Android 10: Everything you need to know!

The new Android, released Sep.2019, has surprised us all with new features and some major changes.



Android 10, released September 2019, has changed quite a bit and has surprised us all. It is stronger than ever and there are a considerable number of new features to it and the most wanted is dark mode, revamped permissions and security upgrades.

The best changes would be as follows:

One of the first major changes was the new Android name! nothing like the past, now Androids come with numbers and not dessert names, for instance Android Q's name is simply Android 10.  

A much more interesting change Google made is the robot logo itself. Though we are used to seeing the robot body as a whole from now on we will only see part of the robot! Wherever you see the new logo you will only see the robot head and this will be here to stay.

Android as an operating system is the same, but its image has drastically changed for sure. The logo is cleaner and more playful, while dessert names are gone and replaced by numbers, and don’t forget the robot head!

Androids back button has also officially gone with Android 10. Following up on Pie's gesture-based navigation that kept the aging back button around, Android 10 features a fully gesture-based method of navigation. Swiping up goes home, a swipe up and hold reveals the multitasking menu, and a swipe from the left or right edge of your screen goes back.

Android 10 has a system-wide dark theme that can be turned on and off at any time via a Quick Settings toggle. Even better, Google also created a new API that developers can use to have their apps go to a dark theme as well when the system-wide one is turned on. It’s a big deal that the much-anticipated dark mode finally made its way to Android 10's OS.

 

Android 10 comes with a feature called "Live Caption." Live Caption can provide real-time captions for just about anything on your phone. For example, when someone is talking on live video, and the best part is that it happens locally on your device, the best part is that it doesn’t need internet to work! You can turn Live Caption on through Android 10's accessibility settings, and for a lot of users, this is a lifesaver in a sense. Closed captions are crucial for deaf and hard-of-hearing people to understand what's being said in a video, podcast, game, or any other form of media where words are spoken, and the fact that its available anytime and anywhere is impressive on its own.

Googles Android 10, implements new features for app permissions to give you more control over what exactly apps on your phone have access to. Apps that ask for your location will ask you if you want to grant location access to the apps all the time, only when the app's being used, or not at all. The "Permissions usage" page in Settings has been completely revamped to show which permissions are being used by your apps, and there is the option to filter by permissions to see which apps are using certain ones, and a new UI for the "App info" page.

 

Android's share menu has never been a strong point, rather it's been a big mess. No matter what phone you're using the core functionality is fine, but it's regularly too slow. Thankfully, Android 10 addresses this problem. In a blog post, Google noted that "the share UI can load instantly when it's launched" since the shortcuts are "published in advance." Android 10 also introduces something called "Sharing Shortcuts." A Sharing Shortcut allows developers to create a new option in the share menu that will share a file/photo/etc. in a specific part of another app much faster than before.

Google's optimized Android 10 for foldable devices with foldable-specific features and experiences that came in 2019 and to ensure the experience of these new devices were as good as can be.