Android adds the personal touch...
Google’s latest OS aims to put more customisation in the palm of your hand
GOOGLE has revealed the most significant change in the design of Android in the history of the OS.
Android 12 will feature a new design system that Google is calling Material You – it will feature an entirely new look as well as unprecedented levels of customisation.
Under the hood there are relatively few changes to the system – and those changes are not especially radical.
The new look is the big deal about Android 12, which will be rolling out to Google’s own line–up of Pixel phones later this year.
Google revealed the news at its annual developer conference, Google I/O, which was held virtually this year after cancelling amid the pandemic last year.
The new Material You design has one headline-grabbing feature – the colour scheme used for system elements like buttons, sliders, and windows, will change based on your wallpaper photo.
Android will analyse the colours in the photo and create a colour palette to use across the system.
The new design also features bigger and brighter design elements across the board, as well as more liberal use of animations.
The whole point of the new elements, Google says, is to bring more customisation to make your device more personal to you.
Other Android changes revealed at I/O included new camera software that aims to more accurately render skin tones – modern smartphone cameras are better at capturing lighter skin tones and this update aims to change that.
Changes to Google’s Photos app will also bring a new feature that uses machine learning to create artificially animated images from two similar still images. The AI will fill in the frames between the two different stills to create a single moving image.
One of the most startling demos Google showed at I/O was a new video-calling system it is developing called Project Starline.
Starline uses high–resolution cameras and depth sensors to create a 3D model of each caller.
It can then somehow compress that massive amount of data into a signal that can be transmitted in real time.
The net effect is that when you sit across from the other caller you can see them in 3D – and they can see you – in real time for a much more realistic and immersive interaction. No word yet on when that might see the light of day.
Find out more about Android 12 at blog.google/products/android/ android-12-beta