The latest version of Android q has just dropped in beta.
And I have it here on a Pixel phone.
I'm going to walk you through a couple of the new features here at Google IO to give you an idea of what it's like to use and what to expect if you want to download the beta now or if you're waiting for the full version of A of Android Q which is expected to be released later on in 2019 so Android has a new dark mode and you can actually access this in a couple of ways.
The first is in the settings menu you can toggle it on and it will have a system wide dark mode.
Or you can do it through the notifications tray.
Just toggle down and you'll find a specific mode you can press on there.
Now this is only going to work with specific apps to start with such as Google first party apps but ideally this will roll out to other apps in the future as developers get on board.
So Google says Dark mode isn't going to help with battery life because your not going to have the screen lit up so much.
We'll see if that holds, True when the full version of Q drops later.
Next up is gestures.
Now Android kind of introduces this with Android P and it introduced you to a way to navigate the phone that wasn't necessarily using the back button with Q It is overhauled again.
So now you'll have a line at the bottom of the screen you'll be able to swap back and forth.
Between apps really simply and you can swipe up to go home.
It's very similar to what you'll find on iOS multitasking so if you're familiar with that this will not be much different at all.
You'll also be able to swipe back and forth on screens to navigate so the back button is kind of going away.
It is and it isn't.
You'll be able to swipe to go back and forth between pages and apps within the new version of Android Q. Now let's talk about live caption.
When Google showed this off during the keynote, it looked pretty amazing because it's supposedly getting real time transcription.
Of what's going on in video or audio on the screen and yes it does work in the demo that we saw we were seeing that there was text being transcribed directly from what was on screen.
you'll turn it on within the accessibility settings and then to activated within the video or audio that you wanna transcribe what you'll do is you press the volume marker and then you'll see a little extra tap just down here that.
That you can tap to turn on live transcribe.
Google says that this is all being done on device rather than through the cloud so you won't need an active connection to cellular or wi-fi in order to make this work.
Provided that you have a video or audio on the device.
It doesn't need to be played from say you tube.
But it does of course work with any app, across the system such as YouTube, or any other video or audio app, if you are connected.
Android Q is doubling down on privacy when it comes to apps accessing your locations.
Now when you go to your settings menu You can go into the location option and you can actually see app by app which ones have access to your location.
So they'll have options such as allow all the time.
So those are the apps that are always going to be accessing your location.
The apps that are only getting your location while they're being used and those ones that are being denied your location Shown altogether, if you decide that there's say one in the allowed section that you don't necessarily want to have access to your location all the time, you can tap into it and then choose to have access only while you're using the app or deny it all together, it gives you very granular You are in control in that respective, when you on iOS apps as well.
You'll also notice an overhauled privacy section within the settings, so you can tap into it and then see the permission manager.
Now this is actually giving you detailed information on which apps are actually getting things like your location, the apps that are able to use the camera, That are able to access the calendar, microphone, make phone calls and so on, so you can get a really good idea of what apps are accessing what.
There are a couple of other features that Google did mention that are coming to Android Q that are not available yet in this beta including focus mode, now this mode once you try it on through the notifications shade you'll be able to essentially stop.
Certain apps getting your attention.
So they'll be grayed out and you won't be able to use them, you won't get notifications coming through.
They did show that off but we don't have access to that in this version of the beta just yet.
There is also the ability to install security updates and auto-updates to the OS without requiring an entire restart, so that's something that's pretty useful.
Can't really show that Here if it's included in this beta, but it is something to look forward to when Android huge does drop later in the year.
Of course, this thing the beta, things are subject to change.
So what we talk about now might not look exactly the same when the full version of Android cute comes to fruition later this year, and of course, new features might be added or taken away.
So that's been a look at Android Q, the beta here at Google IO.
If you have any questions about any extra features or want to find out more about Android Q, you can find extra information on sceneit.com
