Google Introduces Android P with Notch Display Feature and More

Every now and then Google keeps on giving surprises to its users. And this time, the good news is the launching of the new Android P that is making the headline. Yes, Google has revealed the first developer preview of Android P.

Therefore, the developers can have a sneak peek inside and prepare their upcoming mobile application in accordance with the new advanced and exciting features.

In addition, some noteworthy changes have also been introduced which are very vital from an app developer’s perspective. The developers can download the initial version of Android P for the Pixel models.

If Android P is compared with Nougat or Android Oreo, the design changes are relatively smaller. Another important information is that Google has informed the developers that they are required to download the new version using a secondary device.

Any guesses what what Android P will be called? Based on the previous names of Android versions such as Android 8.0 Oreo, the possible names for Android P can be Android 9.0 Pancake, Android 9.0 Parfait, Android 9.0 Peanut Brittle, Android 9.0 Peanut Butter Cookie, Android 9.0 Popsicle to name a few.

Going into its latest feature, check out what Google has introduced in Android P:

1. The Option of Notch Display Support – Now that Android P is on the carpet, the developers now have access to the advanced feature of Notch Display (inspired from iPhone X). This brings the cutting edge latest and full-screen content as well as display cutout for the camera and the speaker. This is one feature that lets you manage your content accordingly and helps in determining the location and shape of non-functional areas.

In addition to that, the display cutout support works seamlessly for apps with the system managing status bar height to separate your content from the cutout. In fact, you can make use of the getDisplayCutout() to determine the location and shape of the cutout area using DisplayCutout.  A new window layout attribute – layoutInDisplayCutoutMode helps you in determining when and how to display content around the cutout area.

When getting your Android app developed by a professional Android app development company, ask them if they have any support for the new Developer Option of Android P to develop and test a cutout display for your app. Do also consider the latest Android trends while trying the latest Notch Display feature for your mobile application.

2. The Wi-Fi RTT Gets Interior Positioning – Accurate indoor positioning has been a long-standing challenge that Google faced every now and then especially with location-based services. However, the new Android P has tried to address that issue by adding platform support for the IEEE 802.11mc Wi-Fi protocol, also known as Wi-Fi Round-Trip-Time (RTT). It is a useful asset that helps in the indoor positioning of the apps.

Now with this wonderful feature in your bag, with hardware support, location permission, and location enabled, it will become much easier to get an access to the nearest Wi-Fi connection with the help of RTT APIs. Also, there is no need to connect the device with APs in order to access RTT. To maintain privacy, only the will become capable of measuring the distance of nearby Wi-Fi, not the APs.

3. Improved Messaging Notifications – The notification banner in Android P have been given rounded corners that precisely match with the aesthetic beauty of the app.

A single line will separate one notification from the other. The users will also come across new layouts with an addition of contact images and profile pictures. Setting the semantic action i.e., marking the messages as read, unread, important ones and deleting has been made easy.

Experience of messaging will undergo a devastating change. While responding to a message, a user will be able to add action and even add other text directly from the notification. Another addition is that of Person Class Notification which will help in identifying the people who are involved in the interaction. It also allows the user to save the replies as drafts if messaging notification has been closed unintentionally. It also advocates Smart Reply wherein you can store the important replies in the messaging app.

4. Android P Enabled with Multi-Camera API – In the recent past, the trends have undergone change and we can see that smartphones now have more than one or two cameras. So, the Google also thought of lending its support to a multi-camera with the Android P preview. The devices that have either dual-front or dual-back cameras, users can create innovative features such as seamless zoom, bokeh, and stereo vision.

Another significant development in the camera portion is the introduction of Session parameters that help to reduce delays during initial capture. It also features Surface Sharing that lets camera clients handle various use-cases without the need to stop and start camera streaming. APIs have also been added for the display-based flash support thus allowing access to OIS timestamps for app-level image leading to app-level image stabilization and special effects.

5. Power Efficiency Has Been Improved – To further improve the battery life of Android phones, steps have been ensured to improve the longevity of the battery life and so modifications have been made in Done, App Standby and Background Limits. The Always-on Display adds battery percentage to the center bottom of the screen in the Pixel 2’s model.

This is not the end, the following are more features that have been introduced in Android P:

• Likewise iOS11, Android P has new virtual screenshot editor which is also known as the Markup. The users can now crop and draw on the screenshot and show their creativity on the images. You can edit, crop, rotate and add colors to draw the pictures.
• Likewise Apple iPhone, with Android P, the android phone users have the access to Do Not Disturb option. No longer you have to keep your phone on silent or flight mode. You can set your own preferences, whether you want to receive the calls or use the repeat option.
• With Android P, it will become much easier to decode images for the bitmaps and drawables. You can draw a bitmap or drawable using a byte buffer file or URI.
• Google has come up with new AnimatedImageDrawable that allows you to doodle GIF and WebP animated images.
• With JobScheduler feature, the users have the advantage of managing the scheduled jobs.
• The Android P also provides the luxury of in-built support for HDR VP9 Profile 2 HEIF image and Media APIs.
• Improvements in the Autofill framework has been introduced. The new Autofill simplifies the task of filling out the forms.
• Google has also committed to offer robust security feature with fingerprint authentication for apps and devices with the introduction of Android P. Additionally, GlobalPlatform Open Mobile API has also been included for conducting NFC payments securely.
• Google has brought in further improvements in Neural Networks API whose key role is to speed up the on-device machine.
• So as to use privacy in the much better way, restrictions have been imposed on the use of mic, camera and all sensors from apps that are not used frequently.

The Android P Developer Preview has been introduced by Google with a hope that it would become popular amongst the users just like its previous version Android 8.0 Oreo. Recently, Google announced major changes related to Android app development, and now it has introduced significant changes in the latest version of Android OS – Android P. As of now, the Android P is available to android application development companies and not for common users. The new Android version will be available to developers in five different phases. The second developer preview will come out in May’18, third and fourth preview in June’18, and a fifth in July’18, before the final release planned for Q3 2018.

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