Android 11 brought some major improvements to Google's mobile OS. It added tools such as chat bubbles and conversation notifications. There was also a screen recorder. It was largely a backend improvement, which makes it less exciting than iOS 14's more flashy changes. It's Android 12 this year that is making a splash. Android 12 is being called the "biggest design change in Android history" by Google. It features a vibrant redesign called Material You. Android 12 is a new OS that customizes and enhances your phone's screen without the need for an icon pack or Android launcher. Android 12 will also add many long-requested features such as a Privacy Dashboard and scrollable screenshots. Smarter notifications are also available. VPN Deals: Monthly plans starting at $16 for a lifetime license.Android 12 is expected to arrive on Google Pixel phones in just over a month. It is currently in beta 3. This was surprising considering that it is so close to launch. Hopefully, the upcoming beta4 "Platform Stability” update will fix some of these issues. In this article we'll discuss all the design changes made to Android 12 and the launch windows for Google and Samsung as well as other manufacturers.Android 12 Public beta 3 now availableSource: Hayato Huseman / Android CentralGoogle released the first Android 12 Developer Preview on February 18, 2021. The second Android 12 Developer preview was released on March 17, 2021. These builds are specifically designed for developers who want to begin tweaking new OS apps. The majority of updates were subtle. Google I/O 2021 was the place where the real changes took place. Google unveiled the new OS on May 18 and launched the Android 12 beta program. The brand new features in Material You were revealed during our first Android 12 beta hands-on. Android 12 beta 2 was launched on June 9th, while the latest Android 12 Beta 3 was released on July 14th. All Pixels, starting with the Pixel 3 series are eligible for the beta. The latest Android 12 beta 3 arrived on July 14. These devices can be installed the Android 12 beta right now: Pixel 3/3 XLPixel 3a/3a XLPixel 4 / Pixel 4 XLPixel 4a/4a 5GPixel 5Xiaomi Mi 11 UltraXiaomi Mi 11Xiaomi Mi 11i (Mi 11X/Redmi K40 Pro)Xiaomi Mi 11 Pro (China only)OnePlus 9 ProOnePlus 9OPPO Find X3 PROVivo iQOO 7 LegendRealme GTNokia X20ASUS ZenFone 8SharpTecno Camon 17TCL 20 Pro 5GZTE Axon30 5G Ultra Are you ready to give Android 12 a try on your Pixel? We have compiled a list of the best methods to install Android 12 onto your device. You can also download the Android TV beta 3.Source: GoogleAlthough the release dates for Android versions have changed over time, they have always been consistent in the past. These are the dates of the four previous releases: Android 8.0, August 21, 2017,Android 9 August 6, 2018,Android 10 September 3, 2019Android 11 September 8, 2020Source: GoogleGoogle seems to be committed to a similar release window in Android 12. Google claims it will reach Platform Stability for Android 12 in mid-August 2021 and is well on its way. We don't know when the final version will arrive on Pixel phones, but we do have an estimate. Most Android users have other phones than the Pixel. You will need to find out when your Pixel 6 will receive Android 12. Samsung has suggested that One UI 4.0 beta based on Android 12 will start "around September and October", starting with the Galaxy S21 Series. The One UI 4.0 beta should also be available for other recent phones, such as the Galaxy S20 (and Note 20), and rumored future phones such as the Z Flip 3, Z Fold 3, and S21 FE. Based on the previous betas, the One UI 4 stable builds will take around two months to arrive. Other OEMs such as OnePlus and Xiaomi will also follow a similar path, with their most powerful phones receiving Android 12 by the end of 2021 and older, less-powerful phones remaining until 2022. Android 12 InterfaceSource: Nick Sutrich / Android CentralGoogle has called the new visual paradigm Material You. This is an evolution from Material Design. Google's new visual paradigm Material You is the key feature. It makes it easy than ever to customize your phone according to your preferences. You can change the colors of your interface easily with the "transformative" feature. A color extraction feature automatically selects colors from the wallpaper on your phone. These colors are then used throughout the UI including the notification shade and lock screen. This is the new theming engine that we have been waiting for. It is thrilling to finally see Google offer powerful customization controls. This new theming engine is covered in detail in the Android 12 beta 2. Beta 3 introduced the ability to choose a theme color by hand, instead of relying on your wallpaper. Even better, you can activate themed icons to make your apps match your selected color. Google offers only four colors for dark and light mode. This is the main problem, as we explained in our beta 3 hands on.Source: Android CentralGoogle gives users more control over their phone's UI by updating it in Settings with each new update. Users don't need the best Android launchers and the best icon packs. We also noticed that Android 12 beta3 has removed font and icon shape options. This seems to be a change for the better. This means that we are exchanging one type of customization for another instead of Google allowing us pick and choose. Google finally provided the theming engine that we have been requesting for so long. Animations are another major Android 12 update. Google has sprinkled fun animations all over the interface to make everyday interactions more enjoyable. Google claims that it has improved interactions to make them more fluid, energy-efficient, and that core system services consume up to 22% less resources. Google's beta 3 update to auto-rotate between landscape and portrait has been speeded up 25 percent. Google used the selfie camera to determine the angle of your face relative to the phone. This allows it to recognize orientation changes more quickly. Unfortunately, it's still a little buggy. We created a guide to help you disable Android 12 auto-rotation. Another aesthetic change is in dark mode. Google seems to be intent on making it lighter with each preview. It's now a grey-toned mode that was once true dark, which doesn't look very good on AMOLED panels. Google will not be able to adjust the intensity of the dark mode like other manufacturers ColorOS 11.Source: GoogleGoogle has taken in feedback from beta testers and made several visual adjustments to better meet community expectations. Beta 2 introduced a thinner, taller volume slider than beta 1. Beta 3 eliminated the "sparkle animation" that appears when you click on certain UI elements. If they continue to make these changes, it's possible that Google will offer additional dark mode options in the future. Android 12 will include a one-handed mode for Pixel phones. Preview 2 added this mode. You can swipe down from the top of the screen to condense your app into the bottom half, then swipe up to exit the app and turn it back to normal. Android 12 also gives widgets a major overhaul. With iOS 14 last year, widgets were a major focus for Apple. Android 12 could take some cues from Apple to give Android widgets a much needed refresh. Google introduced some new widgets in Android 12 Beta 1 such as the conversation widget. However, they are still not fully baked. These new design features will debut on Pixels later in the year. At this time, we don't know if or when they will be available for other devices. Android 12 PrivacySource: Nick Sutrich / Android CentralAndroid 12 is no exception. Google uses Android updates to bring new privacy-focused features to its users. Android 12 brings a major overhaul to privacy at OS level. The Privacy Dashboard gives you a new way to see and control the permissions granted to apps to access your personal information. An indicator will show you when an app uses your location, microphone or camera. This ensures that no other service can access these data in the background. Source: Android Central. The big change is that the notification pane now allows you to disable the microphone or camera. This setting applies across the entire system. This toggle will override any permissions granted to an app to access the camera. This is a big deal for privacy and Android. It is combined with new notifications that notify you when apps access these resources. You can control your privacy easily on the fly. Google claims that users will have more control and transparency over the use of cookies across websites. Google is also improving safety when apps export certain activities. This will ensure that things that are important to a particular app don't get shared with other sites. Android 12 NotificationsSource: GoogleAndroid 11 was a big success and Android 12 continues that trend. Notifications have received a few updates, with the first being UI updates. The notification pane now includes large text labels. There's also a Google Pay toggle to make it easy to access your saved cards. A new Device Controls toggle replaces the section for smart home controls in Android 11. Google also states that it is "decorating notifications using custom content with icon expand affordances to correspond with all other notifications." Google has introduced a new security feature for lock screen notifications. Developers can now set notifications to require authentication on the lock screen. Notifications are also faster in Android 12. Android 12 apps will benefit from Google's behind-the scenes improvements that will make it easier to tap on the notification and access an app faster. Android 12 GamingSource: Nick Sutrich / Android CentralAndroid 12 will bring you a new experience with the Android Games Development Kit and APIs. Android 12 games will adapt to different Game Mode APIs. If you choose a battery-saving or performance mode, your game's settings will be adjusted accordingly. Google also developed a Play Integrity API that will help you avoid cheating and provide better compression tools to decrease download sizes. Android 12 is the most exciting update. When downloading large files of Android games, Android 12 allows you to start playing it while you wait for the rest to download. This is similar to what you can do on consoles. This was beta 3 and it allowed us to ride a bike in Touchgrind BMX with only 15% of the app downloaded. It's quite impressive and is great for those with slow wi-fi.Source: GoogleIn the final Android 12 version, there will be a Game dashboard that allows for quicker access to screen recording tools and screenshots. We were unable to test it in beta 3. Android 12 MiscellaneousSource: Nick Sutrich / Android CentralAndroid 12 offers many smaller updates that are equally important to keep in mind. A car key feature, which will work with selected Google Pixels as well as new cars from BMW and Volvo, is an exciting addition. It hasn't been available in beta yet, but it will be in September. A new design for Android 12 emojis will be a major change. The new design for 992 emojis, which include many that were redesigned to better reflect the diversity of other countries, will be available in September. You can even choose to change the way they look depending on whether your phone is in dark or light mode. Stock Android has never been able to take scrolling screenshots. However, many Android phones now have this option. With the latest beta, it's easy to take scrollable screenshots with Android 12. The OS will also make it easier to transcode media files. Android 12 introduces new media-transcoding tools that will allow apps to deal with HEVC content if it isn't supported natively. This is because HEVC has become more popular in mobile. If an app cannot handle HEVC files these will be automatically transcoded into AVC. Android 12 introduces support for AVIF. AVIF is a superior format than JPEG and offers better quality images at smaller file sizes (see the image below).
