Does anybody care about Android 14?
This year's release of the world's most popular operating system feels like one of the smallest ever, bringing just a handful of new features. Even during the Android portion of Google's big I/O keynote, Google spent most of its time showing off a new generative AI feature that creates wallpapers for you, as if there aren't enough wallpapers in the world.
Last year's Android 13 release felt small, but that was because it was the second major Android OS release that year. Android 12L—the big tablet and foldable release—came out earlier. What's Android 14's excuse? We're not really sure. We still have a few things to go over, though, like new lock screen customizations, genuinely exciting changes to the way the back button works, and a pile of under-the-hood changes.
The new logo
First up is a new logo! Android's last big rebranding happened with Android 10, and just a few years later, it's time for a new coat of paint. The wordmark is now capitalized, and the little Android "bugdroid" mascot, usually a disembodied head next to the Android wordmark, is getting its body back. The bugdroid is now fully rendered in 3D, and in keeping with Google's Material Design guidelines, it comes in a variety of colors and styles. If you ask me, bugdroid in 3D looks a bit pudgy.
In the videos on Google's redesign blog post, a "Google Android" logo occupies the screen for a good amount of time. I have never seen these two brands together as a single wordmark, and widespread usage of it would certainly be a change. Some people confuse the Android brand with the "Android Open Source Project" and think it's some kind of free-to-use logo, but Android is a trademark of Google, and you can't use it unless you license the Google Play apps. So "Google Android" is totally appropriate.