Android 11 is the eleventh major release and 18th version of Android released on September 8, 2020. The first phone launched with Android 11 was the Vivo V20 and after its full stable release, the first phone in the world which came with Android 11 after Google Pixel was OnePlus 8T.
Lets check highlights of those cool features in Android 11.
- Conversation notifications.
- Notification history.
- Chat bubbles.
- Built In Screen Recorder.
- Media controls.
- One-time permissions and auto-reset.
- Schedule Dark theme.
- Voice Access becomes more context-aware.
Conversation Notifications
In Android 10, the notification drawer contains all your notifications in a haphazard list. In Android 11, that system changes. There are now three notification categories: Conversations, Alerting, and Silent. The Conversations section, quite obviously, houses all your conversations. You can also prioritize conversations and apps within this section.
Meanwhile, the Alerting and Silent sections act as they have before in Android 10. With Android 11, you now have more control over notifications than you ever had previously.
Notification History
Android 11 gives you the option of saving every single notification that landed on your phone over the past 24 hours. You can check the running list, find the notification you accidentally swiped, and see what you missed. You need to go to Settings > Apps & notifications > Notifications > Notification history. Once you’re there, you can toggle the feature on.
Chat Bubbles
Chat bubbles actually first appeared in Android 10. However, for some reason, Google didn’t prioritize them and they faded into the background when the stable version of the operating system launched. Now chat bubbles are here in Android 11.
If you’ve ever used Facebook Messenger on Android, you already know how chat bubbles work. This is exactly how bubble feature works, with the only major difference being that it can work for any chat app, not just Messenger or other apps that have a similar design.
Built In Screen Recorder
Android 11 might seem a bit late as plenty of apps available on the Google Play Store, but this new screen recording feature is a welcome addition. After all, this is now one less app you’ll need to download.
You tap the Screen Record feature which gives you a few options before you start recording. For example, you can choose whether or not your screen-taps should also be recorded and whether the phone should capture audio, too.
The whole thing is very simplistic and not have much features, but it gets the job done.
Media Control
In Android 11 top section of the drawer is now reserved for conversations, so the media player needed to move. Google decided to move it one rung up to the Quick Settings section.
When you swipe down your notification drawer, the media controller will be pretty small. It will show you the app it’s related to, cover art, basic controls, and on which system the media is playing. If you pull down again on the drawer, the alert expands and shows the information. You can swipe it if don't want to use. You can also use Android 11’s settings so that the player automatically vanishes when you have stopped listening to music or stay there all the time, it’s up to you!.
One-time permissions and auto-reset
When you first install an app, Android 10 will ask you if you want to grant an app permissions all the time, only when you’re using the app, or not at all. Android 11 gives a lot of control to the user when it comes to privacy. If a user gives permission for the session, once they close the app, Android will revoke that permission. If a user wants to grant permission every time they use the app, that option is still there, but an option to grant permission all the time won’t be available for a lot of apps. This will make things much safer and difficult for apps to collect the information you might not want them to collect.
Similarly, Android 11 will now “auto-reset” apps you haven’t used in a while. If you granted permissions to an app that you haven’t opened up in a long time, Android will now revoke all permissions. Next time you open the app, you’ll need to approve those permissions again and your data is safe.
Schedule Dark theme
Android 11 users can now schedule the dark theme using one of two different metrics. You can schedule a dark theme to turn on or off when the sun sets or rises. You can also set up a custom schedule for dark mode activation if you wish.
Google actually rolled out the sunset/sunrise setting to Pixel phones running Android 10 earlier this year, but Android 11 will bring both that and the timing feature to all.
Voice Access becomes more context-aware
Android 11 "Voice Access" can read what's on your screen and understand the context and content. As a result, you can say the name of the button, app, or action you want to use instead of reading the number. In practice, this works incredibly well.
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