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Android 12 + My UX: More personal and effortless than ever

At Motorola, we believe consumers deserve the most pure Android OS possible, without clunky software skins or duplicate apps. Instead, we build on the great things Google does with Android with a comprehensive suite of experiences called My UX, putting you in control of your mobile experience. My UX encompasses all the great moto experiences, moto specific apps and unique customizations to take music, videos, games, and your phone’s style to the next level. Whether it’s turning on the flashlight with a simple chop gesture, launching the camera with the twist of a wrist, bringing creativity to life with moto note or changing your icon shapes, color schemes and display font to fit your style – it’s all a part of My UX

And since My UX doesn’t get in the way of a pure Android experience, users get to make the most of new customizations and updates coming on Android 12. 

What to expect with your Android 12 Update

Material You on Motorola Smartphones

Reflect your personal style across your whole device.

AndroidTM 12 rethinks the entire user interface, from shapes, light and motion, to customizable system colors that can be adapted to match you. Material You is Google’s material design language that elevates what we’ve already begun with My UX. It prioritizes simplicity while adding personal touches that let you control Android 12’s visual elements according to your preferences. Redesigned to be more spacious and comfortable, it’s the most expressive, dynamic and personal OS ever. 

Now, you can change the wallpaper on your device and your entire Android 12 experience changes to match. Using advanced color extraction algorithms, you can easily personalize the look and feel of your entire phone, including notifications, settings, widgets and even select apps. We’re combining the dynamic color, rounded shapes, and large open layouts from Material You with the rich, premium feel of the Motorola brand.

Best of all, these settings are now centralized in one convenient place. Just access Personalize from the home screen menu, then make individual changes to font style and size, colors, icon shapes and layouts, device sounds, display size, and your wallpapers. 

Conversation Widgets

Control your connected devices from one place.

An all-new conversation widget puts the messages with the people you care about front-and-center on your home screen so you never miss a chat from your loved ones. You can even see missed calls, birthdays and more at a glance.

Accessibility Improvements

Built for accessibility.

Android 12 is designed to be even more accessible with new visibility features, including:

  • Area magnification: A new window magnifier lets you zoom in on a part of your screen without having to lose context on the rest of the screen content.

  • Extra dim: Make your display extra dim for night-time scrolling or situations when even the lowest brightness setting is too bright.

  • Bold text: See text more clearly with the ability to switch the font to bold across the whole phone.

  • Grayscale: Adjust how colors display on your device to grayscale.

Mic & Camera Indicators and Toggles

Stronger mic and camera access controls.

With Android 12, you can see when an app is using your microphone or camera thanks to a new indicator in your phone’s status bar. And if you don’t want any apps to access your microphone or camera, on our new devices launching on Android 12, you can completely disable those sensors using two new toggles in quick settings. Simply flip the switch.

Approximate Location Permissions

Keep your precise location private.

While some apps need precise location information for tasks like turn-by-turn navigation, many other apps only need your approximate location to be helpful. With Android 12, you can choose between giving apps access to your precise location or an approximate location instead.

Privacy Dashboard

Your privacy permissions at a glance.

Privacy dashboard gives you a clear and comprehensive view of when apps access your location, camera, or mic over the past 24 hours. If you see anything that you’re not comfortable with, you can manage permissions right from the dashboard.

We’re also continuing our commitment to exceptional security through Thinkshield® for Mobile, which offers enhanced protection via a secured chain of trust and additional security certifications.

Enhanced Gaming

Kick-start your gameplay.

Spend less time waiting and more time playing. Android 12 lets you play as you download, so you can jump straight into gameplay without needing to wait for the full download to finish.1 And Moto Gametime takes the whole experience to the next level, giving you advanced controls that allow you to block notifications, screen record, and control the audio while playing your favorite games.

Easily Switch Phones

Switching made easy.

It’s never been easier to switch to Android and try out the best device for you. Starting on Android 12, you can transfer all your essentials by connecting your old phone to your new Android with a cable or shared WiFi connection. Your memories and data will transfer, stress free – even from iPhone® (welcome!) 

These are just a handful of updates you can expect in this Android 12 update. Users can expect even more software features like new My UX experiences, new camera features and new Ready For2 experiences to become available in 2022.

Android™ 12 OS comes with big changes but we’re hard at work finalizing our Android 12 OS + My UX experience. Android 12 is currently undergoing beta testing with our Motorola Feedback Network, and our official Android 12 rollout will begin in February 2022. For future roll out updates, Motorola device owners can visit our software support page to learn more. 

  • razr 5G
  • razr 2020 
  • motorola edge 20 pro 
  • motorola edge 20
  • motorola edge 20 lite
  • motorola edge 20 fusion
  • motorola edge (2021) 
  • motorola edge 5G UW
  • motorola edge plus
  • motorola one 5G ace 
  • motorola one 5G UW ace
  • moto g200 5G
  • moto g71 5G
  • moto g51 5G
  • moto g41
  • moto g31 
  • moto g100 
  • moto g60s
  • moto g60
  • moto g50 / moto g50 5G
  • moto g40 fusion
  • moto g30
  • moto g power (2022)
  • moto g pure
  • moto g stylus 5G

business edition phones 

  • moto g pro
  • motorola edge (2021)
  • motorola edge 20
  • motorola edge 20 lite 
  • motorola edge 20 fusion
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The Power of Design, Meet Lewis Suaton

Lewis Suaton is a fashion designer based out of Paris, France, studying psychology. While some people might think the fashion industry is manipulated by the market, Lewis believes it’s actually people and their daily routines that are influencing the trends coming to the fashion industry.

It’s always been his dream to unite his two passions of psychology and fashion design. With the help of his phone, Lewis scans for present references – everywhere, even in people’s daily routines – to identify and predict what the next trend will be for the industry. “Technology has been helping me in my quest to ‘design the future’,” said Lewis. “It has given me the tools to capture so many images of what I later analyze and use for the concepts I am interested in regarding fashion and my creations.”

In the future, Lewis’ goal is to collaborate with fashion brands to help them understand new trends and use more upcycling. In turn, Lewis hopes to create a more sustainable industry.

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Understanding the advantages of refresh rates

When smartphones were first introduced, most of them had 60Hz refresh rates – and improvements were mostly being made to meet the needs of mobile gamers. But these days, it is becoming increasingly common across all tiers of mobile devices to find smartphones with 90Hz, 120Hz or even 144Hz refresh rate displays, previously exclusive to high-end devices. Much of this improvement can be associated with technological advances – but for Motorola, it comes from an understanding of consumer needs. As consumers spend more time on their phones, catching up on the news, scrolling through social media and watching their favorite shows – the need for better refresh rates has become clear.

So as better refresh rates become more common, we’re uncovering what refresh rate is, what makes a refresh rate ‘good’, and why it’s relevant – not just among gamers — but for all smartphone users.

What is a refresh rate?

Although it may not seem like it, the screens of our smartphones are constantly turning on and off. It shows an image and turns off in milliseconds, constantly. The human eye makes sure that we cannot see that process – a phenomenon known as “retinal persistence”. Exactly, the one that made cinematography possible in the late nineteenth century, which was nothing more than a rapid succession of photographs.

The Hertz of a screen is then the number of times an image turns on and off per second. So a 60Hz display would refresh the image 60 times, 90Hz would refresh 90 times, and so on. This happens thanks to constant communication with the GPU, the chip that is responsible for “telling” the screen what it has to project. All in milliseconds. 

What are the benefits of a faster refresh rate?

Faster refresh rates allow for smoother animations and harmonic scrolling, without losing detail. And when it comes to gaming, the benefit is even clearer: no detail of what is happening on the screen is lost, a key feature for those games where you need to react quickly. More Hz means a better screen experience.

Doesn’t that consume more battery? It is true and hence the response of the manufacturers. The moto g20, for example, is an accessible cell phone with a 90Hz screen that includes a 5,000 mAh battery, enough for more than two days of autonomy. And when setting up the device’s display, users can choose the refresh rate they want, 60Hz or 90Hz, so you have the ability to control when you want to use a better refresh rate or when you want to conserve some battery.

The 90Hz screens also raise the refresh rate and perception of fluidity by 50% compared to previous generations of smartphones with 60Hz screens. This percentage is even higher in devices such as the moto g60, which has a 120Hz display, and the new motorola edge 20 pro and motorola edge 20 and on the moto g 200, which have a 144Hz display, the fastest refresh rate in the industry.

What features or apps do refresh rate impact on my smartphone?

In addition to gaming, the benefits of a good refresh rate can be seen in most of the actions we take during the day, including scrolling for a contact, checking your emails, reading the news, jumping from one app to another, and browsing social media.

It’s clear that having a good refresh rate can enhance our daily smartphone experiences. And at Motorola, we believe it’s important to bring these better refresh rates to more consumers across various price points.

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The Power of Connection, Meet Daniel Juarez

Based out of Los Angeles, CA, Daniel Juarez loves creating songs and vocal arrangements. But for Daniel, what he loves most is being able to share this passion with others. 

“My dream has always been to form my own vocal band,” said Danile. “Not so long ago, I carried out a deep search for the perfect voices to join me and after meeting Angelo and David, I created Saturday Nights. We are now recording our first songs together and I can’t believe how great this is, even more than I had imagined.”

Daniel and his band are always preparing new original material, sending each other their melodies and looking for inspiration. That’s why technology has played such an important role in Daniel’s journey. He also turns to technology to help him share his music with others, because for Daniel it doesn’t make sense to create music if he’s not sharing it with the world. 

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The Power of Freedom, Meet Carmen Masllorens

Originally from Argentina, Carmen Maslloren has always been drawn to travel and the nomadic lifestyle. And after meeting her husband on a boat trip in the Peruvian Amazon, the couple decided to buy a van and travel across the Southern continent to Tierra Del Fuego – the end of the world.

Through technology, Carmen discovered that new ways of living are possible. “Thanks to my cell phone, I can continue working as a graphic designer remotely from the van,” said Carmen. “I can create, edit, fulfill deliverables and above all, to be connected with my clients (and my family and friends), from wherever I am. Also, technology helps me with routes and the challenges of nomadic life.”

Carmen believes technology gives us the freedom to stay connected, explore new places, and still become deeply engaged with nature. And having the freedom is what empowers her.

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