Android 10 (Q) finally goes official! What’s new?
- calendar_month
- personNabin Pradhan
- schedule8 min read
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After first launching the Android Q beta on March 13, Google has now officially released the Android Q after long anticipation from the Android users. The beta version of Android Q was also quite able to receive good reviews from the users, well let’s see if the new Android Q can really live up to the user’s expectation.
More on, Google has now also launched the official website of Android Q soon after its release. Comparing to the previous version (Android 9 Pie), the Android 10 Q has received some substantial updates such as renewed gesture controls, dark theme, enhanced privacy mode and more.
And if you are unsure, the official release of Android Q doesn’t mean that it will now be available for every Android phone now. For its fully release on all the android phones, it might take some few months. Until then, only the Google Pixel phones get the latest android update. The list of all phones that have Android 10 so far.
- Google Pixel 3/ Pixel 3 XL
- Google Pixel 3a/ Pixel 3a XL
- Google Pixel 2/ Pixel 2 XL
- Google Pixel / Pixel XL
Well, let’s have a quick glance at what new updates you will get in the new Android 10 Q.
What’s new?
Enhanced Gesture Navigation
The gesture features in the Android 10 is well updated and faster compared to the previous version (Pie). So, the opening of home screen and toggle through various applications will now become much faster and enhanced in the new android version.
The gesture features can be changed from Settings>System>Gestures.
New Dark Theme
Well, your android phone will be available in dark theme, as Google as upgraded the theme color in the new Android Q. The new Dark theme uses a “true black” hue which preserves the battery life of the smartphone for a longer time. In the new Android Q, you will see a different look of applications such as Calendar, Photos, and Drive.
The new system-wide dark theme can be activated from Settings>Display or it can also be activated by turning on Battery Saver.
Live Caption
Now, with the Live Caption feature in the Android Q, you can easily add subtitles or caption to your videos, podcasts and audio messages even without the connection of mobile network or WiFi.
Enhanced Privacy
Google has also enhanced the privacy features in the new Android 10 as in the new privacy section within Settings where you can change the Activity Controls, Location History, and Ad settings features.
Additionally, the Scoped Storage feature allows the user to have better control over their apps by asking permission to access filed from external storage such as microSD card or not. Also, the phone automatically blocks the unwanted launch of the applications on the background.
Smart Reply and Actions
The inclusion of Smart Reply and Actions into the Notifications framework. offering system-provided smart replies and actions inserted directly into notifications by default. App developers will be able to supply their own replies and actions. By default, all notifications from messaging apps will let users quickly send useful contextual information as a reply, or launch an app, such as Google Maps, if the received message contains an address.
Location Controls
The enhanced location controls offer more locations options to choose from- such as grant access all the time, never, or only when the app is open.
Enhanced Notifications
In the new Android 10, you will get a hierarchy system for notifications, classifying them into Gentle and Priority tiers. This helps the users to manage the overload of notifications which can be hectic most of the times. The Priority notification option grabs users’ attention with sounds and status bar icons which mostly appears on the lock screen while general notifications make no sounds and simply pull under the notification shade.
Sound Amplifier
With the new Sound Amplifier feature, you can now boost the sound of the device, filter the unwanted background noise and adjust the audio levels to hear clear and crisp audio through the phone.
Bubble Notifications
Google has now added bubble notification features in the new Android 10 Q. Similarly, like the pop-up chat heads that you usually see in the Messaging apps, you will now be able to see notification bubbles in the new Android version. This allows you to quickly multi-task on your smartphone. Users can drag this bubble to any part of the screen while also can expand it to view any important notifications associated with apps.
Bubbles will be prioritized for communication notifications, and users will be able to pin them to their home screens for continual access. Bubbles are designed for notifications that require or can lead to a lot of user interaction.
Faster Security Updates
This time Google has fully ensured to provide regular security updates much faster and easier than in the past. Just as the regular apps updates rest on the PlayStore from where we update our apps, now every important security and privacy updates on the device can easily be received from Google Play.
Foldable Support
After the recent release of the foldable phones such as Samsung Galaxy Fold, it was quite unsure about the availability of the new Android 10 in these devices soon. But after Google natively supporting this type of UI continuity in the backend, it'll likely come to more foldable phones when they launch with Android 10 onboard.
5G Upgrades
New APIs on the Android 10 Q will enable apps to detect user connection rate and latency, as well as to detect if the connection is metered.
This will give developers more refined control over how much data to send to users, especially when they have poorer connections or have data-downloading limits.
Well, these are some of the major updates that you will be able to see in the new Android 10 Q. However, the official release date of the new Android version for all devices has not been unveiled. As each OEM need to develop their own version of the update for each phone, it might nearly take around 3-4 months for its official release on all the Android devices.
