11 Best Features We’ve Found in the Android 11 Developer Preview

Android 11is here ! In a very , very former form intended only for developer . Features will get and features will go over the next few months , and we wo n’t really get a right Android 11 unveiling until Google IO 2020 in May , but there are already some characteristic of note to tell you about in the first Developer Preview .

Just to reemphasize : It ’s completely normal for Google to include feature film in developer previews that then get pull before the official expiration . In the same way , we ’d carry plenty more features to get added between now and Q3 2020 , when Android 11 is expected to be push out in its last form . With that in mind , do n’t expect everything we mention to make it to the finished o .

Take this for what it is — an other poke around in what Google has put in Android 11 so far . We would n’t urge installing the operating system , even if you are a developer : Even if you want to be at the cutting edge of Android , keep unclouded until the public beta variation arrives sometime in May .

Photo: Gizmodo

1) Built-in screen recorder

We ’ve been disappointed here before — the other previews of Android 10 had a sieve fipple flute , but the pecker was eventually overstretch . It ’s back in Android 11 , as an icon on the Quick configurations menu overflow panel , and this time it looks like a proper app . For now , a tap on the icon starts the transcription , and another tap stops it , though there ’s no facility for capturing audio frequency as well . allow ’s hope this meter the integrate Android screen fipple flute stays .

Another feature article that ’s previously been seen in Android but which is n’t in Android 10 is the power to immobilize your pet apps to the Share bill of fare , so they ’re always within easy reach . It ’s a useful feature , and it ’s a bit baffling that Google got rid of it , but it ’s back in Android 11 : When you ’re share anything from any app and the part computer menu appears , wiretap and hold on any of the app icons and prefer Pin to check that it ’s always at the top for future sharing .

3) Notification history

This requires a tweak under the hood before it becomes visible , so we have n’t tested it out ourselves , but as demoed byXDA Developersyou can access a newfangled Notification history varlet in the Android 11 Developer Preview . you may already view sack notifications on Android , but the screen is n’t very gentle to find and is n’t very well laid out — it looks as though this could be a much better choice , if it makes it into the net OS release .

4) Scheduled dark mode

One of the way Android ’s glum mode currently fall back behind the dark mode on iOS is that you ca n’t schedule it to ferment on and turn off automatically at particular times — at sundown and sunup , for example . Android 11 mending that , give you the choice of enable dark mode at a custom time , or indeed at sundown in your current part , rather than get to release it on manually each time . A simple toggle electrical switch is still available if you need it , too .

5) Bluetooth stays on in airplane mode

One of the small but potentially important changes that we ’ve spotted in Android 11 relates to plane manner — unlike in former Android versions , Bluetooth now stays on when plane mode is enable , as long as it ’s currently connected to another equipment . If you ’re listening to music , audiobooks or podcasts on your phone , for example , you do n’t need to interest about that sound prune out if you call for to sprain on airplane manner .

6) One-time permissions

Another way that Android 11 is take Google ’s OS up to speed with iOS is the power to set permissions for a individual time only — previously permissions to access information like location could be given when an app was running , at all times , or never at all . With the raw one - clock time permission , you could yield an app access to the television camera , your location or whatever else for a single use . If the app need that data again after , then it ’ll have to inquire for it again .

7) Moving media controls

We ca n’t personally vouch for how this works as it need an extra second of behind - the - scenes tweaking , but the feature article is there ( albeit in a hidden form ): As discovered by9to5Google , the media playback command might be making the jump from the notification area to the Quick preferences panel . This lift some government issue — like where the progress bar is die to go — but it could lead to a fresh Android user interface overall .

8) Conversation notifications

It looks as though message apps are start to get more of a prominent lieu in the notifications number when Android 11 arrive . While the feature is a bit rough around the edge in the Android 11 Developer Preview , instant messaging chats appear in their own section above other notification . It seems as though you ’re depart to be able to continue conversations from the presentment pull - down as well , without opening the actual app .

9) Pause playback

If you ’ve cause a Pixel 4 or a Pixel 4 XL in your possession , Android 11 looks set to give you another Motion Sense gesture ( as demoed byMax Weinbach ): book your script up above the headphone will on the face of it pause or resume audio playback , so you may put a brake on your tune or podcasts even if your hand are cover in clay or pastry . Google did predict more gesture were on the style for Motion Sense , and this seem to be one of them .

10) Bubbles by default

More on clamant messaging : Android 11 is bringing the chat bubble concept front and center ( chat bubbles being those little circle that pop out up on screen , overlaid on top of other apps and screens , as used by Facebook Messenger ) . We ’ve learn them in Android before to a limited extent , but in the new Developer Preview there ’s an extra bubble set for Old World chat apps , and it ’s enabled by nonpayment on the apps that support the feature .

11) Double-tap to launch

And last but not least in the hidden - feature - that - require - an - supererogatory - developer - switch - flipping , we have an intriguing potential unexampled addition to the motion organization on the Pixel phones — double - pat to enable . As patched byXDA Developers , this would let you dual - tap the back of a Pixel gimmick to launch the television camera , open Google Assistant , snooze an alarm and more ( it uses the telephone set ’s establish - in sensors to detect the tap , seemingly ) .

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