The beta for the next version of Android, which is Android 11 is available on pixel devices since past couple of weeks. A bunch of Android 11 features had already been leaked but it’s official now. Overall my take is that Android is a mature operating system, which means that the fundamentals are not really gonna change that much. There are few new important features but the context here is that Android already does a lot. And so a lot of the features aren’t necessarily about doing new things, but helping you make sense of all of the things that Android already does. One of the biggest job that a mature operating system has is managing complexity. So here’s the question how well does Android 11 manage all of the things it already does? So, let’s jump in and checkout some of the important features.
1. Notifications:
Notifications are source of complexities managing information from different application. This year Android has reorganised it’s notification panel and segregated them into multiple chamber components with big obvious labels. There are Conversations, Alerting notifications and Silent Notifications. All the notifications from text/messaging applications are stacked over Conversation label. If you set a notification as unimportant through settings, it will be routed to Silent notification and all others will be routed to Alerting notification.
2. Chat Bubbles:
In the new beta version, all the messaging conversation are bubbled and can be viewed/open when you’re using different app. It is similar to what Facebook messenger already does, you can open the bubble to get back to your conversation but now Android has brought in this feature, which means it has provided scope for other messaging applications to add this feature in their apps. Internal modifications to this bubble can be modified by the developers based on their priority and use case.
3. Priority Conversation:
Unlike silent notification, if you make a conversation as priority, it now has the ability to by-pass DND (Do Not Disturb) mode and on the notification bar you can see the conversation person image instead of app icon. These set of improvements might seem nothing when you hear them but these are the things that save more time and energy, managing your device in a well organised fashion.
4. In-Built Screen Recording:
This is a long awaited feature for all online content creators. Android now has native screen recording, which allows you to record your screen. This feature has been first introduced in Android 10 beta but was gone into dust in main stream. In the Android 11 it is more stable and can be seen in all upcoming devices with Android 11.
5. Music Controls:
Android 11 now moves the music notification from notification panel to quick access panel. In the quick access, you will get options to change & play/pause options but if you scroll down little future, you get access to more options and not only that if you swipe left/right you can toggle between multiple music applications. For example, if you’re playing in Spotify and want to play another song in YouTube, you just need to swipe to change the controls.
6. Dynamic App Suggestions:
Previously Android predicts and suggests your next app usage and stack them at top in app area but now in Android 11, it is also able to suggest you apps in home screen as well and these suggestions change dynamically based on your recent and next possibility to be used. In the similar way, now in latest version when you enable Aeroplane mode, the bluetooth will not be disabled by default.