Google Releases Android 12 To AOSP, But No Pixel Launch Today

In a significant departure from previous years, Google today rolled out Android 12 to AOSP but did not launch any devices, including Pixel phones. "Today we're pushing the source to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and officially releasing the latest version of Android," [said Dave Burke, VP of Engineering, in a blog post. "Keep an eye out for Android 12 coming to a device near you starting with Pixel in the next few weeks and Samsung Galaxy, OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, Tecno, Vivo, and Xiaomi devices later this year." 9to5Google reports: Traditionally, the AOSP launch of the next version of Android coincides with day one availability for Google phones. That is not the case this year, with Google only revealing that Pixel phones can expect an update in the "next few weeks." Google says over 225,000 people tested Android 12 over the course of the developer previews and betas. [...] Google officially highlights four Android 12 tentpoles for developers as part of today's AOSP availability. This starts with a "new UI for Android" that incorporates Material You (referred to today as "Material Design 3"), redesigned widgets, Notification UI updates, and App launch splash screens.

In terms of "Performance," Google says it has "reduced the CPU time used by core system services by 22% and the use of big cores by 15%." We've also improved app startup times and optimized I/O for faster app loading, and for database queries we've improved CursorWindow by as much as 49x for large windows. "More responsive notifications" are achieved by restricting notification trampolines, with Google Photos launching 34% faster after this change. Other changes include Optimized foreground services, Performance classes for devices, and Faster machine learning. "Privacy" is led by the new Settings Dashboard, the ability to only grant apps Approximate location, and a new Nearby devices permission for setting up wearables and other smart home accessories without granting location access. There are also the microphone and camera indicators/toggles. Developers can take advantage of "Better user experience tools" like new APIs to better support rounded screen corners, rich content insertion, AVIF images, enhanced haptics, and new camera/sensor effects. There's also Compatible media transcoding, better debugging, and an Android 12 for Games push.

Stop Background Apps

[crow]

I want control over which apps can run in the background, especially if I haven't clicked on them. Some apps I want to be active (like my mail client and fitness tracker), but most shouldn't be doing anything until I click on them. And of those, half should shut down entirely when in the background.

Re:

[crow]

That doesn't stop them. I've gotten notifications from apps that I haven't run since I booted the phone. Pandora was doing this recently, and it has no business doing anything until I launch it. I suspect other apps do likewise.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

This is where you need root and something like Greenify. It's sad that you need an app to fix a broken OS.

Never buy a phone that you can't root. And fuck Google for shutting down access to apps because you're on an unlocked phone.

Re:

[WaffleMonster]

That doesn't stop them. I've gotten notifications from apps that I haven't run since I booted the phone. Pandora was doing this recently, and it has no business doing anything until I launch it. I suspect other apps do likewise.

There is no relationship between "background apps" and real world. They all use tricks running as services and using notification system to stay running no matter what the user does. Most of the levers to control these activities effectively do nothing.

Re: Stop Background Apps

[aRTeeNLCH]

Apps can get themselves registered to get started at boot. Most phones can have that manually revoked. Then you will also need to stop the app from running in the background, after every time you do use it. Xiaomi and Huawei have great battery life because they have relatively aggressive settings to keep apps alive, Signal, Davx5, Nextcloud, etc typically get killed, so those need to be explicitly allowed to use battery in the background.

Re:

[Fruit]

Settings -> Apps and notifications -> Show all apps -> Select the app -> Advanced -> Battery -> Background restriction

At least, that's the path for me in LineageOS (which is based on AOSP).

Re:

[dargaud]

This seems to be now mostly automated. I have Android 10 and every month (?) I get a notification that the apps I haven't used in a while will be shut down instead of left running in the background. But I agree it should be an easy setup.

Goodie goodie gumdrops, a UI refresh

[arglebargle_xiv]

Just what everyone wants, yet another new set of mystery-meat navigation tricks to learn when your phone updates itself.

Ah, what am I saying, it's Android, with a few exceptions it'll never update itself unless you go and buy a new phone.

Re:

[iampiti]

Changing the UI for the sake of it seems to be an eternal problem in the computing world. It's worse at some periods. I think we're going through a particularly bad one (but that be me subsconsciouly disliking the types of changes that are common nowadays. For example, "mobilizing" UIs).
It goes like this: If you don't change the UI most users don't feel there's been a change or one big enough. Also, your UI and UX people need something to do. And so, for these two reasons we get constant UI changes many of

Re:

[Vlad_the_Inhaler]

Ah, what am I saying, it's Android, with a few exceptions it'll never update itself unless you go and buy a new phone.

Not sure that's true any more.

I have a Samsung which was originally released with Android 9 (I think, it updated to 10 as soon as I hooked it up to my WLAN). The most recent update was a week ago.

A friend had a Nokia 3.2 with 16GB storage and an SD-Card for the rest. She got it two years ago so I suppose it had Android 9 at that point. Then came Android 10, so far, so good. Then came And

Re:

[arglebargle_xiv]

Yeah, there are a few vendors who have finally realized that actually supporting their product beyond "your payment has cleared" would be a good thing. Samsung are pretty good, Oppo provide at least a few years support on their higher-end phones, um... I'm sure there are others. Unfortunately the vast mass of Android phones will never get updates because the vendors have a new model out and have abandoned the one you just got to focus on the new model.

Does it require Location for more things?

[Anonymous Coward]

On Android 10 you didn't need Location on to Cast to a screen. Then in Android 11 for no reason at all, it's now required.

What else are they going to try to force you to use Location for in Android 11?