At MWC 2023 in Barcelona, Google announced several useful features coming to your Android smartphone via its upcoming Android 13 update.
Unsurprisingly, the changes are more gradual than you’d see in a larger Android 14 revision, but the tools being added to the best Android phones are nonetheless worth paying attention to. They include new concoctions from the Emoji Kitchen, more handy notes from Google Keep, and less noise in Google Meet calls (via the google blog (opens in a new tab)).
Updates should roll out in the coming days and weeks, so be sure to check your device’s update settings to see when you can update to the latest Android operating system.
Google Keep Widget
If you rely on Google Keep notes to keep your life in order, you’ll be happy to know that the app is getting an Android widget that lets you view notes on your phone’s home screen. This can include your shopping list note that you can check off as you go through the store, a picture of some specific item to keep an eye out for, or any of your many other reminders.
Additionally, those of you with a WearOS watch like the Galaxy Watch 5 or Pixel Watch will benefit from two new shortcuts, allowing you to create notes and to-do lists with a couple of taps on your watch face.
Google Meet noise cancellation
This feature was already available on some Android devices, but it will eventually roll out to more of them. Thanks to noise cancellation, the next time you have to join a meeting from your smartphone, you won’t have to worry as much about the noise around you, like the annoying neighbor mowing the lawn or the noise from the coffee shop you’re in. working. in – will be filtered. The system can’t hide all the background noise, but it does a pretty solid job of making callers easier to understand.
New Emoji Cooking Combos
Emoji Kitchen is the Gboard feature that automatically combines your Android emojis to create a mix that best captures your mood. If, for example, you want to communicate that you find something amazing and hilarious, Gboard can merge the exploding head and crying laugh emoji into a single image to capture that emotion.
This Android update brings new possible emoji combinations to help you convey an even wider range of emotions. In the above gif teaser, we see that a basketball fan can express his love for the game by fusing the basketball emoji and the glowing heart.
Improved zoom for Chrome
Zooming in on Google Chrome pages was just like zooming in on a static image; the words and icons are enlarged but disappear from the screen. The next Android update will allow you to zoom a page up to 300% while keeping the page layout and keeping everything on the screen. You can also set a preferred content size, so each page automatically enlarges when you load it.
This feature won’t roll out until March, but you can access it through the Chrome Beta and go to the Accessibility Settings of the app.