Today, Google is releasing the first developer preview for Android 14. Which means that today, we start the journey of Android 14.
As per usual, there will be two developer previews in February and March. With the first beta coming in April. There will be four betas (April, May, June, July), with the final release coming after that. In recent years, the final release has come around Labor Day in September.
So what’s new in Android 14? Well, not much, so far. Remember that this is a developer preview, so a lot of the changes here are going to affect developers and not the actual user on Android 14. So there’s a few API changes and additions here. But let’s go over it all.
What’s new in Android 14 Developer Preview 1?
First up, Google is continuing to work on Android for larger screens. Whether that be a tablet or a foldable. And it is building on the investments made in Android 13, with more ways for developers to easily build apps and take advantage of the entire Android ecosystem. There are some changes to API behaviors, that will offer a more consistent app experience across devices while reducing system resource usage.
Google has also made improvements to the internal broadcast system which will help make device battery life and battery consumption more efficient for users.
Finally, Google is also giving users more ways to tailor their OS experience to their needs. This includes making it easier for developers to enable users to choose their preferred language for individual apps and adding support for different terms of address when referring to users in a gendered language. Google is also helping to further accommodate low vision users. In Android 14, users will be able to increase the font size to up to 200%. That’s up from 130% that’s currently available in Android 13.
Like we said, there’s not a whole lot new in Android 14, just yet. That will come with the first beta in April.