Android 10 launches today and Pixel phones get the day one update

Google Pixel owners, start smashing that update button. Android 10 launching today for Pixel owners and will expand to partner devices in the coming weeks and months.

Google recently announced it's ditching dessert or sweet names for Android releases, citing differences in how letters are pronounced in different languages as causing confusion amongst users. So, instead of Android Quiche, we now have Android 10.

Android Q -- er Android 10 -- made its debut in March through the Android beta program, leading up to Tuesday's official release. Some highlights of the new Android OS include a new Night Theme, new accessibility features, improved privacy and security initiatives, and enhanced parental controls.

With Android 10 now official, let's take a look at everything included in the update.

Android 10: Release date

Sept. 3 os the official date

Starting Tuesday, Sept. 2, Android 10 is rolling out to Pixel phones. If you own a Pixel phone, you can go to Settings > System > System Update.

As usual, if you have a phone from a different manufacturer, the timing of when you'll receive the update can vary from a few weeks to several months. Some vendors, however, did participate in the Android beta program by providing test builds for their handsets. In theory, those devices should have a shorter wait.

DEVICES INCLUDED IN THE BETA

Google list of supported devices -- outside of its Pixel line -- includes 21 total devices from 12 different OEMs.

Supported Devices

Pixel Essential Phone Sony Xperia XZ3

Pixel XL Huawei Mate 20 Pro Tecno Spark 3 Pro

Pixel 2 LGE G8 Vivo X27

Pixel 2 XL Nokia 8.1 Vivo NEX S

Pixel 3 OnePlus 6T Vivo NEX A

Pixel 3 XL OPPO Reno Xiaomi Mi 9

ASUS ZenFone 5Z Realme 3 Pro Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 5G

MUST READ

Best Android Apps for 2019 (CNET)

Android predictions for 2019 (TechRepublic)

Android 10: Features

As is usually the case, Google only talks about a handful of features that it feels are important to users and developers alike. As we continue to test and use Android 10, we'll surely find new features and will update this post as needed. In the meantime, here are some features Google has talked about.

The biggest area of focus of Android 10 appears to be related to user privacy. For example, users can now limit when an app has access to their location. In the past, you either gave an app access to your location, or you didn't. Starting with Android 10, you can limit an app's location access only when you are using the app.

There are also finer controls for file management, restricting access to device identifiers such as the IMEI, serial number, and other IDs that can help track a user.

BUBBLES!

android-q-bubbles.png

Android 10's new Bubbles feature in action.

Google, Inc.

Similar to Facebook Messenger's Chat Heads, Bubbles will display small circular, floating alerts on top of whatever it is you're currently doing on your Android device. Users will have to approve each app that wants to use Bubbles as a notification method, so your screen shouldn't be overrun with alerts from every app you have installed.

SHARING SHORTCUTS

I think every Android user can relate to how slow the share sheet loads. Right now, you tap on the share button, and then have to count to ten while the various apps and shortcuts populate and rearrange themselves a handful of times. With Android 10, Google has created new tools that make it possible for the share sheet to load instantly.

DARK THEME

At I/O, Google confirmed an official Dark Theme is coming with Android 10. The new theme will darken the interface, reducing strain on your eyes as well as saving battery life.

LIVE CAPTION

For deaf users, Google is adding a Live Caption feature that will add subtitles to any video being watched on the phone. You won't need a data connection to use the feature -- it's all done on the device itself.

PARENTAL CONTROLS

Google's Digital Wellbeing tool is gaining support for tighter parental controls. Parents will be able to approve app installs, set screen time limits, create app limits, and set a bedtime.

FOLDABLE SCREEN SUPPORT

With devices like the Galaxy Fold and Huawei X coming, Android 10 includes features to better support for detecting when an app has been paused (perhaps when a display is folded) and when it needs to be resumed (after opening the device), as well as enhanced support for resizing of apps.

DEPTH INFORMATION FROM PHOTOS

Google's Pixel line of phones does a fantastic job of capturing depth in a photo despite only having one camera. Google is integrating some of that technology into Android 10, giving developers and device makers access to the image and the Dynamic Depth captured alongside it through new tools.

GESTURE NAVIGATION

Android 10 adds gestural navigation to the Android platform. Instead of using the staple navigation buttons Android has always had, users swipe and gesture across the screen to go back, return to the home screen, open the app drawer, and trigger Google Assistant. In the final beta release, Google continued to tweak and change how gestures behave in Android 10 -- and then tried to explain its reasoning. It's still confusing to use.

MORE DEVELOPER OPTIONS

If terms like Native MIDI API, ANGLE on Vulkan, or Neural Networks API 1.2 are more your thing, then be sure to read through the bottom section of this Android Developers blog post, where the company details those new features, along with new Wi-Fi performance modes, improved peer-to-peer and internet connectivity.

Android 10: What happened to Q?

The letter Q was up next

Google usually names Android OS updates around a dessert

Google changed its approach to Android naming

We had plenty of guesses and ideas concerning what the Q in Android Q could stand for, but Google opted to ditch the dessert naming scheme altogether and move to a numbering scheme. Android Q is now Android 10, and going forward, we can expect numbers over sweets.

Android 10 introduced a revamped full-screen gesture system, with gestures such as swiping from either side edge of the display to go back, swiping up to go to the home screen, swiping up and holding to access Overview, swiping diagonally from a bottom corner of the screen to activate the Google Assistant, and swiping along the gesture bar at the bottom of the screen to switch apps. Support of these gestures are mandatory, but OEMs are free to add their own gestures alongside these core gestures.

The legacy three-key navigation style remains supported. The use of an edge swiping gesture as a "Back" command was noted as potentially causing conflicts with apps that utilize sidebar menus and other functions accessible by swiping. An API can be used by apps to opt out of handling a back gesture within specific areas of the screen, a sensitivity control was added for adjusting the size of the target area to activate the gesture, and Google later stated that the drawer widget would support being "peeked" by long-pressing near the edge of the screen, and then swiped open.[21][22]

A feature known as "bubbles" can be used to present content from supported apps in pop-up overlays (similarly to the overlay-based "chat heads" feature of Facebook Messenger). Apps can spawn bubbles via notifications. Example use cases for the feature include chat and messaging apps, reminders, and "ongoing tasks and updates".[23] Bubbles is designed to replace the existing overlay permission, which is being deprecated due to security (due to its use by clickjacking malware) and performance concerns. Sideloaded apps will automatically lose their overlay permission after 30 seconds, and apps from Play Store will lose their overlay permission each time the device is rebooted. Android 10 Go Edition forbids use of overlay permissions entirely.

Android 10 includes a system-level dark theme. Third-party apps can automatically engage a dark theme when this mode is active.

Apps can also present "settings panels" for specific settings (such as, for example, internet connection and Wi-Fi settings if an app requires internet) via overlay panels, so that the user does not have to be taken outside of the app in order to configure them.

Platform optimizations have been made for foldable smartphones, including app continuity when changing modes, changes to multi-window mode to allow all apps to run simultaneously (rather than only the actively-used app running, and all others being considered "paused"), and additional support for multiple displays.

"Direct Share" has been succeeded by "sharing shortcuts". As before, it allows apps to return lists of direct targets for sharing (such as a combination of an app and a specific contact) for use within share menus. Unlike Direct Share, apps publish their targets in advance and do not have to be polled at runtime, improving performance.

Native support has been added for MIDI controllers, the AV1 video codec, the Opus audio codec, and HDR10+. There is also a new standard API for retrieving depth information from camera photos, which can be used for more advanced effects.

Android 10 supports WPA3 authentication for Wi-Fi. Android 10 adds support for Dual-SIM dual-standby (DSDS), but is

initially only available on the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL

Privacy and security

Several major security and privacy changes are present in Android 10: apps can be restricted by users to only having access to location data when they are actively being used in the foreground.[32] There are also new restrictions on the launching of activities by background apps.[33]

A major change to storage access permissions known as "Scoped storage" is supported on Android 10, and will become mandatory for all apps beginning with Android 11. Apps are only allowed to access files in external storage that they had created themselves (preferably contained within an app-specific directory), and audio, image, and video files contained within the Music, Pictures, or Videos directories. Any other file may only be accessed via user intervention through the Storage Access Framework.

Apps must have a new "read privileged phone state" permission in order to read non-resettable device identifiers, such as IMEI number.

Google released the first beta of Android "Q" on March 13, 2019, exclusively on their Pixel phones, including the first generation Pixel and Pixel XL devices where support was extended due to popular demand.[6] A total of six beta or release-candidate versions were released before the final release, which is currently scheduled for the third quarter of 2019.

The beta program was expanded with the release of Beta 3 on May 7, 2019, the beta was available on 14 partner devices from 11 OEMs, twice as many devices compared to Android Pie's beta.[9] Beta access was removed from the Huawei Mate 20 Pro on May 21, 2019 due to U.S. government sanctions,[10] but was later restored on May 31.

Google released Beta 4 on June 5, 2019 with the finalized Android "Q" APIs and SDK (API Level 29).[12] Dynamic System Updates (DSU) were also included in Beta 4. The Dynamic System Update allows Android "Q" devices to temporarily install a Generic System Image (GSI) to try a newer version of Android on top of their current Android version. Once users decide to end testing the chosen GSI image, they can simply reboot their device and boot back into their normal device's Android version.

Google released Beta 5 on July 10, 2019 with the final API 29 SDK as well as the latest optimizations and bug fixes.Google released Beta 6, the final release candidate for testing, on August 7, 2019.

On August 22, 2019, it was announced that Android "Q" would officially be branded as Android 10, ending the practice of naming major versions after desserts. Google stated that these names were not "inclusive" to international users (due either to the aforementioned foods not being internationally-known, or being difficult to pronounce in some languages).[17][18][19] On the same day, it was reported that Google had commissioned a statue of a giant number "10" to be installed in the lobby of the developers' new office.

source:https://www.zdnet.com/article/android-10-launches-today-starting-with-pixel-phones/