Google has recently announced a massive Android redesign and new features for Android 12 at Google I/O. Excitingly, it has an entirely new design based on a system called ‘Material You’ which features big, bubbly buttons, shifting colors, and smoother animations. It is said to be the biggest design change in Android’s history, according to Sameer Samat who is the VP of product management for Android and also Google Play.
Android 12 exudes confidence in its design, unafraid to make everything much larger and a little more playful. Every big design change can be polarizing but this time around, it could be so exciting for many Android users. There are a few other functional features being tossed in beyond what’s already been announced for the developer betas, but they’re fairly minor. The new design is what matters.
These are some of the biggest announcements from the event:
1) Android 12 Overhaul
Android 12 features bigger buttons, a large clock on the home screen that changes in size depending on how many notifications appear, and muted pastel colors. It goes big on personalization as users will be able to change the color palette and, when wallpaper is selected, the system will determine which colors are dominant and complementary by adding shades to volume controls, widgets, and other tools to complete the look. Google says Android 12 will allow devices to be more responsive with better battery life, as the new software will put less strain on processors. Google also rolled out a series of productivity updates, including an option to hold the power button to call Google Assistant to make a phone call or ask for an article to be read out loud.
Perhaps in a nod to the new normal of telecommuting, Google unveiled new productivity tools to make working from home more seamless. The most notable is Smart Canvas, which allows services like Google Docs and Sheets to be more flexible and connected with the help of @-mentions, checklists, pageless formats, and emoji reactions.
Google teased a new natural language processing platform called LaMDA that helps artificial intelligence be more conversational. In a demo, Google showed what it would be like to have a conversation with inanimate objects for the sake of education, such as the planet Pluto or a paper airplane. The effort shows how Google continues to pour more resources into growing the intelligence and versatility of its smart assistant.
Google will make it easier to choose the content people want to look back on, allowing users to prevent photos of certain people or time periods that may be painful or unwelcome from showing up in Memories in Google Photos.
Sources: Twitter Android, Developers.