7 Cool & Useful New Features For Android Smartphones and Wear OS
Google has released another Android 13 feature drop, and this time, it comes with features for both smartphone users and those who use a Wear OS smartwatch. Every year, Google releases a new version of the Android operating system, and along with it come new features for compatible devices. Not to be confused with Pixel Feature Drops, these are available to all Android devices.
The June feature drop for Android 13 users should be the last before Google rolls out Android 14 for devices later in the year. It comes with several useful features, like Reading Practice, new Emoji Kitchen stickers, Dark Web leak reports for more users, new widgets, Google Keep for Wear OS, and more. Here are the best new features for Android smartphones and Wear OS.
7. Reading Practice With Real-Time Feedback
As part of its June feature drop, Android is adding a new feature to the Google Play Books app that helps users improve their vocabulary, pronunciation, and comprehension skills for the English language. With Reading Practise, users can practice reading with on-screen text, check how a word is pronounced, look up word definitions, and much more. It's quite helpful, especially for young kids or anyone trying to learn the basics of English.
6. Emoji Kitchen Expands With Marine Animal Stickers
Android's Emoji Kitchen has been around for a while. It lets users experiment with different emojis, combine their characteristics, and create new stickers. With the latest feature drop, Android has added new aquatic-themed emoji to Gboard's Emoji Kitchen including a dolphin, shark, and whale. Users can remix these with their favorite emojis, such as teary eyes or surprise face, to get entirely new stickers from Emoji Kitchen.
5. Dark Web Leak Reports
Dark Web report, a feature announced for Google One users in March 2023, is now available for "most Google accounts in the U.S. to use on the Google One website and app." It allows users to run scans on the dark web and check whether their email address has been exposed. Further, users can also check whether other personal information, such as their social security number, is leaked on the dark web. In the coming months, the feature will roll out to more than 20 countries, says Google in a blog post.
4. Widgets For Stocks And News Headlines
3. See Pinned Notes & To-Do Lists On Wear OS
This time around, Google has also released several features for Wear OS devices. One of these features includes access to a to-do list on a smartwatch. Using Google Keep for Wear OS, users "can add a tile for fast access to a selected note or a to-do list." To see the list, users can simply swipe through their tiles. The feature will allow users to keep track of their schedule, shopping list, etc. without accessing their smartphone.
2. New Spotify Tiles For A Better Wear OS Experience
Along with the to-do list, Wear OS has also released a Spotify tile that enables users to listen to their playlists right from the smartwatch. The tile allows users to play/pause music, skip to the next/previous track and view other tracks in a playlist. Interestingly, the Spotify tile has a personal AI DJ that recommends songs based on users' preferences and streams episodes from their podcast lists.
1. Nearby Share For Windows Beta
To improve connectivity between Windows and Android devices, Google has released Nearby Share beta for Windows. The feature lets Android users share files, such as photos, videos, or documents, with their Windows PC wirelessly. Users must download the Nearby Share app on their Windows PC and set it up. Then, they can just hit Nearby Share for a file on their Android phone and select their PC from the available devices list.
Source: Google
