Google released the first Developer Preview version of Android 11 yesterday evening (HERE all the constantly updated news) and the community immediately activated itself to find features not immediately documented. Among the most interested there are several mentions to a feature that would allow to take advantage of the reverse wireless charging mode and which could be part of the standard equipment of the next Pixel smartphones. Clues to that effect emerge from the Android 11 DP code. More in detail, as reported by XDA:
In SettingsGoogle (the Pixel Settings app) there is a new activity called “Battery Share”
Even if there is no explicit reference to the terms “reverse charging” or “reverse wireless charging”, the description that accompanies the function (and also its name) is quite eloquent: it expressly says that the battery will run out faster by activating the Battery Share to charge compatible devices such as headphones, smartwatches and other smartphones
It also seems to be a function introduced directly by Google for its Pixels and not a generic AOSP implementation: the name of the activity is preceded by the wording “com.google.android” and not by “com.android” – the first usually identifies functions developed firsthand by Google
Then there are two last clues that suggests how the reverse wireless charging mode can be supported by Pixel 5: examining the Java code of the BatteryShare function, a string emerged that specifies that the function cannot be used if wireless battery charging is active and finally the reference to “redfin” corresponding to the string “config_device_model_name”. According to previous rumors, redfin is the codename of the Pixel 5.
The hardware identikit of the next range of Pixel smartphones has yet to be composed: a few days ago Pixel 5 was mentioned for the first time by a source that can be considered official (a Google employee), while previously the first alleged was released rendering. These are still fragmentary clues before the launch which, barring surprises, will take place not earlier than next autumn
