Going according to the previews’ schedule, Google has released beta 3 version for its upcoming Android mobile operating system that has inched the software closer to the completion phase. It looks to entice the developers with the addition of new features, enhancements for stability, security updates and bug fixing. Although the dramatic changes are not made, they are subtle to improve the user interface which Android fan base will definitely notice.
As the version is built on the top of final APIs, and the features, it makes perfect sense to test the app and make the app compatible for Android P before it makes its public debut in the month of August as expected. Before giving early release candidate build of Android a try by enrolling for Android P Beta 3 on Pixel devices.
With MLKit- the machine learning SDK release, the tech giant has again proven that AI is at the core of the businesses. Implementing machine learning on to mobile app is typically challenging due to many reasons, which is simplified through MLKit- an easy-to-use package.
The readymade toolkit lets the developers innovate and build the awesome apps with basic APIs namely face detection, landmark detection, image identification, barcode scanning, image labeling and text recognition. Besides, the SDK available on Firebase platform also takes care of hosting and serving TensorFlow Lite models for deploying the custom model, which in turn reduces the app install size as the models are kept out of developers’ APK. Thereby the developers can avail ML technology in the mobile app development.
Display cutout support
Many Android device makers have stolen the slightly favorable feature of iPhone X that’s NOTCH to increase the diagonal display sizes. To support the latest edge-to-edge screens, Google has provided the support for display cutout for the devices that use the same feature at the top of the display for the camera and speaker.
With new the getDisplayCutout() method, the developers can specify the existence and placement of the cutout areas where content should not be displayed. The developers can simulate the screen cutout on the device or test the display cutout using an emulator. It improves the way apps rendered on the mobile devices and ensure no content is hidden on the screen.
Indoor positioning
With indoor positioning, the Google map will not only provide the directions while driving or walking outside, instead, while roaming inside the building or malls as well. Through Wi-Fi RTT support, the developers can build the apps that can measure the distance to the closest three or more Wi-Fi access points which are typically precise to 1 to 2 meters of distance.
It requires the app should have the ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION permission, and the device must have Wi-Fi scanning turned on and location enabled so that access points can be easily identified during in-building navigation.
Multi-camera support
Long back, Nokia aims to revolutionize the selfie has introduced a Dual site feature that captures the images and videos from both front and rear cameras simultaneously and shares the live videos directly on YouTube and Facebook. The new way to create the content has helped the tech giant to lure in the customers from the established rivals.
In order to make the same feature widely available on the Android devices, the multi-camera support is offered, which enable the developers to create innovative features such as stereo vision, zoom or bokeh that are not possible using a single camera. Accessing streams simultaneously from either dual-front or dual-back cameras feature can be integrated with third-party apps. Going ahead, the logical or fused camera stream can also be called to enable the switching between two or more cameras.
Support for HEIF, HDR VP9 video, and media APIs
The cinematic experience can be delivered to the users with the HDR-enabled high-quality movies rendering on HDR-capable devices. The HEIF image compression improves the compression quality alongside save space on the devices. Making the app compatible for HEIF data format for the HEIF images is imperative before displaying and sharing the HEIF images.
Security updates
In every version of the operating system, Google up its ante for security. Similar is the event for Android P beta 3 version that’s hot on the trails of final public release where new features are added to make the device secure. In total 43 issues are resolved in the security update wherein 26 fixes are made altogether for Pixel/Nexus devices.
The security features include high-assurance user confirmation for sensitive transactions where the client-side encryption and decryption, all happens on device, and the complete information is backed up to the cloud that makes hacking the data implausible; unified biometric authentication dialog to increase the user’s trust in the biometric checker; the layer of decryption security is added by importing the encrypted keys into the Keystore.
For improved privacy, the OS has restricted the third-party apps running in the background or in the idle state to have access to mobile device camera, microphone, and other sensors.
Features to thrive the Android users
Notification area gets enhanced
Google has brought the Allo’s smart reply to the third-party messaging apps which allow the users to respond to the messages right from the notification panel without needing to open the app. In the reply, along with the text, the users can also attach images and stickers. Plus, there will be an array of standard responses that appear as suggestions to the users for making a quick and smart reply.
In case, the response written is mistakenly closed on messaging notification, the system will save it as a draft that users can send after opening the app. Also, it can be identified whether the conversation going on is a group or non-group conversation purposefully.
No more unintentional rotations
For optimal user experience, the screen orientation lock option is already available, but when the users switch from one app to another, it’s frustrating. To eliminate the accidental rotations, Android P operating system has added a new mode where the current orientation of the device won’t change even if the position changes. It doesn’t mean, there will be just portrait or landscape mode, while manually triggering the rotation is possible just by tapping a button in the system bar.
Adaptive settings
The AI intelligence after learning the user’s preferences for brightness, and battery life, it automatically changes the settings on the mobile devices. For instance, based on lighting conditions, the brightness is changed and the not-frequently-used app’s usage can be restricted when the battery is low.
Wind down mode
The new dashboard is created to curb the phone addiction where the details on how much time you spent on mobile in a day, time spent on different apps, the number of notifications viewed and responded, and how many times the device is unlocked, all displayed in an organized manner.
With Do Not Disturb mode, you just need to specify the time to go bed and wake up, and meanwhile, the screen will turn to grayscale and you won’t receive any notification. Additionally, the recommendations are made to take the screen breaks while using the apps like- YouTube. Here, the screen limits are specified by the users.
Epilogue
A lot of rumors are going around what will the Android P be called, which is around the corner to make its public debut in the coming months and soon we all know what the most touted Google OS has named after. Instead of getting into a name discussion, here the light is cast on the new additions, enhancements, and bug fixes that the new iteration of Android OS has brought in the package for the developers.
Just a handful of the major features has been discussed from the long list released under Android beta 3 version that developers should try out. For this purpose, the developers just need to have a supported device, download Android P and get enrolled to start testing the app.
Hardik Shah
As the tech-savvy Project Manager at Prismetric, his admiration for app technology is boundless though!He writes widely researched articles about the app development methodologies, codes, technical project management skills, app trends, and technical events. Inventive mobile applications and Android app trends that inspire the maximum app users magnetize him deeply to offer his readers some remarkable articles.
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