The Google I/O (Input/Output), an annual developer conference held by Google in Mountain View, California came back to the fore after 1 year of hiatus. The 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 restrictions but thankfully this year’s event kicked off yesterday.
This year’s event which started yesterday, May 18, 2021 availed users the opportunity to stream the program live on their mobile, tablets and desktop devices at no cost, revealed a lot of technological advancements and new announcements from Google and we are taking a look at the newly announced Android 12.
Google yesterday released the first batch of the beta to the public, availing us of the fresh build to the advanced operating system.
The latest update has a variety of new improvements and new facet introduction and this should thus excite users.
The Android 12 edition offers new tweaks to media handing and notification support, privacy improvements, more refined notification UI and of course haptic feedback.
Users with old IOS versions do not actually need to buy a new Android 12 edition device to upgrade, they can actually do so with their existing devices provided they have Google Pixel.
But then, it depends on the capability, durability of your existing mobile device.
Yesterday the 18th of May 2021, Google confirmed the following features on the soon to be released Android 12 on smart phones.
1. Colour Extraction protocol which allows users to extract designs from installed wallpapers, a innovative move to allow one’s mobile smartphone device feel unique to peculiar taste. Though we have to wait till June before we can fully have colour extractions as it’s not in the first beta, animations, spacing changes are part of the design tweaks that Android 12 has to offer.
2. Security and Privacy improvements: Apart from giving users more control over app permissions, Android 12 allows data collection by apps to be fair and more transparent. The new OS version gives you a new Privacy Dashboard that allows you have a concise view if how your apps access their information, so you can be sure of how secure they are. A summary dashboard indicating how many of your applications accessed your data info like camera, microphone and location in the past 24 hours would be shown. You can also edit app permissions of applications in the new Privacy Dashboard. You can allow or revoke permissions from an app.
3. Seamless Wireless Network Sharing: Unlike Previous OS versions, you don’t need to use the barcode scan to share your current Wi-Fi connection with someone, all you need to do in Android 12 is to tap on the “Nearby” button underneath the QR code of the image and voila!, you have transferred the Wi-Fi credentials to your preferred destination. This new feature is more convenient as it allows you share your connection with a lot of people without having to give everyone around to scan one after the other.
4. Improved Audio Effect (Haptic): Developers can now make feedback patterns in the haptic way with audio effect. According to Google ” A video calling app could use custom ringtones to identify the caller through haptic feedback, or you could stimulate rough terrain in a racing game”. The duration of vibrations is taken from audio cues that helps to add a more immersive layer to media alerts.
5. New Widgets; Yesterday, Google made the confirmation that a weather widget is in the offing and we believe there would be more. There are expectations of a conversation widget and many more. This would be so incredible!
6. Widget Organization: The new feature allows you to see more widgets categories at once you add a widget to the home screen. This is a fantastic addition as it would allow you to easily locate the exact app you want a widget for and then add the desired widget. This just makes things easier.
7. Hibernation of Applications: This OS allows you to control apps that occupy space on your smartphone storage without having to uninstall them. For example, you have a app you do not actually need to use at the moment but you do not want to uninstall it as you may need it in the future, you can hibernate it and save your device memory storage! The ‘App Hibernation’ or the ‘Unused Apps’ feature will remove the permissions of that temporary unwanted app and clear temporary files and cache and also restrict notifications for the app.
Ayoola Faseyi, an Abuja based Journalist with interest in Technology and Politics. He is a versatile writer with articles in many renowned News Journals. He is the Co-Founder of media brand, The Vent Republic.
