Android 12 Developer Preview 1 is here! And if you are a Google Pixel owner, you can get it right now and preview what’s inside the latest and upcoming iteration to Android. For those who don’t have a Google Pixel don’t worry, we got you covered. Below are the complete Android 12 Developer Preview Official details.
So far reports suggest that Android 12 will also be called SnowCone and also leads to Android 12 mainly focusing on security and privacy controls over the device and also enhance and overhauling the user experience. Making the consumers have more limitless options on keeping the device more secure and safe.
Those who own Pixel Phone starting from the Pixel 3 Series all the way up to Pixel 5 (including the Pixel 4/4a/4a 5G) are eligible to install it. Please do keep in mind that it’s mainly meant for the developer’s and the build might cause instability or battery drain issues and is not preferred to be used as a daily driver until the final public build is available.
Since the developer preview for Android 12 is launched quite early and being the first, it won’t contain a lot of new consumer features, rather it’s meant for the developers to operate. There aren’t many features to discuss for an average consumer. But some minor things that developers should know. So far Google did state that Android 12 will mainly be “more intuitive, better performing/optimized, and more secure” than other versions. Last year Google mainly focused the Android 11 Build on the notifications, messaging features and etc. So this time Google will shift its direction to somewhere else.
When Will Everyone Get Android 12 Update?
Google mentions that its goal to make Android 12 stable and to the public by August 2021. Possibly the public beta might arrive somewhere near June-July, since the first beta of Android 11 was held on June 10th, 2020.
What’s New In the Android 12 Developer Preview?
Mainly Android 12 Developer Preview 1 has been focused on the ‘Trust And Security’. It seems Google will be taking keen steps in improving devices and their security. So far this is what Google has provided with the following changes to the developers. Please do note that the changes won’t make any sense unless you are a developer.
User Experience
 Compatible Media Transcoding
Android 12 can automatically transcode HEVC(H.265) and HDR (HDR10 and HDR10+) videos recorded on the device to AVC (H.264), a format that is widely compatible with standard players. This takes advantage of modern codecs when they are available without sacrificing compatibility with older applications.
Faster, more responsive notifications
When users tap a notification, they expect to jump immediately into the app – the faster the better. To meet that expectation, developers should make sure that notification taps trigger Activity starts directly, rather than using “trampolines” – an intermediary broadcast receiver or service – to start the Activity. To keep notifications responsive, Android 12 will block notification trampolines by preventing them from launching their target Activities, and we’re asking developers to migrate away from this pattern.
Notification UI updates
We’re refreshing notification designs to make them more modern, easier to use, and more functional. In this first preview, you’ll notice changes from the drawer and controls to the templates themselves. We’re also optimizing transitions and animations across the system to make them more smooth. As part of the updates, for apps targeting Android 12, we’re decorating notifications with custom content with icons and expand affordances to match all other notifications.
Multi-channel Audio
Android 12 includes several enhancements for audio with spatial information. It adds support for MPEG-H playback in passthrough and offloads mode, and the audio mixers, resamplers, and effects have been optimized for up to 24 channels (the previous maximum was 8).
Rich content insertion
Users love images, videos, and other expressive content, but inserting and moving this content in apps is not always easy. To make it simple for your apps to receive rich content, we’re introducing a new unified API that lets you accept content from any source: clipboard, keyboard, or drag and drop.
Foreground service optimizations
Foreground services are an important way for apps to manage certain types of user-facing tasks, but when overused they can affect performance and even lead to app kills. To ensure a better experience for users, we will be blocking the foreground service starts from the background for apps that are targeting the new platform.
Haptic-coupled audio effect
Android 12 apps can generate haptic feedback derived from an audio session using the phone’s vibrator. This provides an opportunity for the more immersive game and audio experiences. For example, haptic-enhanced ringtones can help identify callers, or a driving game could simulate the feeling of rough terrain.
Immersive mode improvements for gesture nav
Gesture navigation is improved as-well. On the new Android 12, the gesture navigation is easier and more consistent, for example when watching a video, reading a book, or playing a game.
Foreground service optimizations
Foreground services are an important way for apps to manage certain types of user-facing tasks, but when overused they can affect performance and even lead to app kills. To ensure a better experience for users, Android 12 will be blocking the foreground service starts from the background for apps that are targeting the new platform.
AVIF image support
To give you higher image quality with more efficient compression, Android 12 introduces platform support for AV1 Image File Format (AVIF). AVIF is a container format for images and sequences of images encoded using AV1. Like other modern image formats, AVIF takes advantage of the intra-frame encoded content from video compression. This dramatically improves image quality for the same file size when compared to older image formats, such as JPEG.
Security and Privacy
Safer handling of Intents
To make handling Pending Intents more secure, Android 12 requires apps to explicitly declare a mutability flag, either FLAG_MUTABLE or the new FLAG_IMMUTABLE, for each PendingIntent.
Safer Exporting of components
To prevent apps from inadvertently exporting activities, services, and receivers, we’re changing the default handling of the android; exported attribute to be more explicit. With this change, components that declare one or more intent filters must now explicitly declare an android: exported attribute. You should inspect your components in the manifest in order to avoid installation errors related to this change.
Restricted Netlink MAC
In a multi-release effort to ease migration of device-scoped Netlink MAC, in Android 11 Google restricted access to it based on API level 30, and in Android 12 Google is applying the restriction for all apps – regardless of target SDK level.
Safer handling of Intents
To make handling PendingIntents more secure, Android 12 requires apps to explicitly declare a mutability flag, either FLAG_MUTABLE or the new FLAG_IMMUTABLE, for each PendingIntent.
Modern SameSite cookie behaviors in WebView
In line with changes to Chrome and other browsers, WebView includes new SameSite cookie behaviors to provide additional security and privacy and give users more transparency and control over how cookies can be used across sites.
Untrusted touch events are blocked
To preserve system security and a good user experience, Android 12 prevents apps from consuming touch events where an overlay obscures the app in an unsafe way. In other words, the system blocks touch that passes through certain windows, with a few exceptions.
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VIA: Android Developer, Droid Life
