Controlling App Suggestions in Pixel Launcher
The string of customizations continues in Pixel Launcher. Developer Preview 4 brought grid size customization, a tutorial for gestures, the ability to remove apps from the suggestions row, and hybrid hotseat — which suggest replacements for missing positions in the dock. Beta 1 now brings the ability to control app suggestions, along with some onboarding messages to introduce the feature to new users.
New submenu for enabling Bubble notifications
Google introduced Bubbles last year with the second Android Q beta. The feature would allow users to view notifications and conversations from messaging apps in the form of floating overlays, pretty much like the Facebook Messenger’s chat heads. It wasn’t formally announced with the stable release of Android 10 but hidden in the developer options. With Android 11 Developer Preview 1, Google introduced new features such as the ability to take screenshots of just the bubble area instead of the entire screen.
Android 11 supports Bubble notifications by default, and now, Beta 1 adds a new submenu for enabling Bubble notifications. This submenu is present over at Settings > Apps & Notifications > Notifications > Bubbles.
New developer option: “Wi-Fi-enhanced MAC randomization”
Starting with Android 8.0, Android devices use randomized MAC addresses when probing for new networks while not currently associated with a network. In Android 9, you can enable a developer option (it’s disabled by default) to cause the device to use a randomized MAC address when connecting to a Wi-Fi network. In Android 10, MAC randomization is enabled by default for client mode, SoftAp, and Wi-Fi Direct.
Android 11 Beta 1 introduces a new developer option called Wi-Fi-enhanced MAC randomization. This feature allows the MAC address to change every time the phone connects to a Wi-Fi network that has MAC randomization enabled.
Graphics for Accessibility Settings
This is a relatively minor change. Android 11 Beta 1 adds some graphics to some accessibility settings, namely for TalkBack and Select to Speak.
Scrolling screenshots
Android 11 Developer Preview 1 included a new screenshot preview that hinted at support for scrolling screenshots. Unfortunately, scrolling screenshots are still not yet live on Beta 1.
Possible Clock customization for Lock Screen
There is a new entry within Settings > Styles and Wallpapers, called “Clock”. This settings pane contains only the default clock option for the lock screen. This hints that there may be further customizations or style options added in a future beta.
