Android’s new “Ambient Mode” turns a charging phone into a smart display

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  Google Assistant's Ambient Mode. Look at all the info! [credit: Google ]

Google has quietly released a new Android feature called the "Google Assistant Ambient Mode," a new screen Google is calling a "proactive experience" your phone can kick over to while it's charging.

Ambient mode is built into the Google Search app and takes over the lock screen any time you charge the phone. The new ambient mode shows a quick greeting message at the top, followed by your calendar, weather, upcoming flights, and notifications. Below that is a quick settings section that shows things like a do-not-disturb toggle and smart home controls for lights and thermostats. There's also a photo frame mode. It looks like a handy screen that could pop up when you're just charging your phone before bed.

There's no blog post on this new feature, only a single YouTube video. In the video, Google Assistant Product Manager Arvind Chandrababu says the new screen is about "moving from an app-based way of doing things to an intent based way of doing things. Right now users can do most things with their smartphone, but it requires quite a bit of mental bandwidth to figure out 'Hey, I need to accomplish this task, so let me backtrack and figure out what are all the steps I need to do.'"

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