Google banking on Android to help Google+ compete with Facebook

Google has unsheathed what could be its most powerful weapon yet in the war against Facebook for the hearts and minds of mobile device users: Android.

Google showed off a slew of new Google+ features that automatically enhance photographs and videos in a bid to convert hundreds of millions of snap-happy Android mobile device users into Google+ users. Android could give the 2-year-old Google+ a boost. The search giant says it has 300 million “in stream” monthly active users on Google+ and 540 million active users who take some kind of social action on Google each month, nowhere near the population -- or popularity -- of Facebook with more than 1.2 billion users. Google has tried all kinds of ways to gin up interest in Google+. Yet although many people have signed up for it, they are not as active on Google+ as they are on Facebook and other social networking services. But Android is a powerful tool in its arsenal. The mobile software was on nearly three-quarters of smartphones shipped during the second quarter of 2013, according to research firm IDC.