Android has come a long way. Personalization once meant switching between launchers and downloading numerous icon packs to curate my phone screens.
The operating system feels more unified and smarter now with Android 15, and with Android 16 promising extras. You hardly need to look elsewhere for basic needs on your mobile device.
Yet, at the same time, it’s too smart for its own good. Gemini’s growing presence and layers of AI-powered suggestions hint at a creeping sense of bloat. It risks burying any user beneath intrusive intelligence.
Still, when I peel that noise away, there’s an emotional and thoughtful core that still speaks to me. I’ve reflected on the little things and remember why I still enjoy using Android.
Android 15 made me care about colors
I normally forget to change my themes
I can never get over how satisfying app theming has become in Android 15, and with Material You’s influence. The feature is a big part of why the whole system felt deeply personal this past year.
I’ve never been the type to obsess over colors or accents in my wallpaper scheme. I’d much rather stick to simple or dark screensavers for months.
But system styling hits differently when you have a huge level of control over what goes on your screen.
Wallpapers, particularly, are its foundation. The OS pulls tones directly from any image you set to build a matching palette. It extends through quick settings, widgets, keyboard, and other menus.
In Google Chrome, I notice the address bar and the search suggestion tab change immediately after altering wallpaper colors. It’s a nice contrast to the desktop version, where you’d have to install or assign a theme manually.
Google Meet’s appearance, my settings icons, and buttons in Gmail, Docs, and Calendar also change to match. Even suggested replies in my WhatsApp notifications reflect the colors.
I love that I can pick my own combination straight from any picture. All it takes is dragging tiny circles across it to pick the primary and secondary shades.
Customization runs deep in the software’s DNA
Every layer of theming feels alive
My Realme’s Flux engine adds advanced touches like depth, style, blur, and spatial layers over Android. It separates subjects from the background, such that my wallpapers appear in 3D on my lock screen.
I previously used a mountain top view wallpaper. The peak was pushed in front of the clock widget, giving an illusion of space once I turned on the depth effect.
The same happened with my current PUBG game character wallpaper. It looks like she could pop off the screen at any moment.
There’s also a blur slider and glass pattern selector that lets you distort images with narrow, wide, lumina, or grid textures.
I usually reserve a blurred version of the same image for my lock screen. The clear one goes to my home screen.
The idea is to make a grand reveal every time I unlock the device, and have a sharp contrast between notifications and the image while locked.
Different Android phones handle depth and realism in their own way. On Pixel devices, Google calls it Cinematic Wallpaper.
Surprisingly, Samsung’s One UI 7, which is based on Android 15, doesn’t include anything comparable. You’ll have to use the Good Lock LockStar module to create the effect manually.
Given how much Samsung prides itself on customization, you’d expect its flagships to embrace something like this. After all, the brand is among the first to experiment with dynamic lock screens and wallpapers. Hopefully, it changes with One UI 8.
Get creative with Emoji Workshop
Take your favorite reactions from keyboard to screen
Emojis are a language. It’s interesting that Google integrated them into Android’s interface design.
The best use case you’d think of is social media, where they communicate attitude, humor, or irony more than entire sentences filled with text. Outside, they have become a part of how we express personality.
I’ve experimented with it using Emoji Workshop on my old Pixel phone. I installed the app from the Google Play Store after updating to Android 15, even though it was supposed to debut with version 14. It’s one of those downsides of being in regions far outside the USA. But the wait was worth it.
Workshop is a playful tool that appears in the Wallpaper and Style menu. It enables you to create character-inspired backgrounds. You’ll pick one or several types, choose a pattern layout like Mosaic, Lotus, or Sprinkle, then adjust the background color as you like.
It’s one feature I miss incredibly, given that I’ve since switched to another device, and it remains exclusive to Google’s phones. I’ve tried bypassing the limitation on the new phone and failed.
Reflect you on your screen
Android is that ecosystem where no two people walk around with the exact same setup, unless they try really hard to copy each other. So, don’t be shy about unleashing your individuality on display.
Beyond aesthetic refinements, Android 15 brought the most incremental functionality changes to my day-to-day experience.
Using a third-party manufactured device means that performance is enhanced from the foundation Google built.
Drag and drop, for example, was one of my biggest pain points. It requires two hands, and even then, it’s inconsistent unless you are in split-screen mode or have a big phone.
What Google missed was an opportunity to make the feature one-handed and practical. Realme fixed it with AI Smart Loop. It’s improvements like this that make me look forward to Android 16.
