Android 11 Developer Preview 1 Announced

Google has released the Developer Preview of the next version of Android, Android 11.  As the name suggests, this version is completely recommended for developers to get their apps ready for the upcoming Android version or if you have any Pixel smartphone(Pixel 2 and up) lying around, you can test it out. The only way to get Android 11 as now is by manually flashing.

Smartphones Supporting Android 11 Developer Preview 1

• Google Pixel 2/2 XL
• Google Pixel 3/3 XL
• Google Pixel 3a/3a XL
• Google Pixel 4/4 XL

Also Read: OnePlus 7T vs OnePlus 7T Pro Specifications Comparison

Android 11 Features

• 5G Experience

Faster speeds and lower latency for streaming 4K video or loading higher-res game assets, In Android 11 Google is enhancing and updating the existing connectivity APIs to take advantage of 5G’s improved speeds. The Dynamic meteredness API checks whether the connection is unmetered, and if so, offer higher resolution or quality that may use more data. Bandwidth estimator API for 5G to make it easier to check the downstream/upstream bandwidth, without needing to poll the network.

• Different form-factor support

With OEMs launching foldable, punch-hole smartphones, Google has announced a Display cutout APIs so that apps can manage pinhole screens and waterfall screens. A new WindowManager API lets your app use the entire waterfall screen including the edges and helps in managing the interaction near the edges.

• Bubbles

Bubbles, this feature was even present on the Android Q developer preview but, didn’t make it to the final version of the Android 10. After, almost a year, now it’s back on the preview version.  Bubbles are very similar to the Facebook Messenger’s chat head, it is a way to keep conversations in view and accessible while multi-tasking on their phones. With the Bubbles API, all Messaging and chat apps can use the on notifications to enable this feature in Android 11.

• Add Images in quick replies

One of the best Android features in the recent has been the ability to respond to the messages via notifications, now Android 11 is getting the ability to insert assets directly into notification inline replies to enable richer communication. With any app that supports image copy/paste, one will be able to see image copy support in Chrome and image paste support via Gboard clipboard.

• Dedicated conversations section

Android 11 has bought a dedicated conversations section in the notification shade, you can instantly find the ongoing conversations with people in favorite apps.

• One-time permissions

In Android 11, whenever an app requests permission related to location, microphone, or camera, the user-facing permissions dialog contains an option called Only this time. Android 10 had ‘Allow all the time’ instead of ‘Only this Time’. If you select Only this time option in the dialog, the app is granted temporary one-time permission.

• Scoped storage

Android 11 has enhanced the platform to offer better protection to the app and user data on external storage. It gives you more control over the files and to limit file clutter, apps that target Android 10 and higher are given scoped access into external storage, or scoped storage, by default. Such apps have access only to the app-specific directory on external storage, as well as specific types of media that the app has created.

The idea of Scoped storage on Android is to categorize the storage into a specified collection to limit the access to board the storage. It will also help in better attribution, meaning the system will now know which files are produced by which apps and this will also protect the app data from being accessed by any other apps.

Others Android 11 Features

• Biometrics support
• Call screening service improvements
• Bokeh modes
• Bluetooth won’t turn-off when you turn-on Airplane Mode
• Scheduled Dark Mode
• Option to show screen refresh rate
• New motion gestures for Pixel 4/4 XL

These were a few of the interesting features of Android 11 Developer Previre 1. There are a lot of other changes, which are mostly for app developers and you can have a look at them in detail here.

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