Here are 5 features Google is working on for Android 12 and beyond
Exploring above and beyond Android 11, because that’s the new cool.
On 8th September, Android’s much awaited version Android 11 was released. As developers continue to work on the software to make sure all of their applications are wired-up, Android’s engineering team conducted an AMA (ask me anything) on Reddit to answer the curious followers’ technical questions concerning the platform’s latest update.
The engineering team made some sensational revelations regarding Android 12’s features that are being worked on. Though none of this is set in stone or concrete, it surely gives us some clarity on what to expect from Android 12 and beyond.
Let’s have a look at five of the features that we might soon see in Android 12.
Scrolling Screenshots
Let’s start-off with unarguably the most annoying information picked from the AMA session — an update concerning Android’s scrolling screenshot feature. This feature was rumored to be in early builds of the Android 11 Beta, but Google was swift to squash any hope of it being present in the final release.
Answering the question “What’s the big holdup?” a representative of the engineering team informed the followers that Google is developing it to be an API that could prove useful to Game app developers.
Instead of releasing a trick that works on a limited number of devices, Google is now focusing on designing it in such a manner that any application can plug into it, doesn’t matter if they have executed their own OpenGL-accelerated scrolling engine or are using a bog-standard RecyclerView. They vigorously examined this matter by including people from the System UI and window manager teams.
Eventually, just like every Android release (and particularly in this strange year), there were some tough decisions that we had to take concerning where to focus our limited resources. Despite the fact that it is an extremely cracking feature, we have chosen not to rush it.
Better Cloud Backups
Although Google’s cloud backup system for Android works great, there’s surely some room for improvement. Fortunately for us, Google is working towards it.
When it comes to acquiring extremely detailed backup information, like managing, locating, and checking backups for your smartphones, there is some fantastic news.
Google has finally realized that it is crucial to be able to go in-depth on how many devices are backed up, how old is the backup, how vulnerable it is, and much more. The existing process of Google’s backup system for Android is restricted to 25MB for application data. Even though Google has previously stated that “it is enough,” they acknowledge that it may not be enough for some of the power users.
And this is why Google is looking for ways to resolve that issue while not breaching any user’s privacy and being respectful of things like battery life and data consumption.
Severe Limitations on Background App Killing
Over the course of the last few years, there has been a lot of debate over some companies that had decided to bring-in their customized systems for brutally killing background apps in Android in the name of extending battery life. Interestingly, someone addressed this concern at the AMA session, with Google ensuring that it’s fully aware of the problem and is continuously working on revamping it.
Background kills have always been a pretty heated and complicated topic that has raised many eyebrows during recent times. However, Google has been working on this for quite some time now. And they are more determined than ever to find a solution to this mystery. A representative of Google recently mentioned that they have been in talks with various device manufacturers to get to know the reason behind such implementations, not just to extend the life of the battery, but also to secure users from misbehaving applications.
He further added that “Google is trying to move the device manufacturers away from implementing harsh methods like force-stop”.
Strengthening Gesture Navigation
Android 10 proved to be a Launchpad for fully-gestural navigation to the operating system. Even though it is considered a massive improvement over the two-button navigation Android 9 Pie had, the back gesture that collides with the slide-in menus still feels a little awkward at times. Google believes that the switch to bottom navigation buttons is “substantial progress” and that it is offering a way to manage the interference with the slide-in menus.
They are still looking for ways to figure out if they need swipes to invoke the slide-in menu.
It is also reported that Google is also trying to make the gesture navigation’s back feel and look smooth, but those who don’t like it at all, it is not disappearing anytime soon. At least Google realized that its gesture navigation isn’t excellent and needs improvement. It is definitely right on Google’s part to respect the user’s feedback and try to eradicate their problems.
Enhancing Third-party Launcher Experiences
One of the most acceptable ways of customizing your Android phone is Third-party launchers; however, in the previous versions of Android, they aren’t all that impressive — particularly when it comes to pairing them with gesture navigation and utilizing them. Finally, a considerable amount of work is being done to enhance this.
Reportedly, Google has made a vast number of changes in Android 12 that allow more nuanced animations on going home / app-switching transitions for launchers. They are still analyzing the optimum technique to convert the deeper interfaces required into stable, public APIs and are positive to share more valuable information in the future.
Similar to many of the updates/features, it is not crystal clear as to when will this be ready to be launched. Nonetheless, finer launcher capability is undoubtedly something we all can get behind. The ability to customize your phone in a fancy way is a massive deal, and it’s certainly not a good feeling when that sort of mainstream functionality seems second-rate on Android.
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