This week 9to5Google's Abner Li, Ben Schoon, and Kyle Bradshaw discuss the changes seen in the developer preview of Android 12. Changes to notifications, what new settings there are, new gestures that are in, and those that are coming.
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New episodes of Alphabet Scoop are recorded every Thursday afternoon at 4-5 PM ET and published on Friday mornings. Subscribe to our podcast in Google Play or your favorite podcast player to guarantee new episodes are delivered as soon as they're available. Hosts
* Abner Li
* Ben Schoon
* Kyle Bradshaw Links
* Google launches Android 12 Developer Preview for Pixel phones
* Notifications redesigned w/ bigger icons, dedicated snooze button
* Notifications to gain ‘Automatic’ option for whether or not to alert
* Privacy toggles can block camera and microphone with a tap
* Markup tool now lets you add emoji and text to screenshots
* You can now edit any image with the Markup tool meant for screenshots
* ‘Reduce Bright Colors’ button tones down screen brightness
* Navigation gestures work instantly in fullscreen apps
* Dark theme on Pixel is no longer AMOLED black
* Wallpaper-based theming tool showcased ahead of release [Gallery]
* Settings app gets revamp with new search bar
* Here’s a look at One-handed mode in action [Video]
* Lockscreen readies redesign with larger clock
* Scrolling screenshots are here, but disabled for now
* Lockscreen and notification shade media player gets UI redesign
* Pixel 5 readies ‘Double tap’ gesture, doesn’t work yet
* Android TV 12 preview is now available, months ahead of previous releases Feedback?
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Abner Li: And welcome to alphabet scoop episode one theme. This week, we are discussing everything. The thing about Android 12, which launched last as they unexpected which is a day or eight compared to the past five years or so. But we had a week to live with Android 12 and. We've we we've dived a lot into it. Android 12 Developer Preview launches
[00:00:31] So just to get, to get out of the way, this is starting with a developer preview, there will be three of them followed by full betas and then the before final release, but Android 12 live now, as it is every year is just for developers. And this year Google with. And like 12, what for developers? They want to give them new tools for building great experiences for users.
[00:01:03] That's the official quote. And we're definitely seeing that in notifications, for example, that may have been completely redesigned with bigger icons, the, a bit more friendly. Google has the, we arranged everything again. And. I think for the most part it's well, in the case of the media player, I like how they went back to enlarging the cover art after shrinking at this with Android, you Evan.
[00:01:35] So there's some nice peaks, all lounge. We won't get to appreciate any of the changes until active app has stopped updating the apps, but so far so good.
[00:01:47] Kyle Bradshaw: I don't know though. It seems interesting with the, that this that they're talking about tools to give to developers for, for great experiences.
[00:01:54] And it just doesn't feel like that's the, that's not what I would describe as what we've seen with Android 12 so far, that seems to be the promise of Android 12, but it doesn't feel like what we've seen so far. None of the, the headline changes to Android 12 feel. Like their developer empowering or, or experience driving,
[00:02:17] Abner Li: you know, I can see that, but I, I think in some ways what they mean about when they get in the case of notifications, it's I think putting the app, I caught, like there, it's kind of a big deal.
[00:02:33] And in terms of that, the conveying that you're doing with an individual. Either, the notifications always felt a part of the system, but there's a level of theming here that that's, I don't know, empowers the developer to make it more of their own experience.
[00:02:53] Kyle Bradshaw: Yeah. I can see that, especially with, by comparison to Android 11, which kind of lumped social apps together into that conversation's view.
[00:03:02] I feel blank Android 12. With the way that it, you know, as you're saying, put the, the app icon on the side, it brings back that level of the division between apps. Like sometimes I'd, I'd get confused. What apps different notifications are, even from when I'm looking at the conversations view on Android 11,
[00:03:25] Abner Li: but at the same time, It's I hope, well, it being able to put your own spin on something within limits is better than a wild West approach that pot, but it'd be fine the early days of the platform, but I hope it keeps it. Notification redesign
[00:03:44] I hope this free, this free expression that Google's allowing apps and Android 12 notifications is still within limits. Yeah. So notifications, how, how either of you like this year is innovation on a lock on media notifications?
[00:04:05] Ben Schoon: It looks visually a little bit nicer. It's minor, but it's nice.
[00:04:10] Kyle Bradshaw: Yeah.
[00:04:12] Iteration is all it needed. It, it, it was already kind of a revolution as it were last time. This was, it was nice to just have a new iteration this year.
[00:04:21] Abner Li: Hmm. I don't know. They always change it from . That's like They always change it. Yeah.
[00:04:29] Ben Schoon: It's not an Android release without a tweak to media and a tweak to notification. Camera and mic privacy toggles
[00:04:36] Abner Li: That's fair. That's, that's pretty true. So, yeah. That's notifications and I think another big tentpole that we're starting to see is privacy with privacy toggles to block the kava and microphone. In practice. I, okay. So there's the urban myth, I guess, of people thinking that Facebook is listening to them, but Instagram is listening to them to serve.
[00:05:06] And to be
[00:05:07] Ben Schoon: fair, seems like it's happening even though it's not.
[00:05:12] Abner Li: It's perfect. It's those moments. There has to be some. Psychological explanation to why those moments feel so, so visible, but yeah, and, and I doubt that Google is going to be that explicit that he's privacy toggles. Meant to mitigate that, but I like the idea of these toggles, especially with the microphone also that also than the Metabo.
[00:05:40] Ben Schoon: Yeah. It just, it feels like a kill switch, which, you know, we've seen on a lot of laptops have like a physical switch to cut off the camera either with a privacy cover or with a it just cuts off the software. I mean, like one of the things I liked about it was there's been a lot of times where I've been tied into like a video conference from my phone and it's a time I really don't want to be seen this.
[00:06:02] I'm always worried. Like I'm always checking, make sure I'm muted, make sure I'm that the camera's off, but it'd be nice to just hit a toggle and make sure that that definitely can't happen. So. I think it's, it's nice. It's a good,
[00:06:15] Abner Li: yeah. So yeah, privacy. I'm sure we'll see more of that. Going forward and that's, I think there, there are quite a handful of user facing changes that are all of the UI and develop a pre-vis one. Emojis and text on screenshots
[00:06:29]Mockup got a nice with a boost. You can now add emoji and tax a screenshots while it's also available. Not just a screenshot. So I think this is, it would be more comprehensive editor. What does Samsung do? Could they keep the mock up tool or do they have their own custom thing that they have their
[00:06:48] Ben Schoon: own?
[00:06:50] Yeah. They have their own, which is optimized for the S pe…