The “highlights” are a new wallpaper picker and new lock screen clocks.
Android 14 is out today, along with a new Pixel phone. The OS is shipping to supported Pixel devices now, which means the Pixel 4a (5G) and every variant of the Pixel 5, 6, and 7, plus the Fold and Tablet.
The big feature this year is a somewhat customizable home screen. You can pick from several different lock screen clock styles and customize the two bottom app shortcuts. This feels like a response to iOS 16’s lock screen widgets (a feature Android used to have back in the 4.2 days) but not nearly as customizable. It’s honestly hard to highlight a second Android 14 feature because this is one of the smallest Android releases ever.
The first feature Google mentions in its blog post is a new wallpaper picker. On the Pixel 8, Android now has a built-in text-to-image AI wallpaper maker, presumably a feature that lets the Android team adhere to Google’s “mandatory AI” company mandate. There’s also a new monochrome theme if you’re tired of all those “Material You” colors.
Next up, we have… a redesigned battery charging indicator in the status bar? Updates to Android’s runtime? You can make the screen and camera LED flash when a notification comes in. There’s Ultra HDR image support, a sharable “Health Connect” data repository for fitness apps, and that phone-as-PC-webcam feature is launching.
That’s kind of it. Android 14 is rolling out to Pixel phones now, and Google expects many partners will be ready before 2024. Really, though, there’s no rush this year.
