It's here! Google releases Android 11 developer preview a month early

Google usually releases a preview of its next version of Android in March. But, this year, it's kicking things off a month early.

It's released the first developer preview of Android 11 for Pixel phones. To be clear, this is a developer-focused version of the software. To test it, you’ll need to manually flash a full system image onto your Pixel 2, Pixel 3, Pixel 3a, or Pixel 4. Although it's called Android 11 at the moment, you may see references to Android R. Eventually, it'll get a dessert-themed name before it releases for consumers.

Speaking of consumers, don't expect to see any major forward-facing features in this version of Android 11. Those likely won't be ready to show off until Google I/O 2020. For now, this release brings a handful of system-level changes, including improvements for foldable screens and low-latency video decoding, support for SHAKEN/STIR call screen authentication, and a new Google’s neural networks API.

Perhaps the most interesting Android 11 change for everyday users is a dedicated conversation section in the notification shade, which we assume means you'll be able to see more messages and even images in a chat thread when replying directly from a notification. There's also a new location permission option in Android 11, which will let you grant one-time location access to an app.

There are other security improvements to Android 11, such as the ability to securely store personal IDs like drivers licenses.

Google’s blog post for developers has more information. We hope to test it out and will let you know if what we find. If you're not a developer, we recommending not flashing this OS on your Pixel just yet. There will likely be tonnes of bugs, and the most exciting stuff is yet to come.

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