Android 11 has arrived! The latest release is all about helping you get to what’s important on your phone with easier ways to help you manage your conversations, connected devices, privacy, and much more. In honor of the 11th version of Android, here are 11 new things that are coming in Android 11.
That’s the Google PR blurb, and here’s the conclusion from The Verge’s review of Android 11:
When (or, sadly, if) the update arrives on your Android phone, what you’ll find is that a few important things that used to get lost in the interface are now easier to find. You’ll also see that Android is still playing catch-up with iOS when it comes to privacy restrictions, but progress is nevertheless being made.
Mostly, though, you’ll get a very familiar interface that does very familiar things. That’s not a complaint, just a recognition that Android 11 is a mature OS, so year-over-year improvements tend to be in the “slow and steady” category.
Coming to a phone near you. At some point. Maybe. Who knows.
> “Coming to a phone near you. At some point. Maybe. Who knows.”
At this point, who cares? My favorite daily phone is an HTC One Max running Android 5.0.2 because I like the screen better. It even has permission management (it’s running the infamous “official unofficial” ROM with the permission management developer option on). The only thing I am *not* missing is the random re-organization of things in the settings screen that was done in more recent Android versions. Also, I didn’t notice any real changes when my U11+ received Android 9. It works the same as before.
The days we all yearned for Android ICS because it changed everything for the better (if your phone could handle it) are over.
Security is an issue sure, but I will come to it and stop using my old phones when it actually becomes a real problem. It’s not like I can do anything about it.
> At this point, who cares?
Security conscious people?
I meant about the Android 11 features themselves. Android 8.0 “Oreo” was the Windows 7 of Android.
There’s a lot of security and privacy enhancements, but the killer feature for me is split screen, which came with Android 7.
Android 8.0 brought Project Treble, which supposedly would make updates easier, but honestly I didn’t see much change on the general vendors’ attitude regarding updates, unfortunately.
Android doesn’t suck, but Android vendors do.
I would agree that I don’t much care for the changes to hardware and software over the last few years.
I like having a fingerprint sensor on the front. I like having a row of buttons (and the on screen buttons don’t really cut it). Gestures tend to be quite frustrating. I like having a physical headphone socket, even if I rarely use it.
Faster/more efficient processors are a bonus. Having more battery life is always a good thing (which can both be hardware and software optimisations). Supporting the new connection standards is good.
But other hardware design changes have not been welcome, UI changes have not really improved matters.
Support, security updates and app compatibility are driving us along the path, but outside of what’s necessary, it’s not really going in a good direction.
I would be happy if they either centralise the core OS updates so that everyone gets them, or slow the pace down / ensure that there is a long term support so that we aren’t being pushed to upgrade quite so often.
My old Moto X (first gen) was my favorite Android Phone, still running Android 5.0 as well. Aesthetically superior still to modern incarnations. If the ear piece still worked, and it was slightly faster, I might still be using it.
Somehow, the voice/driving controls on the Moto X are still better than basically anything more recent, even newer Moto phones. Not sure how they messed that up so bad.
> Coming to a phone near you. At some point. Maybe. Who knows.
Come on, at this stage you already know. Some vendors are notorious for their updates, some vendors are notorious for their lack of updates. If you shell out and buy a Pixel phone, you’ll get it; OnePlus 8 users will be able to download a beta today as well; Nokia shouldn’t take long; Samsung will take a while. In the coming months the correspondent Lineage OS images will come out too and a ton of devices will be supported.
If you do your homework before you buy your next phone, you too will be able to get the latest Android.
Now don’t get me wrong, I still think the 2-year update rule on Android phones is madness and criminal. My 10 year old desktop is still running fine, same as my mom’s 18 year old desktop. Unless there is a hardware requirement, why shouldn’t we have that on our phones?
And still, Samsung will walk away with massive sales. People just don’t care about Android upgrades anymore. The days someone would show me their new ICS app switcher or their Chrome for Android at the cafeteria and get me excited about receiving ICS and make me curse my LG Optimus 2X for not having it, are over, new Android versions (from the user’s perspective) are literally a couple more options in the already overly complicated settings menu.
Also, most people won’t care about security unless some kid makes an MS Blaster for Android.
> And still, Samsung will walk away with massive sales.
Actually Samsung is doing quite good at updating their phones nowadays, it’s quite different than a couple years ago:
https://zdnet1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/2019/09/02/785906da-314a-41be-b688-95c0645d3d97/android-version-share-for-top-10-manufacturers-cumulative-sales.png
Does this use Scoped Storage? That’s my biggest concern.
Already got it on my Pixel 4 XL.. possibly the quickest and easiest major version OS update I’ve ever experienced.
Moochman,
For a phone only released in october of last year, that’s inline with expectations, especially considering that android 11 was probably developed internally for the same phone that you have. 3rd party phones have more vetting to do, which is reasonable as long as the updates are in the pipeline…
Officially though, even google’s own pixel 4 only has “Minimum 3 years of OS and security updates”, which is disappointing IMHO.
store.google.com/us/product/pixel_4_specs
While it implies that support may go longer, google needs a stronger commitment than that in light of android’s (deservedly) bad reputation for support.
The fire TV stick i bought last week still runs Android 5 from 2014. Maybe Google should stop the year over year update and provide longer support and update on previous versions. Developers have to cope with 6 or more android versions for no real reason. What is the point of releasing a new v 11 when most of android phones are still hoping to get rel 10 ??
Keep each release for longer, maybe move to 2-years or even 3-years update cycle and make update easier for everyone providing new features within the same release. There us no point in imitating Apple in that regards, their ecosystem is completely different.
I’ve never updated the OS on my fridge either, but nobody seems to care.
The whole point of upgrading for security reasons has – IMO – been upgraded from a concern into a constant nag by people who gain from it. Microsoft, McAfee, .. .
Shouldn’t we looking at this with a little more common sense, already ?