Now that some developers have gotten hold of initial builds of Android Q, we will have some idea of what Google is working on for their next big update. One thing that they seem to be experimenting with now is a chat head bubble for notifications. This should be able to make notifications more compact and easier to move around your screen bit it’s still early days and it might not make it into the next build but it’s interesting to see what they want to bring next to our smartphones.
If you know your way around builds and codes and if you have a device that can access the Android Q Beta 1, then you can actually enable this through ADB commands. But if not, we’ll have to tell you about it (and see the video in the source link). The chat head concept has actually been around for Android but this time, it may be a system-wide change and not just per app. All the notifications are shown as compact chat heads in a bubble.
Just like with previous chat head bubbles, you can move it around on the screen and then expand the ones you want to take a closer look at. Under the specific alert, you’ll see the app name, a button to open it, and then a shortcut to system notification channels and other settings. You can even interact with the notification like type out and send replies from the bubble itself.
If you’re annoyed with the bubble, you can drag the entire stack or individual ones to the bottom of the screen to dismiss/delete. The app icon will also be removed from the status bar and the notification shade. But for now, the shade and the bubble can still co-exist.
Remember though that this is still in the experimental stage. Google will still have to figure out how to reconcile this with the current notification set-up or if it will just be an option for users. We’ll see in the next few months how this will work out but if you can already experiment with Android Q, try it out.
VIA: 9 to 5 Google
