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In the middle of the day yesterday, Google dropped a big honkin’ surprise in our laps: the official Android 11 Beta release.

No buildup, no fanfare, no virtual events — just a short ‘n’ sweet blog post, some additional info for developers, and a website to download the software to supported Pixel phones for anyone feeling adventurous.

The Android 11 Beta is significant for a couple of reasons. First, even though Android 11 itself has been in a public developer preview since February, this is the first time it’s being made easily accessible to average users — and the first time it’s anywhere near stable enough to be advisable for regular phone-totin’ folk to use. (That being said, it still isn’t something a typical phone-owner should install, especially on a primary phone you rely on for work.)

But beyond that, this week’s release gives us our first real look at what’s likely the complete picture — or something very close to it — of what Android 11 represents. The early developer previews were kind of like rough skeletons, in a sense, and this beta release adds in the meat around those bones.

That means some of the flashiest, most high-profile features of the software are now in front of us, and while there aren’t any huge surprises, there’s certainly some noteworthy stuff — including a newly refined notification panel that separates out conversation-centric alerts and places them in their own dedicated section, the long-awaited debut of Android’s Bubbles multitasking system, a fancy new control panel for connected devices, and a new universal media player with better tools for controlling audio across multiple devices.

You know what, though? Welcome as those outward-facing touches will be, the most meaningful additions to Android 11 are actually the software’s less flashy enhancements — the ones that exist mostly under the hood. And almost all of ’em revolve around one critically important factor in any modern mobile-tech environment: privacy.

These aren’t the changes that’ll be placarded in countless headlines or treated as marquee-worthy elements. But make no mistake about it: They’re the ones that’ll matter the most, especially if you’re using your phone for business.

Android 11’s permission progress

Google’s developer-aimed talk about Android 11 and privacy reveals some fascinating facts that really set the stage for this discussion.

First, though, a quick bit of background: In Android 10, Google introduced a more nuanced system for controlling how and when apps are able to access your location. You know the deal by now, right? Instead of having an all-or-nothing choice on the matter, you can opt to allow an app to access your location all the time, none of the time, or only when the app is actively in use.

Well, according to Google Principal Engineer Narayan Kamath, that flexibility really resonated with us Android-adoring animals. Kamath says users with Android 10 opted for the “only while the app is active” level of location access roughly half the time — and what’s more, when the system reminded folks later that an app was accessing their location in the background, more than two-thirds of ’em took that opportunity to revisit the setting and restrict the app’s access.

With that knowledge in mind, Google decided to expand upon the same basic concept with Android 11 and give us even more clarity and control over what apps are able to do. So first and foremost, the software now lets you opt to grant an app a limited, one-time permission to access your location, camera, or microphone — meaning it will be able to tap into that area for that one single session, while you’re using it, but will then lose that power as soon as you move on to something else.

JR

In order to achieve something similar now, you’d need the help of a third-party service. Having that function built directly into the operating system and available for anyone is obviously a superior arrangement — and for privacy-focused business users in particular, being able to easily grant a permission for a limited purpose (say, tweeting with your location in place while at a work conference) and then knowing it’ll go away on its own when you’re done will be a valuable new power to have.

And that’s only the start.

Privacy, privacy, privacy

In addition to the new one-time permission option, Google’s pushing the background location permission even deeper into the system with Android 11 and making it more difficult for apps to request.

The permission prompt that pops up when an app initially asks for location access now has only the options to allow access while the app’s actively in use, for that single session, or never. If the app wants to be able to see your location all the time, it’ll then have to pop up a separate prompt later on that asks you to grant it that broader access and explains exactly why it needs it. If you agree to give it the permission, you’ll then be taken to a full-screen system settings screen in which you can deliberately make the change — which makes it much less likely for such a permission to be approved inadvertently.

Google

Beyond that, Android 11 will address a long-standing smartphone privacy weak point: forgotten apps that you no longer use but that are still installed and thus still have access to potentially sensitive areas of your personal data. (There’s a reason why that was the first issue to consider in my Android privacy guide!) With Android 11, any apps that haven’t been opened for a certain amount of time — “a few months,” according to Google’s explanation — will automatically have all of their system-level permissions revoked.

That means even if you granted an app access to, say, your location, your camera, or your internal phone storage, if you haven’t actively used the app in a while, that access will be taken away — and having the app present on your device will no longer be a privacy liability. Smart!

Whenever such a shift happens, you’ll see a notification informing you of the change and giving you the opportunity to review the revoked permissions and either leave ’em alone or reinstate ’em. That ties into a whole new section of the Android settings where unused apps are collected and available for your review.

Google

And if you think the unused-app issue isn’t a real problem, consider Google’s stats on the subject: The average Android user has 75 apps on their phone, according to Principal Engineer Narayan Kamath, and yet interacts with only about a third of those programs. And not all of us are gonna be as proactive about identifying and removing such items periodically. Bringing this to folks’ attention and automatically shutting down the related permissions is a clever way to address it without requiring any ongoing effort.

And there’s even more yet.

The fine privacy print

Basic permission stuff aside, we now know that Android 11 will limit an app’s ability to see what other apps are installed on your phone — something that was actually possible up until this release. (There was a minor outrage some years back when Twitter started tapping into that ability in order to learn more about its users and beef up their ad targeting profiles.) As of Android 11, no more.

This new Android version will also limit the ways apps are able to interact with your local storage. In short, each app will have its own private storage area that only it is allowed to access — meaning other apps won’t be able to see or interact with info from outside of their fence. When it comes to shared storage like your media and downloads folders, any app will be able to add to those areas but will need explicit approval from you in order to access and modify files that it didn’t create.

Finally — and perhaps most important of all — Android 11 will pull even more critical software pieces out of the operating system and turn them into standalone, easily updatable elements that exist as part of the Play Store. That, too, builds upon a trend started with Android 10 and is intended to make it easier for Google to deliver important updates to all Android users at the same time without having to rely on lazy, ineffective manufacturers to handle the rollout (although, of course, it’ll require a manufacturer-provided upgrade to Android 11 before it becomes relevant — so it’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation, at least for the immediate future).

Android 11 more than doubles the number of once-OS-bundled modules that’ll exist in the Play Store and receive those fast, frequent, and universal updates. And given that those modules revolve largely around the areas of privacy and security, the effect of that could be massive — especially for people who don’t use Google’s own Pixel phones and consequently tend to be behind the curve with software.

All of this is admittedly pretty technical and more than a little geeky. It’s a lot to chew on, and it isn’t the sort of stuff that lends itself well to a pithy ad or casual conversation. But while Android 11’s more superficial improvements are the ones that’ll get the most attention, these are the changes that’ll ultimately have the greatest impact on our lives. Instead of affecting how we interact with our devices, they’ll affect how our devices interact with us.

That is arguably the most consequential part of the phone-using experience. And that, my friends, is why OS updates absolutely matter — for reasons that go way beyond what you see on the surface.

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Usually, Google uses its annual developer conference to showcase the most noteworthy features of its latest Android version, but when the coronavirus pandemic hit, Google I/O 2020 was canceled.

In reality, it was technically canceled twice, as Google hinted at a potential online event to take its place following the initial cancellation.

That event never came to pass, but in early May, Google announced that it would put on an Android 11 Beta Launch Show on June 3rd. But just days before the stream was slated to happen, protests broke out around the US and the rest of the world over the murder of George Floyd. Google opted to postpone the show and the release of the beta, but on Monday, June 10th, the time was finally right to unleash the Android 11 Beta.

You can read all about the Android 11 Beta on the Android Developers blog, or, if you prefer, you can watch hours of talks about everything new in Android 11 in this YouTube playlist. But there are three main themes of Android 11 that Google wants to highlight, and we’ll do our best to sum them up below.

The first theme is People, as Google wants to make the Android operating system more “people-centric and expressive.” There are several ways that Google wants to accomplish this, including conversation notifications that appear in their own dedicated section, bubbles to keep conversations in view while multitasking, context-specific autofill suggestions, and “an on-device visual cortex” that makes it easier to control your phone with your voice.

Controls are the second theme, as Google wants you to be able to control all of your smart devices in one space. The new device controls make it easier to access all of your connected devices, and all you have to do to reach them is long press the power button. There are also media controls that simplify the process of changing the output of a device, so you’ll spend less time figuring out how to listen to music on your TV or headphones.

Privacy is the third and final theme, and Google has clearly made privacy a priority in Android 11. Going forward, when apps ask for permission to use your camera, microphone, or location, you can grant permission just once, and force the app to ask again the next time you use it. These permissions will also auto-reset if it’s been a long time since you last used an app. Google also extended the deadline for getting approval to access background location in apps to 2021, so developers have more time before they have to follow this new rule.

If you want to try out any of these new features for yourself, you can download the Android 11 Beta right now by visiting the enrollment website on an eligible device. So far, only the Pixel 2, Pixel 3, Pixel 3a, and Pixel 4 lines will work with the beta, so unless you own one of those devices, you’re out of luck for now.

Amidst a flurry of rumors surrounding Apple’s iPhone 12 release, a new report from Digitimes (via SeekingAlpha) claims that iPhone 12 production is slated to begin in July.

The publication further adds that Engineering Validation Tests (EVT) on the next-gen iPhone will wrap up later this month. As a point of reverence, the EVT phase of iPhone development concludes once Apple firmly drills down the precise iPhone design and feature set it plans to ship to consumers. Put simply, the iPhone design and testing process, which was delayed for a bit on account of the coronavirus, appears to be back on track.

As to when Apple’s iPhone 12 will arrive in stores, that remains up in the air. While it’s safe to assume that Apple will unveil its iPhone 12 lineup at a special media event in September, we’ve seen reports indicating that the devices may not arrive until October. Even in a scenario where some iPhone 12 models hit store shelves in late September or early October, there are rumblings that some iPhone 12 Pro models may be delayed until November or December.

The iPhone 12 release schedule aside, Apple’s forthcoming iPhone lineup will be ambitious, to say the least. This year, Apple is planning to launch four distinct iPhone models, all of which will boast OLED displays. All told, Apple’s iPhone 12 lineup this year will include two iPhone Pro models in 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch form factors. The non-Pro iPhone 12 models, meanwhile, will ship with 5.4-inch and 6.1-inch displays.

The biggest feature of Apple’s next-gen iPhone lineup will be the inclusion of 5G support. Though some Android handset makers released devices with 5G connectivity months ago, those devices arrived at a time when 5G coverage was far from expansive. Since then, the nation’s top carriers have aggressively expanded 5G support across the country. In turn, the inclusion of 5G on the iPhone 12 may spur more upgrades than what Android manufacturers experienced earlier this year.

As for other iPhone 12 features to look forward to, Apple’s top of the line iPhone 12 Pro models will reportedly boast a LiDAR sensor, improved optical zoom, and a number of other camera enhancements. Meanwhile, all iPhone 12 models will likely feature improved low-light camera performance. One particularly intriguing rumor claims that the iPhone 12 may even allow users to take video in portrait mode.

Apple’s iPhone 12 Pro models are also expected to feature 120Hz ProMotion displays, a technology that will allow for improved responsiveness and even more fluid scrolling compared to previous models.

Additionally, the entirety of Apple’s iPhone 12 lineup will feature improved speakers that will be 10-15% louder, improved cellular and Wi-Fi speeds, and last but not least, Apple’s next-gen Ax processor.

As a final point, the design language of the iPhone 12 will be slightly different than its predecessors. According to a number of leaks, the iPhone 12 form factor will boast more rectangular edges and will be somewhat reminiscent of the iconic iPhone 4 design Apple released nearly 10 years ago.

Fair warning: What you’re about to read is pure and unadulterated longing — a “wouldn’t it be nice” bout of daydreaming that, as far as I’m aware, has no basis in immediate reality and no connection to actual plans known to be in the works.

But on the surface, at least, it sure does seem to make an awful lot of sense. And maybe, just maybe, it’s something we could see Google try to pursue in some way, someday.

The idea is all about subscriptions — something that doesn’t sound super-exciting, I realize, but stick with me on this, ’cause it really could have some interesting implications. Tons of tech companies are turning to subscriptions as a way to supplement revenue and keep the cash comin’ in, even as we gadget-carrying mammals are hanging onto devices for increasingly long spells. And Google getting in on that same sort of action could be quite consequential.

For context, last week, Samsung launched its own subscription program — an appropriately convoluted concept called Samsung Access that lets you pay a monthly fee of $37 to $48 in exchange for a current Galaxy S phone, access to Samsung’s Premium Care program, and a Microsoft 365 subscription along with a terabyte of OneDrive cloud storage.

Within days of that announcement, news “leaked” that Apple could be readying a bundled plan of its own for the iOS faithful — something that’d potentially bring Apple TV, Apple Music, and other such offerings together into a single streamlined setup with a single bill attached. And Apple’s been hinting for a while now that a broader plan to provide regular iPhone hardware upgrades along with access to pay-to-play Apple services could also be in the works.

The more I think about all of these developing programs, the more I think to myself: How does Google not have something similar? More than any other company out there, Google’s in a position to offer something uniquely valuable — and something that’d have the potential to bring a meaningful boost to its own business, not only in terms of creating a new source of ongoing revenue but also in terms of giving its Pixel phone program the precise sort of kick in the pants it needs.

Why? How? And what would any of this even mean for us Android-using land donkeys? Let’s get into it.

The ‘Android Pro’ proposition

First, we need to set the stage for why this whole concept could be logical: As we’ve talked about ad nauseam over the years, Google’s Pixel devices are the only Android phones that are fully advisable for serious business owners (or anyone who cares about optimal performance, privacy, and security) to use. The reason is simple: All user experience considerations aside, they’re the only Android devices that get timely and consistently reliable deliveries of both major operating system updates and the monthly security patches that complement those. No other phone-maker even comes close, and no other company within Android makes post-sales software support a priority — or even a part of its promised package.

Pixel phones also receive OS updates for a full three years from their launch date, which is a year more than any other Android device (allegedly) gets. But Google does a terrible job at marketing that fact and making average phone-buyers appreciate why it matters. And the subscription concept could be the perfect way both to elevate the Pixel phones’ advantages even further and to make those advantages apparent to a wider audience.

I mean, think about it: Google controls not only Android but also a hugely popular suite of cross-platform productivity services — the Docs, Sheets, and Slides series of apps along with Gmail, Google Drive, and all those other associated entities. Enterprises and other organizations already pay for premium, managed versions of those services via Google’s G Suite program, and individuals already pay for extra storage and other related benefits via the company’s Google One arrangement.

At the same time, Google maintains a list of “Android Enterprise Recommended” devices — phones that supposedly meet the company’s “strict enterprise requirements” and thus are meant to be optimal for professional use. But, well, look at some of the devices in the collection. There are phones like Motorola’s Moto Z4, which received the current Android 10 release 189 days late — this past March, more than six months after the software actually came out. That unacceptably poor performance earned the company a big fat 0% “F” on my latest Android Upgrade Report Card.

The Moto Z4’s security patch history isn’t much better: According to a database maintained by the website Android Police, the Z4 went without any security updates from July to November of last year — and then got a November update that was two months behind in patches.

And that’s the “Enterprise Recommended” product?! We can do better. Google can do better.

The enterprise connection

Now, Google’s obviously got some tricky political waters to wade through in this domain. The company often seems to struggle with figuring how to promote its own products without overting knocking those created by its ecosystem partners — the companies that sell the bulk of Android phones and allow the platform to thrive. It’s an awkward situation with inherently conflicting goals: making Google’s own wares seem worthwhile over the competition while somehow continuing to nurture and support those competing products at the same time.

But you know what? At a certain point, Google’s gonna have to get over that — at least, if it wants its Pixels to move past their current small-scale status and into the mainstream conscience. And now more than ever, the stage is set for the company to start making that happen.

Building off of what Samsung is doing (and what Apple is apparently also working on doing), imagine a scenario in which Google positioned its Pixel phones as the most optimal devices for professional use and emphasized the importance of its unmatched software support — and then offered a way to upgrade an organization’s G Suite subscription with an “Android Pro” add-on that’d expand the existing benefits with built-in access to new Pixel phones every two or three years as well as enhanced support for those products.

On the individual or small business front, “Android Pro” could be a complement to the current Google One program — which offers extra Google storage, Android backup capabilities, personal support, and a handful of other scattered benefits. What if you could upgrade that to a Google One “Android Pro” subscription and get a new Pixel phone every two or three years at a price that’d be roughly comparable to what you’d pay for the devices outright over that same span of time?

Given the Pixel phones’ lower-than-average prices and higher-than-average value, the monthly cost for such a service could conceivably be quite affordable. If, for instance, the Pixel 5 were to end up being somewhere around the $700 mark, as folks are expecting, that’d come out to roughly $19.50 a month for the phone itself spread out over three years. And if Google allowed you to pay a touch more than that to also get all of the Google One benefits, that’d be an incredibly compelling proposition.

Heck, the company could even bundle in its Preferred Care repair program as part of the package. And it could include discounted access to services like YouTube Music or the standalone YouTube Premium ad-free video-watching subscription at a discount for subscribers as well. Everyone loves a bundle, and instead of having a zillion confusingly named services in different places, Google could streamline and encourage its most engaged users to get everything in a single spot — and to keep getting new versions of its phones over time as part of that. If Apple or Samsung can pull it off — two companies that have traditionally struggled with services and don’t have anywhere near the wide-reaching value Google can offer — Google sure as hell oughta be able to do it, too.

And the enterprise could be the key to getting such a program off the ground: If Google can manage to court big companies and convince them that the Pixel line’s update advantage makes it the only advisable option for serious business use — an argument that’s pretty darn easy to make — it could position the Pixel as the new “BlackBerry of Android” (ahem). It could, in other words, establish the Pixel as the de facto choice for business users who require the best possible experience, the most optimal privacy and security, and an absence of the sort of data-leaking silliness other device-makers sneak into their software.

With that foundation, Google could then start selling the same setup to the smaller businesses and individual users who would appreciate those same qualities — including the all-in Google users who are already subscribing to services like Google One, YouTube Premium, and Preferred Care and would see this sort of offering as a sensible and minimal-cost-incurring step up from their current scenario. It’s all about establishing and optimizing a base and then building outward from there, just as Chrome OS has done with the education market as its foundation.

Google’s worked hard to find Android’s place in the enterprise, but Android is a hugely varied ecosystem, and experiences from one device to the next are absolutely not equal. The Pixel line’s most important advantages lie in some less tangible but supremely important areas, and if Google wants the phones to take off in any meaningful way, it’s gonna have to stop tie-toeing around what really makes the devices special and start actively promoting it. And an “Android Pro”-style subscription could be the key to accomplishing that.

If you think it sounds far-fetched, consider this: Six years ago, Google reportedly considered something vaguely similar with a reportedly-developed-but-never-launched program known as “Android Silver.” The idea behind Silver was supposedly to offer premium Android phones that “closely adhere[d] to Google specifications and provided a “more consistent ‘Google’ experience for high-end Android customers,” with prompt software updates being a core part of the picture.

At the time, Google didn’t have its own self-made devices and consequently didn’t have a great way to pull that off. Now it does — and as the complexity of Google’s pay-to-play subscription services continues to grow, this is the prime time to revive that vision and transform the Pixel into a clearly defined part of the broader Google ecosystem.

It sure seems like it’d have the potential to be a big win for Google — and also a big win for us.

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Microsoft is full-speed ahead with the new Chromium-based Edge browser, having recently started a wide rollout via Windows Update. Now Microsoft has a familiar problem. With the new Edge on everyone’s PCs, how can the company get them to use it? The new Edge seems to be borrowing a page from the old Edge’s playbook. Microsoft is promoting Edge in the Windows 10 UI when you try to use another browser.

The version of Edge that shipped with Windows 10 was built from Microsoft technology with the EdgeHTML engine. It offered better browsing battery life compared with Chrome on Windows machines, but Microsoft couldn’t convince people to forget Chrome’s speed and compatibility. If you can’t beat ’em join ’em, right? Microsoft started working on a Chromium-based version of Edge in late 2018, launching the first stable versions in early 2020. The new Edge has many of the same features as Chrome because it uses the same code base. However, Microsoft has tweaked the styling to match the Windows aesthetic better, and it features Microsoft services in place of Google’s. 

Microsoft just started the large-scale rollout for the new Edge — almost all Windows 10 users who don’t already have the browser will see it appear in Windows Update soon. When it’s installed, the Windows search interface will start behaving a bit differently. Microsoft has inserted what is essentially an ad into the search results.

If you search for another browser like Chrome or Firefox, a “recommended” result for Microsoft Edge will appear right below it. This result continues appearing even after you’ve given in and launched Edge instead of another browser. This is not unlike some of the tactics Microsoft used to promote the old Edge in Windows 10. On several occasions, Microsoft used pop-ups that promoted Edge’s battery life, and in some instances, it even warned users not to install third-party browsers because Edge was “safer and faster.” These campaigns were ineffective and may have only hastened Edge’s death. 

We can only hope Microsoft’s promotions for the new Edge aren’t as heavy-handed. You’re going to have to live with the Edge recommendation in search for now. Some users claim you can edit the registry to remove the ad, but we haven’t been able to confirm this.