Android S is out! Ah no, it’s Android 12. It would have been Android S or whatever ‘S’ dessert if Google didn’t change the naming convention for the Android OS. After almost a year of anticipation, Android 12 is now live in AOSP. It’s been over a year since Android 12 was mentioned. Back then, we learned Android 12 users would be able to use third-party app stores easily. Android 12 features and enhancements were leaked before launch and soon, Android 12 Developer Preview 1 started rolling out for developers.
Android 12 Developer Preview 1 added native scrolling screenshots. We noted a few features like the Pixel-exclusive lock screen clocks and major changes in UI and design.
Several versions have already rolled out the past months. Android 12 Beta 5 was released last month. Today, we’re seeing the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) getting the latest version. This means Android 12 will soon be available to more devices from Samsung OPPO, OnePlus, Xiaomia, Vivo, Tecno, and Realme among others.
More Android 12 details will be revealed at the upcoming Android Dev Summit. It will be held on October 27 to 28.
Android 12 brings new UI for Android. This includes Material You, redesigned widgets, notification UI updates, stretch overscroll, and app launch splash screens. Expect improved performance. It will be faster and more efficient. Notice the optimized foreground services, more responsive notifications, Performance class, and faster machine learning.
When it comes to Privacy, you will see a new Privacy Dashboard, approximate location, microphone and camera indicators, microphone and camera toggles, and nearby device permissions.
Android 12 also offers better user experience tools like rich content insertion, support for rounded screen corners, AVIF image support, compatible media transcoding, and easier blurs, color filtes, and other effects. Notice enhanced haptic experiences, new camera effects and sensor capabilities, and better debugging for native crashes. Android 12 for Games has also been introduced.
If you’re a developer, you may want to get your mobiles apps ready for Android 12. Finish compatibility testing as soon as possible and publish updates. This will then allow users to smoothly transition to Android 12.
Android 12 is also known as Android Snow Cone within Google. No, it’s not the official name though.
Davey Burke (@davey_burke), VP Engineering at Google for Android, share the “cool background to celebrate the launch of Android Snow Cone”.
