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Every Google app updated for Android tablets, foldables [U]

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.

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Reviewing Google’s use of navigation rails on Android tablets, foldables

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.

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The upsetting lack of AODs on Android tablets

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.

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Google Messages on the Pixel Tablet is unacceptable

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).

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Google previews a personal future for Material You tablet apps [Gallery]

Following the launch of the Pixel Tablet and Fold, a handful of developer sessions at I/O 2023 were focused on how to optimize apps for large screens. At the end of one particular talk, the Material You team gave “a little preview of what [it has] planned for [its] Google Apps on large screen,” like tablets and foldables, in the future.

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