Besides Private space, Android 15 lacks marquee user-facing additions, but there are a handful of tweaks and changes that I’m still eager to have.
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After using the Android 15 Beta on the Pixel 8 for a few months, going back to Android 14 with the Pixel 9 Pro has been strange. The impact has been slightly lessened by how Google backported some beta features to the stable software, but it’s far from everything.
(As of today, Google hasn’t released Android 15 Beta 4.2 for the Pixel 9 Pro or 9 Pro Fold. It was briefly available for the former phone with the launch of builds for the Pixel 9 and 9 Pro XL, but was later pulled since the 9 Pro wasn’t out yet. It’s unclear if they plan to at this point, with Android 15 QPR1 Beta 2 presumably the next preview for all devices.)
Android 14 (black status bar) vs. Android 15
Apps that target Android 15 go edge-to-edge with transparent status and gesture navigation bars. One app where you can see a difference is the Google Password Manager, which is part of Play services, status bar.
Given how much I use it to edit and share, I rather like the modernized corner preview for screenshots (and copied text) even without Pixel Screenshots.
The new Material You volume panel with thick, pill-shaped sliders makes the old thin lines and circular playhead absolutely ancient. (That said, the current loss of Pixel Buds Pro controls is annoying.) Similarly, the haptic feedback for adjusting brightness in Quick Settings is a nice touch.
I’m missing the “Show long app names” setting in the Pixel Launcher app grid that stops truncation, while the dual-tone Dynamic Color theming for the Pixel Battery widget aids glanceability.
On the Pixel Tablet, there’s the new Home Controls screen saver. Not having to long-press on the lockscreen shortcut first is a not insignificant time saver, especially if you use your device as a dedicated smart home controller.
Between swiping up to go home and performing the left/right edge back gesture quickly, the lack of Predictive back hasn’t been a drastic loss. (You can of course easily enable it in Developer options.)
The Android 15 update for Pixel devices is coming in October. Hopefully, it will be the next monthly update rather than there being one more Android 14 security patch.
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