Android 11 is just a subtle upgrade
Today, Google released a stable version of Android 11. We’ve seen several developer previews and betas since February, but today marks the official rollout of the final product.
With the stable version of the operating system on our phones, we know exactly what Android 11 looks and feels like. Unfortunately, if you were looking forward to a drastic overhaul that would operate in completely different ways as compared to other versions of Android, you’re going to be very disappointed.
Truth be told, Android 11 feels a lot like Android 10, which in turn felt a lot like Android 9 Pie. In fact, it’s been years since Android saw the kind of redesigns we witnessed in its early days, which might make the OS feel a little…well…boring.
I would argue that Android 11 seeming lackluster is actually a really good thing. It means that the operating system has matured to the point where stuff mostly works the way we want it to and all Google needs to focus on is subtle refinements.