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Today, Google is releasing Android 12, the most significant update to the Android operating system in years. Google is starting to download the source code for the new operating system today, but the rollout of the Android 12 update for some Pixel phones comes later.
What’s new in Android 12?
The latest versions of Android weren’t that exciting compared to Android 12. After our first glimpse of the new operating system in February, we knew we were going to go through some big changes. Since there are so many new features, here’s a breakdown of some of the highlights:
Material You
By far the biggest change in Android 12 is Material You, the latest version of Google’s Material design language. Material You, as Google describes it, “seeks to create custom designs for all styles, accessible for all needs, lively and responsive for every screen.” During the development of Android 12, Google created a new theme engine named “monet” which generates a rich palette of pastel colors derived from the user’s wallpaper. These colors are then applied to different parts of the system and their values are made available through an API that the user’s applications can call, leaving the applications to decide whether they want to recolor their user interface. Google, for example, is betting on Material You (obviously), and they’ve already updated a number of their own apps to incorporate dynamic colors.
Since “monet” is not yet fully open source, we probably won’t see other OEMs incorporating wallpaper-based themes into their Android 12 forks, unless they decide to create their own. own implementation. Custom ROM developers, on the other hand, can implement this open source implementation of “monet”. Third-party app developers are free to add dynamic color support now, although it will only work on Pixel phones running the latest version or custom ROMs.
Material You don’t limit yourself to vibrant colors. Android 12 is also redesigning the notification panel user interface, simplifying the power menu, changing the lock screen layout, and making several other changes to the user interface. Google is also modernizing the Android widget and pushing developers to update their widgets to the new version. The company has already rolled out a number of updates that bring updated widget designs, many of which are beautiful to look at.
Scrolling screenshots
Android 12 is finally adding a much requested feature: scrolling screenshots. With this feature, you can take a screenshot of a scrolling page, without having to take and then combine multiple screenshots. Due to the way it was built, Android’s native screenshot feature won’t work in all apps, but it should work most of the time.
One-handed mode
Apple has offered “accessibility” in iOS for years, and now Google has a similar feature in Android 12 called… one-handed mode. It’s a simple name, but it does exactly what you’d expect – lower the screen so you can reach the top with one hand.
Game Scoreboard
Google is pushing ahead in mobile gaming with this year’s release. With the new in-game dashboard, you get quick access to useful tools like an FPS counter and screen recorder accessible in-game via a floating button. You can also change the device’s performance profile for each game, stream live on YouTube, or check your achievements in Play Games.
Privacy dashboard
A new page called “Privacy Dashboard” lets you see how often apps request the most sensitive permissions. You can view a timeline for using permissions such as location, camera, and microphone. From there, you can also quickly manage which apps have access to sensitive permissions.
Camera and microphone privacy
Whenever an app accesses your phone’s camera or microphone, you will see an indicator in the status bar. In addition, new toggles allow you to cut off access to the camera and microphone so that no app can use them.
Chat Widget
Do you have a contact with whom you speak frequently? Android 12’s new Conversations widget lets you see their latest message or status update, right from your home screen.
What’s new?
The new features don’t end there, of course. For example, there’s a better auto-rotate system, a feature for sharing URLs and images from the recent apps overview, a new internet panel, and much more.
For a more in-depth look at what’s new in Android 12, I recommend reading our article which details all the changes. Alternatively, you can browse our feature snapshots of each Developer Preview and Beta release to see how the operating system has changed since its initial preview.
These summaries cover the majority of what’s new, but we’ve often also posted individual articles highlighting new features. To find them, visit this page which chronicles our Android 12 coverage from the start.
Android 12 – Which Pixel phones are getting the update?
Soon, if you own any of the following Pixel phones, you should see a notification for the update soon:
- Google Pixel 3/3 XL
- Google Pixel 3a / 3a XL
- Google Pixel 4/4 XL
- Google Pixel 4a
- Google Pixel 4a 5G / 5
- Google Pixel 5a 5G
You will get the update regardless of which operating system (11 or 12) your device is currently running on, but depending on which version you are updating from, the update size will be different. For example, if you are updating from the latest version of Android 11, the update to Android 12 might be several gigabytes in size. On the other hand, if you update from the fifth beta of Android 12, the update will be much smaller.
If for some reason you don’t receive the update once it starts rolling out, or if you don’t want to wait for Google to roll out the update, you can install it manually. If you have unlocked your device’s bootloader, you can manually install the device’s OTA image or factory image, or use Google’s Android Flash web tool to automate the process. Either way, visit this link to download the Android 12 update image for your device and then visit this link for how to install it.
When will other phones get the Android 12 update?
Since Google’s major OEM partners already had prior access to the source code, their engineers have already started the process of forking the operating system to add custom functionality and UI tweaks. Smaller OEMs, independent developers and other entities without access to the pre-release can now take a look at the source code of Android 12 to analyze or rebase their work on the new release. Unfortunately, we can’t come up with a definitive timeline for when each OEM will release an Android 12 update for their devices, but we can list some of the devices that we believe will receive the update soon depending on whether a beta the update is already available.
Here are the devices that have received a beta version of Android 12 and are therefore expected to receive the stable update soon:
- ASUS ZenFone 8
- iQOO 7 Legend
- Nokia x20
- OnePlus 9/9 Pro
- OPPO Find X3 Pro
- Realme GT
- Sharp AQUOS sense5G
- TCL 20 Pro 5G
- Samsung Galaxy S21 / S21 + / S21 Ultra
- Xiaomi Mi 11 / Mi 11 Pro / Mi 11 Ultra
- Xiaomi Mi 11X Pro / Mi 11i / Redmi K40 Pro +
Besides the Nokia X20 and Galaxy S21 series, the other devices got their first beta of Android 12 in May. We’re not exactly sure how close each OEM is to releasing a stable update for these devices, but we do know some are. very close. Xiaomi, for example, has recruited users to give their opinion on the Android 12 update (with MIUI 12.5) for the Mi 11 series. ASUS has opened a closed beta program for the Android 12 update to the ZenFone 8 with ZenUI 8. OnePlus has just released “Developer Preview 2” for the OnePlus 9 series, which notably brings ColorOS 12 to the mix.
Speaking of ColorOS 12, OPPO already unveiled the latest version of its Android OS fork last month, and they have already announced a release schedule, at least in China, as well. The Find X3 Pro “Photographer Edition” already has access to a beta version, while the rest of the Find X3 series will receive the beta update later this month. Meanwhile, the Find X2 and Reno 6 series will receive beta versions of ColorOS 12 next month, followed by the OPPO K9, A95, A93, Ace 2 and OnePlus 8 series in December.
Samsung, as always, is sticking to its own rather than sharing the limelight with other OEMs. The company first announced its One UI 4 Beta program last month before rolling it out the next day, but only on the Galaxy S21 series in select countries. The first beta of One UI 4 brings a your new features, but including major new UI changes, at least so far.
Following today’s release by Google, we can expect more OEMs to announce their own update plans. Keep an eye on the XDA portal for such news!
What’s next after Android 12?
You can assume that the next version after Android 12 will be Android 13, which is a reasonable guess. Indeed, Google is already runs on Android 13, and it already has an internal dessert codename: Tiramisu. But Android 13 is not what comes directly after Android 12. Instead, we expect to see an intermediate version, which we tentatively call “Android 12.1”. We’ve got our hands on an early version of Android 12.1, showing what could be a major update for foldable phones, if you’re interested in the sequel.
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