Android launched 5 updates on Tuesday as a part of its newest launch of the cellular working system. Available for smartphones, tablets, and Wear OS watches, the brand new options embrace audio descriptions of photos, text-to-speech expertise for internet pages in Chrome, and the flexibility to lookup songs with “Circle to Search,” amongst different issues.
Initially introduced in May, all Android customers are formally getting “TalkBack,” an accessibility function for people who find themselves blind or have low imaginative and prescient. The function is Google’s model of a display screen reader, which supplies detailed audio descriptions of digital photos. TalkBack is powered by Gemini Nano, Google’s large-language-model-based platform. Users can now hear descriptions of all kinds of photos, like on-line merchandise, images of their digital camera roll, or photos in textual content messages.
Another new accessibility function is “Listen to this web page,” which permits customers to take heed to webpages within the Chrome browser, whether or not that’s a weblog put up, information article, or recipe. The function is useful for individuals who are blind or have a studying incapacity, and individuals who choose listening over studying. Users can pause, rewind, and quick ahead, in addition to set their most popular listening pace and the kind of language and voice. It helps a number of languages, together with English, French, German, Arabic, Hindi, and Spanish.
Google’s Circle to Search function, which was introduced earlier this yr, permits customers to look from anyplace on their telephone by making gestures like circling, highlighting, scribbling, or tapping. The function now permits Android customers to seek for songs by way of a brand new music button, eliminating the necessity to open a third-party app like Shazam. Users can merely activate Circle to Search by lengthy urgent the house button or navigation bar.
The new music functionality can establish songs enjoying from the telephone or within the background by close by audio system. In addition to displaying the observe identify and artist, it additionally directs them to music movies by way of the YouTube app.
According to some Reddit customers, the music functionality has been regularly rolling out to Samsung machine customers for a number of weeks now.
Android’s earthquake alert system has been accessible for a while. However, it’s now increasing to all U.S. states and its six territories. It was first launched in California in 2020, and it makes use of smartphone sensors to detect tremors and assist folks put together for pure disasters and emergencies. For earthquakes of a magnitude of 4.5 or increased, Android sends out two forms of warning alerts, both providing you with a heads-up a couple of gentle quantity of shaking or an alert recommending extra instant motion if it detects excessive shaking.
Android smartwatch customers can use offline maps, a Google Maps functionality for folks to get round in the event that they go away their telephone behind, get misplaced, or discover themselves with out cellular phone service. Watch OS additionally launched two new shortcuts to permit customers to seek for locations utilizing their voice or shortly faucet the watch face to see the place they’re on the map.
These options are launching alongside Android 15, which is able to roll out to extra units later this yr, together with Pixel units.
