Android 11 is now official. Google has launched the first preview for developers, which can already be installed in the Google Pixel family from the second generation (Pixel 2 onwards). After thoroughly testing the new version of Android for 2020 I can conclude that there are some interesting news to comment.
That said, being a first preview, there is no radical change with respect to Android 10. However, in a simple glance and after a few minutes you can start to see certain functions that make Android 11 a quite interesting system and a good base on which Google is working.
Screen recording: Easier than ever
Despite being a fairly customizable system, Android (at least in its stock version) has never integrated screen recording too well. If we wanted to do it through direct access, the fastest thing was to choose to achieve it through third-party applications, something that is solved with this developer preview.
The small red icon at the right corner indicate us that the screen is being recorded
Android 11 incorporates a shortcut in the notification bar to record the screen, as well as an icon indicating that we are doing it. Just click on that icon to make the recording. In the case of the Pixel, being integrated with Google Photos, it is easy to edit the video after recording it, although it is missing an integration in the style of Markup, the fast editor of Android for screenshots, to be able to point, trim and other actions About the video
At the quality level, you the best possible combination, it records with a high FPS rate and at the maximum resolution of the mobile
Analyzing the video files obtained I see that the screen recording is done in original quality (Full HD or QHD, depending on your mobile) and with a refresh rate of 60Hz, great news , since there are no quality cuts around here.
"Use and discard" permissions
The issue of permissions and privacy has always been somewhat controversial on Android, so Google has focused on improving them and making them increasingly restrictive. In Android 11 the permission 'location allow forever' disappears, and is replaced by permission of 'only once'. As the name implies, this allows us to make an application obtain location permissions only once and, when we open it again, request the permissions again.
With this we prevent the application from having permissions in the background for the location, since they will be revoked as soon as they are closed. Together with this permission, 'while using the application' is maintained, something with light and shadows since, if the application runs in the background, the location permissions will remain active.
Setting apps in share menu
When you are going to share something through an application, you probably have a regular list (WhatsApp, Twitter, Telegram, Instagram, etc.). To facilitate quick access to common applications, Android 11 allows you to set applications in the share menu.
Simply select one of the applications you want and make a long press to bring up its relevant pop-up menu. In this, above 'About the application' we will see the option of 'Fix'. This allows you to set the app among the first four of the share list, so it will be much faster to access it in future applications.
Messages as bubbles
Currently, to continue a conversation while we are in another application, we must either leave what we are doing and open the messaging application or respond quickly from the notification bar. Be that as it may, it is not possible to see the entire conversation superimposed over another application.
Bubble conversations allow you to execute a superimposed conversation on another app, a very effective way for multitasking
With Android 11 the bubbles arrive, a system that allows us to send a conversation to one side of the screen, to be able to open it superimposed on the screen at any time. This is one of the functions with more work ahead of Android 11 since, for the moment, it crashes quite a few times. However, the little we have been able to prove is interesting, in order to have several conversations of different applications at hand, without needing to be opening the application completely.
For example, you can watch a YouTube video and open a specific WhatsApp conversation. This example is extrapolated to the combination of any other app + messaging app.
Bluetooth friendly Airplane mode
I connect the Bluetooth headphones, I put the airplane mode so that the calls do not bother me during training and ... goodbye to the Bluetooth connection. The same case is applicable when we get on an airplane or, when for any reason, we want to disconnect the network keeping the Bluetooth active.
Even if we activate the airplane mode, the Bluetooth connection will remain active, just disconnect the phone from the mobile network
Android 11 no longer deactivates Bluetooth when we activate airplane mode, good news for wireless lovers, who can finally end the network connection without giving up Bluetooth.
Programmable Dark mode
Dark mode was hard to get despite users begging for it, but it has ended up becoming a trend, democratizing both the different operating systems and the most popular applications. Android 11 has a programmable night mode, a curious feature that allows us to set custom time windows in which it will be active or inactive.
Simply access the screen settings to access the dark theme and its programming options. We can set start and end time, in addition to the option of automatic dark mode, which adapts to the time zone of your country to activate it when it is getting dark.