Today marks the first day of Google I/O, Google’s annual developer conference, and today’s keynote has already unveiled a truckload of information. One of the expected announcements was the announcement of the next official Android version, Android O. Although no official name was revealed, we were given a glimpse of some useful features coming with Android O.
Android O is said to focus on two themes: fluid experiences and vitals. Both themes have been broken down into different sections to explain what they specifically aim to improve.
Picture-in-Picture: Although Android gained support for multi-window use in Nougat, Picture-in-Picture allows for a little more legroom in regards to multitasking.
Notification Dots: Notification dots are a way to see when an app has received a notification. By long pressing the app, you can see the specific notification for that app. Dismissing the notification will dismiss the both the notification dot and the notification from your drop-down menu.
Autofill: A feature that’s already widely known and used in browsers, Android O will begin implementing autofill for specific apps as well.
Smart text selection: Users will have the ability to easily select some of the “most selected” types of text, such as addresses, phone numbers, emails, and names of people and places. Additionally, app options relating to the selected text will be an option in the menu (i.e. Maps for addresses, Gmail for e-mail, etc.)
Security Enhancements: Google introduces Google Play Protect. Play Protect scans your device for unsecure apps. Essentially, Play Protect is a visual tool for Google’s built-in antivirus.
OS Enhancements: Android O will allow devices to boot twice as fast. 2X aggregate of scenario in Google Sheets. “Wise Limits” to background location to help preserve battery life.
Developer Tools: Play Console Dashboard announced for a detailed overview of app statistics and problems. Kotlin now an officially supported language of the Android platform.
Many features of Android O weren’t detailed, but it was announced that the first available beta preview of Android O is available today. Those interested in trying out the beta can find more information at android.com/beta.
