Google has pushed out the second developer preview for Android 11, the next Android operating system version. It follows one month on from the initial preview.
The new version adds new 5G APIs for compatible devices, improvements to Google’s excellent call screening feature and angle detection for foldables. The latter hints that developers are keen to build apps that react to the angle that foldables, such as the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, can be adjusted to in order to build new functionality.
It’ll also very likely come in handy for apps on Microsoft’s dual screen Surface Duo device that is due out in a few months.
Also added in the new build are network APIs, foreground services updates for the camera and mic variable refresh rate support and lots of other technical background process things that normal people rightly never have to think about.
The Android 11 Developer Preview 2 has arrived with updates to 5G APIs, call screening service APIs, Neural Networks APIs, synchronized IME transitions, and more. See the timeline and how to get started building and testing with #Android11. Details → https://t.co/YkQSLge4V5 pic.twitter.com/ORnCJ1bvaW
— Android Developers (@AndroidDev) March 18, 2020
Developer previews are technically available to anyone with a Pixel 2 or later, but as the name suggests most people should steer clear. Developer previews are usually full of bugs but are pushed out to devs in order to let them build apps for the next Android version and to report back to Google with bugs prior to the public release. Android 11 is likely to launch around October with the presumed Pixel 5.
Author: Henry Burrell, Phones Editor
Henry is Tech Advisor’s Phones Editor, ensuring he and the team covers and reviews every smartphone worth knowing about for readers and viewers all over the world. He spends a lot of time moving between different handsets and shouting at WhatsApp to support multiple devices at once.