[0:02] All right, so I do one of these videos
[0:03] for every new Android version. Top five
[0:05] features for what to expect [music] so
[0:07] you have a better idea of what will be
[0:08] coming to your phone if it's a Pixel
[0:10] very soon. If it's not a Pixel
[0:13] someday. But we all know these aren't
[0:15] massive generational overhaul updates
[0:18] anymore. Those days are few and far
[0:20] between. Instead now it's more usually
[0:22] like the small cosmetic stuff and little
[0:24] tweaks and quality of life things here
[0:26] and there. Back in the day that would
[0:28] have all been like a dot one update. But
[0:31] since it's 2026 it's an entirely new
[0:33] Android version, Android 17, Cinnamon
[0:36] Bun. Now I know what you're thinking.
[0:37] Hold on a second. Wait. What? Did the
[0:39] Did the names come back? When did the
[0:40] names come back? The names aren't back
[0:43] but I'm trying to bring them back. Do
[0:44] you remember when every new Android
[0:46] version was named after an alphabetical
[0:48] dessert and the biggest surprise of
[0:50] every IO was going to be them unveiling
[0:52] what the dessert name would be. I mean
[0:54] we had classics like Cupcake, Donut,
[0:57] Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread. And then as
[1:00] the letters went on they got more and
[1:01] more playful with it. Nougat, Oreo, Pie.
[1:05] Then they got to Q and so you know I can
[1:07] understand not coming up with a dessert
[1:09] name just for Q.
[1:11] But then after that they just went
[1:12] straight to the numbers. They stopped
[1:14] the names. They just went Android 13,
[1:16] Android 14, Android 15. But internally
[1:20] Google has actually kept doing the
[1:22] internal dessert code names. And you can
[1:24] look on Wikipedia. You can see after Q
[1:26] there was Red Velvet Cake, Snow Cone,
[1:29] Tiramisu, Upside Down Cake, Vanilla Ice
[1:32] Cream. And then I guess they just
[1:34] skipped WXYZ and A for some reason. And
[1:37] now here we are at Cinnamon Bun. Android
[1:39] 16 was Baklava. So actually if you get
[1:42] any system notification that's what this
[1:44] little glyph here was meant to be. And
[1:47] so sure enough if you get any system
[1:48] notifications in Android 17 there's a
[1:51] little cinnamon bun. Proof that somebody
[1:53] at Google still cares about this. Bring
[1:55] back the public dessert names Google.
[1:57] It's more fun this way. Anyway, these
[1:59] are my top five features on the publicly
[2:01] available Android 17 on my Pixel
[2:04] in my order. So, number five, screen
[2:06] reactions are a built-in feature now.
[2:08] You go in and start a screen recording,
[2:10] and now you can just tick the show
[2:11] selfie camera option, and you get live
[2:14] keyed-in a version of yourself that you
[2:16] can move around and make bigger,
[2:18] smaller, and then record on the spot,
[2:21] which is very convenient. Now, I'll be
[2:23] honest, I never made these types of
[2:24] videos, so I don't know if this is
[2:26] sherlocking some other big app people
[2:28] are all using to do this, or if they
[2:29] eventually built it into Instagram or
[2:30] TikTok at this point. I'm sure they did,
[2:32] but hey, it just got that much easier,
[2:34] so nicely done, Google. And number four
[2:37] is very cool. It's the new game mode on
[2:39] foldables. So, on Pixel Fold and Z Fold
[2:41] and all these other foldables that get
[2:42] Android 17, you'll be able to play games
[2:44] where half the screen is the game, and
[2:46] the other half is an on-screen gamepad.
[2:49] And I'm not even that much of a phone
[2:51] gamer, but that is really cool, not
[2:53] going to lie. Now, number three is the
[2:55] bubbles and the bubble bar.
[2:58] And I really like saying bubble bar.
[2:59] Sorry, I'm going to say that a lot, but
[3:01] the bubble bar is new. So, basically,
[3:02] any app you can now launch straight into
[3:04] a floating window that can minimize into
[3:07] a bubble at any time. This actually
[3:09] itself isn't new. You could do this with
[3:10] some messaging-related apps for a while,
[3:12] but what's new is the ability to have up
[3:15] to four bubbles open at once of
[3:18] different apps, and then kind of treat
[3:19] it like a multitasking hub over the top
[3:22] of whatever else is going on in the
[3:23] background. But, this bubble bar can be
[3:25] very useful. Imagine taking notes over
[3:27] the top of a YouTube video playing. I
[3:30] imagine I'm not the only freak that
[3:31] actually writes notes instead of having
[3:33] like Gemini summarize everything for me,
[3:36] cuz the bubble bar seems perfect for
[3:38] that.
[3:39] Anyway, separate but related feature,
[3:40] the new screen recording UI, I think
[3:42] kind of looks like it was inspired by
[3:43] the bubble bar. With the new pill at the
[3:45] top, it's not actually one of the
[3:46] bubbles, but does feel thematically in
[3:49] line. Makes you think. So, then number
[3:50] two is this whole collection of what I'm
[3:53] going to call aesthetic tweaks. And
[3:56] again, it's not some big overhaul. This
[3:57] isn't like a new liquid glass or
[3:59] anything crazy like that, but it is a
[4:00] good collection of things where it feels
[4:02] like somebody is going through and being
[4:04] very thoughtful about little things that
[4:07] could be better or that should be a
[4:08] little different. Like I like that you
[4:10] can hide app labels now on the home
[4:11] screen for a super clean look in the
[4:14] stock launcher. I feel like that's long
[4:15] overdue. I also like that there is a bit
[4:18] less empty white space between options
[4:20] in some of the more buried settings.
[4:22] Like that's a subtle thing, but it's
[4:24] nicely considered. It was getting to be
[4:25] a little bit much before.
[4:27] And then there's actually a little bit
[4:28] of transparency added here now. Not full
[4:30] on liquid glass levels again, but just
[4:33] more adding it to more places for
[4:35] consistency. So, the app drawer already
[4:38] had it. The quick settings already had
[4:40] it. Now, the widget picker has it as
[4:42] well. So, you can see a little bit of
[4:43] that wallpaper peeking through there as
[4:44] you pick your widgets.
[4:46] You can choose exactly which apps
[4:47] automatically open in the expanded dark
[4:49] mode theme now instead of just
[4:51] everything. You can have certain apps
[4:52] that always come up in dark mode.
[4:54] And then it it's such a small thing, but
[4:56] when you finish going through
[4:57] notifications in Android 16, it would
[4:58] just have a little text that says, "No
[5:00] notifications." In Android 17, it says,
[5:03] "You're all caught up." and gives you a
[5:04] nice little trophy. Which is nice. Now,
[5:06] before we get to number one, I of course
[5:07] need to show you the new Android 17
[5:11] Easter egg, which this year is an
[5:13] incredibly complicated puzzle. So, you
[5:16] do the classic five taps on Android 17,
[5:19] and then it takes you into this weird
[5:21] constellation type thing with a ring of
[5:24] stars. And I stared at this for hours
[5:27] trying to figure out, "What does it
[5:28] mean? What type of symbols do I have to
[5:31] draw here? What sort of patterns are
[5:33] going to make this work?" And uh no,
[5:35] just kidding. You basically just connect
[5:37] them all together in literally any way,
[5:39] and then the Android 17 logo pops up.
[5:41] And then you hold that down for a few
[5:42] seconds to get into the same Easter egg
[5:45] as previous years, which is this little
[5:47] asteroids game where you pilot this
[5:49] little spaceship around. It's a fun
[5:51] time. So then, the number one feature of
[5:53] Android 17
[5:56] is that they've finally separated the
[5:58] Wi-Fi and mobile data toggles in quick
[6:02] settings. Thank god. I don't know why,
[6:05] but a couple years ago they decided for
[6:06] some reason to merge them together into
[6:08] one internet toggle that you had to
[6:10] click into and then click again to
[6:12] toggle either Wi-Fi or mobile data. So
[6:14] finally in Android 17, they heard us,
[6:17] they listened to us, and they separated
[6:19] back out a Wi-Fi toggle and a mobile
[6:21] data toggle in quick settings. You can
[6:23] tap just the icon to turn it on or off,
[6:26] or tap the words to enter that full menu
[6:28] and connect to different networks. It's
[6:29] about damn time they brought this back.
[6:31] Now, obviously this isn't the number one
[6:32] biggest change to Android 17, but it
[6:35] does feel like it's part of a nice theme
[6:37] of Google actually listening to users
[6:40] and just making little tweak type things
[6:43] at the surface level that make Android
[6:45] nicer to use. Like here's another one.
[6:47] In Android 16, there's a permanent
[6:49] search button on the bottom of your home
[6:51] screen. You can't get rid of it. Now,
[6:52] they had this cool customization that
[6:54] let you change transparency and theme
[6:56] color of the widget,
[6:58] but that was only if you added a second
[7:01] search widget to your home screen, it
[7:03] would customize that one, which makes no
[7:06] sense. Why would anyone add a second
[7:07] search widget? Why can't you customize
[7:09] the first one that you can't get rid of?
[7:11] Well, in Android 17, now you long press
[7:14] it and you actually can. You can change
[7:16] the transparency and customize that
[7:18] first one straight away. Still can't
[7:20] remove it, but that's better than
[7:22] nothing. And so there's there's so many
[7:23] other little things like that. There's
[7:24] slightly bouncier, more exaggerated
[7:26] animations in quick settings and in
[7:28] multitasking. And little performance
[7:30] tweaks here and there throughout.
[7:32] There's also more stuff coming, too,
[7:34] like the ability to make new widgets
[7:36] from scratch using natural language.
[7:38] When they add that, that's going to be
[7:39] sick, I I
[7:40] And Rambler, which they talked about at
[7:42] IO, which is going to be even better
[7:44] speech-to-text. And pause point as well,
[7:46] which is another digital well-being
[7:48] tool. Stuff like this makes me want to
[7:50] switch to the Pixel again and take the
[7:52] plunge
[7:54] before I come back to my senses and I
[7:55] remember the type of pain that that can
[7:57] turn into. I am once again hoping for
[7:59] Tensor to take a massive leap forward
[8:01] with the next generation of Pixel
[8:03] phones.
[8:04] But I've been hurt before, so I'm not
[8:06] going to cross my fingers. Anyway, if
[8:08] you just got Android 17 to update the
[8:10] inside of your Pixel, then it might be
[8:11] time to do the same with the outside,
[8:14] which channel sponsor dbrand. Their
[8:15] summer sale just went live and you can
[8:17] get up to 60% off various things and a
[8:21] ton of other deals. Starting with the
[8:22] cases, they're all $10 off, no code
[8:24] required. The grip is, as you can
[8:27] imagine, super grippy and customizable
[8:29] with a ton of different skins. The Ghost
[8:31] case is literally guaranteed to never
[8:33] yellow or they'll replace it for free.
[8:35] And the tank is the rugged one you'll
[8:38] either love or hate. But the real deal
[8:40] is when you bundle it with one of their
[8:41] idiot-proof screen protectors, their
[8:43] words, not mine, to get $20 off the
[8:45] entire bundle. I've been using one since
[8:47] they first got released. You can barely
[8:48] tell it's on there, but a big part of
[8:50] that is just how easy it is to install.
[8:51] It takes like 10 seconds and it also
[8:53] comes with two in the box. And if you
[8:54] spend more than 50 bucks, they'll toss
[8:56] in a deck of dbrand themed playing cards
[8:58] for free. And there's a ton of other
[8:59] deals going on on the site right now
[9:00] like 55 bucks off the kill switch. And I
[9:04] kid you not, $0 off the new Steam
[9:07] Machine companion cube.
[9:10] It's classic. I'll leave a link down in
[9:11] the description so you can check
[9:12] everything out for yourself. [music]
[9:13] Thanks for watching
[9:15] and I'll cinnamon bun you later.
[9:18] Peace.
[9:20] >> [music]