110 PCWorld FEBRUARY 2021HERE’S HOW ANDROID 11 TIPS: 8 NEW FEATURES
- NEW MEDIA PLAYBACK
CONTROLS
Media controls have been part of the Android
notification shade for years, but that changes
in Android 11. That playback notification still
exists, but it’ll be above your notifications in
the quick settings. The upshot is your controls
will always be in the same place, and they
won’t push important notifications out of the
way. You can even swipe left and right to
switch between multiple media apps.
However, you do lose a row of quick settings
toggles. It’s probably a worthwhile trade-off. - SCREEN RECORDER
Believe it or not, there was a time when you
couldn’t take a screenshot on Android without
a USB cable or root access. That changed in
Android 4.0, and there may be a time when
we look back on the era when
we couldn’t take screen
recordings with equal shock.
Google just added this feature
in Android 11, although some
OEMs like Samsung already
have their own recorders. Still,
this ensures virtually all phones
will let you make screen
recordings going forward.
You can access this feature
in the quick settings. You have
the option to record audio
and show touches before
each recording begins.
Unfortunately, you can’t change the
resolution or bitrate right now, so the files
get pretty big. Hopefully that changes in
Android 12.1.2.