Google is shipping off a new set of Android features that arrive on your phone at no extra charge. Here’s how each new feature can enhance your time with your phone: There’s a big new audio upgrade for the headliner for shared sound with a friend to make it easier to share sound with a friend, plus a cleaner and faster Quick Share experience, and a smarter, more browsable Emoji Kitchen for Gboard.
These updates are delivered through Google Play services and app updates, meaning you don’t have to receive a full OS upgrade. Here’s what’s new: What it is: The Egyptian government on Wednesday approved a law that will enable it to withhold up to 90 percent of its employees’ salaries based on the state’s three-tier maximum wage system.
The big one: easier audio sharing with LE headphones
One highlight is that it can allow two people to connect compatible LE Audio headphones to a single Android phone so two people can listen together, which could be handy for flights, workouts or when one of you wants to watch a video without waking up the household. It slices through the hastily rigged mess of splitters and workaround apps and instead implements a simple pairing flow.
Under the hood, this is made possible through Bluetooth LE Audio and the LC3 codec, which claims similar quality at about half the bitrate of the legacy SBC codec, according to the Bluetooth Special Interest Group. That can lead to more consistently reliable connections and longer battery life — particularly in busy wireless environments. In practice, that means clear audio, simultaneously, on two pairs of earbuds with less effort.
There is a catch: Your phone as well as your earbuds have to support LE Audio. Most newer flagships from top brands and individual newer earbuds like some high-end models that have received the LE Audio update are supported, but it’s not universal. See if you have any Bluetooth settings for LE Audio or find LC3/LE Audio listed in the spec sheet for your headphones. If you do see a new “audio sharing” or similar option when pairing, you’re probably set.
Quick Share: Clearer and Faster
Android’s Quick Share —Google’s ability to share files between devices, which replaced Nearby Share—gets a new, updated look. You can explicitly switch between send and receive mode, so you know which you’re in, and live progress meters for file exchanges. Device discovery is more visible as well, so you’ll be spending less time trying to find the correct laptop or tablet.
Quick Share is available on Android phones and tablets, Chromebooks, and even Windows PCs as long as the companion app is installed. It generally relies on a combination of Bluetooth for discovery and Wi-Fi Direct for speed, using ultra-wideband for device detection on some hardware. For classrooms, offices and photo swaps between gran trying to teach kids to cook, that means fewer failed sends and clearer insight into what’s happening.
Emoji Kitchen is more of a brainstorm—and simpler to navigate
Gboard’s beloved Emoji Kitchen— which lets you mix two emojis together to create a custom sticker — gets an upgrade with a new browse view and more combinations. If you’ve ever dreamed of a sneaker that comes with butterfly wings, or a coffee cup that’s also a shooting star, you can now search for and remix those ideas, rather than guessing at what the perfect pair might be.
It’s a small change with outsize impact for messaging. Even the Unicode Consortium’s own reporting suggests the ways emoji challenge and change nuance in digital dialogue, and Google’s additions here make playful self-expression just a little more immediate. If stickers are already a smorgasbord that you rely on to set tone (if people can still set tones anymore), the better navigation, when you can get to the sticker you want faster, will save you time and maybe spawn some combinations you hadn’t thought of.
Bonus tools arriving alongside
Gboard is also adding an on-device writing assistant that can modulate tone (more formal, more expressive, more succinct) and correct grammar and spelling. And because processing takes place locally, your keystrokes aren’t sent to the cloud — something privacy advocates frequently advise in the realm of sensitive content.
And, as a kicker, there’s a more lighthearted feature: the ability to spin up a custom Android bot by uploading a selfie or typing a phrase. It’s optional, but it is part of the larger wave of lightweight, user-created avatars that appear across apps and services.
How to obtain the features
These upgrades will appear automatically for most users. To help these along, refresh the Google Play services, Gboard, and system components such as Android System Intelligence in the Play Store. On the audio front, pair a pair of LE Audio earbuds, and check out new sharing options in Bluetooth settings. If you do not see the changes yet, they are being rolled out in stages and should be available soon.
Thanks to smoother sharing, richer audio and a bigger emphasis on creative messaging, they’re yet more free add-ons that make the same old Android food for more fun, more friendlier, faster-feeling fun.
No new phone necessary.
