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It was just Back in June that Android 16 It introduced a slew of new features to Google’s operating system, but the company has just announced another big package of updates, including more customization options, improved parental controls, and smart notifications.
You can now create custom icon shapes, cohesive themes, and extend dark mode to apps that don’t have their own dark theme. Overhauled parental controls let you manage screen time, downtime, app usage, and rewards right on your child’s devices, while AI-powered notification summaries give you the TL;DR of long messages or group chats. Relevant notifications are also now grouped, and low-priority notifications, such as promotional messages, are silenced.
There are neat new accessibility features, too. Expressive captions We now have relevant emotion tags, and they’re rolling out in English-language YouTube videos as well as across Android. Configurable auto-clicking for mouse users reduces stress, the guided frame is now more descriptive about what’s in the camera view on the Pixel Camera app, and you can turn on Voice Access with a voice command to Gemini. Quick pair to Hearing aids It’s also expanding (now available for Demant, Starkey support coming in early 2026), and better voice dictation with TalkBack will soon be available. These features are coming to Pixel devices first, but will trickle down to third-party devices in due course.
Google is also showing some love for older versions of Android, with features not intended for 16s, like Emoji Kitchen stickers, the ability to leave group chats and report them in Google Messages, the option to check for scams using Circle to Search, and pinned tabs in Chrome just like on desktop. My favorite new feature is Reason for Calling, which enables you to mark your call to any saved contact as “urgent.” – Simon Hill
The long-awaited Sony A7 V is here
Courtesy of Sony
Sony has released the A7 V, an upgrade to prosumer’s full-frame Alpha 7 camera. The Mark 5 version of the A7 comes with a new 33-megapixel partially stacked CMOS sensor and a BIONZ XR2 processor, which packs an AI processing unit into the processor. In-body image stabilization (IBIS) has also been significantly improved in this update, now up to 7.5 stops. There’s 16 stops of dynamic range, 30fps shooting with full autofocus, plus the subject of good AI and Sony’s eye detection too.