Posted on by Ranodeep Seth

Android P: What’s new?

Google has consistently released the first developer preview for the next version of Android well before Google I/O for the last two years so that developers can get a good idea of it before the conference, and this year is no different. This week, Google released the very first developer preview for the next Android version, Android P.

You can get it from the Android Developers site, however, do note that the only way to get it right now is to download the images and flash it on your device. It hasn’t been included in the official beta program (where you get it automatically if you’re enrolled) yet. That’s obviously because this is the very first developer preview version and Google does not want to push it out to a wider group yet. This is only an “alpha” release just for developers who are going to run it on a test device or an Android emulator.

And the only devices supported are Pixels (Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL). RIP Nexus.

What’s new?

This looks to be quite a major upgrade. Not just backend stuff but lots of front-end changes too.

These are the primary new features listed by Google on the Android Developers site:

Indoor positioning

There are new APIs to provide support for the IEEE 802.11mc WiFi protocol (WiFi RTT) which can calculate the distance from the nearby RTT capable wifi access point. With multiple of these present in an area, developers can use it to display location with an accuracy of 1-2 meters! This can be used for indoor positioning and navigation services.

Display cutout (notch) support

As more and more Android devices are predicted to sport a notch like the iPhone X and Essential phone, Android is now making it easy for developers to adjust their apps to it by providing support for it natively. There is support for various kinds of notches as you can see in the picture.

Even better notifications management

The notification management on Android, which is already great (especially when you compare it to the disaster that it is on iOS), gets even better with lots of new options, particularly in messaging and notification channels management.

Multi-camera support and camera updates

Android P introduces some very interesting new stuff to let developers utilize the camera hardware on phones better, something Google is already a real champ at as we all know.  Primarily, there is an API that lets apps access streams from multiple cameras simultaneously for dual camera devices.

Pixel phones don’t have dual cameras, or notches (not currently at least). But with native support for both of these hardware features, we can see an increasing trend to cater to and support other Android OEMs and their hardware.

It is also worth noting here that Google recently enabled other apps to utilize Visual Core, the image processing chip responsible for the HDR+ image processing in the Pixel camera.

ImageDecoder for bitmaps and drawables

This is a replacement for BitmapFactory. It provides “a modernized approach for decoding images.”

HDR VP9 Video, HEIF image compression, and media APIs

Android P adds built-in support for High Dynamic Range (HDR) VP9 Profile 2, which can be used to run HDR video from YouTube, Play Movies, and other sources on HDR capable devices. HEIF image compression is introduced which means photos will consume less storage space. There are also some new media APIs.

Better management of network related tasks

The JobScheduler API has been updated to better handle tasks that require network data to improve overall speed and performance for such data requiring tasks.

Other features

Other new features and changes mentioned are improvements to the Neural Networks API, Autofill framework, security enhancements, client-side encryption of Android backups, accessibility improvements, and navigation improvements.

Android P will also place some key new restrictions on apps:

  • Idle apps will no longer be able to access the camera, mic and other sensor data in the background.
  • Access to non-public APIs will be restricted. So developers will have to shift to public equivalents or request new APIs from the Android developer team.
  • This developer preview warns users each time they install an app that targets a platform earlier than Android 4.2. This limit will further be raised in upcoming developer previews. The final goal is to have all app updates to target Android O or above.

UI changes

While this was what Google officially announced, running the developer preview and using it is what gives us a real idea of the new UI is and all the noticeable changes. As you can see in the given screenshots, the notifications and quick control buttons have almost completely been redesigned. I personally think it looks great but you can’t deny it looks quite similar to iOS (the rounded buttons, the rounded corners for the notifications cards). However, copying isn’t anything new in the world of consumer tech.

Other than this too, there are a lot more UI changes and feature upgrades:

  • The settings menu has multi-colored icons, something we’ve previously seen on iOS and Samsung.
  • The home screen dock is shaded.
  • Time is now displayed to the left of the status bar instead of right.
  • Quick Settings now has a single page scroll down for extra tiles instead of swiping left to a new page.
  • Some cool new animations.
  • We can edit screenshots i.e. draw over them natively. Finally. This is something iOS and Samsung already have and something Pixel users have been desperately longing for.
  • Ability to mark a wifi connection as metered.
  • Ability to charge and transfer files simultaneously over a USB.
  • Vibration sensor customization.
  • New vertical volume control slider along the right side. And the default control now is media volume instead of ringer volume.
  • The text selection popup is updated.
  • Battery saver mode doesn’t turn your navigation and status bars to a flashy orange anymore.
  • Power button menu has a screenshot option now. The usual way to take a screenshot still works too.
  • Battery percentage is added to the ambient display.

That’s pretty much it. Of course, there is a lot more minor and back-end stuff we didn’t talk about here and stuff we are yet to discover as people use it more. But more importantly, this is only the first developer preview. It’s far from the final version. A lot of things that we currently see won’t make it and a lot of new things we have no idea about will be added. Nevertheless, this marks the beginning of the 6-month long season of testing, speculating and endless discussion for fans till the official release in Q3. Until then, happy Androiding!