All You Need to Know About the Android 11 Update

It is time for all tech geeks and enthusiasts to rejoice because Google just released the beta version of Android 11 for Pixel phones! The new Android OS comes with a sleuth of new features, revamps, and quite a few surprises. Read on to get an in-depth analysis of all the new features, how they work, and different the new OS will feel. 

Maturity Shows

Since Android is a mature OS, that has gone through various iterations, there aren’t any large missing chunks in it. That is precisely why the new update doesn’t come with massive revelations, but smaller surprises. Android and iOS already have many features in place. Rather than pick those apart, the developers have made them more intuitive and user-friendly. Therefore, the primary function of such a mature OS is not to add a lot of new features but to help manage those that exist more efficiently.

Major Changes and Additions

1. Conversations Tab: On your notification bar, you can now see the messages from texting apps in a separate section, broken out from the rest.
2. Priority: Users will now have the option of marking conversations as “priority.” This essentially allows such messages to bypass your Do Not Disturb mode. 
3. Bubbles: This feature enables texting threads to pop out as little bubbles over other apps the way FB Messenger’s Chat Heads do.
4. Notification Customisation: Users can now choose notifications to be either Alerting or Silent, giving them more power concerning how to view their information.
5. DND: The revamped Do Not Disturb setting allows users to decide which apps and contacts can bypass their DND setting. 
6. Quick Controls: All the media controls have become Quick settings, making it easier than ever to determine where your audio output should go.
7. Screenshot: With the new OS, when you click a screenshot, it appears on the lower-left side of the screen, much like an iPhone.
8. Recording: In all probability, native screen recording will become a fully-fledged feature with this new Android update.
9. Power: The revamped power menu works like a digital wallet, powering your phone, passes, and cards on Google Pay and your smart home control.

Other changes include a Recent screen that allows you to click and share screenshots, the ability to customize your app dock, and one-time permission for location registering. Also, in case you don’t use any app for a while, all the permissions granted to it resets automatically. The new Voice Access has been upgraded to recognise screen content and generates labels for commands to improve accessibility and inclusivity.

Notifications Update

Every Android update finds some way to revamp the notifications section and make it more user-friendly. While that makes it challenging to keep up with all the settings moving around, the new layout is a lot smoother and efficient than before. For Android 11, Google has decided to abstract notification options and split them into three presets. Doing so makes notification management easier than ever before.

The new Conversations tab will allow users to clearly distinguish between messages and other notifications. Much like the interface sprouted by the FB Messenger, the Conversations preset sits atop the notification panel. They also stay separate from the rest of your notifications, which can get buried, meaning you will never lose texts again. The Bubble feature also makes it easy to draw them out and answer them immediately, by overlaying the chat thread on your app.

Furthermore, by long-pressing a notification, users can choose to set it to Alerting, Silent, or Priority. Priority messages remain in your status bar, and on your lock screen with a yellow highlight, making them prominent. The Alerting preset handles the messages just like the older version, whereas the Silent setting ensures that messages only remain at the bottom of the Conversation section.

More Granular Control

In case you are someone who quickly brushes through notifications, only to lose important messages, Google has something to help you. The new update introduces a fix that enables you to have an updated notification history. When turned on, this feature allows users to have access to a new “History” button, which brings up all notifications from the last 24 hours.

Also, users can manage their Do Not Disturb settings more precisely now. The new Settings panel allows them to set options for what apps and contacts can breach their DND settings to alert them. Therefore, through this update, Google has successfully made a ton of options more accessible to everyday users via a single long-press.

Other Changes

The new update doesn’t really change much about the Home screen. The only changes here being a dock upgrade, wherein you can replace the dock with apps the phone thinks you need. Another difference here is the Recents screen, which has a new screenshot grab button and a share sheet to send it to someone. Also, there is a Select button in the middle, which allows people to copy text with ease. 

The Android 11 update also sees Google doubling down on its permission settings. The automatic resetting of permissions of rarely used apps is a welcome move. Here again, we see Google replicating an Apple trend by incorporating the one-time permission option. Also, users have found the new Voice Access to be celebrated as it allows people to speak much more naturally than before to control their phone via voice.

Plenty Of Tweaks 

The Gboard will be updated, too, allowing users to mix and match emojis and improve its auto-fill capabilities. Other smaller tweaks include 12 new modules for Google’s Project Mainline, an improved Dark mode, new icon shapes, and resizable videos. They will also introduce tethering via USB-Ethernet, which has been missing for years.

While some of these changes might look small, for a mature OS, rearranging icons in itself can be a good change. It is these small and subtle things that make a phone more intuitive and user-friendly. Google is essentially trying to simplify Android by adding layers to its complex framework, and as of now, it looks like it’s working.