All the New Features Coming to Android Phones, Watches, and TVs This Year Leave a comment

Google’s second day of its I/O developer convention focuses on updates to its Android ecosystem. The corporate just lately consolidated all of its {hardware} groups—Pixel gadgets—with its Android platforms, which embody anything and everything powered by Android (plus Chrome OS). Naturally, right this moment’s bulletins contact on each a part of that ecosystem, from Android 15 to Put on OS 5.

Listed below are the important thing new options to find out about.

Android’s High New Options

There’s a mixture of new Android options which are unique to Android 15—the subsequent model of Google’s cellular working system—however many of those options might be rolling out to present gadgets via Play Retailer and app updates with out the necessity for an over-the-air OS improve. (I’ll point out which of them are Android 15 unique.) My colleague, Simon Hill, has rounded up all of the top Android 15 features on this story with particulars on easy methods to obtain the beta, however listed here are just a few standouts.

Non-public House

Varied Android producers have lengthy supplied a solution to lock and conceal sure apps behind biometric authentication, however Google is now constructing this into Android with a function referred to as Non-public House. That is an Android 15–particular function as a result of Dave Burke, Google’s VP of engineering on Android, says there have been numerous methods for an app’s info to leak all through the working system. The group needed to do “surgical procedure in Android 15” to make it work, however this implies these apps are actually fully hidden and personal in every single place in Android.

Non-public House is visually separate out of your apps within the app drawer. You’ll be able to even set a password to entry the personal apps that is totally different from the one you utilize to unlock your telephone. When you add an app to the Non-public House, its notifications might be hidden, and it gained’t be accessible even when somebody went digging in your telephone’s settings. You too can wipe your personal house instantly.

Theft Detection Lock

This function is not Android 15 particular and can arrive later this yr. Google says it makes use of “Google AI” to determine when somebody steals your telephone if you are utilizing it—and sure, it is aware of the distinction between you going for a run together with your smartphone and somebody swiping it and operating, biking, or motoring off with it. As soon as Android detects a theft, it can make sure that the telephone is locked down to forestall somebody from accessing your apps and personal info.

It would even lock as soon as the machine goes offline, which means somebody attempting to manufacturing unit reset your telephone will want the passcode to reactivate the machine, probably depriving them of the flexibility to resell the handset. And there’s an added function referred to as “Distant Lock” which helps you to lock the display screen of the telephone remotely. In the event you add your telephone quantity, you may name the telephone on every other machine (like a good friend’s telephone) and enter a safety problem to authenticate the motion.

Talking of theft safety, Google says later this yr, Google Play shield will have the ability to use on-device synthetic intelligence to detect apps that have interaction in fraud or phishing acts. Play Shield already does this on the cloud, however some malicious bits of software program can cloak their actions there. Having this working on-device permits the service to detect how the app makes use of delicate permissions and spot suspicious behaviors—with out gathering any private information.

Google Pockets Will get Much less Restrictive

Google Pockets doesn’t simply deal with funds. Proper now, you may add loyalty playing cards, gymnasium memberships, transit playing cards, live performance tickets, and boarding passes, along with bank cards. Nevertheless, an replace coming later this yr will quickly allow you to create a digital model of passes by merely snapping a photograph of it. Add the picture to Google Pockets—suppose parking passes, library playing cards, auto insurance coverage playing cards—and Google will create a digital model for fast entry. Now whether or not these digital variations might be accepted is a unique matter.

Google Teases Its Upcoming Combined Actuality Headset

You won’t bear in mind this, however Samsung and Google are engaged on a blended actuality headset with Qualcomm. The partnership was introduced final yr together with the expectation that it could make its debut later in 2024. Google confirmed to me that it had nothing to share at I/O on the event of the headset, however the firm did tease an augmented actuality expertise with Google Maps that may be one thing you’d have the ability to expertise on the machine when it arrives.

In Google Maps, you’ll quickly have the ability to entry AR content material when looking out particular places. Faucet the “AR Expertise” button and produce your telephone as much as see augmented content material seem over the true world. This even works remotely via Road View, so that you don’t must go midway internationally to strive it.