Google’s new design philosophy is called Material You and it’s expected to arrive with Android 12 later this year. Google has been constantly sharing design overhauls of various applications, showcasing the Material You thing, and now it’s time for YouTube’s Android widget to receive the Material You treatment.
What is Material You?
But first, let’s talk about the idea behind Material You. Material You is Google’s new personalized design language that the company first announced during Google I/O 2021.
“Without compromising the functional foundations of our apps, Material You seeks to create designs that are personal for every style, accessible for every need, alive and adaptive for every screen,” this was part of the official press release for Material You.
What is it in practice, though? Material You utilizes Google’s expertise in things like machine learning, image recognition, and interaction design to offer a unique way of customization to the mobile user.
Let’s say you want to put your favorite wallpaper on your new Pixel phone. The UI automatically scans through the image, picks color and design elements, and applies them to the overall interface. It’s like an automatic theme application with AI baked right into the OS!
YouTube Music Material You widget
Our friends at 9to5Google were able to decompile a recent release of the YouTube Music app for Android and they found lines of code revealing the Material You redesign of the widget.
Image source - 9to5Google
The widget itself looks like a vinyl record with two icons on the top and bottom. You have the play/pause button at the bottom, and a thumbs up like button at the top.
Image source - 9to5Google
The size of the widget is 3x3, and according to 9to5Google, it can’t be made any smaller than this (although you could supposedly enlarge it).
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What other apps are getting the Material You design overhaul?
Google officially announced a few days ago that it began rolling out Material You to a bunch of Workspace apps. You can check out the design by following the link but in a nutshell here’s the list of the apps that are getting the redesign:
Actually, it’s already rolling out but you need to be signed for Google’s Beta program in order to get it on your phone.
If you don’t want to go through the trouble of installing a beta operating system and compromising the stability of your smartphone, fret not.
The official release date of Android 12 is right around the corner, and Pixel phones will be the first devices to get it. We’re probably looking at a release sometime in October, maybe in line with the Pixel 6 official launch.
Our take
It's the perfect opportunity for Google to catch up with the smoothness and design fluidity of iOS. Like it or not, Android seems more rough around the edges, compared to Apple's mobile OS, and Google has some catch up to do in this regard.
We don't doubt that Google will rise up to the occasion and use all its knowledge and software prowess to get the job done. We're talking about years and years of experience in machine learning and image processing. And at the end of the day, it's better for the users, and it will probably push Apple and other companies to up their game too. So, we're pretty excited about Android 12 and Material You.
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Mariyan, a tech enthusiast with a background in Nuclear Physics and Journalism, brings a unique perspective to PhoneArena. His childhood curiosity for gadgets evolved into a professional passion for technology, leading him to the role of Editor-in-Chief at PCWorld Bulgaria before joining PhoneArena. Mariyan's interests range from mainstream Android and iPhone debates to fringe technologies like graphene batteries and nanotechnology. Off-duty, he enjoys playing his electric guitar, practicing Japanese, and revisiting his love for video games and Haruki Murakami's works.
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