Earlier this year at Google I/O, the company made a preview of Android version 9 available for testing. Now with a proper name, Pie, the OS is ready for release and is available if you have a Google-branded phone.

Starting today, the company is pushing out an over-the-air update to Pixel phones to deliver the update. Everyone else will be waiting on their manufactures to release the update but the company does say devices that participated in the Beta program from Sony Mobile, Xiaomi, HMD Global, Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus and Essential, as well as all qualifying Android One devices, will receive this update by the end of this fall.

With this release, Google is going all-in on having artificial intelligence help improve the end-user experience. With features like Adaptive Battery that can prioritize apps that you use the most for maximum battery life and Adaptive Brightness that knows how bright to set the screen based on the app you are using, these are a couple ways that AI aims to make using the OS a little bit better.

App actions is also a core part of this release that tries to predict what you will do next and display that action on the screen. Slices, a feature that shows relevant information from your apps in search results will be available later this fall.

And one of the bigger updates is that the company is working to make it easier to navigate the operating system with a single ‘home’ button that supports gestures. This feature works similarly to how iOS 11 added gestures with the iPhone X and makes using all-screen phones, easier.

Overall, this is a good update for those that use Android and hopefully will hit your device in the near future.

Tagged with Android Pie