Android 11 Beta 1 is now official and reportedly delivers one of the biggest changes yet to the OS’s power button menu. That’s because the standard, minimal interface of previous Android variants is now long gone. In its place, Google has implemented an open API that adds at least two new features. Those are a digital wallet carousel and smart home controls — placed just below the traditional power menu options.
The options available on the power button menu, since this is an open API feature, will likely vary for most devices once Android 11 lands for everybody. But, for Pixel devices, the change puts cards from Google Pay on the second row. So users can press and hold their power button to quickly access tap-to-pay options without opening any applications.
That’s a fairly big change already but just below that row, Google has gone quite a bit further. Now, that’s occupied by a customizable set of Quick Tiles that control smart home devices. Now, users can place their smart home lighting and cameras in that panel. Then, they can swipe to adjust the brightness of lights or tap on objects for deeper interaction.
For instance, camera feeds can be accessed at a tap and that’s reportedly faster than some dedicated apps. Smart thermostats can be controlled via the tiles too. And there will undoubtedly be any number of other gadgets that will be compatible too, moving forward.
The top row, meanwhile, hasn’t stayed the same either. Google has placed a quick-access “Emergency” tile at the top-left-hand corner. That’s displayed in a prominent red hue. To the right of that, the search giant has placed another oversized tile for restarting the handset. Finally, the right-most option allows users to turn off their handset.
It was already known that these features were on the way
Prior to this Beta release for the Android 11 update, reports had circulated that Google might be making the above-mentioned changes. But there had been some confusion with regard to what exactly that would entail.
The misconceptions arose from the fact that the testing of the two features was effectively separate. The Quick Tile-like controls for smart home devices, for instance, showed up in separate reports from the Emergency button and the Wallet tiles.
Since those were first spotted, speculation arose that the company could include all of the new features at once. But there was also discussion surrounding the probability that users would need to choose between the features for their power button menu.
The form these power menu tiles and UI take in the first beta for Android 11 is somewhat different from the initial presentation too. Initially, the menu was shown in test images to include Emergency, Power off, Restart, and Screenshot tiles. The latter quick-access tile, as shown in the latest images, has disappeared.
Conversely, everything else appears very similar. For instance, the three-dot menus for adjusting the digital wallet and smart home segments remain in place. At least for now.
You can get in on the Android 11 Beta 1 update now if you own a Google Pixel handset
For the time being, the newly-released Android 11 Beta 1 update can only be installed on specific devices. Namely, those are the Google Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL, Pixel 3, Pixel 3 XL, Pixel 3a, Pixel 3a XL, Pixel 4, and Pixel 4 XL. That’s because the firmware, as it currently stands, is explicitly designed to work with those handsets.
Users who want to get in on other devices will need to wait to see when their OEM releases its own variant.
The process for installing the update is a fairly straightforward process though. It should only be undertaken by those who are willing to put up with the possibility of bugs. But only requires that owners of the above-mentioned devices follow a few steps to register their device. Then, the update is installed as a normal OTA would be.
As noted above, to access the new menu, users simply need to long-press their device’s physical power button. The new menu replaces the previously used UI, which predominantly featured power-off and reset options.
