As Android 15 rounds the final flip earlier than the end line, Google is saying a handful of latest options for Android and Put on OS. Three of those additions revealed Tuesday contain audio, whereas the opposite two sort out navigation and earthquake alerts.The primary new function coming to Android telephones enhances the TalkBack accessibility function with extra detailed audio descriptions of pictures generated by Google’s Gemini AI “on supported units.” Which may indicate that this function employs the on-device Gemini Nano library, however Google clarified to us that it’ll depend on the extra highly effective cloud-based model of Gemini.Second, Android telephones will get a shortcut to Android’s song-identification function through Circle to Search. Simply “long-press the Dwelling button or navigation bar to activate Circle to Search, then faucet the music button,” Google says. That ought to get you the track title and artist, with an choice to “open a YouTube video to discover extra,” so that you don’t miss an opportunity to spend extra time on Google’s platforms.Third, Chrome will add an choice to learn pages aloud in a synthesized voice, with a selection of audio system, languages and listening speeds. Desktop browsers have supplied read-aloud options earlier than—see, for example, Microsoft’s Edge, Chrome in Chrome OS, and Safari in macOS—nevertheless it’s a legit addition to cell shopping. Fourth, Google is increasing the Android Earthquake Alerts System it launched in 2020 past California, Oregon, and Washington to cowl all 50 states and all six US territories. This function depends on the accelerometers in Android telephones to operate as miniature seismometers that can notify Google’s earthquake-detection system in the event that they detect a sufficiently sharp shake. The system will then course of these notifications and, in the event that they point out a major sufficient quake taking place, ship push notifications to Android telephones in these areas.
Californians might know this earthquake-response stuff by coronary heart, however the remainder of us would possibly want a reminder. (Credit score: Google)
Which will embrace locations that haven’t felt an earthquake in additional than a century: As Washingtonians had been abruptly knowledgeable in 2011 and New Jerseyans had been equally shocked to study in 2024, earthquakes aren’t solely a West Coast sport. The final new function is coming to smartwatches working Google’s Put on OS. This addition of offline help for the watch model of Google Maps could also be much less of a shock since experiences of it touchdown on these units are already circulating. And since the Android model of Google Maps has supplied that function since greater than a decade in the past. However it ought to be a welcome improve anyway for smartwatch customers who hike or bike into areas with awful mobile protection.
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Google’s different announcement Tuesday covers Android 15, the replace to Google’s smartphone and pill OS that provides such notable options as a “Personal House” for more-sensitive functions, improved help for satellite tv for pc connectivity, and stronger theft safety. With its code now full, Google is transport Android 15 to the Android Open Supply Venture, the open software program framework that different gadget distributors have relied on to develop such Android-based working programs because the Amazon’s Fireplace OS. That submit says Google itself will ship Android 15 “within the coming weeks” for supported Pixel telephones, which the documentation for the fourth beta of Android 15 that Google launched in July defines as all the things from 2021’s Pixel 6 collection onward by means of the just-released Pixel 9 collection. As standard, individuals utilizing current telephones from different firms—akin to Samsung, by far the highest vendor of Android telephones—can anticipate a wait time from extra weeks to a number of months, and non-Pixel telephones greater than a few years previous might by no means get Android 15.
Palms On With the Pixel 9 Professional and 9 Professional XL
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About Rob Pegoraro
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Rob Pegoraro writes about fascinating issues and prospects in computer systems, devices, apps, companies, telecom, and different issues that beep or blink. He’s lined such developments because the evolution of the cellphone from 1G to 5G, the autumn and rise of Apple, Google’s progress from obscure Yahoo rival to verb standing, and the transformation of social media from CompuServe boards to Fb’s billions of customers. Pegoraro has met a lot of the founders of the web and as soon as acquired a single-word e-mail reply from Steve Jobs.
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