Googles latest Android update for Pixel could give iOS 16 a run for its money

Date:
Tue, 07 Jun 2022 09:45:51 +0000

Description:
The June Feature Drop for Pixel is here, bringing big improvements to the
lock screen.

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All eyes are on Apple right now, as the company has just unveiled its next
big iPhone software update, iOS 16 . But Apple isnt the only company with new software to show off, as Google has quietly rolled out its June Feature Drop for Pixel phones and it comes with some eye-catching improvements of its
own.

The headline upgrade is perhaps the improvements to Googles At a Glance widget, which makes important information glanceable from both your home and lock screen.

The update adds new options for info that can be shown on the lock screen, including a video feed from your Nest Doorbell , air-quality alerts, and a reminder that your flashlight is on.

But thats not all this update brings. It also allows you to add a shortcut to a screen-shotted vaccine card on your home screen, so that you can bring up proof of your vaccination status with a single tap.

Elsewhere, Googles Live Translate feature now supports Traditional Chinese, Korean, Dutch, Turkish, and Thai; there are new wallpapers available; and the update lands alongside a Pocket Operator app , which allows you to edit and add sounds to your recorded videos.

There's also the usual plethora of bug fixes and security updates, so even if the new features dont interest you, the update is worth downloading. Its already started rolling out, but it wont be available to everyone
immediately, so keep an eye out for an alert on your phone. Analysis: lock screens are getting upgrades on both iOS and Android

One of the big new features in iOS 16 is the ability to fully customize the lock screen and add widgets to it. Its a big change, but with this Feature Drop, Pixel users already have a number of new widget-like features through the At a Glance update.

These new features follow other recent At a Glance updates which added the likes of earthquake alerts and details of connected Bluetooth devices to the lock screen, so theres a lot you can see without ever unlocking your phone.

That said, these features are only available to Pixel owners not the wider Android world, and it sounds like iOS 16 will allow users to add an even
wider variety of things to the lock screen.

So this isnt quite a match for what Apples doing, but on the other hand it is available now, whereas iOS 16 probably wont be finished until around September. Get more out of Android with the best free Android apps



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/googles-latest-android-update-for-pixel-could-g ive-ios-16-a-run-for-its-money/


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