Android 13 features

If you aren’t knee-deep in testing Android beta releases like I am, or you aren’t reading every blog post from the major tech publications, then you may have a hard time figuring out what’s actually supposed to be new when the next big update rolls out for your phone or tablet. Every major Android update is packed full of changes, but it may not seem that way to you. That’s because Google tries not to overwhelm users by oversharing information, so they limit their official release notes to just a handful of highlights. Google’s official release notes for Android 13 in the OTA updater. This is probably how most people with a Pixel phone learned about what’s new in Android 13. At Esper, though, we’re interested in sharing everything, and we mean literally everything there is to know about Android 13. We’re cataloging every new feature, UI change, app-facing behavioral change, platform change, and API update in Android 13, resulting in If you’re a casual or power user who’s just interested in learning about the new user-facing features of Android 13, though, this week’s edition of Android Dessert Bites is just for you, as we’ve broken out those changes into a separate post (this one) so you can quickly get up to speed with the new version of Android on your phone or tablet. 60 new Android 13 features for everyone To keep things tidy, I’ve split this list into three different sections, covering the good, the bad, and the maybe. “The good” covers the features that (nearly) ever...

• Google released Android 13, the latest version of Android, to the public in mid-August. • Since then, it has arrived on supported Pixel devices and in beta form on a number of other devices. • Android 13 comes with a number of new features and fixes. Here are seven of the best to try out if you have got Android 13 on your phone. So you have got yourself some Tiramisu. Of the Android variety, we mean. We can argue endlessly as to whether Google should have stuck to giving “sweet” names to its Android versions instead of going the number way, but what cannot be denied is that Android 13 comes with a number of new features that add a lot to your smartphone experience. So if you have got Android 13 on your phone, whether in final or in Go ahead, get some new wallpapers Let’s start from the home screen itself. Google had brought in some “ Basic Colors” to its wallpapers as a part of the Material You interface that it introduced with Well, it has expanded that portfolio with 16 new colors, seven of which are single tones and nine dual tones. Yes, you might have your own collection of third-party apps or maybe want to park a picture of your favorite fur baby out there, but we would recommend you give the new collection a try. There are some quirky and rather interesting options out there. How to do this: • Go to Settings on your device • Select Wallpapers & Style • Pick the wallpaper and basic color scheme that you want Or just long press on the home screen and choose Wallpaper...

Related • • • Joe Maring/Digital Trends If iOS 16 changes how your iPhone works in big ways, Android 13 is far more subtle than that. Take Material You, debuting in Android 12. That update revamped how you could use your Android phone and enhanced its customizability. It gave Android, for the first time, a strong sense of being designed rather than engineered. You’d get colorful themes that bled into Google’s apps and pulled from your wallpaper, giving your phone an additional layer of personalization. Google has improved this in Android 13 in a few key ways. You’re getting a much larger spread of color options, with some colors now being richer and more colorful and others ranging more pastel. It adds variety to Material You’s colors, though you’re still unlikely to see it inside your apps of choice. Speaking of apps of choice, Material You also works with more app icons. Remember that Android 13 owners greater flexibility over icon design. There’s also a newly redesigned music player in the notification center that adds a splash of color to it and an editable clipboard — and that’s about it for general user-facing features. There are more Android 13 features, and they are useful, but they’re also specialist features aimed at a specific audience. Mark Coppock/Digital Trends Google now allows for multi-language support in apps, separating your main Android language from the languages that are used by select apps. This allows you tohave your Android phone set up in French, ...

Category Type Name Camera New features and APIs Apps can use Camera2 APIs to capture and preview HDR video content. Core functionality Change (all apps) Apps should use the device's default provider for SpeechService, rather than hard-coding a specific app. Core functionality New features and APIs Android 13 includes a number of updates to align with the OpenJDK 11 LTS release. Developer productivity and tools New features and APIs Apps can provide monochromatic app icons that can be styled on a user's device using Material You dynamic color. Developer productivity and tools New features and APIs Apps can use new platform APIs to set or get a user's preferred, per-app language. Developer productivity and tools New features and APIs Android 13 drastically improves hyphenation performance for TextView instances. Developer productivity and tools New features and APIs In Android 13, apps can call the new text conversion API so users who speak languages with phonetic lettering input methods can find what they're looking for faster and easier. Developer productivity and tools New features and APIs Android 13 improves the display of non-Latin scripts (such as Tamil, Burmese, Telugu, and Tibetan) by using a line height that’s adapted for each language. Developer productivity and tools New features and APIs TextViews can now wrap text by Bunsetsu (the smallest unit of words that sounds natural) or phrases—instead of by character—for more polished and readable Japanese applications....

The Samsung Galaxy S21 is still a great Android phone. Despite being a generation old — and come February 2023 likely two generations old — a lot of users may find themselves reluctant to upgrade if their S21 still functions well. Now, Samsung is giving them another reason to hold off on a new phone. First reported by Droid Life, Samsung is rolling out Android 13 to the Samsung S21 series as of November 30. The rollout is for Samsung’s One UI 5 version of Android 13 and is coming to the Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus and Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. That’s another surprising boost for the Galaxy S21 Plus, which was just named the fourth-fastest 5G phone in the U.S. in terms of download speeds by Ookla. The update is currently available for Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile customers. AT&T and T-Mobile customers already started getting the update as of November 15, though some customers are still waiting for their phones to update. These operating systems roll out based on IMEI number and can occasionally take some time. It took me a while to get the Android 13 update on my Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, so don’t panic if you’re unable to update right away. Back when Samsung announced the rollout of One UI 5 to the Samsung S22 lineup, we were able to get a look at some of the new features coming with this latest update. One UI 5 includes the ability to customize your lock screen further with more notification settings — even allowing you to get live previews of certain notifications. Another not...

Ever found yourself wanting to make a quick edit to something you just copied? You can now do that effortlessly on Android 13. Building on the same experience used for screenshots, Android 13 adds a pencil icon to edit the content when you cut or copy text. Through this feature, you can easily paste the text from the clipboard and add/ remove content to it. Notably, it would even show you options to call/ message and open the link in Chrome when you copy a number or link. No Android release is truly complete without modifications to the media player. This time around, Google has added a squiggly line to the media player progress bar. It appears when you’re playing music and vanishes away in favor of the usual straight line when you have paused the media. It’s worth noting that you will see the new progress bar on the lock screen too. It’s a nice touch to bring a lively feel to the media player. 4. Faster Access to QR Code Scanning Thanks to the pandemic, we have witnessed widespread adoption of QR codes. Ranging from payment terminals at local grocery shops to restaurant menus, QR codes are now almost everywhere. Considering the rejuvenated interest, Android 13 will let you access the QR code scanner from your phone’s lock screen. In addition, you will also get a Quick Settings tile to access the QR code scanner. 5. Control Smart Home Devices From Lock Screen Users who are deeply invested in a smart home ecosystem will love this Android 13 feature. Google is now making it ...

We’ve Compared to last year’s behemoth Android 12 update, Android 13 is more modest. The changes are designed to enhance Material You and all of the revamped and reimagined areas of the best mobile OS around. Over 50 new user-facing tweaks and functions have been added this year, but we’ve whittled it down to 15 of our favorites. These are the top features in Android 13: Thanks to Vibration mode fine-tuning You can now adjust almost all aspects of the vibration menu within Android 13 thanks to a new enhanced Sounds and vibration section. Google has added control bars for “Calls,” “Notifications and alarms,” and “Interactive haptics.” For the first time – outside of Gboard – on Pixel you can manually adjust the strength of vibration feedback for each notification type. The linear bar works in a similar way to volume controls. Joining this is a useful new toggle that lets your phone vibrate before a ringtone kicks provided you do not pick up a call right away. However, for this to work you will need sound enabled on your device. The added ability to disable alarm vibrations from this menu is especially useful. Plus there is brand-new toggle to enable interactive media vibration. Few apps support the feature at this stage but haptics are used alongside speakers for more “oomph” when consuming media. Material You is still at the very heart of Android 13 and Google has expanded the “Basic colors” available for device accenting with 16 colors that consist of seven simple tones a...