Tablets are suddenly playing a major role again for Google and next year they want to enter the market really big again with the Pixel Tablet. Preparations for the larger displays are already underway and now the Pixel Launcher is also receiving an update as part of the current Android 13 beta, which creates more space on the home screen with an enlarged grid. But that’s not the only adjustment.
Inflated smartphone apps are often used on tablets, something that Google is partly to blame for, given its years of ignorance of the tablet market. But that is about to change and after the new Google calculator design, the Pixel Launcher is now also presenting itself with a new interface. If the new Pixel Launcher from the Android 13 Beta 3 is used on a large display, this tablet surface is shown.
Because there is of course more space available on the devices and the app icons should not grow in size unnecessarily, the grid is enlarged. Instead of the classic 4×4 or 5×5 grid, a 6×5 grid is used on the tablets. So six icons are next to each other in five rows. This allows 30 icons to be placed on the home screen, which is still a large distance apart and would certainly also offer the potential for 7×5 or even 8×5 (but we don’t want to overdo it).
You can see the new dimensions in the screenshot above, but that’s not all. Because you have not only rearranged the icons, but also some other fixed elements. Because tablets are wider and not much higher in landscape view than smartphones in portrait view, this space will be better used in the future: As you can see in the screenshot above, the Google search bar no longer has its own row but shares it with the app icons in the dock. Nevertheless, six icons still have space below, just like on the rest of the home screen. This also shows that an 8×5 grid could easily be offered.
The same applies to the ‘at a glance’ widget, which no longer has to stand on its own, but offers space for icons placed next to it. The widget’s footprint is 3×1, so with this larger grid, three icons fit next to it. It is quite possible that there will be further changes for tablets, but for the home screen, this is a big step. Incidentally, the display is also divided here, as was introduced with Android 12L for the notification bar.
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