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We have just seen some huge things announced in the Android show. There is so much to go through, things like task automation, Gemini going to Chrome, Google making Android better for creators. Like, there is so much here. This is just the start of what Google says is the biggest ever year for Android, and I don't disagree with them. Essentially, Gemini intelligence is Google's new branding for more deeper level AI task, and it seems like Gemini intelligence is going to be more for flagship level phones, but Google hasn't exactly explained what phones yet will be getting Gemini intelligence. And Gemini seems to be at the heart of a lot of what is new coming to Android in the
next couple of months. And there was so much mentioned in the Android show that it might have been quite difficult to keep up. I'm Paul, and I'm going to show you 10 of my new favorite updates coming to Android over the next couple of months. I'm going to start with one of my absolute favorites, and this is being able to create your own widget using Gemini. I love this. I already think that Material 3 expressive widgets are some of the best-looking ones you can get. And now Google is leaning into Gemini and that customization so that you put together your own widget with generative AI. And the best part of this is that you can just describe what you want in normal everyday language, and
Gemini will create that widget for you in just a couple of seconds. To do this is easy because what you're going to have to do is just long-press on that home screen to add a widget as you normally would, but then you'll see at the top right of the screen a create-your-own widget option. You can create widgets from categories that Google already gives you, or you can describe your own. The example that Google gave to us is the fact that someone has a marathon and they're trying to create a countdown widget. And then, as you can see in this GIF that I have here, it takes about 5 seconds to get all of that working, and then once it's ready, you can add it to your home screen. But it might take longer depending on what you ask Gemini to
create. Once it's done, you'll see that it takes the same theme as your phone and gives it that Material 3 expressive look. And I think this is going to be really fun. It's going to be really exciting, get you to personalize your phone even more than you can do already. I haven't been able to play with this yet or see what happens when you try and edit that widget or even when you try and be very specific and tell Gemini what you want in that widget. Google did say though it can create widgets that can give you meal prep recipe dashboards every single day or maybe create a cycle-focused weather widget that will just give you the information about wind and rain. Google
said that this is going to be working on Gemini intelligence powered phones. We don't know what they are yet and Wear OS watch devices, but this should be coming in the next couple of months, and I think it's going to be quite fun to play with. This next one might be one of the biggest changes to Gemini intelligence, and that is that Gemini is moving away from something that is just answering questions to something that can actually do a lot across your phone. What I mean by this is that you're going to be able to ask Gemini to do tasks for you, and it isn't entirely new because we saw something similar where you could ask Gemini to book you an Uber. Now, what you can do instead of having to open
three different apps and go into app one and copy that information from app one to app three and then go to app two and get more information and copy that into app three. Gemini can take all those boring tasks away from you and start to do them automatically now. The example that I saw from Google was things like booking a front row bike for a spin class and taking a grocery list from your notes app and turning it into an actual delivery order. And what is clever is that it can use what's on your screen or even an image as context. So, if you take a photo of a travel brochure, you can ask Gemini to find a similar tour for let's say six people, and it can start working through that
task in the background. Gemini only starts working on these tasks when you ask it to do so in the apps that you allow. And when it gets to a point where you have to confirm a payment, you will get a notification, and you have to manually accept that payment. It won't just do all of that for you, so there still some control when using these automation tasks. You'll also be able to see what's going on with a view progression option. And if it's working in the background, there'll also be a notification at the top of your screen so you know that Gemini is still active. And this is kind of what I've wanted AI to be. I've wanted it to do all those boring bits for me. And Gemini is
starting to do that. So I think that this is probably one of the biggest shifts in Android and AI on phones because now it's not just being used as a chatbot and asking it what the weather is. You can now ask it to do tasks for you. You can kind of sit back, relax, and only have to get involved when you need to actually accept something like a payment. So I think this is huge in Android. I'm very excited to see how this will actually work. Okay, sticking with the Gemini as this is the theme of the entire video. And Google Chrome is going to get some nice new features which of course include Gemini. At the moment, Chrome on Android doesn't really have a proper Gemini experience built into it. But starting at the end of June, that is going to change. Chrome is
going to be getting some new Gemini powered features. One of them is going to be article summaries. This from what I've seen looks very similar to what you can get in the Samsung Internet browser now. So this is quite nice. To use this is going to be really simple because what you'll do is you'll see a Gemini icon in the status bar. Once you tap it, Gemini opens at the bottom of the display and you can ask about whatever page you're looking at. Gemini is not just going to sit there and summarize articles for you though. Google is going a step further and it's there to actually help you on the page that you're on. Using Gemini you can get help understanding complicated articles and
even use Nano Banana to turn a page into something a little bit more visual like an infographic if that's going to help you understand what you're reading. The most interesting part of Gemini in Chrome though is something called Auto Browse. And again, this is Gemini taking away those mundane boring tasks away from you and doing it instead of you. An example of this that Google gave us is booking parking for a show based on the ticket details you already have. You start the task and Gemini can work through booking that parking for you. Google says though that you are still in control with auto browse and what Gemini will do is ask for confirmation before sensitive actions. So that's like making a
purchase or posting anything on social media. So you will always have the final say. It's not all good news though because this first of all is going to be US only. So people outside the US won't be able to use it. Although it is coming to devices on Android 12 or higher. Second of all, the other problem is that you're going to need an AI Pro or an AI Ultra plan to be able to actually use this. So a load of us are not actually going to get to play around with this. Oh, and while I'm still talking about Chrome, let me talk to you about Gemini auto fill because this is getting so much better. Right now, auto fill is useful for basic stuff. So like passwords, addresses, payment details. But what's going to
happen, Google says Gemini can now help fill out more complex form using relative information from apps you connect to Gemini. Google showed this filling in passport info and I am so here for this. Anything that can stop me going into my photos, circling searching my passport number and then having to copy it back into a different browser. Like this is going to save me so much time. Again, this is just an example of instead of you having to do these boring mundane tasks of filling in tiny boxes on phones, Gemini can use personal intelligence to work out what information is needed and help you complete that form. Google said though that this is strictly opt-in. So you're completely in control of whether
Gemini has access to auto fill and you can turn it off and on in settings. So I kind of like the fact that you can say that you don't want this to happen because sometimes I know that some people are going to be like, "I don't want all my personal information stored in Gemini." So at least you have the choice and you have to opt-in. Okay, we are nowhere near finished yet because coming up next is a new one called Gboard Rambler. I use voice to text all the time and I think Gboard is pretty decent at picking up what I say. But also, I speak quickly. I change my mind mid-sentence, and I make mistakes all the time. So, the message I get isn't always as accurate as I'd want it to be.
And you've probably had the exact same thing. But the idea with Gboard Rambler is that you can just speak like in your natural tone, your natural voice, like making those ums, ahs, ohs, and changing what you want to say mid-sentence, and it's going to understand you a lot better. The idea of this is that everyone just speaks differently. And instead of having to carefully emphasize every word, or plan exactly what you're going to say, you can just talk through normally and get a cleaner, more accurate sentence from the words you've actually spoken. Interestingly, this uses Gemini's advanced multilingual model. So, if you're using Rambler and you switch languages mid-sentence, it should understand the context and make
sure that the message still sounds natural. Okay, let's have a Gemini breather for a second and move on to some other updates coming. And if you create content with your Android phone, then these are going to be really nice. I hear all the time that apps look better on iPhone, and they work better on iPhone. But Google is making some improvements to make sure that Instagram is going to be good on advanced Android phones as it is on iPhones. I don't know exactly what advanced Android phones are, but Google has worked with Meta to bring using the camera in Instagram finally up to scratch. So, you'll be able to get things like ultra HDR capture and video playback. You can use things like night sight inside the
Instagram camera, so taking photos in the dark looks much closer to the stock camera app. And I think one of the best additions is going to be built-in stabilization for Android phones using the Instagram camera. Right now, the gap isn't huge between iPhone and Android, I don't think, in the stabilization inside of Instagram. But you can see that the iPhone stabilization is much better inside that app. But that won't be happening for much longer. But this, I think, is the one of the bigger updates coming because Google has said that it's completely optimized now the capture-to-upload pipeline for Instagram. Basically, what this means is that if you take a great photo and you see it on your phone, you think, "Yeah,
that looks pretty good." But you upload it to Instagram and think, "Oh, hang on, why is the quality dropped here?" That's not going to happen anymore. Apparently, Google said that side-by-side testing from a flagship Android device with video taken on the Android and uploaded from the Android to Instagram showed that the quality was as good if not better than one of its competitors, which is basically an iPhone. And I love this because Google is pushing a little bit more now for creators to use Android to create content. To a point where they're going to be adding tools for Instagram edits that are exclusive to Android. So, things like smart enhance, where you can upscale content using
on-device AI, so it takes away a little bit of that editing process, and being able to use sound separation, so separating wind, voice, music separately from each other, and being able to boost or remove those sounds individually. And that's a little similar to what we've seen with editing audio on Samsung phones with audio eraser. There's also going to be an Adobe Premiere app coming to Android this summer, which will include some exclusive templates and effects for creating and posting YouTube Shorts from inside the app. So, if you're a content creator and you use your Android phone to edit videos and upload to Instagram, then these updates are exactly what you've been needing. I
feel like this next update coming is quite content creator heavy as well, and it's something called screen reactions. This, I think, is clearly made for people making short-form content because it kind of looks like the green screen TikTok template. The idea is that you can record yourself with your screen at the same time, with your face overlaid on top of whatever you're looking at. So, if you want to react to like a trending clip or comment section or product page or pretty much anything else happening on your phone, you don't need to screen record it first, film yourself separately, and then try and put it all together afterwards. You can now do it directly from the phone in a
few taps. This makes so much sense. Reaction videos are everywhere. One of the top templates on TikTok is that green screen reaction, and this is going to be coming to Pixels first this summer. So, your Android phone might not get it straight away, but if you have a Google Pixel, then you just need to look out for an update sometime in the summer. This next update is something we've seen a little bit already on Google and Samsung phones, but this is now going to be rolling out to more and more Android phones. And it becomes really useful if you use an iPhone, a MacBook, and an Android. You've been able to use Quick Share to send files to Apple devices over the last couple of months. And I've used this on
the Pixel 10s, the S26 Ultra, the Vivo X300 Ultra has it now, and so does the Oppo Find X9 Ultra. But Google said that there's going to be a wider rollout to older phones and other brands, like Xiaomi, Honor, and OnePlus. Starting right now, Quick Share can generate a QR code on any Android phone, and it lets you share with an iOS device through the cloud. Google also says that Quick Share is coming inside of apps like WhatsApp, as well, which makes so much sense. And I didn't even realize that this wasn't in WhatsApp, yet. But this is where people are sharing all their files, so this Yeah, I'm happy to see this. Google are just trying to break down that barrier between Android and iPhone, and
they're doing a good job of it. And I think AirDrop is like the perfect place to start. And actually, talking of switching from iPhone to Android, that's about to get a lot easier. This update doesn't sound massively exciting, but I think for people who use iPhones, it is, because one of the biggest complaints people have from switching from iPhone to Android is just the hassle and how long it takes, and they might lose some of their data. But Google is going to hope that this doesn't happen anymore. Google said that it worked with Apple for this wireless transfer process. So, there's a lot of things you can now move over which you couldn't really do before. This includes passwords, photos,
messages, favorite apps, contacts, home screen layout, and even your e-sim. And the home screen layout part is pretty cool because now, when you move to an Android phone from an iPhone, everything is exactly where you left it, and it feels a little bit more like home. This isn't available just yet, but it is coming later this year, and it's going to be available on Pixel devices and Samsung devices first. But, I need to test how this is going to work because Google said this might work really, really well, but I'm a little bit dubious, especially about the e-sim and the home screen layout. The rest of it, I believe, would actually happen, but if Google have cracked it and your
e-sim can move over, that is one of the biggest things because e-sims are just a faff in general. And if the home screen can move over as well, Google might have smashed this, and I think a lot of people might be moving from iPhones to Androids this summer. And one of the last things that I have for you here is something called pause point, and this is a new feature which, basically, Google is trying to stop you from opening apps on autopilot and doom scrolling. I don't think there's a chance that anyone watching this video has not been in the situation where you're at work, and then you open TikTok or Instagram or YouTube, and then an hour later, you're still doom scrolling and watching people do impressions of
cats or something. Like, Google is aware of this, and they're trying to help you not do that anymore. Even though I kind of like it. Pause point gives you a 10-second pause when you open any of those distracting apps, and it asks you why you're actually opening it. During that pause, you can do some quick breathing exercises, or set a timer so you don't scroll for too long, or just look at some of your favorite photos, or jump into another app instead, like an audiobook or maybe the Google Health app, or something that isn't as distracting. This is interesting. If you want to turn off pause point once you've set it all up, Google says you actually have to restart your phone, and I think
that might get a little bit annoying, but I think that's kind of the point. Google don't want you to be able to turn this off really easily. They're trying to stop you doom scrolling, but maybe this might be a little a too intrusive. I don't really know how I feel about pause point yet. The idea of it is good, but will I ever use it? I don't know. There are so many updates that have come from the Android show that if I went into every single one, this video is fairly long already, but then it would turn into a short movie. Let me just quickly mention the updates coming to Android Auto. There's going to be some new widgets coming for favorite contacts. Oh, this is really cool.
One-tap buttons for opening things like garage doors. You're going to get new expressive fonts and something Google is calling immersive navigation. So, you get better 3D buildings and lanes, but my absolute favorite update coming is YouTube and video apps being available when you park. Sadly though, that this is not going to be available through like the plug-in and play Android Auto. It's going to be coming to cars that have Android Auto built in. And this will also not just keep the video playing when you drive off, it will turn to audio, which is quite nice. So, that is a lot of the updates coming to
Android over the next couple of months. And as they said here at Google, this is one of the biggest updates for Android in a very long time. And Gemini is at the heart of almost everything that is happening. And I am really curious to see how many of these features I will actually use because Gemini right now, I genuinely do just talk to it and ask it about what I'm eating and is it healthy or should I go to bed or any of that stuff. But, if Gemini is being integrated into everyday tasks and then taking away some of the mundane parts of those tasks, I'm all here for it. But, let me know what you think in the comments below of the updates coming to Android over the next couple of months.
Are you into them? Do you not like them? Do you like all of them? Do you only like some of them? Let me know. Before you head off, if you can subscribe to the channel, I'd massively appreciate it. And if you do that, then I will see you in the next one.
