ANDROIDPOLICE VIDEO OF THE DAY On the one hand, Android 12 felt, at times, incomplete, and Google’s decision to focus on some much-needed improvements to the features it introduced a year ago is probably the right one. Material You is closer than ever to the auto-theming engine we all expected it to be, although third-party icon support remains an issue. Google combined its search bars on Pixels to lead to the same user interface — an obvious fix, though it doesn’t work properly in this week’s initial stable release. And that’s on top of several privacy tools that will make Android more secure than ever. The handful of visible new features here are also great. I’m obsessed with the new media player. His squiggly line dances on my lock screen or notification tray every time I listen to something on my phone. The opt-in notifications have been a long time coming and I’m glad to finally see them here. And while I won’t be making much use of Google’s new language settings per app—apologies to my many French teachers—it’s a great tool for anyone who speaks more than one language. That said, it’s easy to get excited about Android 13. As I said in this week’s podcast, I think Google has done a great job moving the features that matter most to channels outside of the annual release. Relying on app and service updates, the company is ensuring that more Android users than ever get the tools they need without having to wait for new software to be released by the Samsungs and OnePluses of the world. It comes at the cost of Android 13 feeling a little less special, though — after all, when we’ve spent an entire year on a radical new redesign for the OS, all Google can do is roll out the privacy changes and security we saw this year. So, with that, I open the floor to our readers. In addition to a poll this week, I’d like to know how everyone feels about Android 13 — and, perhaps a little more broadly, Android as an operating system. Are you happy with the changes Google made this year, no matter how minor they may seem on the surface? Are you worried about the potential stagnation of the platform, especially as it has matured in recent years? Maybe you’ve never warmed to Material You, and the additional color options in Android 13 haven’t swayed your opinion. There are no wrong answers this week — in fact, there are no predetermined answers at all. Just let us know if you still have the update and then sound off below. Our Android 13 review has already seen a flood of comments, observations and opinions, but with the floor completely open, I’m excited to see what our reader base thinks. Even if you’re waiting for an OEM to release a software update to your device, feel free to get in touch with early impressions from the past eight months of leaks, developer previews, and betas. And if you’re rocking a Pixel phone with Google’s latest software, even better. Comments are open, AP readers — let’s see what you think.
