TL;DR
- Android 15 is making ready an enormous redesign of the quantity panel that additionally makes it collapsible.
- Android’s quantity panel helps you to change the media, name, ringer, notification, and alarm quantity.
- The quantity panel’s UI is a couple of years previous and doesn’t observe the most recent Materials Design tips.
Again in 2021, Google launched Materials You, a significant revamp to the corporate’s design language. Materials You design parts had been first included into that 12 months’s Android 12 launch. Though Android’s present design hasn’t modified drastically since then, it has acquired minor tweaks within the few releases since. Within the upcoming Android 15 launch, Google is lastly planning to revamp the system quantity panel UI.
The quantity panel seems when the consumer presses a quantity key after which faucets the three-dot menu on the backside. The present design options 5 totally different sliders for every quantity stream. From prime to backside, these embrace media, name, ring, notification, and alarm quantity controls. A skinny slider controls the extent of every. Aside from the panel’s header, stream icons, and sliders, there are additionally buttons to open Android’s sound and vibration settings and dismiss the panel. Lastly, if there’s any lively media playback, a shortcut to open Android’s media output switcher will seem beneath the media quantity slider.
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
Android’s present quantity panel design is a carbon copy of the quantity slider part beneath Settings > Sound & vibration. It is because the quantity panel is definitely comprised of “slices” — a characteristic launched again in Android 9 Pie — taken from that very web page.
The brand new quantity panel UI I used to be in a position to manually activate within the newest Android 15 Developer Preview 2 launch, nonetheless, is decoupled from this. The brand new quantity panel design, as proven beneath, options a lot thicker, pill-shaped sliders. A dot is positioned on the finish the place the slider’s most worth is, and the icons are additionally tappable to rapidly mute that stream.
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
Android 15’s new quantity panel can also be collapsible. Tapping the button subsequent to the media quantity slider collapses or expands the panel. Each time there’s lively media playback, the quantity panel is collapsed by default. In any other case, it opens in its absolutely expanded state.
The “sound & vibration” header can also be gone, and as a replacement is a persistent media output shortcut. Beforehand, the media output shortcut solely appeared each time there was lively media playback. The up to date design reveals the shortcut no matter media playback state. Nevertheless, when there isn’t any lively media playback, tapping the shortcut doesn’t open the media output switcher. As an alternative, it appears the shortcut stays simply to inform the consumer which audio machine is at the moment dealing with playback.
Google additionally added some playful animations to the brand new Android 15 quantity panel. As you’ll be able to see within the video up prime, the stream title textual content strikes with the slider so you’ll be able to all the time see the stream title as you regulate the quantity degree. The present quantity degree can also be proven rather than the icon everytime you’re transferring the slider.
Aside from the brand new design, the quantity panel can even floor extra controls for issues like spatial audio and “noise management.” Nevertheless, I wasn’t in a position to floor these controls throughout testing. This up to date quantity panel design isn’t enabled by default within the present Android 15 Developer Preview 2 construct, however Google might roll it out within the upcoming beta launch.
