It’s been a while since Google tweaked the design and presentation of the icons in Android’s status bar. But according to a report from Android Authority that could change soon, with Android 15 introducing a revamped status bar and integrating haptic feedback into the Quick Settings.
Call me quick to please, but I think this is great news if it’s true.
In Android 14, icons showing Wi-Fi and mobile signal strength and battery level are solid blocks that fill with a white or dark shade (depending on whether you’re using dark or light mode), with a battery percentage displayed on the side, if it is enabled. While reasonably functional, this design isn’t great for letting you check signal strength at a glance, while battery percentage can look quite nasty on an otherwise neat interface.
While digging into Android 15, Android Authority noted that the upcoming version of Google’s operating system will segment these icons and integrate battery percentage. That means the signal strength will appear in separate bars and the battery percentage will appear in the battery icon. These are small changes, but for people like me who like to get clear information at a glance, they can be very useful.
Samsung phone users will notice that One UI adds such icons on top of Android 14, which is handy. But something about the way Samsung designs the icons doesn’t quite sit right with me.
The use of such segmented status bar icons means that Android 15 could look a lot more like iOS 17, but as an iPhone 15 Pro Max user who can’t deny the excellent but boring experience that Apple’s phones provide, I think that’s a good matter. Android can still differentiate itself with things like generative AI tools – and UI changes like this could tempt me to switch back to Android from iOS.
Hello haptics
What also caught my attention with Android 15 is the potential use of haptic feedback in the Quick Settings panel – that’s the menu you open on Android phones by swiping down from the top of the screen.
According to Android Authority, haptic feedback could be used when adjusting the volume slider, as well as long-pressing icons like the Bluetooth tile.
It may seem like a trivial adjustment, but I find that haptics can really help me fine-tune small adjustments to settings that work on a sliding scale, especially when making adjustments for speed, when your finger can get in the way a certain level to stand. adjustments. So that, combined with the status bar tweaks, could lead to Android feeling like a more integrated experience, which would get my approval.
Right now, these options should be enabled in Android 15 Developer Preview 2, which is open to the public, but I wouldn’t recommend trying it out on your headphones as such previews aren’t always the most stable. . Otherwise, we’ll have to wait for the full release of Android 15, which is expected to arrive with the Google Pixel 9 series in the second half of the year, before we can see if Google is indeed integrating such tweaks into its mobile operating system.