Android 17 Is the Biggest Upgrade in Years

[00:00] So, Google just had a keynote and

[00:02] they've announced possibly the single

[00:04] biggest shakeup to the smartphone in the

[00:06] last 5 years. In one go, they've

[00:07] unveiled Gemini Intelligence, so you can

[00:10] ask AI to start taking over your phone

[00:13] and doing things for you. That's cool.

[00:15] Android 17, which has ended up far more

[00:18] eventful than the previous few versions.

[00:20] There's a new Android Auto that somehow

[00:22] out of nowhere is the actual highlight

[00:24] of the show. All finished off with an

[00:25] entirely new category of laptop that

[00:27] lets you wiggle your cursor and do magic

[00:30] AI things. Put it this way, it is making

[00:32] Apple software look very depressing by

[00:35] comparison. So, first things first,

[00:36] Gemini Intelligence lets you do five

[00:39] things that you haven't been able to

[00:41] properly do before, like Rumbler. So,

[00:43] you know when you're dictating a

[00:45] message, which I do all the time, and

[00:47] then you ramble while dictating that

[00:49] message, which I also do all the time.

[00:52] Rambler is a new feature that fixes you.

[00:54] So, let's say that your wife asks you

[00:56] how much you enjoyed her dinner, and you

[00:58] say it's a bit dry.

[01:00] Actually, no way. I love it. I've never

[01:03] had canned beans like this in my life.

[01:06] This will no longer type out your entire

[01:08] inner monologue. It'll smartly realize

[01:11] what you're trying to say. Or at least

[01:13] that's what Google claims. I'll be the

[01:15] test of that. And it also means if you

[01:17] do accidentally tell your wife her food

[01:18] was dry, you can then say, "One, buy

[01:21] flowers, two, buy chocolates, three, eat

[01:25] the beans and nod." And your phone will

[01:27] realize by itself that you're describing

[01:29] a list and format that into one. And

[01:32] then you can say, "Swap the numbers for

[01:34] emoji." It'll get there. Or even, I

[01:36] guess, turn this whole message into

[01:38] Hindi so she can't read it. This is

[01:43] really useful and it actually makes me

[01:45] feel like one of the Flintstones when I

[01:48] look at this and then I look at my

[01:50] iPhone's current dictation quality or

[01:52] another struggle that we can all relate

[01:54] to, autofill. I mean, don't get me

[01:56] wrong, the feature itself is one of

[01:57] humanity's top five inventions. But

[02:00] every now and again, you will come

[02:01] across a site or an app where the rigid

[02:04] way that autofill has been programmed

[02:06] means it just doesn't activate. and the

[02:09] pain that you feel then having to

[02:11] manually type out each letter of that

[02:14] ridiculous email address you made when

[02:15] you were 14 years old knowing how easy

[02:18] this could have been. Point being,

[02:19] Gemini intelligence should be the cure

[02:22] forever. It taps into your personal

[02:24] intelligence pocket, basically

[02:26] everything the AI knows about you,

[02:28] including those random bits you're never

[02:30] going to remember like your passport

[02:31] details. And then it smartly fills out

[02:34] every form. And it should have a higher

[02:36] success rate doing so because unlike

[02:38] traditional autofill which is just

[02:40] interpreting code. So if a site is not

[02:43] coded well it might not realize what

[02:45] data it's meant to fill in where. Gemini

[02:47] like you can read and understand what's

[02:50] being asked of it. Seriously fantastic.

[02:54] That sounds like I'm being sarcastic.

[02:55] I'm actually gassed.

[02:57] >> I've never been happier.

[03:00] So, it feels like part of Gemini

[03:01] intelligence is very much focused on

[03:03] giving people what they want, fixing

[03:05] common pain points, but ones that have

[03:08] actually required this new level of

[03:09] intelligence to solve. But part of this

[03:11] update is also improving things that you

[03:14] didn't even know needed improving. Like,

[03:16] for example, you can now build widgets

[03:18] by literally asking for them. They've

[03:20] made it look so easy that this is

[03:23] possibly the first time ever I can

[03:25] safely say my granddad could be a

[03:27] programmer. The example they give is a

[03:29] custom countdown to a marathon that

[03:31] you're running. But I think it would be

[03:32] so cool to make one that can pop up with

[03:34] activities happening around you, but

[03:36] based on the time right now and your

[03:38] specific GPS location. Another example

[03:41] of something that I'm not sure people

[03:42] were specifically asking for is app

[03:44] automations. They showed an example of

[03:46] you taking a photo of this flyer about a

[03:49] tour that you wanted to go on, but then

[03:50] asking Gemini, find me a tour like this,

[03:53] but make sure it can accommodate six

[03:55] people. And now Gemini is able to first

[03:57] figure out what you mean, then take that

[04:00] information to another app like Expedia.

[04:02] It looks like it at this point kind of

[04:04] thinks in the background till it's

[04:05] finished, and then finally pings you a

[04:07] notification to see the result. You

[04:09] click that, that's your booking page. I

[04:12] do like that it doesn't try and book for

[04:14] you. That would scare me. Do I think I

[04:16] would use this?

[04:18] Probably not for a while, to be honest.

[04:20] Call me old-fashioned, but I still think

[04:22] there's a lot of benefit to you looking

[04:24] at things like this yourself. You know,

[04:26] you might find a tour that's better

[04:27] rated or closer to your hotel or just

[04:30] something that you'd actually rather do

[04:32] instead. Like the way I see it, you and

[04:34] these five other people are going to

[04:36] spend maybe a full day doing this tour.

[04:38] Do you trust the AI enough that you

[04:41] don't want to even spend five minutes

[04:43] checking yourself for other options?

[04:45] I'll pass. I will say this kind of task

[04:47] doing can become more useful when you

[04:49] add in that Gemini can now also pick up

[04:51] the full context of what's on your

[04:54] screen. So let's say you're kind of

[04:55] interested in going to this standup

[04:57] comedy night, but you just cannot be

[04:59] bothered to plan the logistics around

[05:00] it. Here you can say to Gemini, "Sort my

[05:03] parking space and rest somewhat easy

[05:06] knowing that it can read all of the

[05:07] context that it needs by itself from

[05:10] your screen without you needing to spell

[05:12] it out." And this is probably the most

[05:14] visual example of how Gemini is evolving

[05:16] into more of an agent with this update.

[05:19] Like you're actually seeing it tap and

[05:21] type things one step at a time

[05:22] completely without your intervention. I

[05:24] could so imagine just watching Gemini

[05:27] jaw clenched as it confidently books me

[05:29] an eighth floor spot when I can see that

[05:31] there's three free on the first. But in

[05:33] principle, this is a level up cuz like

[05:35] last week I made a schedule of which

[05:37] supplements I wanted to take at which

[05:39] points in the day. Yeah, I get it. I'm

[05:41] 30 now. Magnesium is exciting. Gemini

[05:44] intelligence in theory means that I

[05:47] could hold the power button while

[05:48] looking at the schedule and ask Gemini

[05:50] to turn it into a set of reminders to

[05:52] make sure that I follow this routine.

[05:54] That's seriously helpful. Or let's say

[05:56] you have your shopping list loaded up.

[05:58] In theory, you could just bring up

[05:59] Gemini and say, "Buy all of this." And

[06:02] before you know it, you'll be sitting

[06:04] there with a basket full of these

[06:05] products ready for you to hit check out.

[06:08] They did also show how you could be

[06:09] browsing an article and then ask Gemini

[06:12] to make an infographic summarizing it.

[06:14] Obviously, it worked, but I wasn't super

[06:16] impressed with the result. It kind of

[06:18] screams AI from 2 years ago. Overall,

[06:21] though, Gemini Intelligence feels pretty

[06:23] bang on. The main caveat is just

[06:25] availability. Like, a lot of this isn't

[06:27] coming now. It's starting to roll out

[06:30] this summer. It's not coming all at

[06:31] once. Each feature is going to be

[06:33] released when it's ready, they're

[06:34] saying. And to be honest, even when it

[06:36] does come, it's coming to Samsung and

[06:38] Google phones first, seemingly also only

[06:41] to the flagship versions of them,

[06:42] potentially because it relies on a more

[06:44] powerful version of the Gemini Nano

[06:46] model, which needs to run on the device

[06:49] itself. Point being, it could be a year

[06:51] before your phone gets this, if at all.

[06:53] But at least Google is being clear about

[06:55] that. I think they're specifically

[06:57] trying not to overpromise and fall into

[06:59] the same trap that Apple did with Apple

[07:01] intelligence. Thankfully, the next

[07:03] Android update, Android 17, is for all.

[07:06] And even if you took Gemini Intelligence

[07:08] aside, I actually think what they've

[07:10] done with it is incredibly clever. For

[07:13] example, you must have seen by this

[07:14] point people posting this screen

[07:16] reaction type of content. Well, now

[07:19] Google is adding the ability to create

[07:21] this screen reaction content instantly.

[07:23] It'll record your screen. It'll use your

[07:25] front camera to record you. It'll keep

[07:27] you in the right position and cut away

[07:29] your background. Having all of that

[07:30] happening at once in real time is a very

[07:34] efficient way to produce videos. And on

[07:36] the pro end of the spectrum, they're

[07:37] also bringing Adobe Premiere to Android

[07:39] in summer with templates specifically

[07:42] designed for you to make YouTube shorts

[07:43] easily. You can see why this works out

[07:46] for Google. But it makes sense why

[07:47] they're focusing on this because the

[07:49] iPhone basically owns the creator market

[07:51] currently and the creator market has a

[07:54] lot of influence over the mainstream

[07:56] market. So Google's trying to basically

[07:58] get the influencers on board and this

[08:01] thinly veiled full frontal assault on

[08:03] Apple continues over to Instagram. You

[08:06] know how for years shooting content on

[08:08] Instagram for Android has just been less

[08:10] reliable and lower quality than iPhone.

[08:13] It's one of the reasons I first switched

[08:14] away to Apple like 6 years ago. Now,

[08:17] Google is boldly claiming if you use a

[08:20] premium Android device, you're about to

[08:23] get at least as good, if not better

[08:25] looking shots than on an iPhone. They're

[08:27] saying that they've optimized the

[08:28] capture to upload pipeline so that your

[08:30] photos and videos lose as little quality

[08:32] as possible when posting them. And that

[08:34] even if you shoot directly within the

[08:36] Insta app, you'll actually get ultra

[08:38] high dynamic range processing, full

[08:40] working night mode, and built-in video

[08:42] stabilization. How it's taken them till

[08:44] 2026 to do this, I have no idea. But

[08:48] this could be great. I say could because

[08:50] we've heard this whole we fixed

[08:52] Instagram sentiment quite a lot,

[08:54] especially from Samsung over the years.

[08:56] But I do feel a little more confident

[08:57] because this is Google themselves saying

[08:59] that they're fixing this on a base

[09:01] Android level as opposed to other

[09:03] companies whose software sits on top and

[09:05] who probably have more limited control.

[09:08] And you might know that Instagram also

[09:09] has their own edits app too. Well, it's

[09:12] pretty cool that with Android 17, you'll

[09:14] now be able to use your phone's native

[09:16] AI to power features within that app.

[09:19] So, like one tap to straight up enhance

[09:21] photos and videos. I'm hoping this can

[09:23] actually upgrade the resolution as

[09:25] opposed to just making things look

[09:27] artificially bright and sharp, though.

[09:29] Or do you know how phones now have this

[09:30] audio eraser feature to understand the

[09:33] different sound sources in a video

[09:35] you've taken so that you can turn down,

[09:37] let's say, the wind noise specifically?

[09:39] Well, you can now use that capability,

[09:41] but within Instagram's editor, so

[09:43] automatically splitting up each audio

[09:45] track into the individual stems that

[09:47] made up that track. Whoever's making

[09:49] these decisions at Google, I think they

[09:51] got their head in the right place. And

[09:52] while they were doing all this, they've

[09:54] also decided to remake all the emoji on

[09:56] Android, literally all 4,000 of them,

[09:59] into 3D. But, okay, my favorite part of

[10:02] this new Android, though, is pause

[10:04] point. You can tell that this year

[10:06] specifically, Google's really looked at

[10:08] what else is out there and thought, how

[10:10] do we bring this into Android itself,

[10:12] like the new Rambler feature is very

[10:14] similar to a lot of the new AI dictation

[10:16] apps that have been popping up. Create

[10:18] my widget very inspired by nothing's

[10:21] essential apps feature. And pauseoint is

[10:24] functionally identical to an app called

[10:26] One sec that I've been paying like $20 a

[10:29] year for. The idea is you just set up a

[10:31] few apps that you find distracting and

[10:33] the next time you try and open those

[10:34] apps, it will ask you to stop and

[10:36] breathe for 10 seconds. Sounds silly,

[10:38] but it's incredible. That 10 seconds

[10:40] gives you a chance to decide either you

[10:42] didn't really need to use the app and

[10:44] you close it, that you actually should

[10:46] instead be doing something more useful,

[10:48] in which case you can get it to redirect

[10:50] you to say your meditation app or three

[10:53] that you really did need to use the app

[10:54] in question and you proceed. I found by

[10:57] using one sec that even just triggering

[10:59] that thought means you're probably going

[11:01] to be a bit more purposeful about your

[11:03] use of this app instead of just

[11:05] mindlessly doom scrolling before your

[11:06] brains even realize what's happening. I

[11:08] do feel bad for the one set company.

[11:10] They specifically say on their site

[11:12] we're a small independent team. We're

[11:14] not affiliated with big corporations

[11:16] which makes me think that Google didn't

[11:18] exactly buy them or ask permission to

[11:20] take their feature. But ultimately this

[11:22] is still probably good for users. like

[11:24] everyone's going to get the feature. You

[11:25] get it for free and because it's now

[11:27] baked into Android, it's going to feel a

[11:30] little slicker to use, too. Now, here's

[11:32] what was really not on my bingo card

[11:34] today. Android Auto actually being the

[11:37] star of the entire show. Because I mean,

[11:39] for starters, all the new Android and

[11:41] Gemini intelligence features, if you

[11:43] have them on your phone, you get them on

[11:45] your car, too. And if you think about

[11:47] it, the car while you're completely

[11:49] occupied is where it's most important to

[11:52] have an assistant that can do things for

[11:54] you. Like if you're on your way home,

[11:56] being able to just say, "Order me my

[11:58] usual food from Door Dash." And within 5

[12:00] seconds, your car is on the checkout

[12:02] page waiting on you to confirm. That

[12:04] feels very much like the future. And if

[12:07] Apple doesn't very quickly pull Siri out

[12:09] of whatever Certino basement she's been

[12:12] chained up in since like 2014, I think

[12:14] it's going to make the gap between these

[12:16] assistants too wide to ignore. And

[12:18] that's just the start. Google Maps is

[12:20] now about to have immersive 3D

[12:22] navigation. The idea is that your view

[12:24] looking at the map will more closely

[12:26] match your view looking out the actual

[12:28] window. You'll be able to see the same

[12:30] buildings, the overpasses, and it should

[12:32] be able to better highlight which lane

[12:34] you need to be in. This is a million

[12:36] miles more intuitive to me than trying

[12:38] to squint at these things and then

[12:40] translate them to the road in front of

[12:41] you in the split second before you

[12:43] approach a motorway roundabout. And then

[12:45] they're saying that this new lane

[12:46] tracking will be particularly accurate

[12:49] on cars that support Gemini builtin. So

[12:52] again, this is one of those unsupported

[12:54] models business, but if you have a car

[12:56] that gets this support, then you're

[12:58] going to get the extra benefits of

[13:00] Gemini actually being trained on your

[13:02] car's hardware, which means that Google

[13:05] can use the live feed from your car's

[13:07] front-facing camera to know for sure

[13:09] what lane you're currently in. Plus,

[13:11] also, you can then ask Gemini, if I go

[13:13] and buy this TV from Samsung, will it

[13:15] fit in my trunk? and it will be able to

[13:18] answer with an awareness of the car's

[13:20] exact dimensions. Or I'm imagining this

[13:22] also means you could ask things like,

[13:24] "Remind me, how do I turn on my cruise

[13:26] control?" And it would be able to

[13:28] reference the manual and tell you

[13:30] specifically what the button looks like.

[13:31] The software should also look a little

[13:33] jazzier. Google saying the new Android

[13:35] Auto will adapt to all the weird and

[13:38] wonderful shapes of infotainment systems

[13:39] we've been seeing lately. that they've

[13:41] updated the way that individual apps

[13:43] look, and that your car will now get the

[13:45] same fonts, the same wallpapers, and the

[13:47] same smoother animations that the phones

[13:49] are now getting. Plus, widgets on the

[13:51] side, like a quick dialer for your most

[13:54] frequent contact, or a button to open

[13:56] your garage door as you're pulling up.

[13:57] kind of feels like my birthday because

[13:59] then for the first time ever, Google is

[14:01] officially supporting watching videos in

[14:04] your car at 1080p 60 frames pers,

[14:07] assuming your infotainment system

[14:08] supports that with Dolby Atmos audio.

[14:11] So, if you did tell your wife her food

[14:13] was dry, at least now you can get a high

[14:16] quality movie night for one out of it.

[14:18] And then to stop you trying to watch

[14:20] Fast and Furious while you become Fast

[14:23] and Furious, the videos will minimize

[14:25] and play just audio as soon as you start

[14:27] driving. What a clever little feature.

[14:30] It does also need you to have YouTube

[14:31] Premium cuz that's what enables

[14:33] background play. So again, you can see

[14:36] what Google gets out of all of this. But

[14:38] then they surprised us all by revealing

[14:40] an entirely new type of laptop, too. Not

[14:43] a Chromebook, not a Windows, a Google

[14:46] book. It's not actually super clear

[14:48] right now what operating system this is

[14:50] running, but they've got the tagline

[14:52] intelligence is the new spec, which um

[14:54] I've actually got a great video all

[14:56] about invented specs like intelligence,

[14:59] but basically this is them saying we

[15:02] won't be competing on actual measurable

[15:04] specs. The impression I get is that

[15:06] these Google books are not about to be a

[15:09] competitor to a top-end MacBook Pro for

[15:11] someone who wants to edit and render

[15:13] iMac movies on their couch. I mean, come

[15:15] to think of it, ultra high-end

[15:17] performance is just not what Google does

[15:19] with any of their products, really, is

[15:20] it? But I still think it will be a

[15:22] somewhat premium set of machines that

[15:24] leans heavily on AI, which is why they

[15:27] have re-imagined the cursor. Now, you

[15:29] can wiggle it, which will put it into AI

[15:31] mode and let you do smart things like

[15:34] you select a bunch of images and AI will

[15:36] fuse them together in front of you.

[15:38] They're saying that every Google book,

[15:39] doesn't matter which company

[15:41] manufactures it, is going to have this

[15:42] multicolored light strip, which I assume

[15:45] is its way of indicating that it's doing

[15:48] intelligence. Plus, some of the new

[15:50] features from Android are also getting

[15:52] carried over, like you can generate your

[15:54] own widgets on Google Book. And this

[15:56] looks like by far the most seamless way

[15:59] I've seen to access your phone and open

[16:01] apps from it directly without needing to

[16:03] pick the thing up. with probably the

[16:05] coolest thing being that your Android

[16:07] phone storage can become accessible on

[16:09] your Google book as if it were part of

[16:12] the Google book storage. So transferring

[16:14] something from your phone to your Google

[16:16] book would just be go into one folder

[16:19] and pull that file into another. Past

[16:21] experience tells us that there is a

[16:23] broad range for how terrible or great

[16:26] this could end up being. But as far as

[16:28] I'm concerned, if Google can make sure

[16:30] that Google Books get close to the build

[16:32] quality and the trackpad quality of the

[16:34] MacBook, then I would genuinely consider

[16:37] a full-on jump from the Apple ecosystem.

[16:40] I mean, I spend 98% of my time on it on

[16:44] Google Docs anyways. And so looking at

[16:46] all of this Google stuff together, while

[16:48] not everything is coming soon and not

[16:50] everything is coming to everyone, I am

[16:52] really happy that they seem laser

[16:54] focused on this mission of reducing

[16:57] boring admin. And I want that more than

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