Almost three months have passed since the release of the first Developer Preview of Android 12, and not even a month since the release of the last, the third. In this way we are giving an increasingly clear idea of the novelties that the next incarnation of the robot will bring.
However, there are other news coming soon, which can be found by reading between the lines (of the code) of mountain view apps. XDAdevelopers colleagues from the APK teardown of the latest version of the Google app, 12.18.6.29, have found unequivocal traces that a new way to recall the Assistant is in the pipeline.
Currently it can be activated with the famous call “OK Google” or “Hey Google”, with the prolonged press of the home button or by swiping from the lower corners where full-screen gestures have been chosen for navigation. Then there are exclusive methods of some smartphones, such as the “squeeze” of certain Pixels, that is, the possibility to summon the Assistant by tightening the device at the edges, as if to squeeze it.
However, it seems that an unprecedented option is coming, which allows you to activate the Assistant with a prolonged press of the power button. A solution already adopted by some manufacturers in their robot customizations, and that Mountain View wants to officially introduce. XDA’s Mishaal Rahman has also already managed to pinch the option in the settings menu of its Pixel 3 XL with Android 12 Developer Preview installed.
Then there is another feature coming out of the teardown of the APK: it is a feature that will make it easier to authorize payments when your smartphone is connected to Android Auto or unlocked. Essentially, by activating this option you will be able to choose to skip the password or security code entry to validate payments when your phone is connected to the machine via Android Auto, or in general when you are using it and therefore it is already unlocked.
There is also a significant warning in the code that warns about the potential risks of this feature: another person who has the ability to unlock our device, or use it while driving, could proceed by making payments without being required to have any additional authorization.
Both features are still in an embryonic stage, and in addition to not knowing when exactly Google will release them we are not even sure that it will, right now: the only thing we know for sure is that it is currently working on them, as emerges from the strings already present in the code.
