Google tonight announced new features and capabilities for Android during ‘The Android Show’. The company kicked off immediately by introducing the new Material 3 Expressive design. We are going to see the new design of Android again with the arrival of Android 16.
Material 3 Expressive
Android is getting a major makeover. This becomes clear from tonight's announcement, during The Android Show, in which Material 3 Expressive was shown. Google was previously in the news with the new design language for Android, but now it has been definitively announced. Google says it will come to Pixel devices "later this year" first, and then to other devices running Android. We are also going to see the new design reflected in Wear OS 6. This new version for the smartwatch was also announced tonight.
Personalisation
The announcement reveals that the main work has been done on new design elements in the form of shapes, typography and animations. We will start to encounter new refreshes in several areas, with users especially expected to get more options for customising the interface. Among other things, personalising the quick settings is among the possibilities, with the torch and do-not-disturb feature, for example. The new Material 3 Expressive design should build on the Material You interface we are already familiar with.
As for animations, Google informs that when you swipe a notification, you will see a subtle animation with the other notifications. When you swipe a notification from the stack, you will feel a slight haptic feedback courtesy of the vibration motor in the device. Animations and feedback you will also get with other tasks you perform on your Android device. Think of closing an app in the recent apps screen, when you're at the volume control or other things.
Google is also adding new colour themes to Android with Material 3 Expressive, which are dynamic. By working with responsive components and typography, you can customise Android much more than ever before. Furthermore, these visual options will also become available in other Google apps. Think Google Photos, Gmail and in Fitbit's app.
Live Updates
Also new are the Live Updates feature, which can bundle the progress of different apps in a cool way. For example, when you order from Uber Eats, you get a real-time update on the status of your order. It is currently unknown with which Dutch apps this functionality will work. Developers will still have to support this feature, though.
We will see Material 3 Expressive first in Android 16. It was announced tonight that Android 16 will be available as early as June! This makes it a lot earlier than when Android versions usually appear.
