It appears that Google is working on an AMOLED black option for the Google Feed.
A user posted on Reddit that his Google Feed randomly changed to this AMOLED black option while he was reading articles in the feed.
This is likely another one of Google’s tests that it routinely does before making any significant changes to its apps and products. And it could be replacing the current dark mode.
The main difference between this AMOLED black theme and dark mode, is that the cards are no longer gray, but actually black. So it’s a mostly blacked out theme. While the background is still gray.
What is an AMOLED Black theme?
AMOLED Black is basically where the theme is completely black. It’s called “AMOLED Black” because it has the most advantages for OLED or AMOLED displays. The reason for that is because OLED displays light up each pixel individually. And with black pixels, it doesn’t need to light those pixels. Thus saving battery life.
Not to mention the fact it just looks better. And it’s a joy to use while in a dark room or at night, as it won’t blind you.
This theme is generally only found on devices that have an OLED or AMOLED display. Though, we have seen it available on other devices too. It still looks good on LCD smartphones, but the battery savings advantages aren’t really there.
Very few people have this option right now
Judging by the post on reddit, it doesn’t look like many people are seeing this theme on their Google Feed.
We have checked on a number of our devices that have AMOLED and OLED screens and do not see it available on any of them right now. It’s the same old dark mode, that is really just gray. Even with the beta version of the Google app, the AMOLED black theme doesn’t appear.
So this could be some A/B testing by Google here, before it rolls it out to everyone. That’s very typical of Google. As it allows them to get some feedback before releasing the changes to the billions of Android devices that are on the market right now.
Hopefully this is a change that Google will roll out in the very near future, as it does look really good. And we can’t wait to see how well it’ll do with our battery life, particularly on something like the Pixel 4.
