Android is a smartphone operating system, but with Android 12L it should finally work well on tablets too.
Android 12 is the latest version of Google’s smartphone operating system and currently it’s also the latest version that’s available to tablets. But not for long, as Android 12L will be landing soon, and it’s designed specifically for tablets and other large-screen devices like foldable phones. Below we’ll detail exactly what Android 12L is, when it’s out, how it differs from standard Android 12, and why this could be a great upgrade for Android tablet owners. Android 12L is set to launch sometime in 2022. Google’s own site says ‘early 2022’, while Gizmodo claims the update will land in Q2 2022 (meaning sometime between April and June). We wouldn’t really consider either May or June to be ‘early’ in the year, so we’d guess April will be the latest it would arrive by, but we can’t be certain. In the meantime, Android 12L is already available in the form of a developer preview for select devices, including Pixel phones from the Pixel 3a onwards and the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro. You can also run it as an emulation on other devices. That said, in all cases this will be an unfinished and likely buggy version of the software. As the name suggests this release is designed for developers, so we’d recommend everyone else waits for the final release – or at least a public beta. Android 12L (with the ‘L’ presumably standing for ‘Large’ or ‘Large screen’) is designed to make Android shine on tablets and foldable phones, and it’s arguably something that the operating system has long needed.
