Android 12 on the Google Pixel 4: all the new features at a glance

Android 12 is here, and it has arrived on my Google Pixel 4. I hadn’t used the device in a long time, and the last update it got was Android 12. I hadn’t installed the beta, so I didn’t know the new features and the design beforehand. In October 2021, the operating system still felt not quite finished.

Material You: the new design

Android 12 brings a new design language: instead of Material Design it is called Material You, and everything can be personalized even more. Buttons, sliders and icons automatically adapt their colors to the wallpaper.

1. Touch and hold the home screen and choose wallpaper and style.
2. Change the wallpaper. The preview shows the home and lock screens.
3. Choose preset color combinations or change the basic colors. Then the entire system color adapts, including in the Google apps.
4. Switch the dark theme on or off.
5. The icon design is still beta and adapts the icons of the Google apps to the system color.
6. With the app grid, you can enlarge how the apps are displayed, up to 2 x 2. That is an advantage for people with a visual impairment or who have trouble with small icons.

I missed the option to customize the shape, color and font of the individual app icons, which I had seen in the beta. Under Android 11 there was a dedicated menu in the settings for that. I assume it will be delivered with the next update.

Notification shade and tiles

When I pull down the notification shade, there is a completely new view. The tiles are now in the system color and can be edited, added and removed. Notifications are shown grouped, with their own category for silent notifications.

There are two new tiles that let you completely switch off camera and microphone access. Google puts data protection and privacy front and center and follows Apple a little here. I think that is right and important. Some apps, especially social media apps, seem to listen: you talk to friends about a topic and then get ads for exactly that. That is sometimes creepy. With the tiles, you can shut off access right away.

When I open the camera, a green dot appears at the top right. For video recordings, it also shows that the microphone is on. The volume menu also has a new design and adapts to the colors.

Widgets

The widget menu has been completely redesigned, much clearer and nicer than under Android 11. New is the Conversations widget. With it, you put chats with specific people or groups on the home screen as a shortcut, independent of the app. That way you don’t first have to open the app and look for the conversation.

One-handed mode, always-on display, screenshots

• One-handed mode: It is now quicker to reach. You swipe down on the small bar at the bottom. For that, you have to activate it once in the settings. That is a little hidden, you’ll find it under Accessibility. There you switch on pulling the display down. Optionally there is a shortcut as an icon, whether that is practical is for everyone to decide.
• Always-on display: The design is new. Without a notification, the time is shown very large, with notifications it moves up and gets small.
• Scrolling screenshot: You take a screenshot with the power and volume down buttons. If it works, “Capture more” appears at the bottom, and you use a slider to choose how far down the page is captured. On my first try it didn’t work, on the Google home page it then did. You see: some features still don’t run properly.

App overview and split screen

In the app overview, small icons appear for web pages or YouTube, for example for a photo or a link. You touch and hold them and drag them into WhatsApp, for example. The iPhone 13 models have that too. So you don’t have to save images or copy links.

Split screen is still there. I still miss the option to put two open apps on the home screen as a shortcut, which should actually work under Android 12. I haven’t found this feature on my device so far.

Privacy: the privacy dashboard

In the settings under Privacy there is now a privacy dashboard. It lists which apps accessed location, camera, microphone, call logs and other permissions in the last 24 hours. For microphone use, you can see exactly when which app used the microphone. I find that very useful and informative.

Verdict

I find the design of Android 12 very appealing. I didn’t find all the features I had seen in the beta beforehand, and I assume they will come with the next update. The operating system still feels not quite mature. You know that from bigger software leaps, it takes an update or two until everything runs smoothly.