Google announces the first Android Q beta – Download it now!

Google announced the preview for Android developers Q. The company unveiled the beta update, a first version of an Android operating system upgrade expected to arrive later this year, as well as many new features from the Android developers blog.

Android Q introduces new privacy and security features for end users, improvements for foldable apps, new multimedia codecs and camera features, and a host of new APIs.

In Android Q, users will be able to allow applications to display their location all the time, only when the app is running or never. A carpool app such as Uber, for example, will probably not need to activate the location at any time when you are not actively looking for a ride. With Android Q, you will only be able to grant Uber access to your location when the application is running.

Google is also repairing the slow sharing menu in Android. The company adds a shortcut to the sharing menu called Sharing Shortcuts, allowing users to access other apps to share their content. Google explains:

Developers can publish sharing targets that launch a specific activity in their apps with attached content. These are presented to users in the sharing user interface. Because they are published in advance, the Share UI can load instantly when it is launched.

A new Control Panel API will take advantage of the Android Slices feature, which will allow developers to view system settings directly in applications. For the end user, this means that applications such as web browsers can now display pop-ups containing system information such as Wi-Fi and airplane mode. See below:

AV1 video codec support has also been added to Android Q. This allows media providers to deliver high quality video content to Android devices with lower bandwidth.

These are just some of the new features available in Android Q so far! We will have many more guides and step by step guides for you in the next few days.

The first preview for Android Q developers is available today for all Google Pixel devices, including Pixel Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL, Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. Pixel owners can sign up for the Android Q beta program here or download the system images here and install them manually. The beta program registration is probably the fastest way to install Android Q on your pixel right now. Most of my colleagues received the beta prompt from Android Q a few moments after pressing the sign up button.