Both phones run Android 12 out of the box, so I was hoping we’d hear something during the streamed event about the launch of the next mobile operating system from Google. Instead of making a formal announcement during the event, Google quietly published a blog post recapping some of the features available in Android 12 and announcing that it’s now officially available for Google Pixel devices. To be clear, that means you’ll need a Pixel 3 or newer. Android 12 is full of new features, and arguably, the biggest redesign of the Android interface as a whole that we’ve ever seen. There are new privacy features in Android 12, including a dashboard that gives you a timeline of which apps are accessing your private information, a new scrollable screenshot tool and countless other tweaks and improvements. If you have a compatible Pixel phone, you can download and install Android 12 right now. What are you hoping to see in Android 12? More iOS-like features, or something different? Let us know in the comments below. That said, Google still uses sweets as its internal code names for upcoming releases, and thanks to XDA Developers, which has shared a ton of information about the OS update, we have a good idea that internally it’s being called “Snow Cone.” During the beta anyone with a compatible Android phone like a Google Pixel could sign up and help Google test the next version of Android. An official release usually happens toward the end of the summer after developers have had time to get their apps ready for new APIs, and Google has time to finalize the build and get rid of any lingering bugs. Last year, Android 11 was released on Sept. 8. Android 12, however, was held until Oct. 19 – the same day Google announced the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. The notification shade and quick settings panel have a new look, regardless of the color matching feature. The buttons for settings are bigger, easier to read and look like they’re easier to navigate. Notifications also have a new look to them, with grouping and interaction taking a playful feel. Getting to Google Assistant no longer requires swiping up from the corner of your phone’s screen; instead, you’ll now long-press the power button to trigger the personal assistant. As far as privacy is concerned, Google is getting serious about helping Android users keep their personal information to themselves. There’s a new location-sharing option that will allow you to only provide an app with your general location info, instead of your exact location. For example, if you’re using the Walmart app to look for something, it’ll request your location. However, does Walmart really need to know where your home or work is? Probably not. Instead, you can tell Android 12 to give it your general location, such as the south side of your city. There are also new colored dots that will show up at the top of your phone letting you know when an app is using your camera or microphone (another feature that iPhone users currently have). When you see one of these indicators, you can swipe down from the top of the screen to view your quick settings panel and in turn disable access to either functionality for that specific app. For even more control, a new privacy dashboard will show you every category of personal data that’s being accessed and show you the apps and the exact times that it was accessed. With that information, you can then restrict access to apps that you feel are being too aggressive. Google also added the ability for Android users to take scrollable screenshots. It’s a handy tool for those times when you want to take a screenshot of a very long web page, or maybe a conversation in a chat app. Now you just have to tap a couple of buttons. Another new feature changes how auto-rotation works. Google now uses the front-facing camera on an Android phone and adjusts the rotation of the screen based on your face. In other words, you will soon be able to lay down in bed and use the phone without it rotating to landscape mode. However, companies like Samsung have historically taken months – in some cases several months – before a major OS update is released. OneUI 4, Samsung’s next big update that includes Android 12, is currently in beta for the Galaxy S21, meaning it could be released before the end of the year for that specific device.
