It’s 2024 and the vast majority of Chromebooks don’t have fingerprint sensors. Biometric authentication has become the norm on smartphones, but most ChromeOS users are still typing in a password. (Having to enter your Google Account credentials so often in public seems like a bad idea.)

Google not being at the forefront of augmented reality is a real shame. With Glass, Cardboard, and Daydream in the mid-2010s, Google seemed well on its way to owning the next form factor. All those efforts are dead.

2023 saw Google’s first push into bigger screens in its Pixel lineup and with that, some growing pains. As 2024 beings, it’s the Pixel Tablet that Google has the most room for improvement on out of its current lineup, and arguably the one that needs it the most.

Recorder is for transcribing audio, and that singular focus feels rare in modern apps that are packed to the brim with (tangentially) related capabilities. I almost equate it to a single-purpose physical tool, while the only other equivalent piece of software that comes to mind is Calculator. 

Following the unveil over two years ago, Google continues to bring Material You to its various apps. There were many updates and redesigns in 2023, but here are the most notable ones. 

Seven years into the Google Pixel series, 2023 marked Google’s biggest year yet with six new devices released. It was a year where Google fixed a lot of mistakes, but also introduced some growing pains to the lineup. Let’s take a look back.

This app is now officially just “Google Messages” after years of being called “Messages by Google.” It dovetails with how Google, in February, started referring to “RCS” directly after years of “Chat message” in the compose field. A bigger moment in 2023, along with 1 billion monthly active users, was Google enabling RCS by default and launching end-to-end encryption for group conversations.

In 2023, YouTube Music redesigned a lot of the core UI you use day-to-day. It started with a revamped Library on Android, iOS, and web in January that later gained a grid view. Album pages were also modernized just like playlists.

Over the past several weeks, iMessage for Android has been a big topic of discussion and, for many, it comes back to why Android users seem to want iMessage so much. Personally, I don’t. iMessage for Android just happens to, somehow, be the path of least resistance when it comes to using a decent messaging app with people.

My colleague recently called for better Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) on the next Pixel Buds Pro, while I simply want a future charging case to support lanyards.

Night Sight really helped establish the Pixel as a camera powerhouse early on. We’ve been waiting for a video version that takes things to the next level, and we’re almost — pending the rollout — there.

The number of announcements that Google made in the past week or so truly felt like I/O. Gemini 1.0 was, of course, the highlight and most consequential for Google.

Back in August, Google announced a big redesign of Chat that adds Duet AI and other smart features, as well as audio huddles, to the work-focused messaging service. A new homescreen is core to this revamp, with the straightforward web version announced first. Last week, the redesigned mobile client was introduced with a new take on navigation for Google apps.

I think we’ve all been here.

You’re diving into a huge list of notifications that arrived overnight or while you were away from your phone and, while doing so, a new notification arrived leading to you accidentally swiping it, or many others away by accident. It’s a frustrating situation, but one that Android solved years ago with notification history.

Though, if you’re on a Samsung or OnePlus phone, you might not realize that.

With the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, Assistant gained a new “Read aloud” feature that uses the “same text-to-speech model that Google uses in data centers.” It’s meant to be a showcase of Tensor G3 improving the Pixel’s speech capabilities.

Google did a pretty good job redesigning the Weather experience on Android. It’s modern and has a straightforward layout that shows what’s coming up in the next few hours and days all on one screen. 

Like a watch or the phone itself, a smartphone case is something that gives you a chance to get really personal about what you want, and there are so many options out there. So, when you’re looking to buy a smartphone case, what are you looking for specifically?

Android widgets are at a good place right now, thanks to Material You. Besides an uptick since Android 12, they look modern and provide functionality that complements the full app nicely. However, for the experience to really shine on the Pixel, Google needs to add the ability to stack and group widgets together so that you can access a lot more without taking up too much of your homescreen. Size is their one downside, and fitting in a widget often comes at the expense of app icons.

It’s still almost impossible to believe, but Apple is adopting RCS on the iPhone next year. While there’s a ton we don’t know, it’s a big deal that very much opens the door to big changes in the Android vs iPhone debate. However, my big question is if it will be enough to change the ongoing Android vs iPhone peer pressure that often turns into actual bullying.

With Apple’s RCS for iPhone announcement, Google is undoubtedly moving full steam ahead on Messages and RCS as its consumer messaging app. It is inherently aligned with Android, which bodes well for continued development, and consistently gets a slew of new features.

While I think the “Laser Ink Display” projector on the Humane Ai Pin is pretty cool and makes for a very interesting user experience, I do not think this product is anywhere close to replacing the smartphone. 

Google announced Bard as an “early experiment” in February and still prominently refers to it as such. I thought that qualifier applied to both the generative AI nature and its name, which would change when the product graduated.

Google’s Pixel Buds Pro debuted in 2022 largely to high praise, but as time has gone on, it’s become more and more clear where improvements can be made, including to ANC.

Especially after the last round of updates, YouTube decidedly does not feel like a first-party Google app.