Google unveiled the first Android 12 Developer Preview build earlier this week. For many of us who expected the major design overhaul seen earlier in the Android 12 leak, the first official release was pretty overwhelming – despite a number of new improvements it brought to Android’s functionality. Of course, this is only the first preview of developers, and Google will follow a monthly update routine before the stable release in September 2021, but there was definitely room to make it better. Do you agree that the first version could have been more impressive?
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Android 12 brings visible design changes, including the new expansive notification screen, while a blue color replaces the white background color we’ve seen since Android Lollipop. The new Android version also makes certain switches in Settings larger and organizes menus better. But the update has made us long for significant visual changes – like wallpaper-linked background color, the new dynamic conversation widgets or the privacy indicators. Google has teased a one-handed mode that can be switched with a feature flag, but it is currently also half-based.
Despite what is currently lacking, the future of Android 12 looks very promising!
Although the current version may not impress us with its UI updates, XDA’s Editor-in-Chief, Mishaal Rahman, managed to enable some of the hidden features in Android 12 Developer Preview. These features include a native one-handed mode in Android 12, similar to iOS ‘Accessibility setting. With this, Google is working on a better one-handed use by sliding UI elements halfway down the screen in a similar way as Samsung implemented with One UI – or OnePlus with OxygenOS 11.. Home ”feature flag.
Here’s Android 12’s one – handed mode – fully functional. Unfortunately, it’s like Apple’s reachability (vertical reduction) rather than OHM on most OEM software (both horizontal and vertical scaling). pic.twitter.com/IznRVHTgPu
– Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) 18 February 2021
While skipping the first developer preview, Google is working on redesigning the interface, as previously rumored. Failure can force changes to the Android 12 UI and enable the incomplete notifications UI and Always-On Display features. The notification UI looks pretty much like Xiaomi’s personal Android skin, MIUI. There seems to be more empty spaces between active elements in the UI, making it a minimal aesthetic version.
In addition to the changes above, developer kdrag0n was also able to implement the background-based theme that was teased earlier in the leaks. These changes, which are part of the Material NEXT design, are hidden from the current Android 12 building that is publicly available. These color-changing capabilities of Android 12 have evolved from the RRO features introduced in Android Lollipop.
The new theme feature also applies to the drop-down menu on the lock screen. Apart from these changes, Android 12 will probably also bring different styles for the lock screen clock as well as the Always-On-Display.
These features are again not available to users, but their presence in the code suggests that Android may lead to the next major UI change since Android 9 Pie. We look forward to having these changes enabled with the upcoming Android 12 Developer Preview and beta builds by default. There is no timeline for this particular feature yet.
What is your opinion on the supposed changes in Android 12 UI? Let us know in the comments below!