One of the key aspects of the Pixel Launcher experience is “At A Glance,” which has seen a handful of weather-related tweaks in recent months. Google is now planning to overhaul the capability into “Live Space” and better integrate it on with Assistant on Pixel phones running Android 12.
About APK Insight: In this “APK Insight” post, we’ve decompiled the latest version of an application that Google uploaded to the Play Store. When we decompile these files (called APKs, in the case of Android apps), we’re able to see various lines of code within that hint at possible future features. Keep in mind that Google may or may not ever ship these features, and our interpretation of what they are may be imperfect. We’ll try to enable those that are closer to being finished, however, to show you how they’ll look in case that they do ship. With that in mind, read on.
Today, At a Glance is available at the top of your first Pixel homescreen and on the lockscreen. All other Android devices can access it as a Google app widget but without the same customizable settings.
We enabled a new “Live Space” menu in Google Assistant settings that describes the feature as:
Your Assistant shows you what you need, right when you need it, on your home screen and lock screen.
It’s awfully close to the functionality of At a Glance today. The preferences page starts with a “Personalize” section to have users specify their:
- Home/work address to get commute information
- Location to surface help based on physical context
- Default weather place “if your current weather location is not available”
- Enable “Sensitive content on lockscreen”
Afterwards, you get a list of “Proactive moments” that can be displayed in the Live Space:
- Weather: Current weather info
- Upcoming: Calendar events and reminders
- Travel: Flights
- At a store: Shopping lists and Google Pay rewards cards when you’re in supported stores
- Commute & Time to Leave: Reminders, estimated arrival times, and traffic info
- Alerts: Severe weather alerts
- Work Profile: Calendar events and reminders from work profile
There’s an unnamed headphone icon that we’re not sure about, while “At a store” is really the only new capability. All others exist already in At a Glance.
Meanwhile, in the future, Live Space could also show sports scores, stock price changes/earnings, the status of paraded devices, sleep summary, Now Playing integration, and even possibly a shortcut to launch Driving Mode.
We are very clearly aware of the capabilities of Live Space today, but we’re not sure what the final UI exactly is. One possible clue is the “#Android12: Designed for you” design reel that Google released about Material You at I/O.
We see what could be the “At a store” functionality of Live Space. Google notes how you’re currently “At Whole Foods” and provides shortcuts to your Shopping list and Loyalty card. This looks to hide the day/date and weather when relevant, though you might be able to swipe that top space to switch between views.
Assistant Live Space is not yet live in the Google app 12.23 beta, but looks to be tied to Android 12 and Material You.
Thanks to JEB Decompiler, from which some APK Insight teardowns benefit.
Dylan Roussel and Kyle Bradshaw contributed to this article
Author: Abner Li
Source: 9TO5Google
