While an emulator is never the best way to experience software, the newly released Android 12L is one that we simply had to get a closer look at.

After waiting what felt like ages, Android 12 has arrived with a literal mountain of changes, tweaks, and tuning to sink your teeth into. We’ve whittled or distilled our deep dive down to a selection of 20 of the best features added in Android 12 — features we think you’ll really love right away.

We’ve had some time to dive deep into the Android 12 Previews and Android 12 Betas over the past few months. Now that the stable release has dropped and is available on Pixel hardware, we’re going to dig even deeper and share every new feature and change we’ve found in Android 12 — the biggest overhaul to the world’s most popular mobile OS.

At long last the Google Pixel 6 and 6 Pro have been launched, are ready for pre-order and we’ve been unboxing the duo so you know just what to expect.

The explosion of Chrome OS over the past 18 to 20 months and at-home working similarly expanding unlike ever before, it’s refreshing to know that you don’t need to deal with cheap, underpowered Windows laptops or PCs to get actual work done. A case in point is the excellent Acer Chromebook Spin 713.

Back when Android 11 launched for OnePlus devices we thought that fans would be annoyed. Well, expect that frustration to evolve into outright fury with OxygenOS 12.0.

This year, leaks and tidbits haven’t been quite as prominent ahead of the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro launch, but there have been plenty of rumors.

For years now, the smartwatch market has not been kind to Android users. The Apple Watch only works with iPhones. Fitness watches are usually great for health but not-so-great at being a smartwatch. And as for Google’s Wear OS, it’s been stagnant for years. Samsung’s Tizen platform and Galaxy Watch lineup were the only saving grace, but even that had its own complications if you weren’t using it alongside a Galaxy smartphone. Now, Samsung has moved from Tizen to Google’s revamped Wear OS 3 with the Galaxy Watch 4, and we’re finally getting somewhere.

A fair few months after we first uncovered the feature, Google has added “Phone Link” to Stadia, allowing you to play games using your smartphone as a gamepad on your Chromecast, Android TV devices, and through a web browser.

Over the past few weeks, it’s become clear that Google is developing a mid-year follow-up to Android 12. Here’s everything we know is coming in what we’ve dubbed “Android 12.1,” from improvements for foldables, to fixes for a variety of issues, dynamic color availability, and much, much more.

The number of apps that support Material You theming is growing slowly but surely, and we’re seeing more first-party and even a few third-party apps adopt the new Android aesthetic.

Although we’re almost ready for the stable Android 12 update to arrive on Pixel devices, the rest of the industry is just beginning to roll out their own flavors of the latest stable OS. Samsung is next with One UI 4.0, and although effectively Beta 1, we’ve been working out what the top new features are for intrepid Galaxy device enthusiasts.

Xiaomi’s recent surge to second in the global smartphone manufacturer charts has been built upon the back of devices such as the 11T Pro and Mi 11 Ultra — but which is the better device?

The long road to a stable Android 12 release is punctuated by the preview phase and the very latest is Beta 5. An already stacked OS is getting yet more tweaks and refinements before it’s ready for the public, and so we’ve been delving into Android 12 Beta 5 to find all the new features and functions.

We wondered if there would be any changes on Pixel 5a with 5G over the Pixel 4a 5G, when both devices share such tightly knit DNA? We’re here to examine the nuances, differences, and help decipher what has changed — and what hasn’t.

Android Automotive is the next iteration of in-car entertainment that takes the common Android Auto and builds it out specifically for vehicles.

While the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro could provide the biggest leap for the Made by Google smartphone series in years, the Pixel 5a with 5G is the newest affordable phone, and the first device as part of the wider 2021 lineup. Here’s everything you need to know.

It’s hard to do justice to each incremental Android 12 Beta update, but Beta 4 added some notable features that we missed in our initial hands-on sweep.

We are potentially just a month or so away from the actual full stable Android 12 release, and that means that the public-facing preview phase is not far off done. Android 12 Beta 4 has arrived some four weeks after the third, and following all of our previous deep dives, we’ve been spending time with it to find the best new features and changes that you can enjoy right now.

Of the newest Samsung Galaxy smartphones introduced at Unpacked, the Z Flip 3 is arguably the most important and, even after a brief hands-on period, the most impressive.

Samsung may want you to think that the Galaxy Z Fold 3 is a huge leap over the previous generation, but the brutal truth is that it’s a fine upgrade, but not the biggest we’ve seen.

With the launch of the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic, Google and Samsung’s collaboration has come to fruition, and we’ve had some hands-on time to gather some initial thoughts.

Google decided that we didn’t know enough about the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, and so we saw a soft reveal of the upcoming flagship duo ahead of a “full” launch later this year. It has us thinking about all the connotations and combinations that these devices are bringing and what portions of the Pixel 6 need to be explained.

Android 12 is bringing a huge overhaul to the main UI, and thanks to the Material You element, it’ll start theming your favorite Android apps, too.