This past year has probably been the most meaningful and successful for the redesign of Android apps. Yeah, I don’t know how you feel about Material 3 Expressive, but it surely plays well on my Pixel 6 Pro, which has enjoyed a second life thanks to the combination of the Android 16 QPR1 update and the Material 3 Expressive makeovers. The pair has put some life into the old gal and if it weren’t for the battery, I’d be replacing my iPhone 15 Pro Max with the
Pixel 6 Pro.
Google’s decision to put Gemini everywhere has been awesome and replacing the Google Assistant with Gemini is a no-brainer. I’d love to see Google bring the Magic Cue to the Pixel 6 series. This feature, a Pixel 10 exclusive, takes proactive actions based on the context of your actions. For example, if you have to call the airline to change your flight, the Magic Cure can put information related to your current reservation on the screen without you having to ask for the information.
Version 8.3 of the Google Clock app has started rolling out
Google has started rolling out the latest version of the Google Clock app. This is an all-in-one clock app that gives you the current time in cities throughout the world. In a move that is typical Google, the Alphabet subsidiary added the local temperature and weather conditions to the cities you follow on your World clock. For example, while I can complain to myself how cold I feel in Salem, Mass. where it is 49 degrees, a look at the World clock allows me to see that my poor colleagues in Sofia are even colder at 43 degrees. Stay warm guys!
But that’ isn’t the new feature that comes with Google Clock 8.3. What is new is a change to the background of the app. Previously, your wallpaper would be the background when the alarm went off showing the time along with buttons to Snooze or Stop the alarm. But that led users to sometimes get confused and unable to see the numerals on the app as the wallpaper mixed with Google Clock’s UI.
The Google Clock Settings menu is also revamped
With version 8.3, the background is a solid color that makes it easier to read the screen. The background of the Snooze and Stop buttons are the main color themes taken from your wallpaper. On the top of the display is a small pill that gives you a suggestion about using a Quick Phrase such as “Snooze” or “Stop” to have the alarm do what you say.
The Settings menu has also been reorganized. Open the app and tap the three-dot menu icon on the upper right. From there, tap on Settings and the menu is arranged in the following order:
- Alarms
- World clock
- Timer
- Screen saver
As Google Assistant slowly gets replaced by Gemini, all traces of what was once the best virtual digital assistant in the business is disappearing. For example, when setting an alarm using the Google Clock app, you used to be able to create something called a Google Assistant Routine that would play the day’s weather forecast or top news stories when your alarm went off. With Google Assistant a name from the past, the feature is now called Routines and the Assistant’s three-dot logo is replaced with a trio of “Sparkles,” which is now synonymous with Gemini.
Another interesting change that is apparently coming to Google Clock 8.3 is one that shows the numerals making up the time an alarm is set for getting thicker and thinner in rhythm. This is done in order to catch the user’s attention.
If you want to know which version of the Google Clock is on your phone, go to Settings > Apps > See all xxx apps. Scroll down to Google Clock and tap on it. That will take you to the App info page for Google Clock. Scroll down all the way to the bottom and you’ll see the version number on the very bottom of the page. If you don’t have the Google Clock app on your Android phone, you can install it from the Play Store by tapping on this link.
Google Clock 8.3 is rolling out slowly. My Pixel 6 Pro running Android 16 QPR2 Beta 3.1 currently has version 8.2 of the app.
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