Google Android overshadowed the entire mobile OS market with its subsequent releases.
At present, it has a majority of the mobile OS market under its belt, far more than its next competitor, Apple’s iOS. Various releases of Android brought new and interactive features that solidify its position in the market. Android 9 already pushed the boundaries of Android OS with some of the most attractive and appealing features as well as functionalities. However, something more scintillating was brewing at Google.
With the release of Android 10 beta, the entire world was flabbergasted with its unique and innovative features. It included implementations of intuitive gesture navigation along with various tweaks to the notifications which occurred on a monthly basis. However, the active development cycle also signified few of the previously-declared functionalities had been removed while different other features have yet to appear at all.
It was expected that at least some of them would certainly end up as Google’s Pixel-exclusive functionalities and features and while some of them end up this way such as system theme picker, and in few unfortunate cases, they ever materialized. Top Android app developers were looking forward to some of these features. Here are some of the Android 10’s “lost” features which never made to the end.
1. Screen Recorder
Android doesn’t actually have any inbuilt screen recorder still. While iOS has this feature for quite some time. Also, Android 10 seemed like it might actually address this particular problem, but unfortunately, it never happened. However, an experimental screen recorder did appear in the betas of Android 10, and it could easily be enabled from the phone’s Settings app. Moreover, this feature didn’t work at all, basically. However, it showed that Google was particularly interested in this idea.
But, the ability to easily access the different Android system flags duly vanished in the finalized Android 10 release while the screen recorder never appeared out in the working phase. Hope is that it will certainly come in the future with opening new avenues for custom mobile application development. It would have been a valuable addition to the different great features of Android 10.
2. Fast Share
A few years ago, Apple’s iOS released the feature known as “AirDrop” that allowed the people to easily send their photos, contacts, websites and other vital data to anyone who was in close proximity, physically and this happens without exchanging any contact information. Similarly, Android Beam promised a similar type of functionality from its own Ice Cream Sandwich version onwards, but it was quite slow, owing to NFC, and required physical contact among the devices, again due to NFC, and it was finally removed in case of Android 10.
Hence, during the Android 10’s beta time period, it was duly discovered that Google was also in pursuit of the development of an AirDrop-like feature known as “Fast Share” that could locate any nearby Android smartphone through Bluetooth and easily transfer files over a direct connection, through Wi-Fi. Even though this feature was actually found in the Google Play Services, not in the case of Android 10, it happened quite close enough in parallel to the development and release of Android 10 betas.
However, the best news is that Fast Share might not have lost for quite much longer. Developers have recently found that this feature is currently under development, and has received icons as well as interface updates. It is expected that the future Android version might have this feature. Well, we certainly hope so.
3. Rules
One of the key feature which is missing, yet not missing at all, is “Rules”. It is quite similar in fashion to Tasker as well as Bixby Actions and allows the users to set up quite simple automation tasks in the case of Android. For instance, the user could set the phone to turn on its specific “Do Not Disturb” mode whenever the user connects to the Wi-Fi network of the workplace. Rules were not at all accessible publicly during any of the Android 10 betas. However, it was originally found inside a particular system APK, which the team of developers finally managed to activate it on the particular Android 10 Beta 5.
However, this feature was even enabled on a few Pixel 2 as well as Pixel 3 phones after the release of Android 10, but the wider rollout of this feature is yet to occur. This particular feature can easily be activated on any of the Pixel phones which are running Android 10, as long as the phone is rooted.
However, it isn’t yet clear when this particular feature will finally become accessible to more number of users, and maybe a monthly security update can bring it to fruition. This will have a far-reaching impact on Android application development. However, exclusivity to Pixel phones might reflect that Google will keep this feature for its flagship phones only.
4. Translate button in Recents
Also, in the much later stages of the beta phase of Android 10, Google was actually developing a certain translate feature for Android’s Recents screen. Essentially, you can easily select the text from the different apps in the Recents screen on few devices, and then Android would actually add a button of Google Translate to apps utilizing a different language than the default one of the devices.
This feature first appeared in the Android 10’s leaked build but was certainly never was ever-present in any public beta, nor in the final release. Actually, it isn’t quite clear what happened to this Translate button, which might appear in any future system update. However, a PWA development company could have taken advantage of this feature to provide language-based apps. This feature would have made a huge difference for the user with a non-English background.
5. Automatic dark mode
This version of Android brought a heavily requested operating system feature in recent years, which was a system-wide dark theme. But, Google never got to implement it fully, which would turn on and off automatically depending on the time of the day, sunrise and sunset. However, few manufacturers such as Samsung have already introduced this feature to their own flavours of Android that makes the absence of this feature on stock Android much stranger.
Also, an automatic dark mode would have been definitely in the development at one point since you can easily enable it temporarily by simply executing an ADB command. A best Android app development company can release an app that can deliver this feature. However, at least one application has been created, which makes this particular hidden functionality quite easier to utilize, but the actual switch needs to be in the Android itself, for better user experience. It is expected that this feature will certainly make its way in the future stock version of Android.
6. Adaptive Notifications
When it comes down to how notifications actually work, Android 10 had a wide range of changes along with tweaks to sorting, simpler alert options, much long-press actions and many more. Among these changes was the “Adaptive Notifications” which was a feature that showed up in the Android 10 Beta 4 and then vanished promptly.
Read the blog- Google Plan To Use Firebase More Effectively For Android App Developers
However, the latest group of Adaptive Notifications also appeared under Android’s main Notifications Settings, along with two optional features. Among those two, the first one was the “Automatic Prioritization” which made sure to not buzz the phone for what the operating system considered as “lower-priority notifications”, similar to email apps which try to avoid any notifications in case of spam mail as well as other non-important or unwanted messages.
Also, the second feature essentially added “suggested actions and replies” to the section of notifications. Unfortunately, both of these options duly disappeared in the later betas. However, only an APK named Android Adaptive Notifications remains currently in the final release of Android 10, coupled with the option in the particular Developer Options for picking different handler app. It is touted to return as the main feature of subsequent Android releases in the future, but nothing is confirmed.
7. Permissions manager
Among the earliest Android Q leaks consisted of permission usage dashboard that reflected how regularly apps check the various phone information, SMS messages, contacts, as well as other data. Alas, this didn’t appear in the public release. Cyber security services would have utilized this feature to find malicious apps that get installed on the phone and steal data. This feature could have made a huge difference for the users who wish to know which apps are accessing what information related to them.
8. Google Pay situated in the Power Menu
This was among the best features advertised on Android’s official website. However, it didn’t make it to the final release, which is an option in the power menu for Google’s own payment system, Google Pay. The notion was to show debit or credit cards, passes, tickets, etc. whenever you hold down the power button of your phone. Also, the existing restart/power controls moved right to the screen’s bottom, while the different cards displayed in the format of the carousel right at the top.
9. Recall App
Another interesting app named “Recall” app also appeared in Android 10 betas. It has an ongoing “recording” notification which was visible. On the basis of functionality as well as notification text saying “Recall is recording”, it means that this app was responsible for recording the videos. It was most probably linked to the screen recording feature that we talked about, and it was subsequently removed in the later Android 10s.
Read the blog- What Is New For Android Users In The New Android 10 Update?
10. Volta App
A new and innovative Volta app implied it has something to do with the battery or power, possibly related to Lollipop’s “Project Volta”.
Some Other Honourable Mentions
Few features which were originally planned for this version of Android, ended up exclusively for Pixel, even temporarily or were actually delivered in various post-launch updates. Even though they are not “lost” features, but they are certainly worth mentioning as they aren’t available for all Android devices.
- Gestures along with Third-Party Launchers- It is a new gesture navigation system embedded in Android 10, but it couldn’t actually be activated whenever a third-party launcher is being utilized. Google finally fixed it for its own phone Pixel 4. However, a patch is still missing for the different other Pixel devices as well as other phones which are updated to Android 10.
- Pixel Themes- In case you are thinking of getting a system theme picker of Android for your own non-Pixel devices, then you will be disappointed. It is only exclusive to Pixel 4.
- Live Caption- Among the most interesting demos at Google’s event Google I/O was Live Caption which is an Android feature that displays live transcripts of any of the audio coming from the phone. It appeared like it was going to Android 10, but Google later revealed that it would be available on its flagship phones. It is currently exclusive to Pixel 4.
- Pixel Launcher’s Swipe-Down Gesture- A leaked APK certain months ago revealed that the Pixel Launcher could essentially get its own swipe-down gesture in order to open the entire notification panel. However, it ended up exclusive to the Pixel 4.
Conclusion
Over the years, Google’s Android has occupied the majority of the mobile OS market, over-shadowing iOS and others. With its innovativeness and exclusivity in features, it has been able to fulfill the demands of the people as well as astounded them with some of the most intuitive and robust features. With the release of Android 10, the people got some of the best features that enabled them to keep better control over their smartphone, get additional features and functionalities. It allowed companies involved in Android application development to leverage the features of the Android app to deliver interactive and intuitive mobile apps. However, Android 10s has lots of “lost features” which we have discussed. Some of them would have made a ton of difference in user-experience as well. The above-mentioned list comprises some of the top Android 10s lost features that you should know.