Android 12 is a massive update for the platform, bringing an updated new design language and a better notification experience. It also puts more focus on privacy and security with a number of new features and enhancements.
Google has also focused on personalization and better integration with other devices with Android 12 to offer a better user experience. Let's take a look at some of the major new Android 12 features that should eventually make their way to your phone.
Material You
Google is debuting the Material You design language in Android 12, which the company is calling the "biggest design change in Android's history." Material You brings a fresh new design language that uses lots of colors and bold new design elements to offer a whole new look.
The new Material You design language will be making its way across other Google services over the next year as well.
A Wallpaper-Based Theme Engine
For improved personalization, Google is introducing a new color extraction-based theme engine in Android 12. The OS will automatically pull the colors from your wallpaper and use them across the system, including the notification shade, lock screen, widgets, volume controls, and more.
New System Animations
To go along with the new Material You design language, Google is also debuting new system animations and motion in Android 12. Some under-the-hood improvements in the core system services help with improved performance, responsiveness, and battery efficiency.
Putting it in numbers, Google says CPU time for system services has been reduced by up to 22% in many cases. The usage of big and power-hungry CPU cores has also gone down by as much as 15%.
Revamped Widgets
Google is giving widgets a major revamp in Android 12. For a unified look, all widgets will have rounded edges and flat icons. They will also support dynamic coloring to go along with the new wallpaper-based theme engine.
The Widgets API has become more powerful, allowing developers to create widgets with dynamic controls like checkboxes, radio buttons, and switches. Google is debuting a new conversation widget in Android 12 to make it easier to communicate with your loved ones as well.
Redesigned Notifications
As a part of the new Material You design, Google has redesigned some of the most common system spaces like the notification shade, Quick Settings panel, and the power menu. The notification shade will now also stack multiple notifications from the same app to reduce clutter.
The Quick Settings panel in Android 12 will show smart home controls and Google Pay tiles as well, so you can easily and quickly control your smart home devices.
A New Privacy Dashboard
As a part of a new focus on privacy, Google is adding a Privacy Dashboard to Android 12. It will provide you with an overview of all permission settings. You can also tap on a specific permission to get a timeline view of when installed apps on your phone have used it over the last 24 hours.
The Privacy Dashboard can also be used to revoke permissions from installed apps.
Camera and Microphone Access Indicator
Taking a cue from Apple's iOS 14 release, Google has added camera and microphone indicators in the status bar of Android 12. This means whenever an app is accessing the camera or microphone on your device, the status bar will show a relevant icon to denote that.
This can come in handy if a rogue app tries to secretly access your phone's camera or microphone in the background.
Additionally, Google is introducing microphone and camera tiles in Android 12. You can tap on the tiles to completely disable access to the two sensors and prevent any app on your device from using them.
Digital Car Key Support
Google will add digital car key support in Android 12. This would allow your vehicle to automatically unlock itself when you approach it without even having to take out the phone from your pocket. You will also be able to remotely start your car and share the digital car key with your friends or family to give them temporary access to your vehicle.
The feature will rely on the Ultra Wideband technology. It will be initially available on compatible Pixel and Samsung devices and select BMW vehicles.
Approximate Location Permission
Another major new privacy enhancement in Android 12 is the ability to share your approximate location with an app. Right now, when an Android app asks for your location, you are forced to share your precise location with them.
That will no longer be the case in Android 12 as it will introduce an option to share your approximate location. Most apps can work without needing to know exactly where you are, thereby giving the OS a major privacy boost.
As Google itself points out, weather apps don't need access to your precise location to show the weather information. They can work just fine with approximate location data as well.
App Hibernation
In Android 11, Google introduced the ability to automatically revoke permissions for apps that have not been used over the last 14 days. Building on that, the company is introducing app hibernation in Android 12 that will automatically hibernate unused apps to save on storage space and optimize the device resources.
You won't need access to the internet when you try to launch an app that has been hibernated. Simply launching it is enough to bring it back from hibernation.
Quicker Access to Google Assistant
Google is making it even easier to quickly trigger Google Assistant in Android 12. Simply long-press the power button on your Android device running Android 12 to bring up Assistant.
Android TV Integration
Android 12 will make it easier to control your Android TV, as Google is integrating the Android TV remote with the OS itself. This will allow you to use your phone to enter text on your Android TV or use its microphone to search for a movie or TV show on your TV. This feature will also make its way to Android 11 later this year.
Android 12 Packs Some Major Changes
Going through the feature list above, it is clear that Android 12 is a major update to the operating system in almost every major aspect. The Android 12 beta program is already live, so you can try out Android 12 on your compatible device right away as well.
Comments
Post a Comment