Android Q Cheat sheet

Android Q Cheat sheet features will transform some phones into more user-friendly, customizable, and secure environments. Here’s what developers, businesses, and users need to know about Google’s Android 10.0.

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Android is still the most widely-used platform around the globe. With a market share that hasn’t shifted much since the last iteration (approximately 81.7% around the release of Android Pie ), Google has a strong grip on the mobile sector. With the release of Android 10 (aka Android Q Cheat sheet), users will get a good blend of new features and a polishing of previously released features. Some of Android Q Cheat sheet new features will be eye-opening and should go a long way to cement the platform at the top of the mobile space.

Read this Android Q cheat sheet to get up to speed on Google’s next OS. We’ll update this resource periodically when there is new information about Android Q.

What is Android Q?
Android Q (aka Android 10.0) will be the next Android OS released from Google. Since the initial release of Android, Google has used names of various desserts for the platform. These are the names that Google has used for Android versions. (Before its release, Android 1.1 was called Petit Four internally.)

Android 1.5: Android Cupcake
Android 1.6: Android Donut
Android 2.0 – 2.1: Android Eclair
Android 2.2 – 2.2.3: Android Froyo
Android 2.3 – 2.3.7: Android Gingerbread
Android 3.0 – 3.2.6: Android Honeycomb
Android 4.0 – 4.0.4: Android Ice Cream Sandwich
Android 4.1 – 4.3.1: Android Jelly Bean
Android 4.4 – 4.4.4: Android KitKat
Android 5.0 – 5.1.1: Android Lollipop
Android 6.0 – 6.0.1: Android Marshmallow
Android 7.0 – 7.1.2: Android Nougat
Android: 8.0 – 8.1: Android Oreo
Android: 9.0: Android Pie
Now we arrive at Android 10 (Android Q). At the moment, we have no idea what this release will be called; however, there have been plenty of ideas circulating, including:

Android Quiche
Android Quick
Android Quality Street
Android Quesito
Android Quindom
Android Qottab
Android Queijadas
Android Qurabiya
Sameer Samet, Google’s Vice President of Product Management for Android and Play, said “We’re super excited about the desserts….At the same time, Q is a hard letter. But we’re looking at it.”

Additional resources:

Android Q: Release date, Live Caption, developer features, and everything we know so far (ZDNet)
What would you name Android Q? Google says this one’s ‘hard’ (CNET)
What Google’s Android Q dark mode means for all your other apps (CNET)
Google is finally ready to take on the iPhone and Samsung phones (CNET)
Google Assistant, Android Q, Google Nest Hub Max: Google’s big plans for the rest of the year(CNET)
What new features come with Android Q?
Android Q has a number of exciting features. Some of the new features will go a long way to setting Android apart from all other platforms, while others finally bring the operating system up to par with others.

Fully Gestural Navigation

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The biggest change to the operating system is the navigation control, which is far more efficient than previous methods, especially when using a device with one hand. Gesture navigation was introduced in Android Pie, though what was brought to the table seemed like a bridge to something even better. That something better is Fully Gestural Navigation. This opt-in feature (users can choose to go the old-school three-button method, the two-button method in Android Pie, or the new “no-button” method in Android Q) relies strictly on gestures for navigating the interface. The new navigation includes the following:

Removal of the Home and Back buttons.
Swipe up from where the Home button was to go back to the home screen.
Swipe up from mid-screen to open the app drawer.
Swipe down to open the Notification Screen.
Short swipe from either the left or right edge of the screen to go back.
Short swipe up (from the search bar) and release to open the app list.
SEE: All of ad tech ps’s cheat sheets and smart person’s guides (ad tech ps)

New notification control feature
Notification control (Figure A) is getting a new feature. With the long press of an app alert in the Notification Shade, you can select Interruptive Reminders or Gentle Reminders.

Interruptive Reminders: Alerts will appear in the Notification Shade and the Lock Screen.
Gentle Reminders: Alerts will only appear in the Notification Shade.
Figure A

q3.jpg
Long pressing an alert allows you to configure how it will behave.

So, if you’re worried about the sensitive information of alerts from certain apps making it to the Lock Screen, you now have control over which apps can display said data instead of the feature being On or Off.

Dark Theme
From the office of “What took you so long” comes the highly-anticipated Dark Theme. When enabled, the entire Android interface will take on a darker color (Figure B).

Figure B

q3b.png
The Android Dark Theme in action

Why is this important? Two reasons: Battery life and eye strain.

Battery life: With the dark interface, your display will have a less taxing effect on your battery.
Eye strain: With the dark interface enabled, you can work with your device for longer periods, without suffering from eye strain, especially when using the device in dark or dimmer environments.
Live Caption
Another new feature coming to Android Q is Live Caption, which will automatically add subtitles to videos, podcasts, and audio messages. These captions are in real time and system-wide so they aren’t limited to specific applications. The Live Caption text box can be resized and moved around the screen. Live Caption will not only be helpful for users who find themselves in situations where audio isn’t an option, but what’s even more important is Live Caption will be a boon to the hearing impaired.

5G compatible
Android Q will be 5G compatible. That means as soon as the infrastructure is rolled out, Android 10 will be ready to make use of the new technology.

Project Mainline
Google is introducing Project Mainline. With this new feature, security patches will be automatically pushed to phones through the Google Play Store (in the same way apps are updated). Updates are run in the background and loaded during the next time a device is rebooted.

Additional resources:

What’s new in the Android Q Beta 3 release (ad tech ps)
Google I/O: 14 Android OS modules to get over-the-air security updates in real-time (ZDNet)
How to pin and unpin apps in Android Q (ad tech ps)
Google brings nonbinary emoji to Android Q (CNET)
Google hears from developers regarding storage changes in Android Q (ZDNet)
What enhancements are in Android Q?
Expansion of Smart Reply
One Android feature that’s getting some much-needed polish by way of expansion is Smart Reply, which uses machine learning to anticipate what you might say in reply to a message. Although the feature was available in Android P, it was limited to Google-only apps. With the release of Android Q, Smart Reply is now built into the notification system, so any messaging app can suggest replies in notifications. Smart Reply also uses AI to predict your next action. For example, if someone texts you an address, you can tap that address to open it in Google Maps.

Privacy features for Google Maps
Speaking of Google Maps, the app/service will be getting some privacy-specific features. One feature is Incognito Mode. This mode will enable users to search for and navigate to locations without data being saved to or linked back to a Google account.

Digital Wellbeing’s Focus Mode
Google’s Digital Wellbeing will get a new feature called Focus Mode that allows users to select certain apps they want to avoid during a period of time. During the chosen period, those apps will be grayed out and their notifications hidden from view.

Gender Inclusive emoji
For those who like to use emoji, Google will bring gender nonconforming emoji to Android 10. Called Gender Inclusive, there will be 53 such emojis added to the platform.

More user-friendly App Permissions
App Permissions will have a much more user-friendly approach. Instead of the app offering little more than ON/OFF sliders for each app within a service (such as body sensors, calendar, call logs, camera, etc.), the new layout makes it very clear what apps have permission for a specific service and retains the simplicity of allowing or denying an app permission to access any given service (Figure C).

Figure C

q3c.jpg
Per service permissions can now be configured.

Additional resources:

Google Assistant is 10x faster and knows where your mom lives (CNET)
5 things you should know about Android Q’s privacy settings (CNET)
Google releases Android Q beta 2, adds notification Bubbles (ZDNet)
Google expands ML Kit capabilities for building machine learning into mobile apps (ZDNet)
At Google I/O, Sundar Pichai to talk Assistant, Android Q amid scandals (CNET)
What security features are in Android Q?
There are a few Android Q features that focus primarily on security. The first feature is called Scoped Storage. In order to give users more control over their files, as well as limit file clutter, Android Q changes how all apps access files found within external storage. To make this more secure, all apps on Android Q are given a sandboxed view into the external storage space.

Android Q also gives users more control over when apps are able to access device location information (Figure D).

Figure D

q3d.jpg
Users can define when an app has access to location information.

Users will be able to configure if an app has access to location information either while in use (foreground only) or all the time (foreground and background). In other words, if you opt for foreground only, when an app isn’t in use, it won’t have access to location information.

Interruptions will become fewer with Android Q, thanks to new restrictions to background activity starts. By restricting when an app can start activities, it will not only minimize interruptions for users, it will also allow users to control what’s shown on the device display.

One new addition that should go a long way for device security is that Android Q will now transmit randomized MAC addresses by default. Along those same lines, an app must have READ_PRIVILEGED_PHONE_STATE privileged permissions in order to access a device’s non-resettable identifiers (such as IMEI and serial number).

In order to protect user privacy, manual configuration of the Wi-Fi networks list will be restricted to system apps and device policy controllers. If an app doesn’t fall into one of those two categories, configuration of Wi-Fi networks will not be allowed.

Additional resources:

The Pixel 3A is official: Here’s what you need to know (ZDNet)
Android Q gets security updates without rebooting (ZDNet)
Future Android versions to support Electronic IDs (ZDNet)
Android Q to get a ton of new privacy features (ZDNet)
How can developers start using Android Q?
Android Q is in the beta 3 release. Anyone with a supported device can sign up for the Android Beta program. Currently, the following devices are supported.

All Pixel devices
ASUS ZenFone 5Z
Essential Phone
Huawei Mate 20 Pro
LG G8
Nokia 8.1
OnePlus 6T
OPPO Reno
realme 3 Pro
Sony Xperia XZ3
TECNO SPARK 3 Pro
Vivo X27
Vivo NEX S
Vivo NEX A
Xiaomi Mi 9
Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 5G
If your device is supported, installing Android Q is as simple as signing up for the beta program and selecting your device.

Additional resources:

Why you should migrate to the Android Q Beta program (ad tech ps)
How to use the new app permissions in Android 10 (ad tech ps)
How to become a developer: A cheat sheet (ad tech ps)
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Hiring kit: Android developer (Tech Pro Research)
When will Android Q be generally available?
There are six planned beta releases and, as of May 2019, only the first three have been made available. For the general public, Android Q should be available in late Q3 or early Q4. All Pixel devices will receive the update first, followed shortly by smaller vendors, such as Essential and OnePlus. Larger vendors (with carrier tie-ins), such as Samsung, will then receive the update.

Additional resources:

Mobile device security: Tips for IT pros (free PDF) (ad tech ps)
BYOD (bring-your-own-device) policy (Tech Pro Research)
The 10 best ways to secure your Android phone (ZDNet)
The 10 best smartphones you can buy right now (ZDNet)
Best mobile VPN services for 2019 (CNET)
Best to-do list apps for managing tasks on any platform (Download.com)
Smartphones and mobile tech: More must-read coverage (ad tech ps on Flipboard)

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