Android 14 overview: There’s at all times subsequent 12 months

Does anyone care about Android 14?

This 12 months’s launch of the world’s hottest working system seems like one of many smallest ever, bringing only a handful of recent options. Even in the course of the Android portion of Google’s large I/O keynote, Google spent most of its time displaying off a brand new generative AI function that creates wallpapers for you, as if there aren’t sufficient wallpapers on the planet.

Final 12 months’s Android 13 launch felt small, however that was as a result of it was the second main Android OS launch that 12 months. Android 12L—the massive pill and foldable launch—got here out earlier. What’s Android 14’s excuse? We’re not likely certain. We nonetheless have a couple of issues to go over, although, like new lock display customizations, genuinely thrilling adjustments to the best way the again button works, and a pile of under-the-hood adjustments.

The brand new emblem

First up is a brand new emblem! Android’s final large rebranding occurred with Android 10, and just some years later, it is time for a brand new coat of paint. The wordmark is now capitalized, and the little Android “bugdroid” mascot, often a disembodied head subsequent to the Android wordmark, is getting its physique again. The bugdroid is now absolutely rendered in 3D, and consistent with Google’s Materials Design pointers, it is available in quite a lot of colours and kinds. When you ask me, bugdroid in 3D seems a bit pudgy.

Within the movies on Google’s redesign weblog publish, a “Google Android” emblem occupies the display for a very good period of time. I’ve by no means seen these two manufacturers collectively as a single wordmark, and widespread utilization of it could definitely be a change. Some folks confuse the Android model with the “Android Open Supply Venture” and assume it is some form of free-to-use emblem, however Android is a trademark of Google, and you may’t use it except you license the Google Play apps. So “Google Android” is completely acceptable.

I’ve by no means truly seen the Android emblem wherever on the planet outdoors of tech information, so I am undecided who that is for. Even for those who get a Pixel cellphone, you will not see the Android emblem on the field or within the software program. The one spot to catch it in the true world is in a tiny “powered by Android” message on the hardly ever seen cellphone boot display. It is like a branding system solely for Google weblog posts and commerce exhibits.

The (considerably) customizable lock display

iOS 16’s headline function was its new lock display widgets, and it appears Android needs in on the motion, too. Android initially had lock display widgets again in 2012 with Android 4.2, however they have been eliminated just some years later in model 5.0. Lock display widgets are nonetheless not again in Android 14, however as a result of Google tries to maintain tempo with iOS, widgets are in all probability a lock to seem in Android 15 or 16.

What now we have in Android 14’s lock display is a selectable clock model and two shortcuts you may decide from. You may long-press on the lock display, and a “customise” button will pop up, letting you decide from seven totally different clock kinds. You may select the clock’s shade, and a shade slider helps you to regulate issues additional. “Distinction” is not the precise phrase for the slider, however the left facet is a flippantly tinted almost-black, the precise facet is a flippantly tinted almost-white, and a full, wealthy shade is within the center someplace. There’s additionally a “dimension” setting for the clock, which determines if it kicks into full-screen mode when you don’t have any notifications or simply stays small on a regular basis.

You may assign features to 2 left and proper shortcuts, however the choices are unusually restricted. You may assign a button to the digicam, a do-not-disturb toggle, the flashlight, the Google House app, Mute, the QR code scanner, the video digicam, or Google Pockets. That is it—a bizarre seize bag of some fast settings toggles and one or two Google apps.

Nonetheless, it is nice to get an precise settings UI for the lock display shortcuts. Beforehand, controlling these shortcuts meant ticking one or two on/off switches within the show settings, which isn’t nice for one thing that would have a number of choices. It ought to simply be all of your apps and fast settings buttons—due to themed icons, there needs to be acceptable one-color choices for all of those now. Between this shortcut setting, the short settings “edit” UI, and the app drawer/residence display, that is three “shortcut” UIs the place you decide a choice of objects from a giant bucket of icons. Google ought to simply decide one UI and roll with it all over the place.

Basically, although, the lock display choices really feel like a precursor to one thing extra sturdy, with app-supplied widgets.