Android 12 Snow Cone Could Add Software Features Than OEMs

(Pocket-lint) – The next version of Android is being investigated, which is believed to be called “Snow Cone” but will be released as Android 12, and details on what to expect are leaking. That is revealing some familiar features that Google wants to make native.

We have seen this process before. Large OEMs use their Android skins to make changes to Google’s core offering, adding useful features as a way to differentiate themselves. For the past 10 years, Samsung has been the most prolific, in many cases introducing software features that are then absorbed by Google and appear as a native Android feature a few years later.

Next on the list seems to be one-handed mode and mobile screen capture. Both have been in Samsung devices (and a few others) for many years. Samsung implemented the option for a smaller version of screen content when screens started to get too big. It’s a feature designed for easy one-handed use, shrinking everything on the screen toward the bottom corner.

That makes it easier to use with just one thumb, without having to stretch.

However, it raises questions. We have always found the system complicated in Samsung phones. When it was first introduced, large phones were something new. But large phones are now commonplace and much of the user interface has already adapted to one-handed use: swipe down for quick settings, change the settings menu down the page, and leave room for the top, and greatest of all, the swipe gestures. so you don’t have to tap a little arrow at the top of the page to go back to an app.

Does one-handed mode really have any value?

One thing that is more exciting is the suggestion that we will get rolling screenshots. This is a really useful feature that will allow you to capture an entire page instead of just the area visible on the screen. Once again, Samsung (and others) have it offered this for some time and its inclusion in Android would be a huge benefit to many people.