Google company release of an open mobile platform . The sources associated with the new release are located at project (branch android-11.0.0_r1). Firmware updates prepared for series devices , as well as for smartphones manufactured by OnePlus, Xiaomi, OPPO and Realme. Also universal GSI (Generic System Images) assemblies suitable for different devices based on ARM64 and x86_64 architectures.
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- Changes have been made to make it easier for people to communicate using a smartphone. The drop-down area with notifications has a consolidated message section that allows you to view and respond to messages from all applications in one place (messages are shown without separation into individual applications). Important chats can be assigned a priority status so that they are in a conspicuous place and shown even in the "do not disturb" mode.
Activated the concept of "bubbles", pop-up dialogs to perform an action in other applications without leaving the current program. For example, with the help of bubbles, you can continue a conversation in the messenger, quickly send messages, keep a list of tasks in sight, take notes, access translation services and receive visual reminders, while working in other applications.
- The on-screen keyboard has a system of contextual hints for quickly responding to messages, offering emoji or typical answers that fit the meaning of the received message (for example, when receiving a message βhow was the meeting?β offers βexcellentβ). The mechanism is implemented using machine learning methods and a platform , which allows you to select recommendations on a local device without resorting to external services.
An interface has been proposed for quick access to control tools for attached devices, such as smart home control systems, which is called up by holding the power button for a long time. For example, now you can quickly adjust the home thermostat settings, turn on the lights and unlock the doors without running separate programs. The interface also offers buttons for quick selection of linked payment systems and electronic boarding passes.
Added new media playback controls that allow you to easily and quickly change the device through which video or audio is played. For example, you can quickly switch music playback from your headphones to your TV or external speakers.
- Added support for granting one-time privileges, which allow an application to perform a privileged operation once and ask for confirmation again the next time it tries to access it. For example, you can configure to be prompted for permissions each time a microphone, camera, or location API is accessed.
The ability to automatically block the requested permissions for applications that have not been launched for more than three months has been implemented. When blocked, a special notification is displayed with a list of applications that have not been launched for a long time, in which you can return permissions, delete the application, or leave it blocked.
- Built-in ability to create screencasts with recording changes on the screen and sound from the microphone.
- Simplified selection of text and images for clipboarding and sharing between applications.
- The voice control system of the device has been upgraded (), which allows you to control your smartphone exclusively using voice commands. Voice Access now understands the contents of the screen and respects the context, and also generates labels for accessibility commands.
- Added "Nearby Share" to quickly and securely send files, videos, location data and other information to nearby other devices based on the Android platform or with the Chrome browser.
- Android Emulator adds an experimental ability to run executable code for 32-bit and 64-bit applications built for ARM architecture in the environment of an Android 11 system image running in the emulator built for x86_64 architecture. The emulator also has support for simulating the operation of the front and rear cameras. Implemented Camera2 API HW for rear camera with support for YUV processing and capture in RAW mode.
Level implemented for the front camera with logical camera support (one logical device based on two physical devices with a narrow and wide viewing angle). - Support for the 5G mobile standard has been expanded, providing higher bandwidth and lower latency. Network-intensive applications that perform activities such as streaming 4K video and downloading high-definition game assets can now work not only when connected via Wi-Fi, but also when working through a network of a cellular service provider. To simplify the adaptation of applications, taking into account 5G communication channels, the API has been expanded , used to check whether the connection is charged for traffic and whether it is possible to transfer large amounts of data through it. This API now covers cellular networks and allows you to define a connection to a provider that provides a truly unlimited data plan when connected via 5G. Added a 5G state API to allow the app to quickly detect a 5G connection in modes or .
The API has also been expanded. , which allows you to predict the amount of available bandwidth for downloading or sending data, without conducting your own network tests.
- Added support for new screen types "pinhole" (the screen covers the entire front surface of the smartphone, except for a small circle in the upper left corner for the front camera) and "waterfall" (the screen also covers the rounded side edges of the device). Applications can now determine the presence of additional visible and blind areas on these screens using the standard API . To cover the side faces and organize interaction in areas near the edges of the "waterfall" screens, the API proposed .
- Added new options to control app access to personal data. In addition to the mode of accessing the location only while working with the program (access is blocked in the background) introduced in the last release in Android 11 support for one-time permissions. The user can now grant the app temporary access to key permissions such as location, microphone, and camera access. The permission is valid for the duration of the current session and is revoked as soon as the user switches to another program.
- Changes have been made to simplify the migration of applications to storage
, which allows you to isolate application files on an external storage device (such as an SD card). With Scoped Storage, application data is restricted to a single directory, and separate permissions are required to access shared media collections. Android 11 introduces support for an optional mode of accessing media using full file paths,
updated API DocumentsUI, added the ability to perform batch operations in the MediaStore. - Expanded options for biometric sensors for authentication. The BiometricPrompt API, which offers a universal biometric authentication dialog, now supports three types of authenticators β strong, weak, and device credentials. Simplified integration of BiometricPrompt with various application architectures, not limited to using the class .
- When assembling platform components that require increased protection, protection mechanisms that work at the compilation stage are involved (Control Flow Integrity) , (Integer Overflow Sanitization) and . To detect problems when working with memory in applications, checking of pointers in the heap based on the tags associated with them is enabled (). To find memory errors an additional system image that has the debug engine enabled (Hardware-assisted AddressSanitizer).
- API prepared , which allows you to organize a secure exchange of binary data between applications. For example, this API can be used to provide multiple applications with access to machine learning models when those applications are run by a single user.
- Added platform support for secure storage and retrieval of verifiable identification documents such as e-Driver's Licenses.
- As part of the Mainline project, which allows you to update individual system components without updating the entire platform, 12 new updateable modules have been prepared in addition to the 10 modules available in Android 10. Updates affect non-hardware components that are downloaded through Google Play separately from OTA firmware updates from the manufacturer. Among the new modules that can be updated through Google Play without updating the firmware are a module for managing permissions, a module for working with drives (supporting Scoped Storage), and a module with NNAPI (Neural Networks API).
- work to reduce the impact of changing the behavior of some subsystems on the operation of applications. Innovations that may affect the operation of applications can now be optionally disabled and adjusted at the SDK level. To simplify Android 11 app compatibility testing, the Developer Options interface and the adb utility provide settings to enable and disable compatibility-affecting features (I allow you to skip testing without changing the targetSdkVersion and without rebuilding the application). Updated greylisting for restricted APIs not provided in the SDK.
- Added framework A that allows the application to dynamically load additional resources at run time.
- Added the ability to pass verification status of an incoming call to applications, which can be used to generate customized dialogs after processing the call, for example, including additional actions for marking the call as spam or adding it to the address book.
- Improved API , which allows the application (network connection manager) to influence the algorithm for choosing preferred wireless networks by transmitting a ranked list of networks, and also takes into account additional metrics when choosing a network, such as information about the bandwidth and quality of the communication channel during the last connection. Added the ability to manage wireless networks that support the standard (Passpoint), including accounting for the expiration time of the user profile and the ability to use self-signed certificates in profiles.
- The ImageDecoder API adds support for decoding and displaying HEIF (Apple's HEIC) animated images using HEVC (H.265) compression methods. Compared to animated GIFs, the HEIF format can significantly reduce the file size.
- An API has been added to the NDK for use in native code of image encoding and decoding operations (JPEG, PNG, WebP, etc.), without involving third-party libraries. The new API makes it possible to reduce the size of APK files with native applications and solve the problem of updating embedded libraries that may contain vulnerabilities.
- Camera apps can now temporarily turn off vibration (for example, when displaying notifications) to block it from working during a camera session.
- Provided the ability to enable modes (blur the background on the image) for devices that support them (for example, the still mode provides a higher image quality, and the continuous mode more closely matches the data from the sensor).
- Added API for ΠΈ low latency video playback modes required by real-time streaming applications. In addition, support has been added for HDMI Low Latency Mode (Game Mode), which disables graphics post-processing on the TV or external monitor to reduce latency.
- For devices with foldable screens API for getting information from the screen halves angle sensor. With the help of the new API, applications can determine the exact opening angle and adapt the output accordingly.
- The API for checking calls has been expanded with features for detecting auto-calls. For applications filtering calls, support for checking the status of an incoming call via for falsified caller ID, and return the reason for blocking the call and change the contents of the system screen displayed after the end of the call to mark the call as spam or add to the address book.
- Extended API , which provides applications with the ability to use hardware acceleration for machine learning systems. The API is positioned as the base layer for the operation of machine learning frameworks in Android, such as and Caffe2.
Added support for activation function , which allows to reduce the training time of the neural network and improve the accuracy of certain tasks, for example, to speed up work with computer vision models based on . A Control operation has been added to allow you to create more advanced machine learning models that support branches and loops. The Asynchronous Command Queue API has been implemented to reduce delays when running through a chain of small related models.
A number of ready-made models of neural networks have been proposed for use on mobile devices, including (recognition of objects in photographs), (computer vision) and Smart
Reply (selection of options for responding to messages). support for extended quantization using signed integers instead of floating point numbers, which reduces the size of models and speeds up work with them. In addition, capabilities have been added to the Quality of Service API to control priorities and timeouts when executing models, and the Memory Domain API has been extended to reduce copy and memory conversion operations when executing models sequentially. - Added separate types of background services for the camera and microphone, which will need to be requested if the application needs to access the camera and microphone while inactive.
- Added new APIs for displaying application interface elements with the appearance of an on-screen keyboard to organize smoother output animation by informing the application about changes at the individual frame level.
- An API for controlling the refresh rate of the screen, which allows you to set a different refresh rate for windows of certain games and applications (for example, Android uses a refresh rate of 60Hz by default, but some devices allow you to increase it to 90Hz).
- the mode of seamless continuation of work after installing an OTA firmware update that requires a reboot of the device. The new mode allows applications to retain access to encrypted storage without the user having to unlock the device after a reboot, i.e. applications can immediately continue to perform their functions and receive messages. For example, automatic installation of an OTA update can be scheduled at night and carried out without user intervention.
- Added to obtain information about the reasons for the termination of the program, allowing you to determine whether the program terminated on the initiative of the user, as a result of a failure, or was forcibly terminated by the operating system. The API also makes it possible to evaluate the state of the program just before termination.
- Added , a heap memory analyzer that allows you to find and fix problems caused by unsafe memory handling. GWP-ASan analyzes memory allocation operations and detects anomalies with minimal overhead. By default, GWP-ASan is enabled for platform executables and system applications. A separate enablement is required to apply GWP-ASan to your applications.
- To the ADB utility (Android Debug Bridge) incremental mode for installing APK packages ("adb install --incremental"), which allows you to significantly speed up the installation of large programs, such as games, during their development. The essence of the mode is that during installation, the parts of the package necessary for launching are transferred first, and the rest is loaded in the background without blocking the ability to launch the program. For example, when installing APK files larger than 2GB, in the new mode, the time to launch is reduced by up to 10 times. Incremental installations only work on Pixel 4 and 4XL devices for now, the number of supported devices will be expanded by the release.
- Completely debug mode with running ADB over a wireless connection. Unlike debugging with a TCP/IP connection, Wi-Fi debugging does not require a cable connection for configuration and can remember previously paired devices. There are also plans to implement a simpler pairing scheme using a QR code shown in Android Studio.
- Updated tools for data access, allowing you to analyze what user data the application accesses and after what user actions. some audit API calls.
- Added "Ethernet tethering" mode, which allows you to provide access to the Internet through a smartphone using Ethernet adapters connected via a USB port.
- In the settings there was a section with a history of notifications and the ability to set a schedule for activating a dark theme.
Source: opennet.ru