Android 14 vs Android 15: Is the new Android OS worth upgrading to?

With Android 15 now finally available as a developer preview update, its stable release is not far. However, you might be wondering whether upgrading your smartphone to the latest OS from Google is worth it or not. After all, Android 14 impressed the Android user community with its new features and material design.

The first stable version of Android 14 was launched in October 2023 alongside the Pixel 8 smartphones, but many devices are yet to receive the update. Google has also been testing important changes in the Androud 15 Developer Preview, now available on Google Pixel smartphones. Therefore, you might want to know the features of Android 15 to determine if it's worth upgrading to.

Considering that Android 14 is still relatively new, you might be confused about whether installing the Android 15 Developer Preview is worth it. With that in mind, we will go through all the latest features of both Android OS and arrive at a verdict.

Is it worth upgrading to Android 15 from Android 14 in 2024?

We take a look at all the features of the latest Android OS Developer Preview update (Image via HowToMen/YouTube)

Before deciding, let's look into Android 15 and examine its new features.

Android "Vanilla Ice Cream" 15 was launched in February 2024, and smartphones launched after Google Pixel 6 are eligible to download and install the Developer Preview update. In the coming months, other popular smartphone brands, including Samsung, OnePlus, and Xiaomi, are also expected to roll out the latest Android OS with their custom skin on top of it.

While 2023’s Android 14 “Upside Down Cake” focussed more on battery life and newer customization options, the Vanilla Ice Cream update pays more attention to enhanced data privacy features and improved camera or other hardware features.

Hence, despite being an incremental upgrade, this Vanilla Ice Cream update will feature significant changes. It builds upon Android 14’s features by adding better ways to manage your phone's processing power and provides more options to access your daily notifications.

Here are some of its highlights:

Partial Screen Sharing: Users can now share a part of the display as a screen recording rather than the full screen.
Notification cooldown: It groups multiple notifications from the same app so that the notification drawer is not cluttered.
Health Connect: More features have been added to the Health Connect platform.
Bluetooth Popup: With this, you can access multiple Bluetooth connectivity options from the Quick Tile menu.
New camera controls: Improved low-light photography can be achieved with better brightness control and flash strength adjustments. (Currently available to only Pixel devices)
Keyboard vibration toggle: New vibration and haptic toggle that lets you universally disable or enable keyboard vibration across individual keyboard apps.
Sensitive notification
Improved CPU performance features and thermal throttling features.

In addition to the abovementioned ones, Google has added multiple security and privacy features. More features are also expected to be included in the upcoming Android 15 Developer Preview updates.

Verdict

Is it worth upgrading to Android 15? (Image via Google)

Android 15 introduced more privacy features, notification control language, improved CPU performance, and many more new and exciting additions. It is just the overhaul most Android users need after years of privacy issues compared to iOS.

Android "Vanilla Ice Cream" 15 is undoubtedly worth upgrading. Do note that Android 15 is currently available for Google Pixel smartphones only. You will also miss out on lots of security features, which could mean that your personal data would be more intrusive to malware or hackers.

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