Summary
- Android 15 may introduce a new “Home Controls” screensaver for Google Home devices, possibly expanding to other control providers in the future.
- Smart display technology is evolving, even with devices like the Google Nest Hub and Amazon Echo Show dominating the market.
- The Pixel Tablet’s charging dock was a good idea with half-baked execution, but it hints at a future where smartphones and tablets could moonlight as smart displays.
What was once a mark of science fiction turned into our reality, but homes filled with smart devices like lightbulbs, plugs, and more are the norm. What still remains distinctly sci-fi is a smooth smart display experience capable of controlling those devices while also providing seamless multimedia viewing. Android 15 is looking to make it easier to control your Google Home devices on your smartphone and tablet with a new control screensaver that saves you the pain of having to tap and swipe through your screen more times than you want to turn the lights back on.
The age of smart displays is coming to a premature end
Smart displays once seemed like the future of Google, but now, these devices feel like they’re heading off into the sunset
Android tech aficionado Mishaal Rahman manually unveiled a screensaver that is hidden on Android 15 Developer Preview 2 and Android 14 QPR3 Beta 2.1 called “Home Controls” (via Android Authority). Once activated, it will show a board of Google Home device tiles when your phone screensaver is displayed. Rahman said that, through his testing, it only seemed to work with Google Home and no other device control providers, but considering the fact that this isn’t even available in beta builds, that could potentially change over the next few months. Additionally, the path that contains the screensaver code indicates that the screensaver could come to more than just Google Pixel devices with Android 15.
Smart displays are evolving
Smart displays were all the rage just under a decade ago, along with smart speakers. Nowadays, it seems like devices like the Google Nest Mini or Amazon Echo Dot are being handed out for free or dirt cheap, while displays like the Google Nest Hub or Amazon Echo Hub get heavily discounted during sale season. The age of smart displays may be coming to an end or, at the very least, evolving.
The Google Pixel Tablet was released in 2023 to a mixed reaction. We felt that first-gen feeling in a big way, as the tablet was unveiled with mid-range specs and half-baked ideas. One of those half-baked ideas was its charging dock, which causes the tablet to moonlight as a smart display when connected. It didn’t function all that well and was as ridiculous-looking as it was useful. Smart home displays are useful in some cases, but they’re commonly laggy, and the technology’s potential hasn’t been reached yet. The Pixel Tablet’s dock display is a good idea, and the breadcrumbs left by the supposed smart home screensaver in Android 15 could point towards a future where smart displays and docks are your smartphones and tablets.
