Android 11 is finally here.
So let's take a look at some of the top features in the public beta and see what's new.
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So I've got the public beta of Android 11 up and running on a pixel four.
If you want to do the same yourself, you'll need a pixel two or later And of course, because this is beta software things are a, subject to change and b, there might be some bugs.
So I would probably not install this on your primary device, leave that up to me.
I'm gonna see how I go.
But these are some of my favorite things that I found so far in the public beta.
Let's go.
So there is a huge changes in Android 11 that are under the hood but I'm only gonna focus on really the things that we can see in the public data.
So first up, every time there is a new version of Android I feel like there isn't different way of dealing with the notifications shade and specifically messages.
Android 11 is no different because as you can see, there is now a dedicated conversation space here in the notification bar.
So your hangouts messages, WhatsApp, text messages, and so on what have you all appear here, you'll also be able to change the priority of notifications.
So you can tap and hold on the shade.
And the message that you want to be able to come through as a priority and change the status accordingly, hit apply and you'll notice that when you see that notification come through, it will automatically come to the top of the shade so you can see it first.
You'll also be able to change some do not disturb priorities as well, so.
When you have Do Not Disturb turned on, you can change it so that certain conversations or certain people will always be able to come through even if you have DND on.
There's also some subtle design changes to including being able to see the face of your contact in the notifications shade when it's closed.
If there are priority contacts and you have a photo as part of the contact card as well.
But the biggest change is definitely chat bubbles.
So if you've used something like Facebook Messenger in the past, you'll have an idea of what this looks like.
You'll be able to see conversations pop up like so.
And expand and contract them.
So they show up as a bubble.
And that'll make sure that they'll show up even over the top of other apps when you have them open so you can quickly access them.
Now, at the moment, you can actually save this in the public beta pot from Facebook Messenger which has already had this But there are some settings in the menus that you can go into and dive in and see exactly what that would look like when that feature is active, or at least being able to toggle it on to make sure that the Messages app at least would have the conversations show up as bubbles but again, this is on a case by case basis So developers will have to turn this on and support it in their apps, screenshots also look a little bit different.
So instead of them appearing in the notification shade when you take a screenshot, you'll be able to see the toggle at the bottom and then open the share tab or edit it like so.
It will still go in the gallery it just won't appear in the notifications shade like before.
Now this next feature is for the nerds out there.
I count myself as one of them because finally we get a native screen recorder.
Something I'm really stoked about is screen recording in the 11 beta and I think this is gonna come through to the final version.
Finally I'm so excited because if you don't have a phone Like, say a Samsung Galaxy or something that has screen recording built in, you'd have to get a third party app.
But now you can actually do it within Android.
By default.
You can toggle on to record the audio from the microphone or also to show the touches on the screen.
And you'll just see the icon pop up and it will also appear in the shade like so.
Love screen recording is such an ID.
I don't know if anyone else uses it but me, but I really appreciate that feature.
Something else that I'm actually really excited about is the change to media controls.
So if you're playing something in an app like Spotify or YouTube Music, when it's playing, you'll actually be able to see in the current version of Android, it's actually going to appear in the notification shade but in Android 11 It's gonna move up here to the top of the Quick Settings menu.
So on top of being able to fast forward and rewind tracks and control playback, when you expand this menu, you can tap on this right here and actually switch between say bluetooth earbuds, the phone speaker itself maybe a TV or stereo Now if you download the public beta right now, you won't actually see this shade as is you have to activate developer options to get it to work.
Another change is the addition of some app suggestions.
So normally in the dock at the bottom, you can change these apps at your leisure.
But, these app suggestions from the pixel launcher will actually dynamically change depending on what you use most frequently.
At the moment since installing the public beta this morning, I've been doing some Spotify and watching some YouTube.
So those apps are amongst the ones that are used most frequently at the moment and they appear here but as I start using different apps more frequently, these ones are going to start dropping out and the ones that I use more often will get slotted in their place.
Another change is how Android 11 deals with device and media controls.
So when you long press the power button, you'll be able to adjust the smart devices that you have connected.
Now Google's got a video showing you exactly what this looks like the public beta that I have, look I have some smart home devices like Chromecast, but they just not showing up because it's a beta.
There is still some bugs Of course.
So this is exactly what it's going to look like when everything is working as expected.
But the other changes that you'll see obviously is the orientation looks a bit different to what you've seen on Android 10, which would have the power restart emergency on the side here and your Google pay and other cards at the top.
But now it's all just consolidated on one screen.
There are also some extra privacy controls.
So when you go into your app permissions or you launch an app for the first time, you'll be able to choose to give it access to something like the microphone or your location.
Just one.
So ask every single time that you use it, rather than choosing to denial together or to only use while you're accessing the app.
And also, if you haven't used an app for an extended period of time, it's actually going to automatically reset all those permissions associated with the app.
So you'll have to go in and reauthorize again.
So those are some of the best things that I found so far in the Android 11 public beta.
But there are a lot more, especially extra stuff under the hood, especially if you are a developer.
So if you do wanna find out some more information, or how to install the public beta yourself, I put some links in the description below.
Now we are expecting the final version of Android 11 in the fall.
So you won't have to wait too long if you're not quite ready to put the public beta on your phone.
If you do have a pixel device, and we'll see it rolled out to other Android devices later in the year and into 2021.
Thanks for watching.
And yeah, make sure to check out those links if you want to find out more about Android 11
