Ahead of the launch of Android 12 Developer Preview, here’s a recap of all of the Android 12 features and leaks we’ve seen so far.
Ahead of the launch of Android 12 Developer Preview, which may be around the corner, here’s a recap of all of the Android 12 leaks we’ve seen so far. Normally, we learn the bigger picture features of the next version of Android when the first Developer Preview builds release, with smaller tweaks appearing in subsequent updates. This year, a significant amount of information about Android 12 has leaked out or appeared in public source code ahead of the Developer Preview, likely to begin sometime this month. To help keep tabs on what’s coming with the next release of Google’s mobile operating system, we’ve collected all of the various Android 12 leaks into one hub, which we’ll keep updated. Every major release of Android, since Cupcake in 2009, has used a dessert name that starts with a subsequent letter of the alphabet. While this practice stopped publicly with Android 10 — which would have been named “Queens Cake” — Google has continued to use these dessert names internally. For example, Android 11 was “Red Velvet Cake” — a fact that came up in a fun easter egg of Google’s virtual Android statue for 2020. As reported by XDA, Android 12’s internal dessert name is “Snow Cone.” Do with that information as you will. One thing you may notice throughout the leaked Android 12 design mockups is that instead of the usual white or black colorways used on Pixel phones, we find a primary color best described as “sand.” This is due to an in-depth theming system that is set to debut with Android 12. Android 12’s theming system should offer you a few different primary colors to choose from, from which your theme will be built. Most interestingly, Android app developers will be able to retheme their app based on your chosen theme’s color, if they so choose. Of course, there’s far more going on in the Android 12 design mockups than just a theming system. There’s also a massive collection of smaller tweaks like notification cards with much rounder corners, new shapes and spacing for quick settings tiles and more. According to XDA, these may come together to form a larger whole referred to internally as “Material NEXT.” From what we can piece together, it’s possible that this may point to a third generation of Google’s Material Design following the 2014 original and the 2018 “Material Theming” revamp. It’s also possible that this “Material NEXT” could simply refer to updates to the use of Material Design by Android’s built-in apps and UI.
