Google Releases Android 14 and a New Pixel Feature Drop

Google today announced the release of Android 14 on supported Pixel devices alongside a new quarterly Pixel Feature Drop. Android 14 will roll out to Samsung Galaxy, iQOO, Nothing, OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, Sharp, Sony, Tecno, vivo, and Xiaomi devices later this year.

“Android 14 is here and it’s packed with updates that help you customize your device experience, give you more control over your health and safety, and improve accessibility,” Google vice president Dave Burke explains. “Android 14 … enhances performance, privacy, security, and customization.”

Key new features include:

A new look and feel. Google brought the Material You design to Android 12 two years ago and then honed it (and arguably made it broadly usable) in Android 13. And now Android 14 offers even more customization capabilities with new lock screen templates and custom lock screen shortcuts, a customization picker for the home screen, and generative AI-created wallpapers (on Pixel first). There are also monochrome themes for you minimalists.

Health Connect. This central hub will help users keep track of their fitness, health, and wellness in a single place that’s encrypted on their phone and not viewable by Google or anyone else. It will work with Google and third-party services like Oura, Peloton, Whoop, and others.

Bigger fonts with non-linear scaling. Users can scale their fonts to 200 percent in Android 14, up from 130 percent on Pixel devices previously. And the scaling uses a non-linear scaling curve to ensure that text that is already large enough doesn’t increase at the same rate as smaller text.

Improved security. Android 14 will encourage users to adopt 6-digit PINs (as is the case on ChromeOS), and will finally unlock your phone after you enter your PIN without requiring you to also tap Enter.

Accessibility improvements. Android 14 brings many accessibility improvements, including an improved Magnifier, a Font size tile in Quick Settings, new ways to connect and interact with hearing aids, and a new Flash Notifications feature that uses light flashes instead of sounds.

New capabilities. Android 14 supports Ultra HD for images, new camera extensions (zoom, focus, postview, and more), lossless USB audio, automatic framing in video calls, one-tap access to Google Home, new graphics capabilities, OpenJDK 17, and new share sheet customizations.

You can learn more about Android 14 on the Android website.

The Fall 2023 Pixel Feature drop builds on Android 14 and adds new features to Pixel phones and Pixel Tablet. These include:

Dual Screen interpreter mode on Pixel Fold. This new translated conversation experience takes advantage of Pixel Fold’s dual displays.

Updated Pixel camera experience. This new camera UI makes it easier to discover Pixel’s camera features.

Unique customization features. Pixel users get access to new unique clock and wallpaper collections that are not available on other Android 14 phones. And those who use a new monochromatic theme on Pixel will see that color scheme replicated in popular Google apps.

Kids space improvements on Pixel Tablet. The tablet experience for kids now features a streamlined navigation bar that makes it easy to switch between apps and get to the home screen.

News and podcasts on Pixel Tablet. Now, you can ask Google Assistant to play podcasts and the news when your tablet is docked in Hub Mode.

You can learn more about the Fall 2023 Pixel Feature Drop on the Google Pixel Blog.