Android 11 will offer more chat options, improved streaming for gaming services like Google Stadia (see Google Stadia review for details), and tweaked privacy and security features. This is based on an early preview of Android 11 that Google released today (February 19).

Specifically, Google announced the first developer preview of Android 11, which shifted from letters to numbers with the release of Android 10 last year. This will likely be the first of many Android 11 previews as Google fine-tunes its mobile OS update for later this summer.

Since this is a developer preview, we do not expect to see many end-user features in this Android 11; Google usually saves such highlights for the developer conference keynote, and this year's Google I/O is which is scheduled to begin on May 12. Instead, the developer preview announced today is aimed at software makers, allowing them to start developing apps that take advantage of the under-the-hood improvements Google plans to introduce in Android 11.

Still, when Android 11 is released in late 2020, we will find some notable changes that could affect how we use our best Android phones. Here is what we can expect based on the Android 11 developer preview.

Android 11 includes the Bubbles developer tool, which Google describes as a way to "keep conversations visible and accessible" while users are doing other work on their phones. Bubbles is part of Android 10 but now Google is urging app makers to include floating notifications that allow users to see the entire conversation at a glance.

In fact, Android 11 will add a dedicated conversation section to the notification shade, making it easier to find ongoing chats with others. Apps that support image copy and paste will also allow users to insert images when replying to notifications.

Whether it is a foldable phone or a conventional phone like Samsung's newly launched Galaxy S20 series, we are seeing displays of different shapes and sizes with camera cuts designed to allow for more screen area.

According to Google, Android 11 extends support for a wider range of displays and provides tools for developers to adjust their apps to better fit pinhole and waterfall screens in particular. For waterfall screens in particular, Google has added developer tools that allow apps to use the entire screen, including the edges.

Android 11 provides low latency video decoding so that the first frame of the stream is displayed as soon as possible once decoding begins. Google says this will be useful for any real-time streaming apps, and specifically calls out its own Google Stadia game service. while we are impressed with Stadia's game streaming capabilities, the graphics do not always look as sharp as they do when played on a game console. They don't always look as sharp, and Google is clearly trying to improve this element of the Stadia experience, even more so if it helps other video streaming services in Android 11.

Android 10 added an "app in use" option to permissions, which Google says has been successful." So far, when given the "while app is in use" option, about half of users choose it," Google's vice president of engineering, Dave Burke, wrote in a blog announcing the Android 11 changes.

Look for more granularity in Android 11 as Google introduces a one-time permission option. This will allow apps to be given temporary access until the user moves on, with the app having to request permission again the next time the user launches the app.

Google has stated that Android 11 will expand biometric support to accommodate a wider range of devices, and that various levels of granularity will appear in the authentication apps supported by the OS' BiometricPrompt feature.

The Android 11 release notes also mention a feature that Google and Qualcomm first showed off in December, which is that the OS is secure enough to store state IDS and identification documents like driver's licenses. However, this feature requires approval from a government agency.

With 5G networks in widespread use and the number of 5G phones expected to grow by 2020, Google will add a tool to check if the connection is metered so that apps can provide higher resolution images. It will also make it easier for apps to check downstream/upstream bandwidth.

In addition, Android 11 will extend Project Mainline to allow certain types of Android updates to be broken into chunks and downloaded through Google Play instead of requiring a full update. Android 11 will also allow incoming to authenticate SHAKEN/STIR support has been improved, and support for HEIF image file formats has been improved.

If you are not an Android developer, you may want to pass on this; this early release of Android 11 is not for the general public and is not intended for devices other than for testing apps.

Nevertheless, to get the first Android 11 developer preview, you'll need to flash the device's system image to a Pixel 2 or later phone (including last year's Pixel 3a and Pixel 4). In its Android 11 announcement blog, Google explains how to set up the Android Emulator through Android Studio. If these words don't mean anything to you, perhaps wait for a user-friendly update later this spring.

Google has promised regular updates to this Android 11 developer release throughout the first half of the year, with a more accessible beta version expected to be available by the Google I/O developer conference in May. Google estimates the release of Android 11 to be in the third quarter, and based on the release schedule of recent Android updates, it should be released around late August.