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Last week we released images showing the major UI changes in the next version of Google’s Android operating system, Android 12. These images come from a document that Google shared with its OEM partners and were probably mockups designed to showcase the enhanced theme capabilities of Android 12. In the few pictures we got, we only got a glimpse of the notification panel UI, the display screen. home, privacy settings and the Google Camera app. While we’ve assumed the UI changes were a result of the new theme system, it looks like more UI changes are in the works.
Preliminary design mockups showcasing parts of the Android 12 user interface.
For starters, we’ve learned that Google has internally referred to some of its notification UI changes as the start of the “road to Material NEXT”. Google’s material design guidelines have evolved considerably since their initial introduction. More recently, the guidelines have evolved to encourage companies to adopt their own identity in addition to the material design. For example, Google applications generally follow the design of the company’s “material theme”. While we don’t know exactly what changes the “NEXT” design material will make, they could be major given what we saw in last week’s Android 12 leak. We doubt the “NEXT” material is the actual name of the new design guidelines; after all, Google never referred to changes to its material theme as “Material Design 2.0” externally, even though we know that’s how they referred to it internally. We’re also not sure if Material NEXT’s changes will encompass more than just notifications. However, we do know that Google has more UI changes in store for Android 12.
For example, Google is preparing to adjust the layout of the Always On Screen and Lock Screen in Android 12. Some of the changes in development include moving the notification icons to Always On Display so that they are are no longer centered in the new layout, by moving the clock and smart space display so that they are aligned upwards, by moving the bottom disconnect button and owner information to the bottom of lock screen instead of in keyboard view, and adding the Pixel Now Reading text to the rotating text on the locked screen. There may also be new AOD / lock screen transitions, but we don’t know what they will look like. However, these layout and transition changes are unlikely to be present in the Android 12 Developer Preview builds, as Google is preparing to hide these changes using a “GX” overlay (Google Experience?) .
There are several other lock screen UI changes in development for Android 12. Google is said to be finally tweaking the pattern lock UI used for the lock screen. They are also working to integrate Android’s device control feature into a dialog box on the lock screen, accessed from a “value” on the bottom area of the keyguard.
Left: Android lock pattern user interface. Right: Android device controls user interface.
Google could finally enable additional lock screen clock options in Android 12, a feature in development since Android 10. One of the most significant changes to the feature in development is the addition of a gradient. TypeClock face color that is adjusted based on the hard-coded times.
Text lock screen clock
As we saw in the Android 12 images leaked last week, major changes are underway for the notification panel. The most significant changes come from the new wallpaper-based theme system named “monet”. The specific theme shown in the leaked images may be referred to as “Silk”, and it could serve as Google’s representation for Android 12’s enhanced theme system. References to a “Silky Home” appear in several places internally and there seems the theme is part of the “SilkFX” application. The new ‘Silk’ style will also be compatible with Android for TVs (e.g. Google TV / Android TV), although we don’t know what it will look like on TVs. We learned that Google is also testing UI changes, such as a thicker brightness slider in the notification panel; reduction of horizontal margins, padding and height of the divider; and possibly a two-column notification shade. We do not yet have any images showing these changes.
Google is also testing a change to the Quick Settings panel that could prove controversial. In Android 12, Google is preparing to move the QS tile labels to the side. Prototyping for this feature began in late December, but it looks like the feature got ready earlier this month. When enabled, QS tiles are displayed in only two columns. We’re not sure exactly what this will look like, but Android 11’s changes to Quick Settings density were already controversial – any further reduction in the number of Quick Settings tiles displayed on a single page will undoubtedly be even more so.
Android 11 introduced a media player in the notification shade, reducing the number of QS tiles displayed in the expanded state.
Next, we see mentions of a “mailbox” feature that Google is experimenting with. These “mailboxes” appear to be a new way of putting apps in a frame / window, and they will have adjustable rounded corners and a configurable background color. However, we don’t know exactly what this will be used for.
For third-party apps that don’t have their own splash screens, Android 12 may generate a default splash screen window that is light or dark depending on the current DayNight theme setting. It may be part of a larger effort to improve the app launch experience.
Finally, in order to improve Android’s system-level theming capabilities, Android’s Runtime Resource Overlay (RRO) feature is getting a major upgrade. RROs are traditionally APK packages that must be installed on the device before they can be activated, but Android 12 can now generate non-APK RROs on the fly. It will be interesting to see how this is used, but we assume that this will open up the possibility of generating a lot of custom themes that don’t need to be installed as system level apps. Currently, most theme packages that use the RRO / OMS API are installed as static packages in read-only partitions. Generating RRO packages on the fly could be what makes Android 12’s new “monet” theme system possible.
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