Android 11 is coming and, after a delay due to the demonstrations in the United States, the beta version was finally released. The new version brings several new features for permissions, notifications, and new controls for media and for users with appliances and electronics connected. See everything that was revealed in this new version.
Privacy controls
Android 11 will focus a lot on privacy in this new version. An example of this are the new permissions with new features.
Temporary permissions and “allow once”
The new Android R permissions will have enhanced controls such as the ability to enable one-time access to a camera, location or microphone in an application. In addition, there is a new option that revokes a permission after a certain time if you set it in the Permissions Manager, which is already available on Android 10, but now comes with this option in the new version.
As you can see, there is only one marker to enable the revocation of the permission after a certain time, but there is still no option to define a kind of countdown timer in hours, days or weeks, which would be ideal. Just below the permission there is still a warning saying that access to the user’s physical activity is removed when this feature is activated.
For the time being it is not yet quoted how long the permissions would be active, but the description mentions that it will be removed if the application in question “will not be used for a few months”.
Background location
The use of location by applications that do not appear on the screen is a major problem for the privacy of many users, in order to improve this, in February Google launched a program where it says that it will only allow apps on the Play Store that use this permission if they are previously approved for her. The deadline has been extended to 2021 and when it ends, all applications that depend on it and are not previously approved will be removed.
Notifications
Notifications have been getting a lot of news since the first Android 11 Developer Preview and now it’s no different. Among the improvements, we have dedicated spaces and conversation bubbles.
Conversation placeholder
Now notifications will be more organized on Android 11. This is thanks to the new conversation section that will separate chats in apps from other notifications on the panel. See how it looks in this new version:
As you can see above, new options have been added to the context menu for these conversations, which now also show specific actions such as mute, snooze, favor the conversation and even show the bubble for conversations.
Conversation bubbles
The bubbles had already been seen before and now they are receiving direct control on the interface, which does not involve accessing the developer options to enable them, after all, they must arrive as a native feature, so much so that we have already seen a shortcut to screen capture using the function.
New controls
Smart device control
More and more devices come with the Google assistant integrated, examples ranging from TVs to washing machines. Android 11 will turn the phone into the hub to control all of them through the Device Controls API. To access this panel, just press and hold the off button until the menu appears, see:
Among the options available in this menu are credit and debit cards to be used on devices with NFC by Google Pay quickly and easily and also an option to hide your numbers, ensuring more security and privacy. See the animation illustrating how they will appear on the screen:
According to developers, the Device Control API has been working with the Google Home app since DP4 and it should certainly get even better now.
Media control
This option for the time being can only be enabled through the Beta 1 developer options. It allows you to switch the device where your phone’s sound is played like a Bluetooth headset, speaker, etc. In addition, this new control is present in the lower area of the screen, making access much easier, check out:
You can adjust several volume options on the same screen, including connected accessories or content playing on a TV or Chromecast, for example. Until now it was only possible to do this through the Bluetooth menu or even by a third-party application, which showed a similar interface but that was not native. See it in action:
Accessibility and more
New voice access
Android has shown an increasing concern to promote accessibility for users with some type of disability, whatever it may be. Proof of this is the new braille keyboard without using accessories that is already available for Android and Android 11 will not do otherwise.
Voice access will create access points based on the context of the screen, this means that buttons created by the visual cortex of the system will indicate which commands the user must say to access certain content present on the screen, allowing even people with motor difficulties to use the cell phone no problem.
New autofill on the keyboard
This new feature will bring more convenience to those who use autofill or a password manager on Android. With it the standard keyboard will suggest users and passwords stored on the device when you touch a field that can be filled in by them, avoiding the use of floating boxes that can be irritating for some people.
Improvements for developers
In addition to all these new features, Android 11 Beta 1 comes with improvements for developers such as wireless ADB over the network, which has been seen since DP2, which even now has improvements for faster installation of APK files and several improvements to facilitate the application testing and many other details for those interested in developing applications aimed at Android R.
Google Play app update – Project Mainline
The Project Mainline introduced in Android 10 aims to strengthen the security of the device. With it, essential application and system updates to ensure greater protection are performed directly by the Google Play Store in a new format of modules that are downloaded and installed at the same time.
The big change is that in Android 10 there were 13 security modules, in Android 11 DP1 that number jumped to 20. Now with the release of Android 11 Beta 1this number has increased again: 12 in addition to those that already existed in Android 10, so the total now it’s 25.
Availability
Android 11 Beta was launched today by Google and is coming first for the devices of the Pixel line that are of the second generation and newer, see the complete list:
- Google Pixel 2
- Google Pixel 2 XL
- Google Pixel 3
- Google Pixel 3 XL
- Google Pixel 3a
- Google Pixel 3a XL
- Google Pixel 4
- Google Pixel 4 XL
It is worth saying that more devices should gain compatibility soon because in 2019 Google had already signed a partnership with 12 manufacturers to test the beta versions. This year we will probably see the following brands testing the new Android 11 on their devices:
And stay tuned, as these are some of the new features listed by Google, they may soon appear more, after all it did not list the new media controls and the renewed quick settings for notifications, so it is almost certain that developers will discover much more in the next days.
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