Google Home will soon show its own panel with Favorite devices on the system's Device Controls page.

The latest update of version 2.65.6.1-dogfood added a new Systemcontrol.panel.GoogleHomePanelAcivity. In the future, when you call System Device Controls page and select Google Home, you will see exactly this Activity.

Here you will see all the devices that are present in the favorites tab of the *redesigned* Google Home app. In essence, the added activity copies this tab. You will also be able to edit the list of devices on this page as in the app.

Google News | En

Google introduced Partial Custom Tabs, web pages that partially overlap the app.

Normally, when you open a link in an app and think you're still in it, you actually see Custom Tabs (from your default browser). Now Google is going a step further by adding a new feature called Partial Custom Tabs, which opens pages as expandable bottom sheet.

Developers can customize the tab "in pixels" for a partial overlay, allowing users to interact with the app and the web page at the same time. Partial Custom Tabs are currently supported by several browsers, including Chrome. If the browser doesn't support Partial Custom Tabs, users will simply see a full-screen Custom Tab.

We've seen this behavior before in the Google Search app.

🔗 Android Developers Blog

Google News | En

Google Contacts will soon get two new widgets.

The first one is an Individual contact widget with shortcuts to call and open a chat in Messages, and when you click in the middle it opens the info page. (we've seen it before as 'Single Contact' widget)

The second widget shows up to 7 favorite contacts and dynamically changes its layout depending on the number of contacts and container size. It also opens a page with contact information when clicked.

These widgets were discovered in version 4.2.24.508113282. (Those widgets are not rolled out yet)

Google News | En

Play Store is experimenting with hiding the search bar in a button.

As many of you have already noticed, Google recently moved the notification button from the profile menu to the top bar, thereby reducing the width of the search bar.

As part of a new experiment, the company wants to completely hide the search bar in the magnifying glass button and add the Play Store logo to the top bar. (Flag name HomepageTopBar_enable_magnifying_glass_search)

Google News | En

Android 13 QPR2 Beta 3.2 minor update has been released.

Build number: T2B3.230109.004 → T2B3.230109.009, T2B3.230109.006.A1 (Pixel 7 Pro only)
Security Patch: February 2023
Fixed Issues:

• Fixed issues that sometimes caused the screen on some devices to flash green or display other visual artifacts. (Issue #260941279, Issue #256052135)
• Jio 5G network is now enabled for Pixel 6 and 7 series devices.

🔗 Android Beta

• OTA images

• Factory Images

Google News | En

Gboard works on a new tool to change the size of the keyboard without opening settings.

Previously, to resize the keyboard, you had to open settings/preferences and select options under "Keyboard height". Now Google plans to add a new "Resize" shortcut, which will allow you to visually adjust the size of the keyboard, both in height and width, as well as set its position. You will be able to reset the changes made to the value set in the settings, using the corresponding button.

This experiment appeared in the new beta update 12.7.05 and is hidden behind the enable_new_resizing_ui flag.

H/T @rkbdigboard

Google News | En

This video causes a reboot on Tensor powered Pixel devices.

When you open this video in the YouTube app, the device instantly goes into reboot. Although it is worth noting this is a "soft" reboot that takes you straight to the boot animation. This indicates a system crash.

Apparently, the problem only affected Google Tensor-based devices on the stable build of Android 13, and it may have something to do with HDR video processing.

However, this issue does not occur on the beta version of Android 13 QPR2 (release in 2 weeks) and Android 14 Developer preview 1, so in fact the problem has already been fixed.

Redditor u/OGPixel5 seems to be the first to discover this video.

Google News | En

Play Store is finally works on fully integrating the Material You dynamic colors.

Until now, the only elements that followed dynamic colors were the navigation bar and the search bar on the home page. All other places used the standard green accent.

However, in version 34.7.10-21, we found the beginning of work to extend dynamic colors to all components. The new MaterialNextBaselineTheming__enable_baseline_theming_everywhere server flag is responsible for the activation.

As we said, the work has just begun, because for now the accent is fixed only on the blue color.

Google News | En

Google is rolling out the Magic Eraser for older Pixel devices and Google One subscribers.

A week after the announcement, users started receiving a new Google Photos tool to remove unnecessary objects from photos and camouflage them. It will now be available in any Google One subnoscription tier or for free if you own a Pixel device.

It looks like the rollout is server-side, and installing any APK won't speed up the feature's appearance. (confirmed to be available from server-side in v.6.24)

To check if you got the Magic Eraser, open any photo, click 'Edit', and browse to the 'Tools' tab.

Google News | En

Play Store is moving the 'Kids' top tab to a separate navigation button on Tablets.

The section itself has long existed as a tab on the top bar, but now it will be located on the navigation bar. Most likely, this change is relevant only for tablets, because we have already seen it on Google renders in the context of large screens.

Google News | En