Android kicked off the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona by rolling out nine new updates and features for their phones, smartwatches, and more. Some of them are available now; the others you’ll have to wait for.
Here’s a look at the four major new features available on Android today.
Freehand annotation
Users can use a stylus — or their fingers — to annotate on PDFs on their Google Drive on Android phones and tablets. Think of the uses: highlighting text, adding notes by hand, and more.
Noise cancellation
If you’ve ever been in a Google Meet meeting and had an open window when a truck drove by, you’ll be excited about this feature. Google Meet now offers noise cancellation during calls on more Android mobile devices, so those pesky car noises and cat complaints will be just a bit quieter.
New emoji combinations
Emoji Kitchen — an Android Gboard feature we already know and love that allows users to merge emoji designs — is getting an upgrade with new emoji combinations available today.
Page zoom
Chrome Beta for Android phones and tablets is allowing users to increase the size of their Chrome by up to 300 percent. Users can even set their default size, so they don’t have to zoom in every time they open the app by going into Settings and Accessibility in their Chrome browser. This feature is currently only available for Chrome Beta, but will roll out soon to a general release.
Not everything Android announced at the Mobile World Congress is ready today. Here’s a look at the five major new features coming to Android devices soon.
Tap-to-pay animations
Next week, Android will begin rolling out new tap-to-pay animations on the Google Wallet in Android phones.
Fast Pair
Users will be able to pair their Bluetooth headphones to their Chromebooks using Fast Pair with just one tap once this feature rolls out.
Google Keep widget
The Google Keep single note widget will soon be able to manage notes, check off to-do lists, display reminders, and more from your Home screen on Android phones and tablets.
Google Keep for Wear OS
There are two new shortcuts for accessing Google Keep from your Wear OS 3+ smartwatch face that will be launching soon.
More sound and display modes for Wear OS
Android’s smartwatch will also be launching two new sound and display modes for its Wear OS 3+, including split audio and color correction and grayscale modes.
