Huge load of news! Google launches Gemini Intelligence, Googlebook, and an entirely new Android Auto

In recent years, Google has learned to spread announcements across multiple waves, and they’ve chosen the same recipe this year. While Tuesday’s Google I/O conference is just around the corner, the appetizer in the form of The Android Show: I/O Edition 2026 event has already taken place and brought a substantial batch of news. If you were looking for one precise statement of where Google is heading with Android, it would be this: from a system that launches applications, it is to become a “system with intelligence” that handles things for you. What does that mean in practice?

Gemini Intelligence: Android that does a few things for you

The main new feature is Gemini Intelligence – a set of functions designed to turn artificial intelligence into a real helper, not just a chat partner in an app. The rollout is traditionally limited: it will first appear on the latest Pixel and Galaxy phones and is gradually expected to expand to other devices including watches, cars, glasses, and laptops. In other words, full ecosystem-wide deployment will wait until the end of the year.

The core idea is multi-step app control. Instead of tapping through a food delivery app or manually transcribing a shopping list from your notes into an online store’s cart, you tell Gemini – and it will reportedly navigate the interface for you. Google and developers spent months fine-tuning cooperation with popular taxi and food delivery services, so at least a few scenarios should work reliably at launch. The assistant doesn’t operate blindly: you must grant it permission for each app, and it requests confirmation before making a purchase.

The connection with what you have in front of your eyes is useful. A long press of the Gemini button will understand the screen’s context – like that shopping list – and arrange grocery delivery. Similarly, it can reportedly take a photo of a travel brochure in a hotel and find a similar trip for a group of six. It’s quite clear that these are ideal scenarios from the presentation. The true value of the feature will only be revealed through everyday use for more mundane tasks.

The second pillar is Magic Cue – a contextual assistant that monitors what’s happening on the device and offers a response or action at the right moment. Did you receive a message asking for an address? Magic Cue will find it in your email, calendar, or another message and offer to insert it with a single tap. Google strongly emphasizes that everything is computed on-device or in an isolated cloud environment (Private Compute Core and Private AI Compute technologies) to prevent data leaks.

In addition, Rambler will arrive, a voice dictation on steroids – it transcribes what you say while cleaning it of hesitations, repetitions, and filler words. It can reportedly switch seamlessly between languages mid-sentence. Interesting for multilingual users, we just haven’t found out yet if Czech will be among the supported languages.

The Create My Widget feature is also interesting: you type what you want to see on your desktop, and Gemini will create a custom widget for you. High-protein recipes, weather with only wind speed and precipitation, a dashboard for planning a family vacation in Berlin – everything is to be generated from a natural language description. This is the first attempt at a so-called generative interface, where you don’t adapt applications to the operating system, but vice versa.

The last piece is smarter automatic form filling. If you manually enable the connection with Gemini, Android will start filling even more complex fields by pulling the necessary data from your linked applications. Google reiterates at every opportunity that this is purely voluntary and can be turned off at any time – and deservedly so, because otherwise, the feature would earn a fair amount of skepticism.

Gemini in Chrome finally on phone too

The second major package is the deployment of Gemini directly into Chrome on Android. The assistant has been working in the desktop version for some time, while mobile users had to make do with links to a separate app. That will change from the end of June – at least in the United States and on Android 12 and newer with 4 GB RAM or more.

Tapping the icon opens an assistant window at the bottom of the screen, which understands the content of the currently open page. You can have a long article summarized, ask a question about the topic, or have it explain what a graph you’re trying to decipher is actually about. The assistant can also be linked to other Google services, so it can send an event from a page to your calendar and recipe ingredients to the Keep app.

The main attraction, however, is called auto browse. Chrome essentially handles tedious tasks for you – it reserves parking based on information from a confirmation email, or modifies a pet food order in an online store when you switch from puppy to adult food. For paid actions, Chrome will always ask for confirmation. The feature will initially only be available to AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in the United States, so it will likely reach European users with a significant delay.

A bonus is the integration of Nano Banana directly into the browser. If an image on a page catches your eye, you can modify it with a text command – for example, add furniture to an empty room in an advertisement or turn educational text into an infographic.

Android 17 tightens security

Google estimates that fraudulent calls under false identities cost users approximately $950 million annually, and it’s preparing a new weapon against them. This is call verification from banking apps: if you have an app from one of the participating banks installed on your phone, Android will silently verify during an incoming call whether the bank is actually calling you. If not, it will terminate the call itself. Revolut, Itaú, and Nubank will be involved at launch, with other banks expected to join during the year. The feature will run on Android 11 and newer.

Real-time threat detection (Live Threat Detection) is also being strengthened. Android will now monitor suspicious app behavior – SMS forwarding, abuse of accessibility permissions, hiding its own icon, and background launching. As part of the Advanced Protection package, USB protection, an intrusion log (developed in collaboration with Amnesty International), and in Android 17, access to accessibility services will be revoked for apps that are not actually accessibility tools.

Google also dedicated a lot of attention to theft protection. Features that underwent a pilot in Brazil are now rolling out globally: on all new devices with Android 17 (and after a factory reset), remote lock and theft detection will be automatically enabled. In Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and the United Kingdom, they will also be enabled on older devices with Android 10 and higher. The Mark as lost feature now requires not only a code but also biometrics for unlocking, so even knowing the PIN won’t help a thief. A bonus is a new step against brute-force attacks – the delay between unsuccessful attempts to enter the code is extended, and Google has significantly reduced the number of attempts.

In the area of privacy, a more convenient way to share location has been added. Instead of permanent permission, you tap the “Use precise location” button in the app, which only works while the app is open. Similarly, apps will only be able to request access to specific contacts, not the entire address book. A location access indicator will be added to the top bar, similar to the camera and microphone. It sounds like a small detail, but ultimately it represents a significant shift in favor of privacy.

For creators: Instagram with Ultra HDR and video editing with Adobe Premiere

Google has decided to tackle the long-criticized situation where photos and videos uploaded to Instagram from Android looked noticeably worse than from an iPhone. In collaboration with Meta, Ultra HDR for photos and videos, built-in video stabilization, and night mode integration directly within the app will roll out on the most modern Android flagships. Google boasts that the quality of video uploaded from a flagship Android to Instagram is, according to an internal Universal Video Quality test, the same or better than from the competition (i.e., iPhone).

Instagram’s Edits app will receive several exclusive features on Android – one-tap image enhancement and audio track separation (wind, music, background noise). This summer, Adobe Premiere for Android will arrive with templates and effects for YouTube Shorts. For true professionals, there’s a new format called APV (Advanced Professional Video), which is designed to be more efficient than ProRes and was developed in collaboration with Samsung. You can find it now on the Galaxy S26 Ultra and vivo X300 Ultra.

Pixels are also preparing the Screen Reactions feature for the summer – recording reaction videos where you film yourself simultaneously with what you’re reacting to on screen. Without a green screen and switching between apps.

Cross-ecosystem sharing

Sending files between Android and iPhone has been an annoying discipline for years. Google has now announced that Quick Share is starting to work with AirDrop, and direct sharing between Android phones and iPhones will be possible. It starts with Pixels and Samsung devices, with OPPO, OnePlus, Vivo, Xiaomi, and Honor joining during the year. If you don’t have support yet, Quick Share can be used to generate a QR code, through which sharing to Apple devices will occur via the cloud. Quick Share is also expected to arrive in popular apps including WhatsApp.

Switching from iPhone to Android will reportedly now be solved by wireless transfer, including passwords, photos, messages, contacts, favorite apps, and even home screen layout. The feature also includes eSIM transfer. It will first launch on Samsung and Pixel devices.

Pause Point and 3D Emojis

Among the more serious features, a humanly understandable one has been added. Pause Point is the answer to the situation where you’ve been scrolling for half an hour and can’t remember why you even picked up your phone. After opening a selected app, you get a ten-second pause with a question about why you’re there, an offer of a breathing exercise, a timer, favorite photos, or alternatives (like audiobooks). By the way, you can’t turn it off – it requires a phone restart, which is meant to encourage reflection. A nice idea that won’t make it into mainstream marketing messages but can have practical value.

A minor change is also the new 3D emojis from the Noto 3D collection. Google is replacing the flatter emoji appearance we’ve known for years with these. They will arrive across Google services, with Pixels being the first phones to feature the new collection this year.

Android in the car: new interface and HD video

Android Auto is undergoing its biggest visual transformation in a long time. Dashboard widgets, Material 3 Expressive design, animations, and wallpapers have been added. Google Maps is receiving its biggest update in over a decade in the form of 3D Immersive Navigation view, which renders buildings, overpasses, and individual lanes.

When stationary or charging, you can now also play YouTube videos at 60 fps and Full HD; support has so far been promised by BMW, Ford, Genesis, Hyundai, Kia, Mahindra, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, Škoda, Tata, and Volvo. The car will smoothly switch to audio-only mode after starting. Cars with integrated Google (Google built-in) will get even more – Gemini will understand the specific car model and, for example, answer what a lit warning light means.

Googlebook: a new type of laptop for the AI era

Perhaps the most surprising announcement is Googlebook – a new type of laptop that Google is building from the ground up around artificial intelligence. After fifteen years of Chromebooks, the company wants to rethink what a computer should look and function like. It will combine the world’s most popular browser, apps from Google Play, its own operating system, and integration with Android phones.

Among the presented features, Magic Pointer (a smart cursor reacting to on-screen content) and Create your Widget, ported to the desktop, stand out. Laptops will be built by Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, and Lenovo, with the first distinguishing feature expected to be a light bar on the device. Sales start in the autumn.

Key takeaways

While Google pretends to rewrite the rules, in reality, it is merely moving Android in the same direction as Apple with iOS: less decision-making for the user, more proactive actions, more cloud, more artificial intelligence. In some areas, this is welcome (automatic form filling, protection against scam calls), while in others, caution is needed (assistant navigating apps for you, location data, voice dictation connected to the cloud). Google deserves praise for the fact that most Gemini features are manually toggleable and privacy has been given significant attention.

However, availability deserves a skeptical look. Most of the enhancements are rolling out gradually, on selected models, often starting in the USA. Czechs and Slovaks will likely wait longer for auto browse, Magic Cue, or the full suite of Gemini Intelligence – and for some features, we’ll be happy if they arrive at all this year. Moreover, the Google I/O conference is just beginning, so another batch of announcements is around the corner.

Which of the presented novelties interested you the most?

Source: Google