The Android 11 Public Beta is out now—here are some of its exciting features
By Stan Horazek
If you clicked into this article, then you’re the kind of person who gets excited about mobile operating system updates. Don’t worry, you’re among friends here. So, if you were enthusiastically waiting for the new Android 11 public beta to drop, this was a thrilling week for you.
As with most modern operating system updates, Android 11 makes more tweaks than it does massive changes. If you’re expecting an entirely new experience, then you’ll likely feel some disappointment. However, there are some interesting new bits of tech to try out once you get the beta installed on your device.
Right now, only Pixel users back to version 2 can install the beta, but phones from other manufacturers such as OnePlus will be jumping onboard in a few weeks. As always, installing a beta OS on your phone comes with some inherent risk, so it’s not advisable to put it on a phone you need every day, especially this early in the process. If you have an old phone, however, it can be a great way to get a look at what’s coming up.
If you’re not ready to install the beta, but you are curious about what’s coming down the road, here’s a quick overview of some of the most interesting features.
Revamped conversation notifications
Conversations across different chat apps account for some of the most important notifications we get day-to-day. Now, conversation notifications will show up in a dedicated section and allow you to prioritize how and when they appear. So, if you want direct messages from one person to ping your phone every time, but don’t necessarily want pings every time there’s a new message in the group chat, you can make that happen.
Chats also now pop-up in bubbles that make multitasking and keeping chats accessible from the home screen easier. Not every app will support this right away, however. It’s still early, but these new changes could be very attractive to users who rely on different chat services and want to streamline the process. It will take some tweaking early on to get it working as you want it, however.
Voice access
One thing I left out of my Android 11 beta hands on was the improved Voice Access, which now understand screen context and content. That was a mistake - it's actually incredible.
— Dieter Bohn (@backlon) June 10, 2020
You don't have to use a grid or button numbers, you can just say what's on the screen. Watch: pic.twitter.com/wXidxZGVjt
Earlier this week, The Verge’s Dieter Bohn showed off some of the voice access features in the new Android. The device now basically recognizes elements that show up on the screen so you can tell the phone what you want to do instead of having to rely on numbered labels that appear on each on-page element. It’s impressive to watch and makes the entire experience much more natural. Since the algorithm will learn as it goes, it should only get better.
Notification history
If you’ve ever mindlessly swiped away a notification without looking at it only to find yourself filled with instant regret for having missed out, then you’ll be stoked about the new notification history function that will restore it for you. No more missed hits of notification dopamine.
Media controls move up to the quick settings
Rather than having to dig for media controls, they now live in the quick settings area, so they’re easy to find in a hurry. Similarly, you can now also long press the power button in order to bring up controls for connected devices.
Apps won’t have simple access to background location data after 2021
Right now, apps don’t need explicit permission in order to track your location while it runs in the background. Google announced that it was doing away with this practice and now developers will have to get explicit permission before doing so starting in 2021.
Additionally, app permissions can now auto-expire if you don’t use them for an extended period of time. So, if that zombie app that’s just sitting on your phone doesn’t get any use for a set amount of time, you’ll have to give it access to things like your camera and camera roll next time you fire it up.
Increase touch sensitivity
A screen protectors can inhibit your ability to give your phone touch commands. Android 11 can now allow users to turn on an enhanced sensitivity mode that makes touching through screen protectors easier.
There are more updates coming and some of these features will likely change or even maybe disappear before the final version starts shipping to typical users.
June 13, 2020 at 02:30PM
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