Google announces new Android 13 features at Google I/O 2022

During the Google I/O event, the company announced the new features of Android 13 including improved privacy and security, design, and more. Read on!

Android 13's new features were outed during Google I/O 

What's new with Android 13?

New security and privacy features!

First up, for improved privacy and security, Google is allowing you to have greater control over what personal information you disclose and what files your applications may access. Instead of allowing access to "Files and media," you can now manage access to "Photographs & videos" and "Music & audio," with a new picture picker allowing you to select the individual photos or films you wish to provide access to without having to share your whole media library with an app.

Google is also assisting you in being more intentional about how you interact with apps. While app notifications are frequently useful and timely reminders, you should have a greater choice over which applications send you alerts.

Before giving you alerts, Android 13 requires that applications obtain your permission. In addition, the number of apps that require your location is being reduced. To enable WiFi scanning, for example, you will no longer need to give a location to applications.

With timely tips and tools to safeguard your privacy, Android 13 goes even further to help you keep ahead of hazards. When an app accesses your clipboard, you're already notified. Now, Android will go even further and wipe your clipboard history after a short period of time, preventing applications from accessing previously copied data.

Android 13 improves the "Material You" style

In terms of personalization, Android 13 improved on the "Material You" style. With Android 13, you may further personalize the appearance and feel of your phone with pre-made color options. Once you've chosen a color scheme, you'll see lovely color variations applied across the entire OS to complement your wallpaper and style.

It has a color-themed style for apps and icons!

Beyond Google applications, Android 13 allows you to choose the color theme of your app icons. Starting with Pixel smartphones, you'll be able to enable the "Themed icons" feature in your settings to have all compatible applications match your phone's colors for a clean, contemporary look. A new media control is also added for the Notification Panel and Lock Screen.

Personalization in Android 13 extends beyond the phone's UI design and appearance to other areas that are significant and unique to you, such as your language choices. If you're multilingual, you're likely to switch between languages depending on the scenario, and your communication style may shift from one setting to the next. 

For instance, you may like social networking in one language but banking in another. You may choose a different language choice for each of your applications in Settings to help you utilize language as freely as you do in real life.

There's also the Google Phone Hub that works along with Fast Pair. This feature will improve upon Android's existing casting and content sharing capabilities by partnering with more brands in the future. It will also allow you to copy content from one Android device and then paste it to another.

Android 13 will also have a tablet version

Android is also improved on tablets. The layout of Android 12L has been improved for smartphones with larger screens. Android 13 improves on this basis by providing improved tablet multitasking features. 

You may now effortlessly transition from a single tablet display to a split-screen with the new taskbar. You may now multitask by dragging and dropping any second program from your app library onto your screen.

Google is also optimizing the experience while using a stylus pen to write or sketch. You may now lay your hand on the screen without fear of it being misinterpreted as a stylus pen in Android 13, eliminating any unintentional actions.

Android 13 will also bring upgrades for more than 20 Google applications to make the most of the increased storage capacity by adding new features. Many third-party applications, such as TikTok, Facebook, and Zoom, will be updated to improve the tablet experience.

Currently, Android 13 is in the Beta 2 phase and is only available on select devices. It will be available on more devices down the line according to Google. No timeline was provided though.

What do you guys think?

Source: Google