We’ve all suffered the misfortune of sleepily plonking down our phones on wireless chargers only to wake up and realise the battery is dead because it wasn’t aligned on the pad properly.
Reportedly, Google is planning to resolve this annoyance in Android 11 with a new feature that will inform device owners if their phone has been placed down incorrectly. The notification at the foot of the screen will read: “Realign phone to charge wirelessly.”
The feature has been discovered within the first developer preview of Android 11, released late last month. It currently only works on a Pixel 4 or Pixel 4 XL phone running the Android 11 DP1.
The notification, first spotted by a Reddit user and picked up on by a 9to5Google reporter, who replicated the feature on the Pixel 4 range, but couldn’t get it to work on the Pixel 3 series of phones.
Image credit: u/jotafett on Reddit
It’s not clear how the feature works, but it’s probably due to the handset being able to pick up some base level wireless current that isn’t enough to effectively charge the phone.
If the handset doesn’t detect the necessary power to charge the phone at the optimum speed, it might prompt users to realign the device. However, this will be something we’ll have to wait for Google to explain properly.
Related: Android 11 features – the big changes
Android 11 was revealed earlier than ever, compared to previous developer previews and beta versions of the operating system.
We know the new OS will bring the ability to schedule when you’re using dark mode, to capture scrolling screenshots and screen recordings, include a much more colourful quick settings menu and distinct notifications for chats.
We’re also going to see the ability to mute alerts while using the camera app, improved motion sensing, gesture navigation and better 5G bandwidth metering.
We’re probably going to get a full look at the OS at Google I/O in May… if it ends up taking place, of course.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
