Android tablets

Google is rolling out a number of updates to Chrome 126 on Android and iOS, including a Material You redesign of the address bar on tablets. 

As I said in 2022, Google Calendar is my favorite first-party app for Android tablets and foldables. Following an update detailed at I/O 2024, it retains that top spot for me. 

At I/O 2022, Google announced that it will update over 20 of its first-party apps for large screens in a show of its commitment to the form factor. This will undoubtedly improve the experience for existing owners and is meant to encourage other developers to do the same. Here’s every Google app on Android that has a tablet update and what’s still to come.

Instead of just a toolbar, Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides now offers a sidebar for accessing the various formatting options on Android tablets.

Gboard is following “Write in text fields” and the new physical keyboard UI with an Assistant voice typing toolbar for the Pixel Tablet.

While Gmail on foldables has used a navigation rail for several months now, that bottom bar replacement is only now making its way to Android tablets. 

After rolling out the new stylus handwriting capabilities last month, Gboard now offers a physical keyboard toolbar on Android tablets. It provides a much better experience for those that use a Bluetooth (or USB) keyboard as Google continues to optimize apps for large-screen devices.

The Gboard stylus handwriting support that we first enabled in August is now rolling out on Android tablets that offer the input.

As part of Google’s work to optimize its first-party apps for Android tablets and other large-screen devices, Chrome is defaulting to desktop mode. 

Google is rolling out its latest round of large-screen optimizations for Drive, and the clear trend is how the website UI is coming to Android tablets and foldables. 

Work to optimize Google’s first-party apps for tablets and tablets continues today, with Gmail now opening links and other attachments in a split-screen mode.

As part of optimizing phone-sized apps for tablets and foldables, Google replaces the bottom bar for a navigation rail. This puts controls where your hand rests when holding a large screen device, similar to how your thumb has easy access to the bottom edge of a phone, rather than needing a second hand to navigate.

Google’s work on optimizing first-party apps for Android tablets and foldables continues with an upcoming redesign for Docs, Sheets, and Slides. 

The main idea behind the Pixel Tablet is that the form factor needs to do something besides run Android on a large screen. Google’s solution to this was including a Charging Speaker Dock to let it double as a Smart Display. In this Hub Mode, a device that would otherwise be doing nothing can show photos and/or the time. You get an always-on display (AOD) of sorts, with other brands also offering something similar, but it does not excuse how all Android tablets should really have a standard AOD.

In the lead-up to the Pixel Tablet and Fold, the Play Store received a large screen redesign, and Google today detailed the four key changes.

Google’s first-party tablet apps are in a good place right now and meaningfully contribute to the Pixel Tablet experience. Of course, there’s always room for improvement, and here are a few suggestions.

On the Pixel Tablet, the Google Messages app is installed by default. It’s the same APK as on phones, but launching takes you to the PWA version found on messages.google.com/web with a QR code to scan using your phone. The company told us that this is the intended experience on the Pixel Tablet (and other Wi-Fi tablets).

As the big redesign of the Home app exits preview, Google is rolling out a handful of refinements announced at I/O 2023 with version 3.1.

Ahead of the Pixel Tablet and Fold launch next month, Google is rolling out an update to Recorder that offers a UI that’s better optimized for large screens.