Android 14 Gets Its Firstever Feature Bundle Update, And Its A Big One
Summary:
- Here are the first features of Android 14. New features include new kitchen emoji combinations for Gboard, giving users more ways to express themselves.
- Google is improving security by allowing users to set their own PINs for their FIDO2 security keys.
- Wear OS is getting updates that make it easier to manage smart home devices. Users can now control groups of lights and set their status from the watch. Assistant modes will also be supported soon, allowing you to perform more complex actions using voice commands.
It's December, and as an Android enthusiast, you know what that means. The Android 14 Q1 feature will soon be available on phones around the world. It looks like Google has changed things up a bit with the latest version of Android. The company is marketing the December feature release as a "feature pack", presumably with the intention of keeping the feature release name for Pixel updates. This may help explain which features will be coming to which Android 14 devices, so without further ado, here are the new features coming to Android as a whole.
First, Google is adding new Emoji Kitchen combinations to Gboard's growing list of emoji combinations. For example, the company offers 📸 + 🤯 and 🌟 + 🍗, although there may be other new options until they become available. The timing of their appearance is unknown, but for what it's worth, we were able to recreate both designs.
For security purposes, Google allows you to set a custom PIN for your FIDO2 security keys. This can be used to access websites and applications without using a password, which still requires entering a PIN when using physical keys. With PIN support, you can be sure that your hardware keys cannot be used by criminals if they are stolen, as they require a PIN code to be used.
Wear OS, updates for smart home and TV
With Wear OS, Google wants to make it easier to control your smart home from your wrist. The company is also adding the ability to control groups of lights in the Home Wear OS app. There are also additional compatible devices such as vacuum cleaners and mops. Additionally, the app allows you to set home and away status directly on the watch to trigger specific routines.
Wear OS is in for even more love. Support for assistant programs is “coming soon,” allowing your voice to trigger more complex actions. For example, Google offers a Work Directions mode that you can use to listen to the agenda and receive work instructions with a single command. However, there are many more advanced modules that you can try.
The company also took the opportunity to announce that Assistant will be available on Wear OS, which we first saw on select devices in August. If the watch face complication isn't available yet, it may be coming soon.
Meanwhile, Google TV will receive 10 new free channels. Google doesn't say which one, but it sounds like a healthy mix of everything since it says, "You can search for channels with movies, sports, and game shows." These new channels will join over 100 existing channels.
AI accessibility improvements
We don't talk much about AI as a function of accessibility. Google wants to make it easier for people using screen readers to find image descriptions. The new TalkBack update lets you quickly create image descriptions and read them aloud. This will work with all Android images, including those you made yourself.
Live Caption will be available in more languages in the coming weeks, although Google hasn't specified which ones. Live captions will soon also be used as a tool for taking phone calls without having to talk or listen to the other person. This feature allows you to enter text that Google reads out loud to the caller.
Google Messages gets a lot of love
Google is releasing several updates to Google Messages to celebrate RCS reaching 1 billion monthly active users. Features include photomojis (photos converted into reactions using artificial intelligence), voice emojis (visual effects of voice messages), screen effects (animations that can be sent along with messages), and custom bubbles (minimum sizes (allows you to choose your own colors) bubbles for your message). Messages).
Changes will begin in the coming weeks.
As always, some new Google features are already available or will be available soon. The company prefers to announce everything at once so that it gets more updated information every few months, but will always release features when they're ready. The new features are part of server-side app and settings updates, so you won't have to wait for your phone to receive the December security patch or December feature removal on Pixel devices.
