Android 17 proves that Android updates have misplaced their magic

I’ve been protecting Android for thus lengthy that I keep in mind the times when every OS replace, 12 months after 12 months, introduced so many basic adjustments that I used to be desirous to attempt all of them. I notably keep in mind when Materials Design was first rolled out, and I used to be actually refreshing the updates web page simply to see the brand new design firsthand. The identical was true when Android adopted gesture navigation following the iPhone X launch, fully altering how we interacted with Android in comparison with the standard three-button interface.

Quick ahead to at present, once I choose up my Pixel 10 working Android 17. I generally even overlook that I’m working the newest model. It’s visually so much like Android 16 (and Android 15) that I discover it laborious to inform the distinction. That is fairly the other of the eagerness I had earlier to check out new options, and I reckon the shift has extra to do with Android’s maturity than the rest.

Sure, I did use the “I” phrase for Android 17.

Nicely, now we have been calling it that for a number of years now, however Android 17 is probably probably the most obvious instance of all of them. The newest replace didn’t embrace many fancy options that may entice an excessive amount of consideration. What we as an alternative bought have been enhancements below the hood and a few minor safety enhancements, whereas the extra outstanding options centered on multitasking with app bubbles. That’s the textbook definition of an incremental replace that brings quality-of-life enhancements fairly than attempting to show heads.

That’s not to say Android 17 doesn’t include something significant. Like my colleague Shimul, you could possibly additionally discover the app bubbles to take multitasking to the subsequent stage, working virtually like your mind handles a number of duties. I’m personally very keen on the brand new possibility to cover app names on the house display for a good cleaner, text-free look, however my favourite addition must be the flexibility to drive darkish mode on apps that don’t natively assist it (Amazon, I’m taking a look at you). And with Android 17, I additionally really feel extra at peace once I can solely quickly share my exact location, like once I’m utilizing a single-use app on a visit.

From my vantage level, this can be a signal of maturity. Whereas we noticed Android transfer towards that eventuality when it dropped its enjoyable naming scheme for a extra wise, numbered one, it’s now totally mirrored in how Google’s smartphone OS features. It’s the steadiness section Android is coming into, and I’m all in for it, even when it prices me my annual pleasure.

Earlier, it took a complete 12 months of build-up earlier than the Android betas got here out, after which a few months later, the steady replace would drop with the newest Pixel handset. That’s how updates used to ship again then — what now looks like an eternity in the past. However Google has decoupled these updates from main Android releases, which is why we don’t get a single massive shock however a number of smaller ones.

Pixel Drops and Android Drops now carry vital weight. It was really attention-grabbing for Google to implement a Pixel-like quarterly Characteristic Drop for the bigger Android ecosystem, letting even non-Pixel customers look ahead to a set of recent options each few months. And never a number of us understand what number of new trinkets Google merely flicks on by means of Google Play providers. A current instance is the addition of Ask Play, which is nothing however an AI-powered search field for the Play Retailer.

And that brings me to how a lot of an influence AI has had on Android. Gemini is now one of many greatest elements of the Android expertise, a lot in order that Google is on the verge of introducing full agent capabilities the place Gemini can take actions inside apps in your behalf. And since Google is in a cutthroat competitors within the AI area and must be on the reducing fringe of it always, it merely can not afford to attend even for a number of months, not to mention a full 12 months, earlier than delivery new options. That’s the very purpose you see Gemini getting much more love as of late, with Google more and more utilizing AI-powered options throughout the working system, be it the flexibility to attempt on a glance in Google Search or use AI’s assist to edit your images.

Android, as an working system, now works at a extra foundational stage, setting the stage for all of the attention-grabbing stuff that works on high of it. Which means Android hasn’t misplaced its allure; it’s merely graduated to a extra critical function.

Android has existed for over 18 years — that’s a completely grown-up working system, even by human requirements. That is the purpose the place you cease anticipating a bit of software program to reinvent itself each single 12 months — and that’s an indication of maturity fairly than stagnation. What you begin to anticipate from a mature working system is reliability, stability, predictable battery life, higher efficiency, privateness, safety, and accessibility, all of that are extra basic to an OS than any of the flashy options on high of it.

In a method, neither have Android updates misplaced their magic, nor has the thrill disappeared. Google has simply stopped clubbing collectively its nicest options and ready for an annual cycle to ship them. In truth, Android has gotten much more thrilling options within the final couple of years than it did in its complete previous life, some even essentially altering its very existence by means of AI.

So, whereas I’d miss the eagerness main as much as a significant Android replace, I nonetheless suppose it has retained its simple allure, and I’m right here to remain for that.