Android 12 is here, but we’re still waiting for the Pixel 6

Pocketnow

By Samuel Martinez

Published Oct 4, 2021

Take a look at some of the improvements and new features that are coming to your smartphone with the official version of Android 12

It is official; Google has released Android 12. However, things are a bit different this year, as the company usually launched the new version of Android with the latest iteration of its Pixel lineup.

Android 12 is now live and available for anyone who wants to take a look at the new build over at the Android Open Source Project. You can already read the official release notes, which let you have a better idea of everything that’s coming to every eligible Android device.

“Today we’re pushing the source to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and officially releasing the latest version of Android. 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.”

The latest version of Android features the AlwaysOnHotWordDetector class, which is a system API intended for use by the Assistant apps. It also comes with sound trigger features, which improve the attribution and enforcement of permissions related to microphone usage through the sound trigger API, improving user privacy and transparency on the packages that use the microphone.

The impact of these changes is as follows:
• Nonsystem apps using the AlwaysOnHotwordDetector class fail to compile against the Android 12 API because the API was removed from the public surface.
• Existing system apps using the AlwaysOnHotwordDetector class might be denied from using sound trigger features at runtime. To address this issue and allow these apps to access the microphone through sound trigger, declare the RECORD_AUDIO and CAPTURE_AUDIO_HOTWORD permissions for these apps.

Other changes include System Alert Windows restrictions to improve the security of the Android Ecosystem, which makes it harder for third-party apps to acquire permissions to block overlays from other third-party apps on Android 12. We also get audio improvements with Combined audio device routing, which adds support for streaming audio to multiple audio devices simultaneously. The camera department also gets a boost, as the latest version of Android introduces APIs that let apps work better with devices using high-resolution camera sensors.

There are more improvements in graphics, media, performance, display, and more. You can read the complete list of features coming with Android 12 by following this link. Now, we are just waiting for Google to give us an official launch date for the Google Pixel 6 series.