Android 12 is finally launched; get to know all the changes

Android 12 is finally among us and for real this time. After making the AOSP version available on October 4, this Tuesday (19), Google released the final version of the update. As always, the new OS first arrives at the Pixel lineup, but soon it begins to pop up on all eligible models from other companies.

Android 12: compatible smartphones

At the time of launch, only Pixel phones will receive the update — and not all, but only models released from 2018 or newer. The full list of phones that receive Android 12 today (or in the next few days) is as follows:

• Pixel 3

• Pixel 3A

• Pixel 4

• Pixel 4A

• Pixel 4A 5G

• Pixel 5

• Pixel 5A

• Pixel 6

• Pixel 6 Pro

Android 12: everything that changed

The new face of Android

Customization has a prominent place when it comes to Android 12. When you change your phone's wallpaper, for example, its predominant color will splash over the entire system, ranging from the settings menu to the icons of native apps.

This change happens thanks to the presence of the dynamic theme (called by Google “color extraction”, also called on the internet as Monet), sometimes commented here on Canaltech. The feature is part of the unique design language called Material You, developed through the collaboration of software, hardware, and Material Design teams.

The design reworks figures and even the behavior of some items, highlighting the presentation of content. Android 12 elements adapt to the screen size and give priority to providing information, without disrespecting user customization.

Apps were also not left out of the visual renovation and were also reworked from start to finish in some cases. Gmail, Calendar, Google Photos, and Chrome are some examples of programs that have had the interface adjusted to match the rest of the OS — and part of the changes are also being rolled out to older versions of Android, but without Monet.

More features

Android 12 is far from just a guise for the OS family and also comes with a series of very interesting new features for everyday life.

The first of these is Game Dashboard, the dedicated overlay for mobile games. The section copies alternatives created by partner manufacturers, such as Xiaomi, with a set of gaming-specific tools — including quick capture sharing and a dedicated shortcut bar.

Finally, Android 12 can take extended screenshots, including parts of the app that are off-screen. This feature has also been seen in other iterations of the system, but here it gets a quirk from Google itself.

New widgets

In a well-deserved revamp, Google has finally given a new design to home screen widgets. The update included a whole new set of add-ons, with a deeply reworked look and functionality tweaked for this new generation.

• 
  

Widgets won't be exclusive to Android 12 either, and updates to older versions have already started to roll out. However, the uniform look should be more of a new feature of the newly released OS, so don't expect to have a completely reworked look on Android 11 (or older).

Notifications Tray and Quick Settings

Ensuring that clear information is displayed from the notification tray has always been a focus of Android updates, and this time it couldn't be any different. The section was redone, but Google did not give up the previous hits.

Notification cards are segmented according to the purpose of the application in question, whether to control a music app or to check text messages. Different colors facilitate the visualization of information, preventing the section from becoming a cluster of pending alerts.

Something similar happens with the Quick Settings menu. In the new version, tools of recurring use, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, dark theme, and flashlight, were highlighted, appearing just above the notifications tray.

Google Home controls were also added, to manage smart devices scattered around the house, and quick access to Google Pay, to speed up payments by proximity. Of course, any of them can be removed from the area if it is not important to day-to-day life.

However, when expanded, the buttons get bigger and other features gain space, as well as the possibility to switch between the various pages available. Monet also plays a role in the section by determining the color that will differentiate between enabled and disabled features, integrating it into the predominant look of Android 12.

Smoother animations

Adding to the customizable experience, Google has developed new animations for Android 12. The company claims that “you'll feel like it comes to life with every tap, swipe or scroll” while browsing the phone.

On the other hand, the owner of Android wants to ensure that these animations are not heavy on the device's hardware. Therefore, the system was reworked internally to reduce resource consumption, providing greater energy efficiency and up to a 22% reduction in CPU processing time to render transitions.

Privacy and security

The announcement also confirmed the rumors related to the refined controls over the use of the smartphone's components — camera, location, and microphone, for example. Whenever apps access those features, they will be highlighted in the notification bar, so that the user always knows what is being used.

Still, on access restriction, the Quick Settings also received "switches" that block any attempt to access the cameras or microphone of the device, regardless of the permissions granted to the app previously. This shortcut closes the gap between a simple smartphone with the security-focused models with physical switches, however, the Android 12 solution is less efficient and does not cut power to the components.

Both alerting and blocking are some of the goals of the new Privacy Panel, an area entirely dedicated to controlling permissions. From there, it is possible to check which applications have accessed system resources, files, contact lists, and other personal areas recently; if something seems strange or unwanted, the user can revoke permissions from there.

Permissions on location access also received attention. The user will be able to mask his exact position with the approximate area for a single app, preventing the system from distributing such sensitive information to any installed app.

This function may not be useful for ordering food for delivery or triggering rides, but it is an alternative to weather search apps or Google's app, which doesn't need to know exactly where you are to work.

According to the developer, Android 12 will make the debut of Android Private Compute Core, a mechanism that allows the use of new private technologies by essence. In practice, it will be possible to provide subtitles in real-time, answer simple questions, and check Google Calendar's events, for example, without the need for cloud processing, as some of Google's AI is included in the OS.

Private Compute Core protections are all open source, free to be studied by the dev community. Google is working on more security features and intends to release them later this year, but did not specify what the future additions would be.

How to install Android 12

Unlike what happens on the desktop, the distribution of Android updates to cell phones happens much more slowly and gradually. First, it's the Pixel smartphones that get the news — and once it's available, it shouldn't take long to appear as a notification.

However, for everyone that doesn't rely on Google Pixel's pipeline, there's the waiting game. For users to receive the Android 12, manufacturers usually develop their own solutions and make them available only for devices that are in the support period.

In this race are Samsung and Xiaomi, for example. Both already have their software solutions in development — One UI 4.0 is even in testing — but progress on these builds is no longer up to Google.

Android 12 é finalmente lançado; conheça todas as novidades - Canaltech