Android 10 now rolling out to Google Pixel smartphones

Android 10 should hit non-Google devices by the end of the year

Google has started rolling out Android 10, the latest iteration of the smartphone operating system, with Google's own Pixel devices the first to receive the update.

The company confirmed the roll-out in a blog post on Tuesday, although it did not confirm which Pixel phones would be receiving the update. The operating system will be rolling out to non-Pixel devices before the end of the year, the company added, with the OnePlus 7 rumoured to be receiving Android 10 within the week.

In addition to claiming that Android 10 offers greater security "and control over your data", Google added that it offers a new Dark theme, that can be applied either across the board or to specific apps. The theme is partly intended to reduce power consumption and, hence, to improve battery life.

New gesture navigation is aimed at the new breed of edge-to-edge screens, and is similar to the gestures BlackBerry introduced with the BlackBerry 10 operating system - swipe to go back, pull-up the homescreen or to shift between tasks, rather than tapping buttons.

Android 10 will also provide warnings when apps are accessing location data, when it is switched on, when you are not actively using the app. That, hopefully, will also apply to Google apps, although it's not clear from Google's blog posting.

The company also claims that privacy settings have been improved in Android 10.

Finally, Google claims to have improved user control over notifications. "Mark notifications as ‘Silent' and they won't make noise or appear on your lock screen, so you're only alerted by notifications when you want to be," it promises. In a similar vein, it has also introduced what it calls ‘Focus mode', enabling users to silence apps they find distracting.

The new release comes as the value of Android zero-day security flaws on the open market exceed Apple iOS security flaws for the first time: due partly to improvements in Android security, but also to the focusing of hackers' efforts on iOS.

And, while the operating system will be rolled-out to existing Huawei devices, it's not clear whether Huawei will be able to use Android 10 - with the various Google apps included - in future releases, given the continuing trade dispute between the US and China.