Android 11 by Google: A first look at the new developer preview

• Android 11 has expanded biometric compatibility with different levels of granularity—strong, weak, and device credential.
• Google has added native platform support to Android 11 for “secure storage and retrieval of verifiable identification documents, such as ISO 18013-5 compliant Mobile Driving Licenses”.
• Similar to iOS, apps will now be limited in their ability to look at storage outside their own quota. This new feature is called “Scoped Storage” by Google.
• Improved compatibility with new screen types (including pinhole screens and waterfall screens etc.) and form factors. “Apps can now manage pinhole screens and waterfall screens using the existing display cutout APIs,” Google confirmed in their website.
• Better low latency video decoding for streaming game services like Google Stadia and Nvidia Geforce Now.

• Apps can now use new API’s to mute incoming notifications, alarms and ringtones while the user is taking a photo or video. This was an annoying issue in previous Android iterations and we are glad Google is finally rectifying it.
• The dark theme settings are also improved in the new Android 11 update. It can now enable or disable the dark theme depending on the time of day.
• There is also a feature to pin apps to the share menu which could be very useful.
• Improved Neural Networks API 1.3 designed to run computationally intensive operations for machine learning.
• Better call screening support for SHAKEN/STIR call screen authentication.
• Better awareness of 5G bandwidth and metering and improved Wi-Fi API.
• Android 11 has a new feature that enables a neat overlay showing the refresh rate of your phone.

Final thoughts

The new update certainly doesn’t feel like a completely revamped Android OS but it rather feels like an improved version of Android 10. The update finally removes annoying bugs and makes incremental enhancements to the user experience. But the biggest change can be seen in terms of security and Android 11 does seem to have finally taken a page out of iOS’s book. Android 11 might be the most secure version of Android ever. But we can’t be 100 per cent sure as this is just the first sneak-peek into what Google may offer come May when Android 11 will be released officially.