Android 12… let’s talk!
Hello everyone, welcome back! In today’s post, I want to take a look at Android 12 after using the new OS for two days. Before we go in-depth, let me just say: Wow!
Introduction:
Android 12 officially became available on my Pixel 4a on Tuesday, and I got it as soon as I had internet to install it. Because I only had a short time to check the OS out, this is my “First Impressions”.
I think a good place to start is with the Pixel 6. Android 12 debuted on the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro that released on October 19th. This phone looks incredible, and I have been closely following the camera samples… oh my! This is probably the biggest advance in smartphone competition in a while. I honestly feel like recently, competitiveness had died down with less innovation in all smartphones being released from most companies. Now, the attention is being turned back to the Pixel series and away from smaller, innovative brands for the Pixel 6. Exactly a week after the Pixel 6 launch, I was able to update my Pixel 4a which is already a year old and separated by four phones! This OS is magnificent.
Specs:
I do want to touch on some important notes regarding specs.
- The update size is 1.69 GB, which is on the larger end. It is no suprise and considering all Pixel phones recently released have 128gb of storage, it is no problem to have this size of update.
- The OS must have a 1080p screen (fairly standard in phones for the last 5 years) and 400 pixels per inch of display.
- You need to have a flash memory speed of 250MB/s and 120MB/s.
- Screen size must be at least 2in by 2.7in which is very small by todays standards.
- Although it is surprisingly not required, your accelerometer must be 3 axis.
UI Changes:
So, if you didn’t know, the HUGE change in Android 12 was with the UI. I will start with the main home screen. Below, you will see a before and after of the home screen.
<- Left: Android 11
Right: Android 12 ->
Now, this may look like a small change, but there are some of the coolest features powering this. I did change my wallpaper and home screen layout (sorry), so I’ll explain what you are looking at. The left has the “Tuesday, October 26 (|||) 50F” and the right has the same thing but in the corner. These are the same at a glance menu, but automatically will move. I changed the clock manually, but this is one of the new clocks, which I’ll talk about in a bit. The volume button icons have changed to the side of each as well.
Now, my clock is yellow, my sliders are blue, and they seem to blend. This is Material You. What is it? It is a program using AI to pick colours from the photo (any photo) and change the colours of things across the ENTIRE OS to match. Notification drop down colour, yep! Every stock app navigation and menus, check! It is used in so many places, and it is awesome! One minor thing that I want to mention is the Google search bar doesn’t change like I had hoped. It is no problem, I just thought a green or blue search bar would be cool with this background!
You saw that clock, right? This one:
This colour scheme came from the background image.
What about the notification panel?
It pulled these colour from the photo sky.
How about the Google apps?
This is all customizable too! You can go into the wallpaper settings and change the tones, exactly which colour is highlighted (I picked blue) and more! You can see that I could have used the greens and yellows from the wallpaper too!
This is just a taste of the amazing Android 12, and I’ll be releasing posts throughout the next few weeks about it. Also, I am patiently waiting to see what comes to the Pixel camera update and seeing what is brought to other phones from the Pixel 6!
Let me know what you think of Android 12, if you have upgraded, and (for those using other OS’s) are you intrigued by this AI customization!
Thanks so much for reading! This has been another busy, exciting week in the world of tech and photography. We had the Pixel 6 embargoes end, the release of the Osmo Action 2 from DJI, Windows 11 app specific rollout, Intel rejoining the top end CPU market, and so much more! I honestly can’t wait to see where all of this is going!
See you next week!
-Digital Wonders & Smiles
Digital Wonders and Smiles 