The trusty document picker of old does the job just fine, too, though. Apps that don't need access to all of your files can use this to make it easy to select an image or video that you want to share in, say, a chat or pass on to a photo editor. Speaking of changes in media handling, Android 13 has also received an iOS-esque photo picker interface. Of course, apps will have to support this new method, but Google will probably make sure that it doesn't take too long until it's mandatory. The approach means that apps have to ask for access to audio, video, and image files separately, making it possible to preserve your privacy further. Google will likely never go as far as Apple went with the "Ask app not to track" prompt that cost Facebook billions of dollars in ad revenue, but small improvements are sprinkled here and there in Android 13.įor one, Android 13 adds a new media files permission that makes access to your files even more granular for apps. But the company is still trying to make the process more transparent and make it harder for bad actors and malware to access data that isn't needed. After all, Google is an advertising company that lives off the data people share with it. Privacy is a difficult concept on Android. I was initially displeased with how Google handled the separation between the two search bars, but the situation has gotten a lot better following the initial release. Thankfully, it looks like the company is exploring bringing back this behavior with Android 13's March 2023 Feature Drop. I would have preferred for Google to retain this "enter equals open app" behavior in the app drawer, as it adds more friction and makes you stretch your thumb all the way to the top of the screen again just to open an app. If you routinely do this, prepare for loads of searches like "mes" or "gma" in your search history when you just wanted to open Messages or Gmail. Otherwise, you will end up doing a Google search for whatever phrase you entered. Instead, you have to tap its icon at the top. For example, when you want to use the keyboard to search for and then open an app, you can no longer simply hit enter/search to open the first app listed. There are still some regressions compared with Android 12 and iOS, though. In theory, this is supposed to dunk all the apps on your home screen into the same wallpaper-based background and foreground colors, leaving you with a uniform-looking design. However, Android 13 is the first Android version to bring themed icon support to third-party apps, so you're finally no longer limited to themed Google apps. Like Android 12, Android 13 also lets you turn on themed icons for your home screen, which builds on top of what the first release brought. All this is accessible from the Wallpapers & Style settings on the home screen. This gives you a lot more flexibility in changing your interface colors without switching wallpapers, and it is a much-needed push in the right direction. Most notably, Android 13 offers many more extracted colors to pick from, giving you up to 16 different color themes from one wallpaper. Android 13 doesn't outright fix any of the underlying issues with the new design language, but it builds on top of what Android 12 introduced and refines certain aspects.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |