«Material you»: a major design update, enhanced privacy and new features for Android 12
To start off its developer conference I/O, Google presented the first beta version of Android 12 and defined three focal points for upcoming big changes: design, privacy and collaboration with other devices.
Kicking off the keynote at I/O, Google celebrates three billion active Android devices around the world. This incredible quantity of devices is combined with a departure from «One size fits all». Instead, Android 12 will adapt better to different devices and allow better customisation as well.
Material you
The current «Material Design» slogan has been updated to «Material you». This includes new button arrangements, menu items and design elements. The most obvious thing, however, might be the colour palettes. For the first time, you can choose your Android colours and customise them to your personal taste – not only for the system, but across apps from Google and other developers.
Material you also includes automatic UI adaptation to different display sizes and formats. This interface integration apparently took years of work, just in time for foldable and extendable smartphones to ruin it all once more.
Google wants to simplify many interactions in Android 12. Among other things, the quick settings that appear when you swipe down from the top edge are of particular interest. Then there are the design gimmicks, which can be very beautiful. For example, how you activate the lock screen makes a difference. If you press the power button, the screen lights up from there. If you lift the smartphone, light emerges from the bottom of the screen. The power button also becomes the default button for Google Assistant. Press and hold it to open voice assistant.
Material you and further innovations are slated for release with the final version of Android 12 in autumn and will first come to Google’s Pixel smartphones. Later, Google plans to apply it to its apps on other smartphones, Chrome OS, the Chrome browser, and more. What other smartphone manufacturers will adopt for their user interfaces remains to be seen and will certainly be very different.
Your data: private and secure
Google wants to keep your private data even more secure with Android 12. A new «Privacy Dashboard» has been designed to help with this. It shows what data has been shared with which apps and when. You can edit permissions given for this directly in the dashboard. A small icon in the notification bar is supposed to let you know when an app has access to the camera or microphone.
«Private Compute Core» acts as a new central storage location for private information. Google does have access to it, but it shouldn’t leave your smartphone. Google uses «Now Playing» or automatic replies as good examples. Other services are to follow later this year. Private Computer Core is open source and therefore not only usable by others, but its security is also independently verifiable.
Better together
If Google has its way, smartphones will become even more of a central device, working in sync with laptops, TVs or cars. You can already unlock Chromebooks with your smartphone and share data between both devices. Soon, access to your latest photos will be added. For systems with Android TV, a remote control app including voice search is coming with Android 12.
Regarding cars, Android Auto wireless eliminates the need for a cable. What’s more, «Car Key» turns your smartphone into just that. For this, NFC and UWB are used to unlock your car from a short distance. This should already be possible come autumn with some initial models and Pixel as well as some Galaxy models from Samsung.
Beta 1
The first beta version of Android 12 offering some of the new features is available now for smartphones from various manufacturers. However, you should only install it on test devices that you do not use in everyday life. Further beta versions are planned in the coming months. The final version of Android 12 is scheduled for release in fall 2021.
When I was but a young student, I'd sit in my friend's living room with all my classmates and play on his SuperNES. Since then I've had the opportunity to test out all the newest technology for you. I've done reviews at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, and have now arrived at Galaxus.de.