iPhone Only Features Coming Soon to Android. Batteries are the heart of our smartphones, and Google is keen on empowering Android users with detailed battery insights. Google’s initiative aims to dissolve the mystery surrounding the health and efficiency of the battery in your device.
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The Role of Batteries
While you might tolerate a phone with a faulty camera or a cracked screen, a damaged battery is a whole different story. It’s the linchpin that affects the daily performance of your device, often nudging you towards a new purchase. Understanding the health of your Android’s battery has often been challenging, leaving many envious of iPhone users’ ability to access detailed battery health. But change is on the horizon!
Decoding Battery Health on Android
The latest December Pixel Feature Drop has been a game-changer, introducing a “Battery information” section in the phone settings. This area, powered by a new API in Android 14, reveals the battery’s production date and its charging cycle count. But that’s just the start. Future updates promise to unveil more – from the battery’s condition and charging status to intricate details like the date of first charge and specific battery policies.
A Glimpse into the Future
Currently, in the Android 14 QPR2 Beta, we’re beginning to see signs of these upcoming features. They include indicators for battery wear, recalibration processes, and even notifications for unknown battery statuses. Android 14 aims to enhance transparency, allowing users to view the battery’s status and serial number effortlessly, without the need for disassembly. It will categorize batteries as “unsupported,” “original,” or “replaced,” ensuring users are fully informed about what’s powering their device.
Wider Adoption and Future Developments
The timeline for rolling out these features across all Android devices hinges on the adoption of HAL application version 2.0 by manufacturers. While Android 14 introduces these advancements, a broader implementation might align with Android 15, as companies gradually embrace these changes. For now, Pixel users can enjoy a sneak peek into this new era of battery management.
Google Nearby Share is no Quick Share
When they need to share a photo , file or link, Android users have a fantastic tool at their disposal, Nearby Share , which may soon change its name and logo to become Quick Share
Indeed, this might ring a bell for many. Samsung users frequently encounter the company’s tendency to create duplicates of Google services. As a result, in the One UI, they find themselves with two tools for the same function: Samsung’s proprietary Quick Share and Google’s Nearby Share. Now, a recent leak suggests these services might soon consolidate into a single tool, Quick Share, as revealed in a post.
Following the update, Wojciechowska received a notification in which the system warned her that Nearby Share had become Quick Share, inviting her to look for the new name and icon for sharing documents.
Users will then find the new name and logo in the Quick Settings,discoverability dialog and file sharing interface , and the new icon will be visible in various buttons and entries (as you can see in the images below).
Simple coincidence or something more? It’s difficult to know exactly, but by digging into the Google Play Services app, Wojciechowska discovered a sort of guide to the service, which according to her, in addition to the fact that the new name is identical to that of Samsung, suggests that Google and the house of Seoul have decided to merge the two tools, or at least make them interoperable.
At the moment there is no evidence of this merger, although it seems quite probable, also because if this were not the case Samsung users would find two Quick Share icons in the sharing window, just as they now have Nearby Share and Quick Share . Which would be less than optimal.
So we might expect that not only will all Android users have a new name for Nearby Share , but Samsung device owners will only have one, which would imply that one company has implemented the other’s service into its own sharing tool. sharing.
At the moment, despite having installed the beta of the Google Play Services app , we are still stuck at version 23.49.14 of December 17, and even on APK Mirror the new 23.50.13 cannot be found , so we cannot see the news first-hand . We remind you that you can update Google Play Services by going to your phone’s Settings, tapping Apps > Show all Apps > Google Play Services > App details. You will be redirected to the Play Store page and can update it.
