Android 13 will bring a new media player UI
With users’ music and media consumption skyrocketing over the past year, Google is placing a lot of focus on improving user experience when it comes to media playback. The first feature we get to look at is a newly redesigned media player user interface, as you can see in the screenshot below.
Android 13 (left) vs Android 12 (right)
Android 13’s Developer Preview shows a media player larger than before, with the play and pause button taken out from the row and placed much more prominently on the top right. That way, users can’t accidentally skip back or forward when they’re trying to access the pause button. There is also a progress bar added to the left of the controls, under the track info.
Android 13 new media output picker
Android 13 will also feature a redesigned “media output picker,” which offers the option to stream your media to a different device.
This button is currently located on the top right of the media playback UI right from your lock screen. While the button is always set to “phone speaker” by default, once tapped, it will display a list of any other Bluetooth devices you’ve previously connected your phone to for music streaming.
Android 13 media output picker
While this isn’t a new feature, Android 13 will change the traditional linear volume slider, with a much taller, rounded, “bubble” slider. We don’t know about you, but for us, that’s a definite improvement. It allows for much easier instant control, without needing to place your finger on a highly precise spot to grab onto the slider.
The audio device that is currently selected will also be highlighted with a checkmark on the right, as seen above.
Automatic ‘media tap to transfer’ prompt in Android 13
This isn’t a redesigned feature, but a brand new element that Google is apparently bringing to Android 13. The novel “media tap to transfer” option is a prompt that will automatically pop up, unobtrusively on the top of your screen, once you bring your phone close to a device available for wireless audio streaming—such as a speaker or smart TV.
Android 13 media tap to transfer
As XDA Developers mentions, this is a feature very similar to Apple’s classic “Handoff” audio feature, which allows users to automatically transfer playback from iPhone to HomePod simply by bringing the devices close together, and accepting the prompt.
Just like “Handoff” is an optional feature that can be toggled on and off in the system settings, we assume Android’s “media tap transfer” will also be able to be turned off, if users find it uncompelling.
