7 main innovations in the first build of Android 11

Google released first build of Android 11 for developers, and now we have an idea of ​​the next version of the popular firmware. It is important to note that many of the innovations concern developers. In addition, this is a very early version, which will still be finalized before the public release.

Nevertheless, even this assembly gives an idea of ​​the new features of the firmware - as the authors of the first reviews have already told about. The coolest Android features are usually hidden by developers before Google I / O, so keep in mind: this is the best we've seen, not the coolest features of Android 11 itself.

Support for new technologies

Android 11 is much better adapted to work with 5G, foldable displays and video transmission with minimal latency (which is important for cloud gaming services like Google Stadia). The new firmware also offers deeper integration of alternative image formats like HEIF and support for Google's neural network APIs.

In the case of 5G, for example, Google is working to teach apps to check if you are using unlimited tariff plan or not - because the higher download speed also means that your traffic can run out very fast.

"Bubbles" of messengers

In the English version, this feature is called Bubbles and is similar to part of the Facebook Messenger interface. A small round icon with the contact's name and avatar is displayed on top of any open applications in the selected area of ​​the screen. In theory, Bubbles will be able to use any messenger, but so far they are only available for Google Messages. Initially, they wanted to add such bubbles in Android 10, but in one of the beta builds they were abandoned.

Section "Communication" in the notification panel

Now all messages from instant messengers and social networks will be displayed in a separate block, which was placed at the very top of the notification list. This will help you avoid losing new messages in the stream of less important notifications.

Application access

It sounds boring, but this is actually a very important change. In Android 10 and older, in cases where an application asks for access to a microphone, camera or other smartphone functions, you have only two options: grant or deny access. But Android 11 works on the same principle as iOS: now you can give access once.

For example, if you want to send a photo through the application, but do not want to give it access to the camera forever (or disable it later in the settings), you can select "Only this time".

Screen recording

It finally happened: Android got a native screen recording function. This possibility has already been encountered in beta builds, but it never made it into the final version of Android 10. Hopefully this time Google won't change its mind.

Dark theme on schedule

You no longer need to manually turn on dark mode in the evening: you can set a schedule for turning on and off - and the system will do everything automatically.

Increase screen sensitivity

While this innovation is only available on the Pixel 4, it is unclear if it will appear on smartphones from other manufacturers. This function, as the name suggests, increases the screen sensitivity, and is intended for devices with a protective film or glass.

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What features do you want to see in Android 11? Let us know in the comments.