Google shows off what Android 12 brings to Gmail, Meet, Calendar, and more
Earlier this week, Google released the latest version of the Android 12 beta, designed to be the “release candidate”. This is the final version before Android 12 is officially released, which is slated to occur within the next few weeks. With Android 12, there’s a complete design overhaul thanks to the Material You design language along with dynamic theming.
Android 12 is bigger, brighter, and has smoother animations compared to Android 11, but also will theme your phone based on the core colors found in your wallpaper. This aims to bring a “more dynamic, personalized look” across the board but will go much further than just changing how your Home Screen or Notification Shade looks.
In a post on the Google Workspace Updates blog, the company detailed some of the changes that are arriving for select Google apps. The post shows off the likes of Gmail, Google Meet, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Calendar, comparing the old version to what you will find with Material You.
Gmail – Available in version 2021.08.24 or newer
Google Meet – These changes will be available on Meet version 2021.09.19 and newer starting September 19
Google Drive – These changes are available on Drive version 2.21.330 and newer starting September 9.
These changes are available on Docs, Sheets, and Slides version 1.21.342 and newer starting September 1.
Google Calendar – These changes are available on version 2021.37 and newer starting September 20.
Along with showing off what these changes will look like, Google shared when you can expect to see the new design appear. Of course, you’ll need to be running Android 12, so if you haven’t already, now’s a good time to jump on the Android 12 beta train. At least this way, you’ll be able to get acclimated to the latest version ahead of its final release.
Plus, with the Release Candidate, most of the major bugs have been squashed, so you won’t have to worry too much about your favorite apps not working. The only caveat is that while Android 12 introduces this new theming engine, it won’t be applied to all of your apps just yet.