It's the next version of Android.

and Google's releasing a super early preview of it

for developers this year.

Now, the changes here are really developer facing,

there's not a lot of stuff you're gonna see

if you're a user.

But Google's making some big promises.

We've got support for 5G,

better foldable phone support,

new improved privacy and storage stuff.

One thing to keep in mind,

this is really a preview for developers only.

And I mean, really, like even more so than other years,

you can only install on a pixel 2,3,3A or 4,

or the XL versions.

And to install it, need a completely new gear device.

Just don't do it, guys, just don't trust me on this.

But if you are a developer,

or you're like us,

and you happen to have a spare pixel lying around,

you can install the Android 11 developer preview today.

And there's still not a whole lot of stuff.

Again, all the big cool, exciting changes

are probably gonna come at Google IO later this year.

There are a couple cool things.

So let's dive into them.

(soft music)

first is bubbles.

Now, it's a pretty similar feature to Facebook

messengers chat heads feature where,

you know, puts the head of the person

and they're floating over the screen.

This is a system level thing that in theory

any messaging app can use,

right now the only app

that actually uses it is Google's own messaging app.

But in theory, all your favorite messaging apps

should be able to use it in all works together

in this single floating, bubbly pop up.

And then you can get to those messages from anywhere.

Using the features actually really simple.

You just tap and hold on a messaging notification.

And there's a center bubble thing

that sends it to a bubble.

And if you're using the Android 10 betas Actually,

this probably should sound pretty familiar,

'cause it debuted there and then didn't make the final cut.

Anyway, it's pure now in Android 11.

Hopefully, it'll actually ship this time

to go along with bubbles.

There's the new conversation area the notification shade,

which breaks out your messages

from all your other notifications

like Instagram likes and emails

and puts them up on top of the notification area.

The idea here is that it's easier to find than continue

the conversations you're having with people

because it's a phone.

And that's what phones are for.

Next up, better application permissions.

Now, this sounds boring, I know.

But it's actually taking a page from iOS, book.

And it's actually super important.

Well, Google's letting you do now

is now when an app asks if you can use your microphone

or your camera or your location data.

Instead of having two choices,

either know, or have it always,

there's now a third option.

Where you can just give it permission that just one time.

So if you know, wanna send a picture using an app,

but don't want that app to have access to your camera

until the end of time.

That's what this is for.

(soft music)

screen recording.

Okay, so if you've been using Android,

especially the betas we've been burned on this before,

but it's here now and Android 11 beta,

there's a screen recording UI

lets you just natively record your screen on Android

It has a much better user interface.

This time, it looks much nicer.

And hopefully Google will actually,

you know, ship it this time.

But again, we'll have to wait and see Fingers crossed.

There's also a couple smaller features.

dark mode now has automated settings,

you can set it to turn on and off at set times

as opposed to having it you know,

via manual process the soli gestures

on the pixel four have a new one

where you can wave your hand over your phone

to start and stop your music.

There's a new touchscreen sensitivity option,

again, only on the pixel four so far,

that claims that will make your touchscreen more sensitive

and work better when you have a screen protector on

also returning I should say is the ability to pin apps,

the top of the share sheet,

which is something that people been asking me

for a long time.

Now when you're sharing something,

instead of just showing you all the apps

that you have installed on your phone

that you can send it to,

you can just pin the ones you actually want,

like you know, messages and email right on top.

Now, this being a developer beta,

there's a bunch of stuff

that we can't really show you yet

either because it's too abstract

for us to show on the phone.

Or because it's just not done yet,

Google's promising 5G improvements,

like the ability for apps to figure out

if your phone really has an unlimited data connection

before burdens through your whole data plan with, you know,

giant 5G data usage.

There's also better support for scoped storage

where Android puts apps in their own little bins

where they can't interact as much.

It's actually pretty similar to iOS.

Now, Google introduced this last year with Android 10.

But it's making a much bigger push on this this year.

And it's the sort of thing that will improve security.

Google's also going to add a feature

for if you want to turn that off,

they'll be able to in some cases,

again, this is more of a developer thing,

but your apps will be more secure

in things that you might actually notice.

There's also going to be better support

for new types of screens like foldable displays,

pinhole displays, waterfall displays, weird edges.

Look, Android phones are getting really interesting

and really wacky, cool, new designs,

and Google's going to make sure that

Android works with all of them,

which is great.

Google's also promising an OS level support

for shaking stuck authentication

which should make it easier to avoid spam calls.

It's working on improving low latency video streaming

for game streaming services like Google's project stadia.

It's also promising things like project mainline,

which lets Google update parts of the Android OS

through the Play Store without having to

roll out giant software updates like Android 11.

Now, again, this is all really, really early stuff,

there's obviously going to be much bigger features

that Google have for us later.

And some of these features

are even already available right now,

if you have, you know, Samsung, or Motorola phones.

But what's important here that

Google's laying the groundwork for the future of Android,

when it bakes these features into the OS

on level like this.

It's setting the bar for developers,

both software and hardware

to build better and better phones for you in the future.

And that's really exciting.

Obviously, again, this is super early,

and we'll have lots more in Android 11 in the coming days,

weeks and months

as Google continues to roll out betas

and makes more announcements,

but until then, stay tuned to the verge.

Thanks so much for watching.

This is the Android 11 logo.

They're turning it up to 11 it's very cute.

You got it. I got it. They got it.

I missed the dessert names.

Where's the dessert names Google.

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