These days the MWC 2023 takes place, the largest fair in the world dedicated to mobile devices. The opportunity for Android and Google apps to push updates to your system, just like Wear OS. Rather, the focus is on the accessibility of Google services.
frandroid currently covering the MWC 2023 that takes place in Barcelona, with the presentation of many products and concepts. Among these news, there are also updates announced by Google for Android and Wear OS.
Google Keep: a new widget to manage your shopping list
The first change is on the Google Keep side, with the appearance of a new widget. It allows you to quickly manage your notes, but also manage your to-do lists, like a shopping list. In fact, it is a window that shows a note that can be consulted without having to open the application. Google claims that “this widget displays reminders, background colors, and images added to notes from the Keep app».
Google Keep integration in Wear OS is also getting better, as the app sees the addition of two new shortcuts for creating notes and lists with a single click on your connected watch.
Zoom in Google Chrome finally keeps the design
Google Chrome also takes the opportunity to improve on Android. Now the browser can increase the size of texts, images and videos by up to 300% while maintaining the design. You can even set a default size that applies to all websites so you don’t have to change it every time.
A function that will be very practical for people with reduced visual acuity. At the moment it is only available in beta version, but Google has announced an official launch for next month. The advantage of this solution is that it doesn’t require websites to necessarily scale to all display sizes, which actually increases the accessibility of those sites.
Audio is getting better: democratizing noise cancellation in Google Meet and Fast Pair
Google’s video conferencing app gets ambient noise cancellation during calls on more Android devices. Google Meet can filter noise from a speaker’s environment: engines, crowds, etc.
On the other hand, the Fast Pair function, which allows you to quickly pair Bluetooth products and, in particular, wireless headphones, is becoming more democratic. A simple touch will allow the first connection with a Chromebook. Also, if you’ve already paired an audio product with your Android smartphone, it can automatically pair with your Chromebook. Remember, however, that this feature was a long time coming, having been initially announced in January 2022.
Other changes in Google applications
Other updates to Google apps include quick PDF annotations in Google Drive. Either by touch or with a stylus, you can use various ink strokes to add notes. What to quickly sign a document by hand, which we are regularly asked for. PDF documents that can also be highlighted. Changes can be saved to a new copy of that document.
The Gboard Android keyboard is also complete with new emoji combinations in the Emoji Kitchen feature. It allows you to mix various emojis to create new ones. From a technical point of view, these are actually images, which therefore appear very large in conversations. Another major change is coming to Google Wallet next week. New animations when confirming a payment, including a penguin.
Finally, on the Wear OS 3 side, we are entitled to the arrival of a mono audio mode, to avoid the disorientation that stereo can cause. Finally, new color and grayscale correction modes are added to further improve accessibility.
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