Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Android 11 public beta will debut during livestream, Google says

Allison Matyus
By

Google plans to announce the public beta for the upcoming Android 11 during a live stream on June 3. 

Android’s latest public beta was supposed to debut at the Google I/O conference on May 12-14, but the coronavirus pandemic forced that event to be canceled. The announcement will instead take place on YouTube beginning at 8 a.m. PT, according to a video spotted by Android Police. 

Recommended Videos

The event will include a Q&A portion where people can tweet their Android 11 questions to @AndroidDev using the hashtag #AskAndroid. Android Vice President Dave Burke and Senior Director of Product Management Stephanie Cuthbertson will be on deck to answer those questions. 

Join us for #Android11: The Beta Launch Show!

The beta release on June 3 will include the final SDK and NDK application programming interfaces for developers and open up Google Play publishing for apps targeting Android 11.

Related

Google plans to release beta 2 in July and beta 3 in August, which will include candidate builds for final testing.

Android 11 will include a slew of new features.

One of them is a new “one-time permission,” feature which would be available for apps that only need to access specific data, such as location, one time. 

Android 11 could also possibly have the Scoped Storage feature. The feature would limit the access that apps have to the rest of your device for improved security and better storage management.

Another feature we can expect — initially discovered by XDA Developers — is a new gesture code-named ‘Columbus’ that can be triggered by double-tapping the back of Google Pixel phones. The gesture allows users to easily perform actions such as launching the camera or prompting the Google Assistant by merely tapping the back of their phone twice.

Android 11 most likely won’t be available to most phones until 2021. However, there is also a chance some new Android phones released later on this year will come with Android 11 already installed. 

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Allison Matyus
Allison Matyus
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Allison Matyus is a general news reporter at Digital Trends. She covers any and all tech news, including issues around social…
I tried Android 14 on my OnePlus 11 — and I’m not impressed
OxygenOS with Android 14 beta on OnePlus 11.

Android 14 is in the final stages of development, and its first stable version is set to release later this month. As a result, Android phone brands are starting to unleash previews of their upcoming software upgrades based on the Android 14 beta, allowing select users to try out forthcoming features before other people. After Samsung opened up One UI 6 beta for a limited number of devices earlier this month, OnePlus is giving us a peek at its upcoming OxygenOS 14 beta based on Android 14.

OnePlus' custom Android skin, OxygenOS, received a major overhaul last year after merging the codebase with the ColorOS interface offered by its parent company, Oppo. Our worst fears came true when OxygenOS 13, based on Android 13, was released last year. It received a radical design overhaul that most OnePlus purists deemed a downgrade that made it nearly indistinguishable from Oppo's ColorOS.

Read more
I abandoned my iPad for an Android tablet and didn’t hate it
A person typing on a keyboard, connected to a Pixel Tablet.

Android tablets aren’t a patch on the Apple iPad, right? I mean, they don’t come close in app compatibility, performance, or versatility — making Android as an operating system good on phones, but disappointing on tablets. That’s the rule, and it’s one I have followed for some time.

At least, that was until I forced myself to live with and use the Google Pixel Tablet just like I do my iPad Pro. Would it change my mind? A bit, yes, but another Android tablet changed it more.
What does my tablet need to do?

Read more
This is the most jaw-dropping Android phone I’ve seen in years
Angled view of OnePlus 11 Marble Odyssey Edition.

“I’ll buy this one just for the looks,” remarked the barista at my favorite coffee shop as he saw me photographing the OnePlus 11 Marble Odyssey Edition. I’d do that, too. Who wouldn’t buy an extremely well-rounded Android phone that’s got a marble-like back with gold accents but still comes cheaper than your bland-looking iPhone or Samsung Galaxy?

In the past few years, OnePlus has drawn flak for losing its edge, losing grip with the famed “flagship killer” mantra that won its legions of fans. Passionate fans, I’d say. The OnePlus 11, starting at $700, brought the brand back on track. In my own experience, I haven’t used a phone as fulfilling as the OnePlus 11 over the past year. Of course, a palatable price makes it immediately likable, too.

Read more