- Android 11 is here.
It's the next version of Android.
and Google's releasing a super early preview of it
for developers this year.
Now, the changes here are really developer facing,
there's not a lot of stuff you're gonna see
if you're a user.
But Google's making some big promises.
We've got support for 5G,
better foldable phone support,
new improved privacy and storage stuff.
One thing to keep in mind,
this is really a preview for developers only.
And I mean, really, like even more so than other years,
you can only install on a pixel 2,3,3A or 4,
or the XL versions.
And to install it, need a completely new gear device.
Just don't do it, guys, just don't trust me on this.
But if you are a developer,
or you're like us,
and you happen to have a spare pixel lying around,
you can install the Android 11 developer preview today.
And there's still not a whole lot of stuff.
Again, all the big cool, exciting changes
are probably gonna come at Google IO later this year.
There are a couple cool things.
So let's dive into them.
(soft music)
first is bubbles.
Now, it's a pretty similar feature to Facebook
messengers chat heads feature where,
you know, puts the head of the person
and they're floating over the screen.
This is a system level thing that in theory
any messaging app can use,
right now the only app
that actually uses it is Google's own messaging app.
But in theory, all your favorite messaging apps
should be able to use it in all works together
in this single floating, bubbly pop up.
And then you can get to those messages from anywhere.
Using the features actually really simple.
You just tap and hold on a messaging notification.
And there's a center bubble thing
that sends it to a bubble.
And if you're using the Android 10 betas Actually,
this probably should sound pretty familiar,
'cause it debuted there and then didn't make the final cut.
Anyway, it's pure now in Android 11.
Hopefully, it'll actually ship this time
to go along with bubbles.
There's the new conversation area the notification shade,
which breaks out your messages
from all your other notifications
like Instagram likes and emails
and puts them up on top of the notification area.
The idea here is that it's easier to find than continue
the conversations you're having with people
because it's a phone.
And that's what phones are for.
Next up, better application permissions.
Now, this sounds boring, I know.
But it's actually taking a page from iOS, book.
And it's actually super important.
Well, Google's letting you do now
is now when an app asks if you can use your microphone
or your camera or your location data.
Instead of having two choices,
either know, or have it always,
there's now a third option.
Where you can just give it permission that just one time.
So if you know, wanna send a picture using an app,
but don't want that app to have access to your camera
until the end of time.
That's what this is for.
(soft music)
screen recording.
Okay, so if you've been using Android,
especially the betas we've been burned on this before,
but it's here now and Android 11 beta,
there's a screen recording UI
lets you just natively record your screen on Android
It has a much better user interface.
This time, it looks much nicer.
And hopefully Google will actually,
you know, ship it this time.
But again, we'll have to wait and see Fingers crossed.
There's also a couple smaller features.
dark mode now has automated settings,
you can set it to turn on and off at set times
as opposed to having it you know,
via manual process the soli gestures
on the pixel four have a new one
where you can wave your hand over your phone
to start and stop your music.
There's a new touchscreen sensitivity option,
again, only on the pixel four so far,
that claims that will make your touchscreen more sensitive
and work better when you have a screen protector on
also returning I should say is the ability to pin apps,
the top of the share sheet,
which is something that people been asking me
for a long time.
Now when you're sharing something,
instead of just showing you all the apps
that you have installed on your phone
that you can send it to,
you can just pin the ones you actually want,
like you know, messages and email right on top.
Now, this being a developer beta,
there's a bunch of stuff
that we can't really show you yet
either because it's too abstract
for us to show on the phone.
Or because it's just not done yet,
Google's promising 5G improvements,
like the ability for apps to figure out
if your phone really has an unlimited data connection
before burdens through your whole data plan with, you know,
giant 5G data usage.
There's also better support for scoped storage
where Android puts apps in their own little bins
where they can't interact as much.
It's actually pretty similar to iOS.
Now, Google introduced this last year with Android 10.
But it's making a much bigger push on this this year.
And it's the sort of thing that will improve security.
Google's also going to add a feature
for if you want to turn that off,
they'll be able to in some cases,
again, this is more of a developer thing,
but your apps will be more secure
in things that you might actually notice.
There's also going to be better support
for new types of screens like foldable displays,
pinhole displays, waterfall displays, weird edges.
Look, Android phones are getting really interesting
and really wacky, cool, new designs,
and Google's going to make sure that
Android works with all of them,
which is great.
Google's also promising an OS level support
for shaking stuck authentication
which should make it easier to avoid spam calls.
It's working on improving low latency video streaming
for game streaming services like Google's project stadia.
It's also promising things like project mainline,
which lets Google update parts of the Android OS
through the Play Store without having to
roll out giant software updates like Android 11.
Now, again, this is all really, really early stuff,
there's obviously going to be much bigger features
that Google have for us later.
And some of these features
are even already available right now,
if you have, you know, Samsung, or Motorola phones.
But what's important here that
Google's laying the groundwork for the future of Android,
when it bakes these features into the OS
on level like this.
It's setting the bar for developers,
both software and hardware
to build better and better phones for you in the future.
And that's really exciting.
Obviously, again, this is super early,
and we'll have lots more in Android 11 in the coming days,
weeks and months
as Google continues to roll out betas
and makes more announcements,
but until then, stay tuned to the verge.
Thanks so much for watching.
This is the Android 11 logo.
They're turning it up to 11 it's very cute.
You got it. I got it. They got it.
I missed the dessert names.
Where's the dessert names Google.
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