Earlier this month, word got out that Google may be planning to add a system-wide dark mode to Android Q. Today a new leak has emerged that backs that rumor up.
Several screenshots that claim to show Android Q running on a Pixel 3 XL have leaked out. The folks at XDA-Developers got hold of a build of Android Q that was built this week and includes the February 2019 security patches as well as other new features, including the ability to always have dark mode on.
After enabling always-on dark mode in the Display section of the Android Q settings, you'll see the Settings App, Launcher, Quick Settings, notifications, and more all turn dark. The report also notes that there's a developer option called "override force-dark" that "overrides the dark feature to be always-on". Toggling this on appears to turn on dark mode in apps that don't have a built-in dark mode, including the AOSP dialer and email app.
Also included in this build of Android Q is an updated permissions menu that lets you view the permissions access for all apps and restrict certain permissions while an app is in use. You can also easily see which apps have been allowed or denied access to a particular permission.
Buried in the developer seeings of Android Q is a feature called "force desktop mode" that's described as "force experimental desktop mode on secondary displays". It's speculated that this could be a Google version of Samsung's DeX, which allows you to plug your Galaxy phone into a display, keyboard, and mouse and use it like a desktop computer.
Today's report also makes note of a couple of new accessibility features in Android Q. A new "Time to take action" setting will let you decide how long the system will show messages that ask you to take action, but are visible only temporarily. And then there's "Time to read", which will let you choose how much time you want to read and take action on messages that automatically disappear. The options for both settings include Default, 10 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, and 2 minutes.
Google hasn't said much about Android Q officially, so all we have to go on right now are rumors and leaked details like these. Adding a system-wide dark mode to Android Q would make a lot of people happy, as many phones use AMOLED displays and a system-wide dark mode could help to conserve battery life. Plus, some folks just prefer a darker UI.
Google announced Android P and the first developer beta in early March 2018, so it's possible that we'll get our first official look at Android Q in a month and a half or so. What features do you want to see added to Android Q?
