7 cool new Android features available on your phone

Pixel owners know about feature limitations because it’s Google’s way of continually adding value to devices. With each major quarterly update, Google releases new software ideas for Pixel phones and tablets to keep things fun and fresh. For those who haven’t been following closely, Google also does this on the Android platform. We regularly receive Android feature updates for Samsung, OnePlus and other Android devices, which we will discuss below.

As part of the latest Android feature update, Google is adding improvements to Google News (edit!), Google Home, and Wear OS, while also introducing new features like digital car keys, more Emoji Kitchen combos, and the ability to instantly hotspot on Chromebooks.

EDITING GOOGLE NEWS: That’s right, you can now edit the message you sent on Google News. Google is rolling out this feature and will give users 15 minutes to edit group or individual messages after sending them. To do this, press and hold the message, then tap the little pencil/edit button at the top to customize the words. This only works with RCS messages.

GOOGLE HOME FAVORITES WIDGET: The Google Home app is getting a fun new Favorites widget to add to your home screens. This widget allows you to do everything from changing the temperature to viewing doorbells and adjusting lighting. The widget is also advanced enough that you can resize it and take on different shapes to display additional favorites if you have more than a few.

To access this new Favorites widget, Google says you’ll need to sign up for the public preview of the Google Home app. You can register here.

INSTANT HOTSPONS, CALL SWITCHING: You’ll soon be able to connect to a hotspot from your phone to your Android tablet or Chromebook. That’s great, but Google will also let you seamlessly transfer Google Meet calls between phones and tablets by pressing the Cast button.

Google appears to be configuring this feature under Devices and Sharing in your phone’s settings, where there will be an option called “Cross Device Services.” In this area, you will be able to select the devices you want to group together and then decide whether they should share call forwarding and internet sharing.

GOOGLE HOME IN WEAR OS: In addition to the new Favorites widget on your phone’s home screen, Google is also rolling out a Favorites tile for Wear OS that lets you easily customize smart home devices from your wrist. Like the widget, you can customize the shortcuts on this tile.

WEAR OS WITH PAYPAL: Speaking of wrists, Google Wallet on Wear OS now allows you to pay with PayPal in the US and Germany.

THE EMOJI KITCHEN IS GROWING: Emoji Kitchen, Google’s goofy emoji fusion tool, has added new combinations involving a disco ball and headphones.

MORE DIGITAL CAR KEYS: Google is finally rolling out digital car key support to more vehicles, starting with select MINI models. “Soon” they plan to expand further to also include Mercedes and Polestar vehicles. We will try to get a list of cars for you.

There’s some decent stuff there, right?

//Google