With Android 16Google operating system lovers are congratulations. This version will be one of the biggest changes in design in the history of Android, with the arrival of Material 3 Expressive as New language for UI.
As usual, Google showed in the Pixel How the new interface would behave. The problem? The Pixel are the exception, not the rule.
Material 3 Expressive. In case you had lost it, earlier this week Google advanced one of the greatest novelties that will arrive with Android 16. It is material 3 Expressive, the greater design update in the operating system in years.
It is the natural jump after Youand it is both changes in Google’s native applications and system changes: adjustments, icons, animations … practically everything will be refined with the new design language.
Pixel First. As usual, having a pixel will result in being the first to enjoy this design change. The first beta is expected to arrive this month, expressing material 3 expressive and that, As of Junethe stable versions begin to arrive.
For the rest of the manufacturers, as usual … everything falls on their roof. Android fragmentation remains an absolute disaster, So we do not expect Android 16 in the high range until the end of this year or early 2025. Hopefully.
Magic
The usual problem. Beyond the problem with fragmentation, the problem is that Google’s demands so that manufacturers respect their design lines are not too strict. In fact, there are numerous layers that look more like iOS than what Google proposes with the Pixel.
With material 3 Expressive two problems arrive. The first is that Google apps will change, and a lot. If manufacturers do not follow these design lines (something they have been doing for years), we will continue to have the huge inconsistencies in interface that Android has been dragging for years.
Second, the same thing happens with the system itself. Little or nothing serves that Google works to unify the design of Android, Wearos, Android Auto and even Android XR, if manufacturers do what they want with their layers.
No solution at the sight. Android, despite the changes he has suffered in recent years, is still an open source system. The Guidelines They force certain minimums, but not to follow the design guidelines they mark. The manufacturer can use the UI framework that I wanted, something that ends completely with the visual coherence of the system.
Android diversity is one of its forts, but there are layers anchored in designs for years (some have practically the same interface in their apps for more than three years) is a symptom of a problem: giving freedom is incompatible with a consistent ecosystem.
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