Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

The first Android 14 preview is here, and these are its 3 biggest changes

Andy Boxall
By

Google has released the first Developer Preview version of Android 14 for Pixel devices, ahead of officially revealing the operating system to the public later this year. Before you go rushing off to download and install the software, Google makes it very clear that this is for developers and app testing only, and isn’t suitable for everyday use.

If you decide to install it anyway, some features may not be operational, and you may encounter various bugs. Still, it’s an important and exciting next step into this year’s big Android update.

The Android 14 logo.
Google / Google

This bugginess will always be the case though, and once Android 14 reaches its Beta stage, then Google will release a version that’s suitable for consumers to test as part of the Android 14 Beta program. It estimates the operating system will remain as a developer preview until mid-March at the earliest and will reach Beta between then and sometime in April. After this, it expects the software to become stable around June, and a final release to come after the summer.

Recommended Videos

While the Developer Preview is primarily used for testing and assessment, Google’s documentation has given us a few hints about what improvements and upgrades Android 14 will deliver. At the moment, these are based on three different areas:

Related

Bigger screens

Google states Android 14 will be more compatible with larger screens, continuing on from the work it has already done in Android 12L and Android 13. It’s working to provide a more consistent app experience across different screens and devices and making sure none become system resource hogs. The software will guide developers to build apps with enhanced multitasking features. What this means is Google’s making Android 14 even more suitable for folding smartphones, and for tablets too.

Customization

An example of how a 200% text font zoom will look in Android 14.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

In Android 14, Google is emphasizing the importance of accessibility and individual language requirements. In its words, Google is “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.”

Android 14 will also include a 200% font size, increased from 130% in Android 13, complete with non-linear scaling to make text easier to read, and for it to be presented in a natural way.

Battery life

In its documentation on the Android 14 Developer Preview, Google goes into plenty of technical detail about new background processes designed to optimize app performance, all of which means it’s working to make the software more power efficient. These include changes to how devices manage downloads over Wi-Fi, how apps are cached, and even the way alarms and calendars are managed. This means you should get more use from a single battery charge.

Beyond these three key areas, Google is also working on improving security, recognizing and blocking malware, speeding up app updates, and further improving system stability. Google hasn’t talked about more consumer-facing feature updates, or changes to the overall design, in Android 14 yet. It’s likely to reveal more during its annual Google I/O developer conference, which usually takes place in May.

The Android 14 Developer Preview must be manually installed on your device, and is compatible with all Pixel smartphones from the Pixel 4a and going up to the more recent Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro. However, we suggest you don’t install it on your everyday phone, and wait for the official beta release before trying it out.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Andy Boxall
Andy Boxall
Senior Mobile Writer
Andy is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends, where he concentrates on mobile technology, a subject he has written about for…
The Google Pixel 8 just got its first update. Here’s what’s new
Holding the Google Pixel 8 Pro in front of a bush.

Google has started seeding a new software update for its Pixel phones, which also happens to be the first one for its latest Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro models The update notes don’t mention the arrival of any new features, but the update does fix crucial problems that users have been complaining about in online forums for months and apply to the Pixel 8 series as well as its predecessors.
At the top of the list is a solution for display- and graphics-related woes, including the problem of “a green flash when the display is turning off in certain conditions.” Google’s post mentions a specific scenario where the green screen issue appears, but users have been reporting it for a while.
Moreover, the “green goblin for Pixels” manifests itself in various ways. One user shared an image of the Pixel 8 Pro on Reddit with a vertical green line running across the screen. Others mention random screen flashing or a permanent tint on the panels, both partial and full-screen. The reports date back at least a couple of years and seem to affect phones as old as the Pixel 6 series. 

Previous

Read more
Don’t update your Pixel phone — a new Android update might break it
Android 14 logo on the Google Pixel 8 Pro.

Android 14 introduced a host of convenient additions to Google’s Pixel phones, but a recent minor update has utterly broken the storage system for some users. Specifically, owners of the Google Pixel 6, Google Pixel 6 Pro, and Google Pixel 6a who run multiple profiles on their phones are reporting that their phones no longer have access to the storage pipeline for the main profile.

That means users are locked out of accessing the stored media and find themselves unable to add new files as well. A few users have reported on Reddit and Google’s official community forum that they can’t even click images using the camera app because it flashes an insufficient storage warning message. A few others say trying to install an APK package also returns a similar storage writing roadblock.

Read more
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is here, and it’s a big deal for Android phones
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip.

Qualcomm has revealed its new top-end mobile processor that will power the next wave of Android flagships in 2024. But this time around, the focus is not just on raw performance and camera enhancements. Instead, Qualcomm is turning its attention to generative AI and bringing it to smartphone users with an on-device approach. If you've played with products like ChatGPT and DALL.E image generator, well, prepare for such tricks to be available natively on your next Android phone.

At the heart of Qualcomm’s latest mobile processor is the next-gen Kryo core based on Arm’s Cortex-X4 that offers a clock speed of up to 3.3 GHz. It is claimed to be 30% faster than its predecessor while also being 20% more frugal at power intake. It is based on TSMC’s 4nm fabrication technology, which is a generation behind the 3nm stack deployed by Apple for the A17 Pro silicon powering the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
A leap in mobile gaming

Read more