Since the first developer preview for Android 12 launched February, we knew that there were going to be some big design changes coming our way this year. And now those changes are front-and-center with the first beta for Android 12.
At Google I/O today, Google debuted “Material You” which is the next-step in Google’s design philosophy. And it’s a major step forward in design for Android. It actually looks a lot like Samsung’s One UI in certain areas. In this post, we’ll have a ton of screenshots throughout the OS, showing you what Android 12 really looks like. At least as of right now with the first beta.
Material You
The biggest change that we are seeing with Material You on Android 12 is that titles are larger, and that some apps are further down on the screen. Like the settings app for example. The first option is “WiFi” and there’s a big gap from the top of the screen to the “WiFi” option when you first open it. Similar to what we’ve seen with One UI.
Quick Settings are also larger now, and are two across instead of four or five. Which seems like a waste of space. But with that extra space, you can get some more info on each tile. Like showing you which WiFi network you’re connected to in the WiFi toggle. Or showing you “Off” for the Battery Saver, and so forth.
Notifications are also large, but don’t take up the full screen. Like the Quick Settings, they also have rounded corners.
The design looks really nice, but it is not fully there in Android 12 Beta 1. For example, Google touted that when you change your wallpaper, the theme would change with it. That is not here in this beta, and we may not see that until this fall. According to Google’s design chief, Matias Duarte. But what we do see so far is really nice.
It’ll take a little bit to get used to this new design on Android 12. But I think most people will dig it.
