Android has gone above and beyond to surprise everyone with a host of new features to celebrate the holiday season.
In a blog post, the company announced that it released a number of new features for phones, tablets, and smartwatches for the holidays. In addition to some smaller updates to Google Photos, emojis, and more, the company also released some major updates across compatible devices.
The first major feature is a new Reading mode that is tailor-made for a more accessible reading experience for people who are blind, have low vision, or are dyslexic.
Catch up on your favorite content, your way. The new Reading mode on Android creates an accessible reading experience that can be helpful for people who are blind, low vision or dyslexic. Once installed to your settings, it adds customizable display options — including contrast, font type and size — and a text-to-speech function with speed control
While you’ve been able to cast from the YouTube and other apps to a compatible television for a while, the company is finally adding the ability to cast from the Google TV app.
Sometimes it’s easier to look for something to watch on your phone than on your TV. The Google TV app already makes it easy to use your phone to discover movies and shows from across your streaming services. And starting next week, you can cast directly from the Google TV app to your compatible TV with a single tap. You can keep browsing other options while you’re watching and use your device as a remote control, too.
The company, in the footsteps of Apple, is also launching digital car keys for the first time. You’ll be able to share keys across both Android and iOS.
With digital car key, you can lock, unlock and turn on a compatible car using just your phone. And now, you can share your compatible digital car key with friends and family across Pixel and iPhones (coming soon to select phones with Android versions 12 and up). You can view and change who has access to your car in your phone’s digital wallet app.
In addition to all of these new features, the company also added new tiles and a Google Keep experience to WearOS, making it easier to manage notes and to-do lists. You can check out all of the new features launched today in the company’s blog post.
