Google has been on fire lately the tech giant made a big splash with the Google Pixel 6 lineup. The devices have been received quite well by users, the firm is not done yet. It has been working around the clock on the latest version of Android 12.
The company suggested that its new At a Glance widget had a lot more to offer than the version from Android 11 in advertising released before the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro were released.
Major Overhaul to At a Glance
It appears that Google wasn’t able to finalize everything in time for the Pixel 6 launch, as the new At a Glance widget turned out to be little more than a slight facelift, but as revealed to us, the firm is working to remedy that as soon as possible.
The business is working on a new “smartspace,” which is what the Google app internally calls the next generation At a Glance widget, according to an upgraded version of the Android System Intelligence service (aka Device Personalization Services). Strings in the latest app version also show that At a Glance will get a slew of additional features, all of which will be toggleable in the settings.
When smartspace is enabled, the widget behaves similarly to stacked widgets on iOS, enabling you to choose from a carousel of intelligent choices. The standard weather and date alert may be disabled with a Co-op loyalty card. It’s even feasible to get a third At a Glance version to appear with the correct flags set, displaying a Google Keep shopping list.
At a Glance will become much more proactive, similar to how Google Now was previously. When you visit supported stores, it will not only automatically surface loyalty cards and shopping lists, but it will also remind you of your upcoming bedtime based on your clock app settings, show you battery details of supported accessories, surface fitness, and training data, and give you a heads up when the flashlight is turned on. A couple of the listed features, including the timer and stopwatch, are currently available to everyone on the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro without messing with the code. The recent updates will also make it easier to carry out tasks such as iPhone transfer as well.
If you watched the pre-launch Pixel 6 commercials on Instagram or the Material You YouTube teaser, you’ll recognize some of these features. On the lock screen, we can see some flight information, including a link to your ticket, as well as some Adidas “Running activity” stats.
Summing Up
It’s probable that Google intended to release these new features alongside Android 12 and the Pixel 6 series, but it appears that the firm ran into complications, making At a Glance more difficult to implement than expected. The widget wasn’t entirely working until the final Android 12 beta when a Google app update repaired it. It didn’t show the weather before that, and you couldn’t change the settings. With the underlying code in place, it shouldn’t be long until the more capable version of the widget is released.
While we don’t think there’s anything keeping these features from appearing on all Pixels running Android 12, we won’t know for sure if they’ll be limited to the Pixel 6 until Google officially announces them.