Pixelated - The Android 16 Show

Episode Date: May 16, 2025

Welcome to episode 54 of Pixelated, a podcast by 9to5Google. This week, we talk about The Android Show, Android 16, Wear OS 6, and more. Subscribe YouTube Podcasts Pocket Casts Spotify Apple Podcasts Overcast Hosts Abner Li Damien Wilde Read more Google announces Android 16’s Material 3 Expressive redesign  Wear OS 6 brings Material 3 Expressive redesign, Gemini  Google’s Find My Device app is now ‘Find Hub’ Gemini coming to Android Auto with Live, automatic translation, more [Video] Gemini is still replacing Assistant on Google TV, but not until ‘later this year’ Listen to more 9to5 Podcasts 9to5Mac Happy Hour Electrek The Buzz Podcast Space Explored Rapid Unscheduled Discussions Feedback? Drop us a line at [e-mail], leave a comment on the post, or to our producer.

So Abner, I want to ask you a question. It's a burning question I've had over the last couple of days. Is the Android show one of Google's new keynotes, or is it slightly less than that? Calling it a keynote would be generous, I think. Yeah, it was more a presentation, I guess, rather than a keynote. A keynote in the traditional sense of live demos and people speaking on the stage. this was a recorded bit. It felt more like Apple's recent style of keynotes

that are no longer live that are pre-recorded. It had those vibes, which is part of the course for the Android show. It's always the developer-focused Android shows with the past few years or so. It's part of the course in that regard. But I don't know. I think I was expecting something more keynote-y

in the traditional IOS sense. And regardless, just around 20 minutes, actual announcement lies maybe, yeah, 20 minutes with a lot of transitions in between. It was very much a show, as promised, as billed in the name. But I think my expectations were something more keynotey, and it very much wasn't that. Do you know what it reminded me of?

it reminded me a little bit of the launch night in. Was that Pixel 5 era? Yeah. It kind of felt a lot like that. Did they do an online for Pixel 6? I kind of remember, but 2021, but it feels like such long time ago. Time is just evaporating. But yeah, it felt a bit launch night iny in that it was like, well, yeah, pre-recorded.

I'm not, I don't know how I feel about it. I feel like sometimes the keynotes, I know some people love them. I'm kind of indifferent. I'm more like just giving the product specific. give me the price, I'm happy. Like the rest is, we will take it apart in post, if that makes sense. I mean, I guess when we start to think about launch events and stuff, made by Google's a little bit more in depth in that they go into the true ins and outs,

but obviously the standout is this new Android 16 redesign that we just keep banging on and banging on and banging on about. But I guess that's our MO. What do you think so far of what we've seen that's like official, official, if that makes sense and is coming soon. Yeah, it looks, it's, I guess what we got was more of the story behind why they're doing it, and I'm very glad. I think we were asking about the transparency, the blur last time,

and the official reason is the blur in the recent multitasking and in the notifications shape was to provide some separation to convey where you, are in the operating system at all times. Sure. Still doesn't really work with dynamic color, but neither here nor there. It's, yeah, so they focused

on the animations. The animations were a big focus. They want to emphasize how their little delightful touches here and there, which is the main reason for material to be expressive. And I think that's sold it.

overall it just looks very cohesive together it's Google wants to add expressiveness this this I yeah it's expressiveness is an interesting word for it we've been living with it for the past two weeks now but it's

do you think it's a right word I'm kind of I get what they're trying to say I mean I'm an animation guy you know that as well but like I think all of these little extra touches to me is, and I don't think it's, I wouldn't call it expressive, I'd call it, I mean, call it what it is attention to detail. I think if you can have an animation that works from effectively, even, well, the dream is to have the animation work from pre-interaction to the end of the interaction. I think this kind of creates this, and I know,

obviously a cliche thing for specific of pixels that is in air quotes, buttery smooth, which I don't really like that terminology, but that's probably what everyone seems to almost like lean into in terms of pixel interface. This feels like that next step. Like we've had smooth pixel interfaces for a while. It's that little extra attention to detail that's going to make the biggest difference.

And these are the kind of touches that Google kind of has, maybe they've seen iOS doing it for a long time and even One UI and Oxygen OS are another good examples. Like we've seen those OEMs, one plus, Opo, and Samsung kind of like, they get given the tools to make their own Android versions and even they're putting their own extra little touches to it. So I'm glad that Google's going to go,

as kind of read the room a little bit, I guess. Maybe that's a bit harsh, but having all these little extra touches is really, really nice. Like, what do you think in terms of like, is this too little too late in some respects? I know we're going to have this really strange transition period now when we have Android 16 with barely anything in it. and then whatever QPR 1 is is going to be a huge major thing.

Like, do you think that? I personally think it's aligning for Pixel 10, obviously, which is obvious. Like I'm not pulling trees or... This is all the view on the pixel 10. First device and maybe a week or two later, all the other devices will get it with QPR1. It's...

I think the word Google use was springy. They are natural springy animations. Yeah, to read the question. to bring a moment of delight to everyday routines. It's, again, I think I need to feel this because you need to actually use it because it's, you can appreciate it much more when you're actually using it, of course. But from what we have right now, it's the high, it's everywhere. It appears to be consistent.

It's system-wide. So that's good. that's a very good start to all of this. And yeah, the system itself, the quick settings, the notification shade, just a system UI, it appears cohesive, it appears they touched every single surface. Google didn't really talk about the status bar icons, which is something here with it every single day.

But yeah, it's the call of it is there. and I think that will be the big update come a few months. So the other thing they had was live updates. We finally got to see live updates in full. It's always on display, which is nice. It's on top of your notification shade. When you're just using your phone, it's a pill next to your time. And when you tap it, you get the full notification.

So I think I've been really waiting to see what it's, the full experience is like, before judging it. But so far, it looks pretty good. It's, um, it's poor, it's probably not like the dynamic iron level of interactivity or like, is like the dynamic iron is very prominent. It's hardware, obviously. Um, so software can't compete with that.

But it's, it looks, I think it will be fun when apps adopt it. adopted. I think that, I mean, live updates is a great example. I think when we look at this, this definitely puts into perspective. Like, obviously, we saw stuff, I think we mentioned it last week, that having leaked things ahead of time can almost give you sometimes a false sense of what you should expect, if that makes sense. Like, there's a lot of these things now that look cleaner than obviously a pre-release

build potentially, or like people enabling things. are in progress. Like the fact, the matter is, is that we have something that looks way better than I anticipated. Like I was,

I was kind of frustrated. I didn't want Google to go down this route with the quick settings panel, but the quick settings panel makes a lot more sense when you see in situ. It looks cleaner.

I mean, obviously that's a perfect demo, isn't it? Obviously, when we get to see these potentially in a QPR 1 beta in future, then it may not be quite as polished,

but I kind of hope it is because they'll have more time in the oven and they've almost set expectations by revealing some of their changes. Like, you said with the live updates, I'm glad that they've done this with the AOD because I've been annoyed if they didn't. I know that obviously we only have that live in the current incarnation of Android 16. I'm pretty sure is it only the Easter egg that it works with right now?

Yeah, maps. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. Yeah, it's kind of fine. But this new interactivity with it and the integration with the, the, with the Uber Eats app, I think it is in a demo. You'll find that.

We'll leave a link in the show notes for that as well, so you can check that out. But yeah, it just, it does look more, it does look a lot more in, is it in keeping with what Google was trying to do with the rest of the system? It just looks like a regular Google widget to me, but with ability to have it on your lock screen. I want to ask you, I want to ask you about some other little changes,

though. We saw some of the little changes like you alluded to it, the status bar. I am going to be sad if we're not going to be able to revert to the traditional pixel battery icon I really kind of like that

They didn't really talk about customization They We don't know whether the lock screen clocks can be customized as leaked in some builds or whether that's like a pixel sent thing They didn't really talk about customizing it Like the app icons either

They really didn't go into that Yeah I still have to I need to look at that battery icon every single day to see how I feel about it because

I didn't it's very iOSy especially the percentage being inside the battery and I do not like the one UI 71 where it's just a perfect pill instead of anything that has definition

so yeah, I need to river that. I really need to river that. I also notice something while I'm looking at it right now. It looks like we're probably going to get a new system font. Like, obviously, judging by the status bar and the quick settings, it does look like we're going to get more rounded. It's not going to be kind of, it's a little bit,

and I don't want to use the term comic sands, but there's a little bit of like a comic sands element to it, a little bit of softness to the text that we usually had quite sharp and it's not serif is it but yeah just sans serif fonts that we've had in in uh android for a while and robotto being the the classic like is that is that trying to make i don't know it's literally just coming to me right now do you think that this is kind of like google trying to be a bit more approachable to everyone like friendly i don't think that's expressive i just think it's like i guess it's softening up the maybe the harder edge of what people assume android is

guess maybe for the rest people specifically. The word, again, comes back to the mute choosing the word expressive. They want to make material you more expressive. I obviously think that material you are so much better branding than material three expressive or, I guess people in the know will short-handed to M3E. But again, we really need to use this. We really need to see what the haptics feel like that go with the animations,

whether one who get annoyed with the springiness or whatever once you actually riveted. But overall, it looks consistent. And that's the most you can hope for at this point before you actually get a chance to use it. Yeah, I'm excited to try it. We're going to live in hope that we get to see something in the next few weeks because obviously, hey, if they're going to have a QPR 1 beta, it's got to start at some point soon. So hopefully with that first beta,

we're going to get to see some really cool stuff. But one thing I wanted, before we kind of move on to some other cool software stuff, I genuinely am surprised at how much Google lent into lilac, pink and purple this time around, this colour system, it seems to be all over the marketing. It was very much like, and it was very, very purple. I wonder what the reasoning for that is. I wonder if that's a hint at something going to happen with Pixel 10. but hey, I'm not reading between any lines.

I'm just wondering, like, I love the colour purple. So, yeah, I want to see some more of that. These colours are a little bit out there, a little bit different, rather than the stayed, plain things that we see usually across most of the tech space. But yeah, let's get into wear OS6, which is effectively, I mean, it's an extension of this, isn't it's material three, but for a wearable. I don't think there's quite as many changes. I don't know what you think so far.

I am currently using a one-plus watch, so I'm. I'm not using a pixel watch at the minute. So my opinion, I'm, it's, I'm, it was a complete surprise in that, well,

I guess you could assume that where O six is coming. It's, their Google has been pretty eerie about it, based on 116. But I, this was a surprise, through and true, nothing leaked.

And you can compare and contrasts, like what happened with the phones and what happened with the watches, Google got to announce whale 6 on its own terms. They had the full hour and surprise. And I'm not sure if this is because we've seen the phones, we've been looking at the weeks. They've been for months and months.

But the whale 6 was a breath of fresher almost. It's interesting to see what happens and Google can present a cohesive vision on its own without any. outside, whatever. But yeah, bringing material expressive to the watch and it's really

they're embracing the round display. They have buttons that go up to the edges, they have curved buttons, they're really maximizing the screen real estate. And I think it's

to its benefit, it's really benefiting from that. It just looks less empty. I think the tiles are perfect, example of that. Today, tiles are pretty bare and they at most show one key stat or they're very minimalist as is, but they have a grid isn't the right word, but they have a system to maximize the buttons you can place and I think it works really nice. It looks really rich. It takes it up

closer to watch OS and the Apple Watch in terms of how it kind of feels like you have a miniature phone experience on your wrist with the Apple Watch. So it's maybe Google balance it a bit better with LS6 and M3E. But I don't know. I'm really liking how it's where OS is looking less bare and less bare bones. And it has more of the material you personnel that I've been living with on phones. I think it's very interesting that Google has made some changes to the way that where OS is going to feel in terms of like interactivity.

Like, for instance, my biggest takeaway was, and they even said this in their own blog posts, is that they were saying that typing on a smart phone, smart watch screen, sorry, can be really irritating and finicky. Like, I'm really surprised. And then when you go look at the pin entry screen, that is almost a direct rebuttal to be like, we're going to make this easier because we're going to give you huge keypads to dial in. And it looks like the Google calculator app, which I think is a good thing because it's a callback to one of their first party applications.

I think any time where they tie things together, I know a lot of people will criticize a lot of tech companies out there for not having cohesive visions, I think tying everything together would that be that software, hardware and anything else in between. By doing that, there is people who want to be in the Aircuts ecosystem because they know that their watch works exactly like the phone. And you've alluded to it. It's like a small smartphone experience. and I think that makes the most sense,

because as good as the Pixel Watch is, does feel a little bit, in terms of visuals anyway, without that true material you and now Material 3 Expressive, it now is going to feel a lot more closer to a pixel watch than probably, sorry, a pixel phone than,

than it was at launch and in the time since. Like, what do you think, what do you think in terms of like the, the way that they've squeezing in certain elements into this rounded display? I don't know from the back of my mind I'm thinking this could open the door for more or not more

larger displays on wearables because you're maximizing the very very the areas where there's a quite a substantial amount of bezel I don't know how you feel about it yeah the fourth so personally I've actually switched to the 45mmy pixel watch full time as of like a month or two ago

and I am very much for having the biggest screen and I this was people who wanted it for ages but I think in the case of the fixer watch, the biggest screen for the sake of these animations is how you go going forward. Ware or S has always had this bare bones to it, even in Warels3. So like the animations and you're scrolling the notification,

it feels like the processor, the chips have finally called up to having phone level experiences on your. wrist and maybe the battery is better with Google saying where a six is 10% more you get 10% more battery so overall I think this is such a even more so on the watch more so on the watch and on the phone it I think just because there's a less UI so to speak what you have look so much more cohesive um like it's cohesive internally within within the when the when the the watch within the designs that they're aiming for, but also it shares so much of the phone.

Like you said, the pin pad, the quick settings, it's all the animations there, the buttons morphing from pills to rounded rectangles when you tap on it. All that gets translated over from the phone. And I think absolutely for the better. It's, it's, it's, I'm really working, this is what I'm most excited to use more so than phones, I've to admit. I'm only disappointed they didn't show us any new watch faces. I kind of think they've shown us the stock watch face for the Pixel Watch 3, which I'm a little bit disappointed by. It's a lovely watch face, don't get me wrong.

And again, again, it's in that purple colour. I don't know why purple and lilac seems to be the colour scheme they're going for this year. But yeah, I kind of hope that they introduce them more, watch faces that take even better advantage of it and maybe have a little bit more bounce and personality that is part of this in air quotes expressive thing. The only other thing I would be interested in with regard to what they do with wear OS6 is, and I think this is just kind of more of an idea. I would love to see a bit more of crossover between tiles and widgets on pixel phones and the watch. I feel like it would be good to have something that is effectively

one to one. Like I know that you could argue that. You could argue that. that it's a sales tactic for people to get watches, but I would love to see some of these like that. I know if you go look at the press images, there's a couple of widgets for the contacts. There's one for Google Maps, I think it is, is with the search and go option, which is like a smaller version of what you can get on your phone.

I would love to see those almost like snapshot widgets put on the pixel. I think it would become cool to have, because you could have like four or five of them on your home screen, and I mean, don't get me wrong, it would take up a fair amount of space, but yeah, just, there is an opportunity there that I think nobody else seems to be taken advantage of and I think that would be kind of cool.

Am I excited? Well, like I say, as someone who uses a OnePlus Watch 3, I am excited and it may make me switch back over, but obviously that 10% battery gain does that really, will that make a difference to people day to day? Because I guess if you've had a pixel watch 3, you've had it nearly a year now. And obviously it's going to be battery degradation.

are you going to have more than 10% battery degradation wearing a watch every day? I don't know. But yeah, it's always great to see these claims, whether they're backed up by real world data is another thing. But I think, yeah, I agree with you. It was the shock one. It was the one we kind of didn't expect and we're really excited by. Yeah, so those are absolutely the main points of the Android show.

It's coming right, material to express if it's coming away to this year, first on pixel. So that's something looked forward to again, absolutely referring to the pixel 10. So I think the other big announcement from the Android show was Find My Device becoming Find Hub. So far, this is just a name change to reflect how back in March they added the people sharing tab and capability and how to find my device name doesn't really work with that. just to spend a few minutes on the name. Fine Hub.

It's an interesting one. Immediately reminds me of Grob Hub. I was about to ask you about that. I know. Yeah, it does. I mean, it's a strange one, but at the same time, I get it,

it makes sense. It does make sense. It's one of those sometimes, sometimes when Google makes a decision we're like, he's scratching your head and wondering why they've done this. I do think Fine,

my device could have worked in its own thing, and then maybe they could have done what Apple has done with, is it fine my friends? Is that still a thing? I don't know, but basically have a separate application, but I understand that having it all in one place, two tabs,

is a cleaner way of doing things, and then you don't have to split things away and spend extra development time. And it is technically using your phone anyway, so it makes sense to be within the one hub, essentially. I kind of like this decision. I do think it makes sense. And my biggest gripe with Find My device and Find Hub in general

is that we just, it's not as robust as it still could be, you know? So, I kind of, I suppose the good thing is that this update kind of coincides with the Moto tag getting that ultra-wideband tracking, which gives you visual hints. So precise, location, distance, that kind of stuff. Yeah, like, that's kind of interesting. I do think that would, that is, I mean, it's a great timing for the Moto tag. It makes it more as of a viable product. probably the outright tag you should go out and buy.

But there was some other interesting things in here, right? There was, we're going to get potentially, we're not potentially going to get, we're going to get suitcase brands and luggage brands that have integrated trackers in them. That's a really cool move. I don't know if you pick one up or just stick to throwing one in your backpack anyway.

Yeah, it's, I just throw some in. But it's, yeah, the ecosystem is growing. That's that part of the news. the other software announcements is that in the future the other partner announcement is it's working with carriers with airline

carriers. They're working with them to be able to, if you lose your luggage which is something the app air tag did all the offers. So yeah, that's happening. The other big announcement is satellite connectivity that you're able to use if you're out of cellular range and you're on

the supported device, carry, etc. You can use it for location sharing, you can use satellite connectivity to share your occasion, maybe see other people's occasion. So that's a nice development. But yeah, Fine Hub. I guess that's coming away to this year, but the biggest announcement now is that UWB support is growing out in May and that you should soon see an update that just makes it FindHap. Yeah, so if you're wondering, if you're trying to find, find my device on your home screen,

search for Hub or Find Hub. And it should, should change. The icons staying the same. The experience is practically the same. I mean, technically not probably as good as the air tag in terms of like searching for stuff, but that's by the by. I think, yeah, there are some things I really like about it. I like the fact that you can do the location sharing as well. That's great.

And like you say, the satellite connectivity could be a really good safety tool with supported devices. So, yeah, Pixel 8 and above on Pixel Series. I think it's that included regular pixel 8 I can't remember the satellite connectivity no yeah satellite connectivity is it just it's still pixel 9 oh no so yeah I'm thinking sorry I'm thinking sorry I'm thinking uh off device off searching yeah but yeah the satellite connectivity pixel 9 and above and a couple of

um I think there's a Samsung phone in there as well but yeah um it's it's all great it's all great to see anything getting evolutions even if it does mean just adding removing device and putting hub at the end and this is one of those cases I like, so in terms of, let's look outlook because we have a huge event coming up next week. We have a huge event that has now almost been decoupled from Android. So we do expect Google to do some things at I always related to Android, but maybe not quite as headline or attention grabbing.

What do we think we're going to see and what is confirmed to be seeing? Because I'm kind of need to know this as well, because I'm going to be with you there in Martin in View next week. So to wrap up the Android show, the other. big component was Gemini. But not the biggest, because it's just Gemini coming to RELS, Gemini coming to Android Auto and Automotive, Gemini coming to TV. I guess we can talk about it for a minute. Google is ending the Google Assistant Sherrod.

Earlier this year at CES, it seemed like it was going to remain the Google Assistant. But they were going to keep that name for home and devices. for smart speakers for TVs, but no, that's over. They're calling it Gemini, mercifully, and that's for the better, because we'll see what happens with speakers and smart nest displays and whatever, but on TVs, it's going to be Gemini.

That's a good thing. But, yeah, Gemini on Android X-R when that happens. But, yeah, so in many ways, Google was clearing the, also using the Android show, to clear out the more minor Gemini announcements. All Gemini and all these on wear, on TVs, on cars, pretty straightforward. You pretty much get the full experience.

As you do on phones, you get access to apps extensions, your data, etc. So they are clearing that way. There was nothing about Gemini on phones in terms of new features during the Android show. And I'd expect that to be the full focus of, the I.O. Keynote, or taking new practical applications, new features of Gemini for your phone, for your computer, or whatever. That's going to be the full crux of I.O., I'm sure.

And we'll see how futuristic things get. But, yeah, that's the thing to look forward to. It's like last year, it's a Gemini heavy. it's an AI heavy show and you have to make a piece of that or be excited by that or whatever, but it's going to be Gemini on phones full tilt. I suppose that was one of the good things of getting Android out ahead of I.O. It doesn't get buried in Gemini news, which is something that I think a lot of people would be critical of if you're like us, where you're, I think the pair of us are kind of more

lean into the Android side of things. I'm definitely coming around to some of the Gemini applications, but yeah, I think Android going out ahead of time, Android show going out ahead of time is a good thing. I wonder if this is going to be something they do permanently and do it like this all of the time and save all those big announcements and keep I-O specifically for AI moving forward, but I guess there's going to be some fatigue from people doing it like that.

I wonder how it affects viewership of IO as well. But, yeah, Gemini on More Phone Facts is always good to see. It shows that there's, I mean, obviously if Google integrates it properly, which I don't doubt they will because the rollout's been pretty solid so far. I'm excited to see it on AR and XR. A.R. and XR.

I always forgot, I'm bad at the namings of these. So if we get XR. Extendary. Yeah, I want to see how it works in the real world, in a real world setting for that. Because I can imagine that could,

that is the world-facing camera that you've alluded to multiple times on this pod before. That I think where we get that true application of Gemini, Gemini needs to be a world-facing camera and having contextual cues. We've seen it with the Astra-powered Gemini Live on phones. So, yeah, to be able to see that on this form factor where I think it lives effectively hand-in-hand with your day-to-day. I think I'm excited to potentially get to test that next week.

And whether or not we get some more information about what Samsung's doing with their Mujan headset as well is always going to be good. But yeah, Android-heavy I know, I think those days are longer. Yeah, I think the extent of any additional Android news will be absolutely about Android XR for better wars. And how do you think that's going to pan out? Because obviously, there's going to be a public demo for all of the attendees. You're going to get a few minutes with the headsets or the glasses sets, whatever you want to call them. Do you think that, like you were one of the few people I know.

who's been able to test this in person, do you think this is going to be the game, like, not the game changer, how would I describe it? This could be the taste maker for this, the application of this technology. Is this going to be the one that we see? Because it's clear lenses,

it's a pretty small headset. I mean, I know Samir had it on briefly during the... Yeah, this is the prototype. This is still the prototype phase. We're very far away from the Samsung thing, but this is back and this, This started in December, the previews and whatnot. And this is the continuation of that.

This is, it's not ready, but Google wants to be in a discussion. And I think I will give them a very big stage to do so. Yeah, like I say, we'll get to see some more of the things. Obviously, we don't know at this stage what's happening. But, yeah, new phone facts is always good and getting to test them out in person. I'll give you some opinions. Hopefully my opinions align with what you think about it, but we'll see what we're within a week's time.

But yeah, I.O. is fast approaching. I'm excited for it. It's always probably one of the biggest events. It is the biggest event in Google's calendar, save made by Google. But yeah, I don't anticipate any surprises. I don't know if you do, but it kind of is what it is at this point in time. We've had our good, our kind of our bread and butter, our main appetizer, would it be? The main courses, I know how you want to categorize it.

but yeah, we will give you all of the news. We'll be there in force next week. I will be sun-creamed up, and we will be found in the pavements of shoreline. So, yeah, stay tuned. We will bring you coverage from the event. We'll hopefully have a podcast, a podcast, if I can say it, on site as well.

So, yeah, just, like I say, thanks for joining us. It's been a week. It's been a week, and it's going to be a week next week. Yes, guys. And we'll speak to you soon. All right. Bye.