Android 10 is official and hits Pixel devices today

Today, September 3, 2019, marks the official launch of the first stable version of Android 10, which follows the Android 9 Pie of 2018.

Android 10 has already proven itself: a new naming convention, a new branding strategy and, of course, new features and upgrades to the operating system itself.

Below is a quick summary of what Android 10 has to offer, including the history of the new name, a list of major new features, and information about when the upgrade will apply to your current smartphone. .

The name Android 10

For years and years, the latest versions of Android have followed a very predictable naming convention: each new version of Android comes with a new number and a new name of treatment. However, this year, Google removes the names of candies from the official brand identity of Android.

Therefore, Android 10 is just that: no Android 10 Queen Cake, nor Android 10 Quince, nor even Android 10 Quaker Oatmeal Cookie. Just Android 10.

Related: In the huge Google Android brand name

You can find out more about why Google has decided to remove treatment names in our full overview of brand change. You can also read different opinions on the concept of dealing with names that are no longer part of Android. Here is one on the sorrow of seeing them disappear, and one on its inevitability and, overall, on a good thing.

In addition to the new name, the Android logo is undergoing a slight change. There is a slightly different font and the "Bugdroid" character has no body: the mascot is just the head of the Android.

What's new in Android 10?

Artificial intelligence and many new integrations with Google Assistant have been at the heart of last year's Android 9 Pie update. This year, the main goal of Android 10 is privacy and security.

However, this does not mean that there are no fun updates that will improve the user experience or allow you to change the way Android works for you. Check out below the highlights of the cool new Android 10 features.

A dark mode at the system level – Android fans have been calling for years and it's finally here. With Android 10, you can enable a dark mode directly from the Android settings, which will allow you to preserve the life of the battery of your smartphone OLED and reduce eye strain.

Smart answers for everyone – If you're using Google messaging apps such as Messages or even Gmail, you're probably familiar with Smart Reply. The feature gives you suggestions of answers within the application, thus avoiding you typing as much. In Android 10, this feature happens for all email applications, not just those created by Google.

A revised sharing menu – At one point, even the Vice President of Android Engineering admitted that the sharing menu within the operating system is rather bad. Fortunately, the sharing menu in Android 10 has been completely redesigned to be faster and more efficient.

Related: The main features of Android 10 to know

New gesture navigation controls – Love them or hate them, the gesture navigation controls are here to stay. In Android 10, swipe gestures that help you navigate modern phones with huge displays are slightly improved.

Better adjusted permissions – If you've already granted an app to access your location data, this app gets this permission for good. With Android 10, however, you can grant an application permission that only works when the application is open. There is also a new privacy section in the Android settings to allow you to easily control all kinds of functions.

Play Store Security Updates – In many cases, a security update for Android could be very small, but very important. Why should you wait for a full operating system update to get security patches of this type? This is why Android 10 will allow the use of certain security updates via the Google Play Store, as well as traditional application updates.

New Features of Digital Wellbeing – New features such as focus mode and family connection will become more common in digital wellness, giving you more control over the amount of communication time you have in your life. Unfortunately, there is still no word on a broader deployment of Digital Wellbeing apart from Pixel devices and the selection of other smartphones.

When will your phone have Android 10?

Android 10 is currently deployed on all Google Pixel devices, including Google Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL on a limited budget, and even the original Pixel and Pixel XL.

The Android One devices will likely begin to be updated in the coming months, and the phones that participated in the beta program of Android 10 will also be updated before the end of the year. This includes OnePlus, LG, Huawei and more.

To learn more about when the update should land on your smartphone, check out our hub here. For more information on installing Android 10 on your compatible device, check out our guide here.

More Android 10 coverage

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