Android 12 review: Google's mobile OS is a joy to use again thanks to Material You | Laptop Mag
Our Verdict
Android 12 restores the quirky personality of Google's mobile OS and patches long-standing issues with the addition of a universal search, one-handed fashion, and more.
For
- Tons of new practical additions similar universal search
- Fresh and fluid Material You redesign
- Improved privacy tools
Confronting
- Limited to a handful of phones
- Full-screen notification panel
- Tertiary-party devs yet to release Material You update
Laptop Magazine Verdict
Android 12 restores the quirky personality of Google's mobile Os and patches long-standing problems with the add-on of a universal search, one-handed style, and more.
Pros
- +
Tons of new applied additions like universal search
- +
Fresh and fluid Textile You redesign
- +
Improved privacy tools
- +
Cons
- -
Limited to a handful of phones
- -
Full-screen notification panel
- -
Third-party devs yet to release Cloth You update
- -
For the last few years, Google has had a singular goal for Android: transform it into a more than mature Bone. That meant stripping away Android'due south geeky neon themes, cleaning upward core areas similar settings for simplicity, and shifting its focus to making the OS more approachable to people who accept never used information technology. Heck, the company even quit naming new releases after desserts so that it's "more accessible to global users."
Google has arguably emerged triumphant from that mission. Today, Android is more refined than e'er. It's ameliorate at securing your data, seeding updates to not-Google phones, and out of the box, its onboarding process no longer overwhelms new users. In doing so, however, Google left behind what brought Android then far. Android's journeying to a mature mobile OS robbed information technology of its quirky personality. Features that helped information technology stand out, like widgets and customization, were overlooked and at present lag behind iOS.
So for Android's twelfth major release, Google is returning to its roots. The latest update is designed to breathe fun back into Android, and afterwards spending weeks with the beta, I'one thousand glad to study it makes Android a joy to use again.
Annotation: This review was written using the Android 12 beta. We will provide an update after the OS is officially rolled out to users.
A more personal Android
The centerpiece of Android 12 is a radical new design language called Material You. It'southward the mobile Bone's biggest facelift in years and influences everything from how elements move and wait to how they respond to your touch. It replaces Android's increasingly commonsensical look with big, bold visuals, smoother animations, and colorful transitions. It'due south all meant to feel more playful and allows Android to come alive.
Material You's courage is a personalized system that "adapts to you lot." When you switch your wallpaper, it automatically draws its most dominant colors and applies them to everything from buttons, to sliders, to icon backgrounds, and more. It'southward quite clever and not too overpowering. Most importantly, it doesn't get in the way of function, and y'all have the option to fine-melody its effects.
Cloth Yous is, however, non just about colors and themes. It represents a wide set of principles that spawn a friendlier and more than accessible Android. For instance, on the lockscreen, a big clock now takes center stage, but one time you take i or more pending notifications, it moves to the corner to make room. When you plug in your telephone, a splash of light greets you lot. The volume and effulgence sliders accept been enlarged for improve clarity. The list goes on.
These changes, of grade, mean you'll see less in the same screen infinite, simply that'due south a tradeoff Google is gambling on to build an approachable Bone, and information technology has worked out. In my time with Material You, I found it a fresh, fluid have on an OS that badly needed an overhaul. The novelty hasn't worn off either considering, as I said, it's not just about looks, it affects your unabridged experience with Android.
Widgets have received some long-overdue attention, as well, and a new modern and playful system will hopefully exist enough to convince developers to update their abandoned and aging designs. Google has refreshed its homescreen clocks to give an idea of what widgets on Android volition soon look like (if developers get on board), and it's promising.
Unlike previous iterations, Material You besides seems a lot more than confident and consequent. The redesign has already fabricated its mode to the nigh remote corners of Android likewise as Google's own apps. Compared to Material Blueprint from 2022, Material You doesn't feel like it'due south being shoehorned in and feels more natural than any facelift Google has released.
Though Google claims information technology has included a range of performance optimizations to ensure Textile You doesn't bog downwards your phone, the fasten in animations has led to regular stutters and jitters on my Pixel iii. Fortunately, these are minor enough for me to say they'll likely be patched in the concluding release.
A busier notification console
Google has a habit of toying with the notification organisation in every update, and Android 12 is no exception. Information technology'due south been remodeled to firm a agglomeration of frequented sections like smart home controls, digital wallets, quick settings, and notifications.
If that sounds like too much to fit, that'due south because it is. The skillful thing is Textile You's aesthetic has enabled Google to do this in a clean, elegant manner. Since the new design is so generous with space, you will have no trouble getting used to this notification shade. Cheers to the large buttons, spacious indentations, and accented backgrounds, everything's easy to read and hit with your fingers.
The larger quick settings tiles also allow y'all do more than without redirecting you lot to the settings app. Tapping the new "Internet" tile, for example, pulls up a lesser console where you can conform your mobile network and Wi-Fi preferences.
My just complaint is that the notification console no longer floats. Like to iOS, it takes upward the entire screen, interrupting any else you're doing at the moment. At the same time, I concur that the new system works meliorate than stuffing home and payment controls in the power menu.
Form and office
Android 12 isn't only a cosmetic update. Google has addressed a swathe of Android'south shortcomings with this release. The most significant of them all is a universal search.
Yes, Android, at long last, has a congenital-in search that lets yous look upwards contacts, settings, files, and the works from a single place. It's placed at the top of the app drawer, but yous can plan it to activate with a swipe-upward gesture on the homescreen.
Another primal addition is a one-handed way, which functions pretty much like iOS'due south Reachability -- swipe down on the lesser border to lower the screen's content. Plus, yous can now have scrolling screenshots by default on Android. This means if there's a long web page you'd like to capture, yous don't have to take multiple screenshots. Android can run up them into one image for you.
Privacy gets a boost in Android 12 too. There's now a dashboard that offers an overview of how ofttimes apps are accessing your phone's sensitive permissions, such as location, microphone, and what accept you. On top of that, whenever an app uses your camera or microphone, Android will notify you with an indicator at the top of the screen, and a set of new Quick Settings tiles allow you lot to toggle off these modules instantly. On Android 12, yous can likewise share your approximate location with apps instead of your exact whereabouts.
The latest features patch some of the nearly gaping holes in Android. And I don't mind that near of them have been borrowed from iOS. Tools like a one-handed style and a universal search are staples of a modern mobile Bone, and it's nice to run into Google finally stepping up to add together them to Android.
I'm specially pleased with Google'southward implementation of search. Information technology'due south quick, responsive, and scours through a range of your phone's sections. Presently, there's a chance you volition exist able to look up content from third-party apps right from a primal search bar.
Gearing up for a folding future of phones
Android 12, in addition, sets the stage for the next generation of smartphones: foldables. Reports propose Android 12.1 will focus on folding screens with features like a desktop-like dock, ameliorate split-screen functionality, and more.
Whether you'll receive this update and how much of it depends on your manufacturer. But ane thing's articulate to me: Android 12 is meant to exist a truthful smartphone OS rather than an experimental blueprint for others. Google has consistently faced criticism for the lack of features on its homegrown phones compared to OEM skins. Given that information technology's going all in for its next flagship, the Pixel vi, the software needs to be capable of continuing toe-to-toe with the competition. And Android 12 succeeds in doing that.
Android 12 has something for anybody. Whether you're a long-time user who has felt the decline in improvements for quintessential Android features similar customization in contempo updates or someone who's been frustrated by the lack of no-brainer, essential tools, such equally universal search, information technology's got you lot covered. It besides marks a new affiliate for Google'due south mobile Os and culminates the years of work to build a mature Android into a coherent, personalized interface. Its fate, however, ultimately rests on how speedily information technology can convince developers to update their apps for Fabric You. But even until so, specially if you're on stock Android, you've enough to look forward to and get excited for.
Source: https://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/android-12
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