Google I/O: Creativity as the motto of Android 14
Google presents further innovations for Android 14 at the developer conference. The focus is on personalisation with moving wallpapers, photo editing and expressive text messages.
AI is a topic for Android, but so is creative development on your Android smartphone. More options and ease of use are also at the top of Google's list.
Simplified interaction between apps and devices
Google is keen to constantly improve Android. This includes 50 Google apps that have been specially optimised for foldables and tablets. Thanks to the collaboration with Disney Plus, Minecraft and Spotify, popular third-party apps should also offer a better user experience
A highlight of this collaboration is that WhatsApp will soon be available for wearables. You will soon be able to make phone calls and the like with the chat app on the Pixel Watch
Source: Michelle Brändle
Cross-device use is also simplified. With Nearby Share, you can move data between your smartphone, notebook and PC.
Tracking: Find My Device gets better and more secure
The Find My Device function is also getting an update. Other Android devices should be able to find your misplaced Android products again. It is also possible to find your bike or rucksack using an attached tracker. In a previously announced collaboration with Apple, these functions are also to be protected against misuse.
Source: Michelle Brändle
Magic Compose - change text messages at the touch of a button
Messages, Google's messaging app, is getting support from a generative AI. With the Magic Compose function, you receive suggestions to add more emotion and style to a written text message. The function is coming as a beta version this summer.
Creative possibilities on the smartphone screen
With Android 14, you get new ways to personalise the screen. These include shortcuts and specially designed clocks on the lock screen as well as new monochrome colours that you can apply to the entire topic.
The new Pixel 7a also comes with the option of personalised wallpapers. You can arrange emojis in the pattern and colour of your choice. Or you can take your own photo and have a 3D image generated from it that moves slightly when you unlock or tilt your smartphone.
Source: Google
No suitable image for this? Then use Google's text-to-image AI model, which creates a unique background image for you. With your chosen colour palette, the background image will automatically match the rest of your topic.
Google Photos for better image results
An AI is also at play here to help you edit photos. Retouching in nicer weather, completing cropped objects and revising skin tones are just a few examples that Google demonstrates.
Cover photo: Google
In my world, Super Mario chases Stormtroopers with a unicorn and Harley Quinn mixes cocktails for Eddie and Peter at the beach bar. Wherever I can live out my creativity, my fingers tingle. Or maybe it's because nothing flows through my veins but chocolate, glitter and coffee.