Google has announced six new features coming to Android devices this summer ahead of Android 12’s release. The features will help improve usability, allow you to express yourself better, and even help possibly save your life if an earthquake ever hits your area.
Most of the features mentioned below will be available on all Android 6.0+ devices. Some of them will be rolled out in beta initially, with a public release scheduled for later this summer.
Star Messages and Contextual Emoji Kitchen Suggestions
To help make it easier to find that important message, Google is adding the ability to star a message in the Messages app. This will allow you to easily revisit an important message later on without going through an entire conversation. To star a message, simply long-press on the message and press the star icon.
Google is enhancing the Emoji Kitchen feature in Gboard by adding contextual suggestions to it. Emoji Kitchen lets you mix and match two emojis to help you express yourself better. Going forward, Gboard will offer you contextual suggestions in Emoji Kitchen based on the message you have typed.
The feature is already available for Gboard users on the beta channel, with a public rollout scheduled later this summer. The feature will initially only work with English, Spanish, and Portuguese languages.
Earthquake Alerts System Comes to More Countries
Google announced on The Keyword blog that it is expanding the Android Earthquake Alerts System to Turkey, the Philippines, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The company is first rolling out this feature in areas where the risk of earthquakes is high.
Google had expanded the Earthquake Alerts System to New Zealand and Greece in late April.
The Android Earthquake Alerts System uses the accelerometer on your Android phone to turn it into a mini seismometer. It then crowdsources and verifies data from other Android devices to ascertain if an earthquake is happening or not and then notifies the user about it.
Android Auto Gets Customizable and Smarter
Google is adding more customization options to Android Auto by letting you customize the home screen from your phone and manually enable dark mode.
Media apps are gaining new tabs to make content browsing easier. They also get an A to Z button in the scroll bar and a “back to top” option for easier navigation. Additionally, you’ll be able to launch your preferred messaging app from the Android Auto home screen.
Lastly, Android Auto is gaining access to new app categories like EV charging, parking, and navigation apps.
Jump Inside Apps Using Your Voice
You will be able to use “Hey Google” on your Android device to jump directly inside specific parts of an app. For example, you can say, “Hey Google, check my miles on Strava” to open Strava and see how many miles you have logged this month right from the lock screen of your Android device.
There are plenty of Android apps with Voice Access shortcuts support. You can get an overview of them by saying, “Hey Google, shortcuts.”
Google is also improving the accessibility of Voice Access for users with motor disabilities by adding gaze detection. The feature will automatically detect when you are looking at the display or talking to a person standing in front of you. This will allow Voice Access to work only when you are looking at your phone and not while talking to your friends or family.
Image Credit: Google
