Today, we’re bringing you Android 16, rolling out first to supported Pixel devices with more phone brands to come later this year. This is the earliest Android has launched a major release in the last few years, which ensures you get the latest updates as soon as possible on your devices.
Android 16 lays the foundation for our new Material 3 Expressive design, with features that make Android more accessible and easy to use.
↫ Seang Chau at the Google blog
Android 16 doesn’t seem like a very big release, and that’s because for most users, it really isn’t. There’s some neat features in here, like improved notification grouping, live notifications, a slew of protection features for people who run increased risk (think journalists or victims of abuse), and proper desktop-style windowing on tablets, which seems like the tentpole feature for now. The Material 3 Expressive design is not really here yet, though as that will come in subsequent Android 16 updates.
The release for devices coincides with the release of the source code, which is no longer released as part of the development process, but dumped across the fence at release time. This means that those of us using a de-Googled Android ROM – I use GrapheneOS – will have to wait a bit longer than we’re used to before getting the new version.
I really kind of wonder what kind of weird RPC system could be cooked up to create an Android thin client. Something network agnostic like X was originally. The interface looks good, but I don’t want to be sitting in front of the device, and the device would be some headless server or sensor somewhere.
My old phone died, so I had to upgrade to a model running a current Android version, I have to say, many of their new “features” seem like busywork, and I don’t really look forward to their future upgrades, as they seem keen on thinking they know better than their users.
To give one example, they no longer show you the Bluetooth state as an icon in the top bar next to the battery charge, instead you have to drag the top menu down to have it show up. This means that every time I want to check if there’s any bluetooth device connected, I can no longer just glance at the phone, I have to interact with it.
Also, their “Now Brief” widget is apparently permanently active on your home screen, as is a search bar, taking up valuable real estate.
Dreading the moment they decide to phase out three button navigation in favor of “gestures”.