Android 12 release date in India, features, eligible devices, how to download, and more | 91mobiles.com

With every new version of Android, the world’s most popular mobile operating system Android just gets better and better. The recently released Android 12 is no different in this regard. The latest iteration has brought in several new features, security and privacy improvements, nifty little changes as well as a much-needed UI overhaul. The update will roll out gradually over time starting with last year’s flagship phones and eventually trickle down to other phones. That said, in this article, we are going to cover everything you should know about Android 12’s top features, its release date, supported devices, and how to download, among other things.

Android 12 update release date

The Android 12 update was officially released on October 4th, and a couple of weeks later i.e. October 19th, it started rolling out to eligible Pixel smartphones. After that, several brands followed the suit and started rolling out the stable Android 12 update to its high-end devices such as Samsung Galaxy S21 series and the OnePlus 9 series. Additionally, OEMs have released the update rollout roadmaps for their respective devices.

Android 12 top features

Here are some of the noteworthy features of the new mobile operating system Android 12:

1. Material You design

With the Android 12 update, right off the bat, you’ll be welcomed by Google’s next design UI language – Material You. One of the biggest design changes since Android Marshmallow, Google intends to bring a sense of ‘personalisation’ throughout the UI by adapting to the user’s choice of preferred colours. Another aspect this new splash of design focuses on is reachability. Menus are larger, fonts are bigger and a brand new one-handed mode has been introduced, which can be accessed by swiping down on the navigation pill.

2. Quick settings and Notification revamp

With the Material You design, quick settings and notifications boast of a fresh coat of paint. The quick settings are now big squircle tiles with many options merged into a single button such as WiFi and mobile data toggles are now merged into one tile. Along with that, there’s a large pill-shaped brightness bar for easy scrolling. Coming to the functionality side of things, the notifications you receive are now more detailed as more characters can be accumulated in a single notification. Also, there’s a dedicated snooze button, which was previously accessible by swiping and holding a notification to the right or left.

3. Camera and microphone indicators

Taking a little inspiration from iOS, on Android 12 you’ll be right away visually notified when the microphone or the camera is in use. For instance, you open the camera app, then on the top right corner, a camera and a microphone icon would appear making you aware of the same. Similarly, if you notice an app that doesn’t require access to the camera and microphone and yet the indicators appear, you can revoke the permissions accordingly.

4. Game dashboard

It’s better late than never. Google has finally introduced a gaming mode for Pixels and AOSP based skins, with Android 12. With the ‘Game dashboard’ on the new operating systems, users can access various optimisation settings, check the screen frame rate, broadcast the gameplay on YouTube and also enable Do Not Disturb for an uninterrupted gaming experience.

5. Changes to widgets

The widgets on Android 12 have also undergone some big changes in terms of design. For starters, the design is now in line with Material You. Additionally, widgets will be able to extract the colour accents of the system making things more appealing and consistent, which holds true for at least Google apps such as Gmail, YouTube Music, Keep Notes, Clock and several others. Third-party widgets may also follow the design language introduced in Android 12 later in the future.

6. Privacy dashboard

As for privacy, Android 12 offers a dedicated dashboard all to its name in the settings app. The privacy dashboard allows users to check which app has accessed the camera, microphone and location in the past 24 hours along with the duration. From the dashboard itself, users can revoke the permissions of particular apps.

7. Scrolling screenshots

Google Pixel users can rejoice as Android 12 finally brings scrolling screenshots, which other custom skins have had for several years. To take a scrolling screenshot, just capture a screenshot as you normally would by pressing the power and volume down button. Once done, you’ll see a new option on the screen called “capture more”. Just tap it and the system will take a scrolling screenshot.

Other minor changes of Android 12 include HEVC media transcoding, audio selection in the media player, overview suggestions, app hibernation, improved auto-rotation, easier Wi-Fi sharing, and optimisation for foldable, tablet, and TV-size displays, among other things.

Android 12 name

Android 12 has been released with the numeric moniker only, much like its predecessor. However, internally, it’ll be known as Snow Cone, as per folks at XDA Developers.

Android 12 wallpapers: how to download

Android 12 wallpapers are out and you can download them on any device of your choice, including smartphone, laptop, and tablet. The collection is not very large – there are only six variations for smartphones (courtesy: ROZETKED). To download them on your device, follow the instructions below:

• Head over to this Google Drive link to download Android 12 wallpapers in high quality
• The link contains a handful of HD wallpapers, download the one that you prefer
• Check for the downloaded Android 12 wallpaper on your downloads folder and set it as your device’s wallpaper. That’s it!

Android 12 supported devices

The phones released after 2019 are most likely to receive the Android 12 update, at least the ones priced above Rs 20,000. Realme, Samsung, Oppo, Vivo, iQOO and the OnePlus have released the Android 12 update schedule for their respective supported devices.

Google has officially provided the Android 12 update to these devices:

• Pixel 3
• Pixel 3XL
• Pixel 3a
• Pixel 3a XL
• Pixel 4
• Pixel 4 XL
• Pixel 4a
• Pixel 4a 5G
• Pixel 5

For other non-Pixel smartphones, it’s up to the OEMs. Several OnePlus and Samsung devices have already started receiving the Android 12 update.

Android 12 news

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 4G model gets Android 12-based One UI 4 update (January 6th)

After the Samsung Galaxy S20 series, including the Galaxy S20 FE 5G, the chaebol has started rolling out Android 12-based One UI 4 to Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 4G model. It’s a stable update; however, only the Snapdragon 865-powered variant with model code SM-G780G are eligible. The seeding should expand to more markets soon.

In addition to its flagship S20 series, Samsung has also provided the update to Galaxy Note 20, Galaxy Fold3, and Flip3 smartphones.

MIUI 13 launched (December 28th)

Xiaomi has officially announced the latest version of its MIUI custom skin, which is based on Android 12. The skin is called MIUI 13 and comes with an all-new MiSans font for Xiaomi smartphones and improved security and privacy features. Other features include nearly 52 percent faster performance than the existing MIUI 12.5, a better energy-saving mode, and a virtual RAM extension. Xiaomi says that MIUI 13 rollout will begin by the end of January 2022.