Android Q is here

Google company has now released their first public Android Q beta. If you’re a lucky owner of a Google Pixel, Google Pixel XL, Google Pixel 2, Google Pixel 2 XL, Google Pixel 3, or Google Pixel 3 XL , then you can test it.

Android 10(Q) brings a number of new feature additions including a system-wide dark mode and changes in permission management. Keep in mind that this first release is aimed at developers. And next Android version becomes available for the general public.

So let's see what they did in Android 10 Q.

System-wide Dark Theme is finally here

On January 6th, Android Police spotted a comment on the Chromium Gerrit which hinted that dark mode would be coming to Android Q. So we can assume that Google is still working on the feature. The Google Phone app, Google Contacts, Messages, Google News, Google Play Games, YouTube, and more already have native dark themes, but we don’t know how these Google apps will interact with Android Q’s dark theme toggle.

To enable the dark theme, you just have to tap on the “Set Dark mode” option in Display settings. You can set the dark theme to always be enabled or automatically be enabled depending on the time of day.

Samsung DeX-like Desktop Mode?

There’s nothing have a lot to show here, but there is a very interesting new Developer Option called “force desktop mode.” Its description reads “force experimental desktop mode on secondary displays.” This sounds like it’s going to be a Samsung DeX or EMUI Easy Projection-type feature, but it wasn’t able to actually tell that this feature works via the cast option.

Developer Options adds new features

First one is support for enabling freeform windows seems to be back, and once the option is enabled you’ll be able to launch freeform multi-windows by long-pressing on an app icon in the recent apps overview. Freeform multi-windows are possible to get working on Android Pie, but that Android version changed the way it’s accessed.

And also there’s a new “Game Update Package Preferences” which asks you to select a graphics driver.

Another Developer Options enables a shortcut to a built-in screen recorder provided by the SystemUI. This screen recorder can be accessed by long-pressing on the screenshot button in the power menu, but the UI is currently unfinished.

(NOTE: As another feature the power menu also has a new shortcut to launch the emergency dialer.)

Another feature flag allows for the current wallpaper to be shown on the Always on Display. This is a feature on the Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. The setting has been moved to Display –> Lock screen display. The battery icon in the Always on Display also seems to have shifted from the center of the screen to the top-right.

 

Accessibility Changes

Two new settings have been added to the Accessibility page: Time to take action and Time to read. The time to take action lets you choose “how long to show messages that ask you to take action, but are only visible temporarily.”

On the other hand, the time to read feature lets you choose “how much time you want to read and take action on messages that automatically go away.” The latter seems related to the heads-up notifications introduced with Android 5.0 Lollipop while the former may refer to snackbars. The images shown in the feature description are clearly just placeholders.

Several different observations in Android Q

Lastly, here are a few more things we found in this early leaked build.

There is a new “sensors off” Quick Settings tile that seems to disable all radios and turn on airplane mode. It’s possible that this will be a tin foil hat mode to disable all sensors on the device that can’t normally be turned off (accelerometer, gyroscope, etc.)

The screen lock setting has two new options: “SmartLock only extends unlock” and “Lock screen when trust is lost.” The former lets a trusted device keep your smartphone awake for longer, but doesn’t allow it to unlock the device once it has been locked. The latter option will lock the smartphone when the last trusted device is no longer trusted.

The built-in files app now lets you filter by images, documents, audio, video, etc. when browsing directories.

The app installation dialog is no longer full-screen. Instead, it’s a pop-up like on tablets.

Back buttonless navigation

Android’s dedicated back button has been around since the beginning. The reason why Google didn’t remove the back button in Android Pie is the average person upgrading their Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, or Pixel 2 XL to Android 9 Pie may have grown too addicted to the dedicated back button, so its sudden removal might have been confusing for them. But now it might be time to get rid of the dedicated back button.

Better transition animation

It seems that Google may be going for a more iPhone-like last app gesture animation.

When will we see these new gestures?

A major revamp to Android’s native gesture navigation controls is a change that I feel like Google will reserve until Google I/O 2019. We’re only a few weeks away from the expected release date of the first Developer Preview for Android Q.

Resources from https://www.xda-developers.com/tag/android-q/