Google brings new features and improvements every year with a major Android version update. After beta testing, Google released Android 13 in August and since then we are hearing rumors and speculations about Android 14. Android OS is constantly evolving with these updates and the next version of Google’s Android operating system is expected to release in May 2023. This means that we will be getting beta testing for Android 14 at the start of next year. This will include beta builds for Google Pixel phones and then we’ll see more previews of it. The release date is not official yet so it depends on the depth of development and changes that Android 14 update would bring.
Android 14 Name
Android 14 is called Upside Down Cake, a bit weird though. Android OS has been coming with these names since Android 1.5. Google was following desert names until they changed this scheme in Android 10.
Phone enthusiasts are always excited about Android updates to experience all the new features. The biggest visual update to the operating system after Android 5 Lollipop was Android 12 and google called it Material You design. This update brought an extensive feature list and design philosophy that Android users were demanding for so long. In Android 13, the user interface carried the same Material You aesthetics with some new changes.
It’s good to expect bigger changes in the Android 14 design but as we told you that we recently had a big update in Android 12 following Android 13, so we don’t expect another revolutionary update for a while. Now let’s talk about what are expectations and rumors about android 14.
Satellite Connectivity
The satellite communication feature is coming to Android phones and of course supported devices will benefit from it. This year we saw a similar feature introduced in the iPhone 14 series. Google SVP Hiroshi Lockheimer announced this new feature but he didn’t explain more about this. Android OEMs will adapt this satellite feature in their smartphones as soon as Android 14 releases, and we may expect new android update native support for this as well which will definitely help Android phone makers.
NFC Beam
NFC is currently popular for digital wallet contactless payments but in the early days of NFC, Google released a feature called Android Beam with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich which was a great way to transfer files. It allowed users to share content such as videos, photos, and files between two Android phones by touching them together. As the ‘Nearby Share’ progresses in later versions of Android, finally the old sharing method will be removed from the Android codebase.
Video Codec
Apparently, the Android 14 update will make AV1 codec support mandatory on all devices. The AV1 video codec has come in handy for multimedia enthusiasts. It promises 30% better compression than the VP9 codec. Web videos are expected to load faster as AV1 codec reduces the bandwidth requirements in online video services.
HAL
Google is also planning to introduce HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) support with Android 14. Due to this feature, Android devices will be more secure as it makes the authentication process on services and websites much more secure.
As we get closer to the release date, we will hear more about Android 14. As more information becomes available, we’ll be sure to update this article
See also: How To Restore WhatsApp Deleted Messages On Android