suggestions field.

Remember that this is beta software, so the issues could be due to the buggy nature of the update.

Next up is universal media search, which lets you search emoji, stickers, and GIFs at once. Tap on the emoji button on the keyboard and find the magnifying glass on the bottom row to get to the feature. This is a great feature for those, including myself, who cannot keep up with all of the available emojis, stickers, and GIFs at our disposal.

The beta update also includes support for additional languages, such as Korean, Japanese, and both Chinese (Pinyin and Cantonese) keyboards. Just tap the Google icon, go to More options, tap Settings, and add a new keyboard under Languages.

Speaking of keyboards, the new update does not let you change the main language management screen. Also, the layout for picking new keyboards is slightly different and lets you select multiple keyboards to add simultaneously.

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Finally, an APK teardown found that Gboard might eventually auto-detect when you use other languages and offer suggestions in those languages. The feature might not kick in right away, since Gboard wants to know whether you regularly type in a different language or are just retyping something.

Download Gboard 

You will have to join the Gboard beta program if you want to try out the new features. Once you do, update the Gboard app on the Play Store and you will be good to go.

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