Android Q May Bring Contextual Action Buttons, Native Scrollable Screenshots Support Won’t Be Included

Developers have spotted multiple quick action contextual buttons in Android Q notifications, search, and text selection.

By Tasneem Akolawala | Updated: 9 May 2019 11:49 IST

Android Q May Bring Contextual Action Buttons, Native Scrollable Screenshots Support Won’t Be Included

Android Q is currently in beta

Highlights

Android Q may bring multiple contextual buttons in the ecosystem
Quick actions were spotted in notifications, search, and text selection
Google says scrollable screenshot ‘infeasible’ to integrate

Android Q is already up for testing, and while the big features include the deep press 3D touch-like experience, and a new ‘Bubbles' multi-tasking feature, the little tweaks are being uncovered by developers bit by bit. A few users have spotted smart quick action contextual buttons in notifications, search, and even text selections. Google has separately confirmed that the scrollable screenshot feature will not be natively built into Android. The company says that the feature is simply ‘infeasible' to incorporate, hinting that we shouldn't expect to arrive in Android Q.

As we mentioned, Android Q has been spotted to bring a few quick action contextual buttons in varied parts of the ecosystem. For example, the notification shade is seen to enable buttons for Chrome, in messages where a link is shared to open directly in the browser, and Twitter links have the Twitter app button to open the tweet. The Notification Assistant was spotted first by journalist Ron Amadeo and developer Mishaal Rahman. This app seems to be at play, and it enables contextually appropriate buttons in Android Q notifications. It is thought to be an evolution of what Google introduced as App Actions when it first unveiled Android Pie.

Similarly, Actions in Google Search were spotted by Android Police, and if you look for Maps location in the search bar, the result will be accompanied by quick buttons to call that place or get directions there. Additional quick action buttons were also spotted in text selection, like one that enables users to define a selected word. Smart text selection on Android Q could also help in tracking shipping numbers, and a tipster also told the publication that he spotted buttons for voicemail translation as well. Most of these actions are still to be enabled, so you may not spot them even if you are on the latest Android Q beta.

While a host of new features are incoming with Android Q, scrollable screenshots won't be one. The company has dismissed this feature in Issue Tracker as ‘Infeasible'. Scrollable Screenshots has been available on many phones as an added feature by OEMs, but it hasn't been natively built into Android. And by the recent response, it doesn't look like Google plans to add iy with Android Q either. We can't be sure if future release may see a change in plan, but for now the tech giant isn't working on bringing it to native Android.

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