Google announced the official arrival of Android 13 and all its news on devices Pixel. The new operating system continues to improve the customizations of the design Material You, introduces new features and further optimizes the system. But at the moment, only for its smartphones: the other manufacturers will introduce the new update only “Later this year”.
Android 13 officially arrives on the Pixel: here are the news
As is now customary, Google had introduced the new operating system to Google I / O before the beginning of the summer, although the developers were already working to test the apps on Android 13. After several public betas, the latest of which arrived almost exactly a month agonow the mobile operating system is ready for all Google users.
The new operating system introduces aesthetic innovations, in the use of multitasking (especially on tablets), in the synchronization between devices and more. All news announced on the Google blog and that will arrive for the Pixel, from model 4 up to the most recent Pixel 6 and 6a.
More Material You and better smartphone management
Among the many innovations to come (which Google summarizes here) is the evolution of the Material You, the intelligent design of Android. Last year we had already seen on the Pixels the possibility to change the colors in the smartphone menus based on the background. But now there is also the possibility of match the icons and design of non-Google apps, in order to have an even more consistent style.
Another change to the interface involves the contextual buttons of media playback, making them more in line with the type of podcast or music you are listening to. The media player will choose consistent cover images and it will have a playback progress line that will dance with you as the song progresses (even for audio on Chrome).
For those who speak more than one language, comes the ability to assign a default language to apps individually, so have apps in one language and the system in another.
In addition, Android 13 allows you to further customize the Rest modeturning on the dark theme and reducing the brightness of the wallpapers when your bedtime approaches.
Android 13 arrives on Pixel devices: more privacy and security
With Android 13, Google also wanted to introduce some new privacy and security management tools on smartphones, which users will undoubtedly appreciate. Like the possibility of granting limited media access to apps. Up to Android 12 if you wanted to send an image with a messaging app or upload it to a social network, you had to grant that app access to the entire media library. You can now grant consent to upload only specific photos and videos.
Interesting news is that now the apps will have to ask for yours explicit consent to send notifications, instead of having this option by default. This way you can keep track of the notifications you receive.
A safety function is the “cleaning the clipboard“: If you copy sensitive data such as an email address or a password (perhaps to fill out an online form), Android deletes the copied data after a certain period of time.
Better integration into the ecosystem
Android 13, arriving today on the Pixel, introduces several interesting innovations regarding the relationship with other devices, improving the ecosystem in general. For example, system support arrives atSpatial Audio, allowing you to take full advantage of enabled headphones. Also comes the support to the Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) Audiowhich allows for better quality, lower latency and at the same time less battery usage.
Google also ensures that you will soon be able to receive and respond to messaging apps directly from your own Chromebooka really useful novelty for those who often work on laptops that revolve around Chrome.
A really interesting novelty is that of being able to copiate content (URLs, images, texts, videos) from your Android smartphone to pass it to your tablet. Or viceversa. And speaking of tablets, multitasking becomes easier with a dedicated button in the taskbar to see all the apps, that you can drag to see them in split screen mode. Finally, the tablets they will register the touch of hands and stylus pens in a different way. This way, if you accidentally touch the screen while writing or drawing, you shouldn’t have any problems.
There are also many other innovations such as the HDR video support for third party apps, Braille display for Talkback and a lot of technical improvements: you can find all the details here.
Pixels can now switch to Android 13 (but not back)
If you have a 4th generation or higher Pixel, you can now upgrade. But if you own a Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro or the very recent Pixel 6a, think carefully before carrying out the update. In fact, as Google specifies on the developer site, the update changes the “anti-rollback” rules. In other words, if you update you can no longer switch to Android 12.
The update is stable and you shouldn’t have any problems. But if you have apps that you need for work (for example, an attendance log or a meal ticket app), it’s worth asking corporate IT if support remains before upgrading.
The update is expected to arrive on many other devices soon as well. Google explains that it already has contacts for smartphones Samsung Galaxy, Asus, HMD (Nokia), iQOO, Motorola, OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, Sharp, Sony, Tecno, vivo, Xiaomi. And many of them (like Oppo) are already announcing events to present their new version of the operating system. We’ll keep you updated on this, but everyone should arrive via OTA, notifying you for download and installation.