It"s a new year, and that means it"s time to start thinking about what"s going to be included in the next updates of our favorite operating systems. XDA Developers has gotten its hands on an early build of Android Q, so we can get an early peek at some of the upcoming features. Naturally, these features might not make it into the final build.
Dark theme
The most notable new feature is a system-wide dark theme, something that fans have been waiting for for a while. There"s an option called "Set dark mode" under Display settings where you can turn it on, and Settings, Launcher, and the Files app all get the dark gray treatment. According to the report, it"s unclear if the Google apps that have built-in dark themes will be affected. XDA is running an AOSP build, which means that there aren"t any Google services on it.
Android Q Continuum
There"s a new developer option called "force desktop mode", which is meant to "force experimental desktop mode on secondary displays". This is something that OEMs have done before, with Microsoft"s Continuum, Samsung"s DeX, and Huawei"s Desktop Mode. It"s never been a native feature of Android though.
New app permissions
App permissions have been revamped, and there"s a new option to force apps to only be able to use your location while the app is being used, similar to iOS. You can also easily see which apps have been granted or denied permissions.
Also, as expected, there are more developer options; obviously, only some of these are likely to make their way into the public Android Q builds. There are also some new Accessibility options, including "Time to take action" and "Time to read". These options allow the user to choose how long messages should show before they go away.
Of course, we"re still a couple of months away before Google makes any official announcements regarding Android Q. Last year, the first Android P developer preview arrived in March.