It took a lot of asking, but Google has finally released Android 14 in a stable way. It has done so somewhat late compared to what was planned for September and even more so compared to Android 13, which came out in August 2022.
This is the big annual update of Google’s operating system and, although it will reach all manufacturers, for the moment kicks off with some mobile phones from Google itself. And not only the new Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, but also those from previous years.
Main new features of Android 14
We already dedicated an extensive article to commenting on all the new features of Android 14, but obviously it is worth reviewing What are the most notable changes? which you will find when you update. Here is a list of some of them:
- Ability to view battery cyclesa novelty that was seen in the betas and that will be extremely useful to know its status.
- New gesture to go back that is technically the same as always, only now we can see a preview of the section of the system to which we would return in order to avoid returning to it by mistake.
- Much more optimized streamingsince this version requires support for the AV1 codecwhich is much more efficient when playing online video content.
- Small changes to the interface which is being refined and adapted more and more to the design language released by Material You in the now distant Android 12.
- New looks for the lock screen which already arrived in the latest versions of Android 13, but to which they now add new elements and even the possibility of adding new shortcuts.
- Flash settings for notifications, ideal after saying goodbye to the notification LED years ago. Different types of flashes can be configured to let us know when we receive a notification, even with the phone on silent.
- The mobile phone can now serve as a computer webcam, ideal for PCs that do not have it or have very poor resolution. It is something that also works with any video calling app.
- Screen recording improvements Being able to select only one application and thus avoid capturing notifications or other inconvenient elements that appear if we leave that app.
Mobile phones on which stable Android 14 can now be installed
Faithful to its update policy, which in the Pixel 8 will go up to seven years, Google now offers Android 14 for all these phones:
As we said at the beginning, Its arrival is also expected at Samsung, Xiaomi, OnePlus, OPPO, Realme, Vivo and the rest of the manufacturers. However, it will not be a “pure” Android 14 like Google’s, but rather under the customization layer of each of them. They are already testing them and even launching betas, so the launch of Android 14 for the Pixel has only given the starting signal for each manufacturer to do the same in the coming days and weeks.
How to install Android 14 on a compatible mobile
If you are the owner of one of these terminals, you should know that we once again find two ways to update. The first of them and the most comfortable is via OTA (from settings). Specifically, you must follow the route Settings > System > Advanced > Upgrade system > Search for updates.
It may take a few minutes or hours to appear via OTA. In this case, and if you do not want to wait, you can install it manually flashing the new version. The recommended method is to do through Google’s own website and following these steps with a computer:
- Download the firmware (you can find the official images on this website).
- Unzip the file you downloaded.
- Connect your mobile phone to the computer via cable and make sure you have the Android development options enabled and, in them, Enable OEM unlocking and USB debugging.
- Boot the phone in fastboot mode and, if necessary, unlock the phone’s bootloader.
- Open the command console, find the directory where you unzipped the downloaded file with the system image and run the script flash-all.
- Once all the necessary elements are installed, wait for the mobile to restart and crashes bootloader booting it back into fastboot mode and running flashboot flashing lock.
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