Just as it does every year now, Google has begun releasing the first one developer preview Of Android 14, starting as always from its smartphones, or from the Google Pixels. In particular, at the moment it is possible to try the new operating system on: Pixel 4a (5G), Pixel 5 and 5a, Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, Pixel 6a, Pixel 7 and 7 Pro.
In this article, which we will update over time, we will see all the What’s new in Android 14from new features, to smartphones that will be compatible and also talking about the update roadmap.
Index
Android 14: the roadmap of the update
Google has released the first developer preview of Android 14 on February 8, 2023. It is a build that is mainly used by developers to optimize applications and services in view of the official release of the operating system. In any case, the second developer preview is expected to be released in March 2023.
As can also be seen on the Android 14 official pagethe first beta version is expected to be released in April 2023 and the second beta should arrive in May.
The release of the third beta is scheduled for the month of June but this, if all goes according to the roadmap, will already be on a stable platform. This means that it will be a version that is already closer to the final one. Two more betas on the stable platform are then scheduled for the month of July 2023 and then arrive at official launch of the stable version during the month of August 2023.
What’s new in Android 14?
First we can talk about what hasn’t changed, namely the fact that even Android 14 still bears the name of a dessert just like its predecessors. In this case the name is UpsideDownCake which means “upside down cake”. Certainly Google developers have never had a lot of imagination for names.
Speaking instead of what changes, for now no revolutionary news has emerged. Among the most significant is the functionality of app cloning and that of the automatic detection of bloatware. So let’s go find out all the news of Android 14 in detail below.
Screen usage time is put on display
A first interesting novelty concerns the screen usage time which in Android 14 is clearly highlighted as soon as you access the battery usage settings. This feature allows the user to view how long the smartphone has been on with the screen on since the battery was last fully charged.
This feature was obviously already present in Android 13, but to view the screen usage time it was necessary to access the battery usage settings and scroll the whole page to the bottom. Here with Android 14 now things will be faster and simpler!
App cloning
Another novelty that immediately caught the attention is that regarding the app cloning. To clarify what we’re talking about, it’s that feature that allows you to create a copy of another application and can be extremely useful when you need to log in to a platform with two different accounts. Cloning therefore allows you to access that platform with two different accounts (e.g. Facebook) without having to log out and log in each time.
Cloning apps, let’s be clear, is nothing new, as there have been various third-party applications for a long time that allow you to achieve this. The novelty of Android 14, however, is to bring this functionality natively and therefore without the need to download additional applications.
Bloatware detection
Mishaal Rahman highlighted through a TweetAndroid 14’s ability to detect bloatware, i.e. those applications that are automatically installed by other applications. Apparently, however, the system will not prevent applications from being installed, rather it will allow the user to view a list of all applications that are considered bloatware (therefore unnecessary) and will give the possibility to select and delete them from the device.
Also Mishaal Rahman explained that the concept of bloatware could often be ambiguous. In any case, he added that even when a SIM is installed in the smartphone and the latter begins to download the operator’s apps, these applications could also be considered bloatware.
Notice of old applications
Android 14 also brings news regarding security, because it introduced the functionality of warning of applications too old. In summary, as always explained by the good Mishaal Rahman in a Tweetwhenever you try to install an application designed for a version of Android 8.1 or lower, the system will show a warning message where it is said that the app may not work properly or may not be safe.
This is an important novelty, as very often old applications, since they do not support the latest security patches, could be the perfect vehicle for some malware.
Improved predictive back gesture
Android 14 is introducing the predictive gesture back which will allow you to preview where you are going when you are about to scroll back. In Android 13, there was already this feature, but you could only preview the steps to the home screen. In Android 14, however, it is possible to preview the movements between various apps and even within the application itself.
It is certainly a useful novelty as we often had to go “blindly” without knowing where we would end up after making the gesture of scrolling backwards. You can view a very short demo of this novelty in the Tweet Posted by Mishaal Rahman.
