A year ago Google hastily released the first preview version of Android N, which was later dubbed Nougat. Now the search giant, and despite the fact that Android 7.0 is far from having the expected presence, has launched the first Android O Preview, which unfortunately not all of us can test freely.
And it is that unlike what Google did with the preliminary version of Android Nougat, which was available through an OTA, with Android O any developer will have to manually download the new version of the operating system and flash it on their device.
At the moment it is already possible to try Android O, with all its novelties and also with all its defects since let's not forget that we are facing a preliminary version, although for this you must have a Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus Player, Google Pixel, Google Pixel XL, or Google Pixel C. It is to be imagined that a few weeks or months the update will also be available to test through Android Beta.
These are the main novelties of Android O
From the hand of Android O, a good amount of interesting news will reach our devices that we are going to review just below;
Notifications
With the new version of Android OS, Google has added a new feature called notification channels, which will allow us to group the notifications of the applications into groups. Until we see it and experience it, we will not be able to know the benefits that this will have, but for example it will help us to have a news application and group the sports and technology notifications, without having to see a notification for each news as happens now.
Picture in Picture (PiP)
The applications that we use in Android O can be used in Picture in Picture mode or what is the same so that a video continues to play in a small window even if you change to another application. We can already see this mode on YouTube and for most users it is frankly interesting.
Multi-Screen Support
Multi-screen support was one of the functions that many users missed the most on our Android devices and now comes from the hand of Android O. Thanks to it, we can launch an activity on a remote screen.
Keyboard navigation
Keyboard navigation was something that was already available in other mobile operating systems and even that some manufacturers had adapted within Android. Now this option can be used natively thanks to Android O.
Any user can use the navigation with arrows and tabs within the applications, something that sometimes is really interesting and beneficial.
Background app restrictions
Battery and autonomy is something that Google has focused its attention on in the latest versions of Android, and Android O is not going to be the exception. And it is that with the launch of the new version of the operating system we will see how several restrictions on apps running in the background.
These restrictions focus on three areas; Implicit broadcasts, background services, and location updates, of which we will learn details over time.
Neighborhood Aware Networking
New WiFi functionalities will also be present in the new version of Android, for example with Neighborhood Aware Networking (NAN) that will allow applications to communicate with each other without an access point in between and even without connection to the network of networks.
Calling app improvements
Although this feature will be more interesting for the operators than for the users, we cannot ignore it. And this improvement will focus on developers being able to build their own user interface for call applications that can be controlled and also monitored through a device with a screen, like the one we can find in any car.
And many others ...
These will not be the only novelties that Android O will offer us and it is that the adaptive icons will also be available, which we already saw in the Google Pixel, the support for high chromatic range screens, the support for high-quality Bluetooh audio codecs, a better support for sources a WebView and also a new native audio API.
When will Android O arrive on my smartphone?
Google has already released the preliminary version of Android O for developers, so the new version of the search giant's operating system is already among us, although as often happens, not all users can, and should not, install it on their smartphone or tablet.
Remember that devices on which any developer can install Android O are the following;
- Nexus 5X
- Nexus 6P
- Nexus Player
- Google Pixel
- Google Pixel XL
- Google Pixel C
Hopefully this list can grow as the weeks go by, although Google is usually very reluctant to release prerelease versions of Android for too many devices.
Between May and June the second preliminary version should be launched, by June and July the third will arrive, with also the final version of the APIs for Android Studio. After the summer we should have a fourth preliminary version, and shortly after we welcome the final version.
If we review this roadmap that has been repeated in practically all the new versions of Android, we could enjoy Android O at the end of the year on some devices in an official way and without having to resort to a preliminary version that in the end does not leave of being a software in tests and containing errors and bugs.
What do you think about the new features that Android O will incorporate and that will arrive on our devices before the end of the year?. Tell us in the space reserved for comments on this post or through any of the social networks in which we are present.