Android 11 developer preview first look

-

Android

11 is here. It's the next version of

Android

. and Google's releasing a super early

preview

of it for

developer

s 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

developer

s 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

look

s 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

developer

s, 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. Like and subscribe to the verge also to them.