Wondering what’s new in that Android 7.1 beta that Google recently made available? Wonder no more.
Google has published a video that details the new features found in Android 7.1. While the video is developer-centric, there is interesting information in there for us non-developers, too.
One of the most notable new features of Android 7.1 is launcher shortcuts. With this feature, you can long press on an app’s icon to jump into a specific feature of that app. For example, you can text a specific person in Messenger, navigate to Home or Work in Google Maps, or Upload in Google Drive.
Another Android 7.1 feature is the ability for an app to determine if the device it’s running on is running as a demo user. If it is, you can have your app provide more information on how it’s used.
Android 7.1 is already available on the Google Pixel and Pixel XL, but it’s only available as a beta for Google’s Nexus hardware so that the company can identify any device-specific bugs.
If you’ve got a Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, or Pixel C, you can give the Android 7.1 beta a try right now by enrolling in the Android Beta Program or flashing the preview manually.
