18 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 88ANDROID 12
Android 12 has five customizable colour palettes.so far for the new OS from Google’s
official announcement and the various
developer previews and betas out there:Material You
The biggest change so far concerns
how Android is going to look moving
forwards: Material You. That’s Google’s
name for the new design language that
runs through Android 12 on its Pixel
phones, and will eventually roll out
across other Google hardware.
The OS is far more colourful, with
customizable colour palettes that run
throughout the phone, from the lock
screen to your actual apps.
You can set these five-colour palettes
yourself, or let the phone create one for
you by dynamically picking the colours
out from your phone’s wallpaper. Google
says that when Material You debuts onPixel phones this autumn, the custom
palettes will work across every Google
app,andthateventually,third-partyapps
willalsobeabletotakeadvantage.
Icons and interfaces have been
rounded off throughout, with circles,
squircles, and straight-up squiggles
appearing all over the place.
This new design will be a Pixel-
exclusive at first, but it’s hard to know
how much of the design will ever filter
through to the Android skins used by
Samsung, Xiaomi and others.Faster motion and animations
The interface is also more dynamic and
responsive. Turn the screen on using the
power button and the light will ripple out
away from the button, while if you have
no notifications then your lock screen
clock will expand to fill the space.