Look, I’ll be sincere: When I first received my grubby gorilla paws on Google’s newest and nice Android model — the hot-off-the-griddle first beta of this yr’s Android 14 replace — two terse phrases stored ringing in my head:That’s it?Also: Mmm, pancakes. But that is simply due to the griddle reference I’d already cooked up in my deeply demented man-brain.All flapjackery apart, there is no method round it: On the floor, the inaugural beta of Android 14 is not precisely thrilling. In reality, in most day-to-day use in the meanwhile, you would be hard-pressed to note a lot distinction between it and the Android 13 replace that got here earlier than it.So whereas the intuition to label Android 14 as a ho-hum underachiever is comprehensible, framing this as a second through which Google is not doing a lot to maneuver the Android expertise ahead misses one main level — some extent that is necessary to ponder if you happen to care in any respect about understanding this platform and the way it truly suits into this vast, wild mobile-tech ecosystem of ours.[Get unmatched Googley insight in your inbox with my Android Intelligence newsletter. Three new things to know and try every Friday!] It’s some extent that folk on the Apple facet of the divide like to gloss over. But doing so paints a deceptive and woefully inaccurate image of what truly occurs right here within the land o’ Android.The simply ignored Android 14 asterisksWe’ll get to that main level in a second, however earlier than we do, we have to speed-skate our method by way of two different Android-14-related asterisks we would be remiss to not point out as part of this dialog. First, it is all the time price emphasizing: What we’re seeing within the early beta of a brand new Android model is never the total story. Particularly with Google’s present improvement cycle, El Googenschplort’s virtually all the time received one thing nonetheless up its sleeve and saved for a splashy debut at or round its grand Google I/O showcase in May.If nothing else, we all know Android 14 would be the basis for a wholly new kind of tech-type product by way of the upcoming Pixel Tablet. So, y’know: Stay tuned…and all of that.Asterisk two is that oftentimes, it is the under-the-hood stuff in a brand new Android model that is in the end essentially the most consequential — even when it is not essentially the most instantly electrifying piece of the puzzle. That’s the place the vital enhancements in areas like privateness, safety, and efficiency seem, and whereas these are usually far much less tangible than the flamboyant front-facing stuff, you’d higher imagine they matter.In actuality, the truth is, these components are usually extra necessary than the surface-level adjustments and convenience-boosting characteristic additions — notably relating to skilled use. But these asterisks apart, here is what you actually have to recollect: We’ve reached some extent the place the smaller updates to system-like elements throughout Android are sometimes rather more attention-grabbing and significant than the large honkin’ OS updates, at the least from a purely experience-based perspective.And that leads us to the actual ignored realization with all of this: On Android, these types of system-like updates present up on a regular basis — yr spherical — by means of particular person app updates within the Play Store.That’s the place Android is decidedly totally different from that different cellular working system and the place all of the comparisons and new model assessments all the time fall flat.Android 14 and the total Android improve realityConsider simply among the following system-app-centric enhancements we have seen on Android up to now few months — for the reason that begin of the yr. Take a deep breath:
The inventory Android Messages app gained end-to-end encryption for group chats involving as much as 100 individuals
Messages additionally obtained the power to react to any message with any emoji — not simply the small handful of decisions you are initially proven by default
Google Keep, the default notes app for Android, received a snazzy new single-note widget together with the power to show a number of notes facet by facet on tablets and folding gadgets
Gmail began with the ability to present you particular package deal monitoring data associated to an e mail proper in your fundamental inbox view
Gmail additionally gained a brand new two-pane view for extra environment friendly use on tablets and foldables
The default Chrome browser received upgraded with a change to guard your non-public incognito tabs and require biometric authentication earlier than returning to ’em
Chrome additionally simply received an under-the-hood replace that supposedly makes it 30% sooner on sure Android gadgets
Google launched an replace to its Android Nearby Share system that allows you to wirelessly beam recordsdata backwards and forwards between an Android gadget and any Windows pc
The Google One service noticed a hefty replace that introduced a built-in VPN and darkish net privateness breach monitoring service to anybody with any paid storage plan
Photos’ improbable Magic Eraser characteristic for simply eradicating components from photographs expanded to all Pixel telephones in addition to all Google One customers
Google Drive gained the power to allow you to mark up any PDF file with drawing and highlighting proper out of your telephone
The inventory Gboard keyboard received a hefty interface replace that features simpler and extra succesful customization together with new devoted emoji keyboard and language switching shortcuts
An replace to the default Android Clock app began empowering you to report your personal customized alarm sounds
YouTube quietly gained an possibility to start out a collaborative livestream with another person, utilizing two totally different telephones collectively
Google Meet gained 360-degree digital backgrounds for cellular video calls
The Google Home app received a useful TV management panel for suitable linked televisions
Google Contacts received new widgets together with a characteristic that highlights upcoming birthdays amongst your favourite human people-persons
Various updates to YouTube Music launched real-time lyrics, clever recommendations for covers and remixes of your favourite songs, a nifty new customized radio creation system, and a system that robotically downloads not too long ago performed tracks for easy offline entry
A brand new cross-platform Health Connect system began to roll out for simple sharing of well being and health knowledge between several types of apps and gadgets
Cross-device timer monitoring got here to all Pixel merchandise
Google’s Direct My Call system, which helps you to skip by way of annoying in-call menus, expanded to the midrange Pixel 4a and Pixel 5a telephones
Newer Pixels noticed an improved model of the already-excellent Night Sight photo-taking system
And on the platform degree, an under-the-hood replace to a Play-Store-based service launched a space-saving auto-archiving system that may collapse apps you are not actively utilizing whereas retaining ’em available for future use
WHEW! And holy moly: If this have been iOS, all that stuff can be bundled right into a once-yearly main working system replace and getting all types of consideration. Here on Android, we hardly even discover it or take into consideration how unimaginable of a set it provides as much as create. (And keep in mind, too, that is taking a look at solely a tiny sliver of the stuff that is rolled out over the previous few months — not even going all the way in which again to the final main Android model replace.)For context, Google’s been pulling what have been as soon as core working system components out of the working system correct and treating ’em as standalone apps for nicely over a decade now. That means these components get up to date quite a few occasions a month, all all year long, in a method that reaches each single Android gadget kind of instantly.But it additionally means these updates are likely to get misplaced within the shuffle and seen as scattered little scraps as an alternative of as half of a bigger, linked story. And but, a fraction of those similar updates would make up a complete Apple iOS launch and be touted as a large leap ahead.The OS replace itself is barely half the storyNo exaggeration: If you take a look at the listing of options in Apple’s newest iOS replace, the overwhelming majority of the objects there revolve round these exact same varieties of updates — updates to core system elements for pictures, messages, e mail, on-screen typing, well being and health, dwelling management, and notes. It’s the identical actual form of stuff, solely as an alternative of exhibiting up scattered all year long in an simply ignored a la carte method, Apple bundles all of it collectively right into a closely hyped annual package deal.Google’s method truly presents a reasonably vital sensible benefit, for the reason that updates to all these items usually land a number of occasions a month as an alternative of being collected into annual clusters — however with the way in which larger OS updates command essentially the most consideration, it additionally presents a really actual downside round notion. Plain and easy, Google does not do a lot to emphasise the truth that we get these types of updates continuously on Android whereas iPhone house owners get ’em solely a couple of times a yr. When you cease and give it some thought, it is actually no shock that so few individuals see the forest for the timber and notice the way it all provides up.So the following time you end up considering that Android 14 or another incoming Android replace appears underwhelming, keep in mind that the OS replace itself is barely half the story — extra just like the foundational groundwork than the total development. And keep in mind that in fact, all of us on Android get the equal of a number of iOS updates a number of occasions a yr.That could not create as cohesive or as highly effective of a advertising and marketing message as what Apple delivers — one thing Google may completely stand to work on — however relating to real-world expertise, it is arguably a a lot smarter, extra wise, and extra advantageous method. It’s simply as much as us to place the items collectively and take into account the entire they create.Want much more Googley information? Sign up for my Android Intelligence publication to get next-level suggestions and perception delivered on to your inbox.
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