Android 10 unveiled: Here’s everything you need to know

SUMMARY

Google has finally released its new android version on September 3. By giving a much mature name to this Android Q, Google ditched dessert names and officially announced the new version as Android 10.

By Kanishka Gupta Sept 4, 2019 2:00:47 PM IST (Updated)

Gesture-based navigation: With Android 10, Google bid adieu to its conventional back button, used for navigation. It now features gesture-based navigation. In this, 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.No worries, if you don’t find it cool! Android 10 also allows you to switch back to Android Pie's two-button system and the traditional three-button array. However, there is no confirmation if these options will be applicable on devices like the Pixel 4 that ship with Android 10.

Dark theme mode: Finally, Google’s new Android 10 comes with a system-wide dark theme that can be turned on and off at any time via a Quick Settings toggle. In addition, Google also created a new API for users who want to have their apps go to a dark theme even when the system-wide one is turned on. As a matter of fact, it might take some time for all the apps to adopt the new API.

Ability to customise: With Android 10, you can now customise your phone to a much larger extent and make it look like the way you always wanted. Thanks to its new Theming section, that enables to change the phone’s accent colour, now you can opt from Black, Green, Purple, Cinnamon, Ocean, Space and orchid colour and set as your default theme colour.

Live Caption: This feature provides real-time captions for anything on your phone where someone is talking and the best part is that it requires no internet connection for live transcription. If you find it amusing, you can turn Live Caption on through Android 10's accessibility settings.

A bigger concern for privacy: Android 10 has introduced some big changes for permission. It helps users to better understand and control things to have access by apps. Well, if you want to know how, open ‘Permissions usage’ page in settings. It shows which permission is being used by multiple apps. To go in-depth, it provides you with the option to filter by permissions to know which app is using certain ones. It also features a new UI for the ‘App info’ page.

Sharing Shortcuts: To make sharing a hassle-free process, Google introduced ‘Sharing Shortcuts’, in its new android version. This allows users to share a file/photo/etc. in a specific part of another app much faster than before. Kind of AirDrop in Apple.Android 10 is rolled out to all eight Pixel smartphones that include – Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL, Pixel 3, Pixel 3 XL, Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL. However, if you aren’t a Pixel user, you might have to wait for some time to get this top-notch Android version installed on your smartphone.