Google’s September Android Update Brings Five Useful Features to Phones
- Snehal Pandey
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
Google has announced its September Android feature drop with five useful features. These include item tracking powered by Gemini, Motion Assist to help with motion sickness, Guided Vision, collaborative Google Keep notes on Messages, and customizable chat themes.
The search giant Google has released news about September Android feature update, introducing five new features to make Android experience even more personal and useful. This time, Google is working on improving existing products like Gemini, Find Hub, accessibility, and Google Messages, with some features already going live and others coming very soon in Androids supporting the changes.
Among the most interesting features introduced by the tech giant is the ability to let Gemini remember where you have put some of your belongings. This feature was built specifically to track down everyday objects that you might not necessarily track down using a tracker like a passport, spare key, etc. Users will be able to inform Gemini about the placement of their object and add a picture for it. Later, all that they will need is to ask Gemini about where the object is or go to the "remembered items" section in Google Find Hub.
This feature will become available in Androids with version 16 and above in countries where Gemini and Find Hub are available. There's also the Motion Assist feature that aims to ease motion sickness while traveling. In essence, it is a bubble that moves across the screen, matching the motions of the vehicle you ride in, as per Google. The goal is to help ease the discrepancy between what your eyes perceive and the actual motion experienced.
Motion Assist can be configured to turn on automatically or included in Quick Settings. There will also be options to personalize bubbles, adjusting their shape, color, and opacity. But unlike most other features added to the September update, Motion Assist will be available only on devices with Android 17 installed.
Guided Vision will be another useful feature added to Gemini Live. The feature makes visual assistance much more practical and allows using it to read small letters on product labels, menus of poorly-lit restaurants, or objects around the house. All that's required is to send the camera in Gemini Live.
Guided Vision will also prove helpful when the camera is not set up right. Voice feedback may be used by people to change the framing, pan around, or focus on a particular object for the better understanding of what users are showing. Google claims that this feature may be integrated into Accessibility shortcuts and reached via TalkBack menu and Gemini application settings. It will become available for devices with Android 9 and further for countries where Gemini is available.
Google Messages will also get two handy updates. First, people will be able to share and modify Google Keep grocery lists and notes right from conversations in the app. Selecting the corresponding feature from the “+” button in Messages, participants of a particular discussion will be able to review, modify and even suggest ideas for shared grocery list or note. This functionality is already being rolled out for Google Messages users.
The last one is designed to make chats in Google Messages more personal. Individuals will now be able to personalize chats by customizing their backgrounds and colors. They will have an option to pick their wallpaper or even use their own photos, and as a result, chat bubble colors will change automatically based on their selection. The colors can also be adjusted manually if desired.
In general, Google's September Android update does not bring any single major innovation but rather a couple of handy features to the Android world. Gemini gets more practical features, Android obtains its very own motion sickness feature, Accessibility obtains intelligent visual aid, and Google Messages becomes more cooperative and customizable. As the update is distributed separately for different versions of Android, the actual availability depends on the device itself.
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