Android 12L, Android 12 with Material You, Pixel 5a and Pixel 6, rumors about the Pixel Watch and much more. It’s been an exciting year for Google fans. Although not all wishes have been granted.
Early in the year, Google presented a completely new Wear OS 3 and has teamed up closely with Samsung for this. Not far away there were new rumors about a first Pixel Watch. At the same time, after a takeover of Fitbit, Google announced that the manufacturer of fitness watches is also planning devices with Wear OS for the first time. Now we look back sadly on many lost months, in which unfortunately nothing happened.
There weren’t nearly as many new Pixel devices as we’d hoped
Until shortly before the turn of the year, there was no Wear OS watch from Fitbit. And despite further rumors about a Pixel Watch, the Mountain View group has still not presented its own smartwatch. We were just as disappointed in the summer when the new Pixel 5a was launched in America and Japan, but unfortunately not in Europe or Germany.
There was also no new Pixelbook, the Nest loudspeaker portfolio has not really grown, the first Pixel Fold did not materialize and the new Pixel 6 smartphones are currently heavily criticized after a lot of enthusiasm. The latter is because of a lot of bugs, faulty update delivery and lack of communication from the manufacturer.
Google Pixel 6: Completely redesigned, but unfortunately not free of errors
I’m actually a huge fan of the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. The two new smartphones have been redesigned from head to toe. New cameras, new design, new processor, more assistant functions (also for Germany). They convince and are certainly the highlight of the year for fans of Google hardware.
Unfortunately, disappointments outweigh the initial enthusiasm at the moment. There are really many mistakes, some of which affect a lot of people. The December update with over 80 bug fixes brings with it further errors. In the meantime, the extradition even seems to have been partially halted. We hope the January update brings the solution.
Wear OS, Android for large devices, Android 12
On the software side, Wear OS was the biggest surprise of the year. Google is increasing its commitment very much and has teamed up with Samsung. The result is a new Wear OS 3, which also brings some special features from Tizen. One disadvantage is the limited availability because there will only be a single watch with the new software by the end of the year.
Samsung probably also has a considerable influence on Android 12L. The intermediate version, which is currently in a test phase, should bring various improvements for large displays, but also for Chromebooks and foldable. Previously, with Android 12, the biggest update appeared in a long time, which finally started again with outdated and forgotten functions such as the widgets.