A short digest of new features in the OS update from Google.
A solar eclipse in the United States was expected much longer than the announcement of a new version Android, which is logical: Google's OS is updated once a year, while the next total solar eclipse will take much longer. It is difficult to say whether this fact became the reason that there was no presentation as such? Or is there a broadcast problem? Or maybe it's something else? Let's try to figure it out.
Of course, there was a formal broadcast. But after the short intro, which officially confirmed the guesses of many users about the code name of the new version Android, nothing followed, after which they had to go to the official website Android. “Smarter, faster, more powerful, sweeter” – this is the slogan the page Android Oreo greets the user with. What is not a canvas for a digest?
Cleverer
- Ambient Screen. An incoming notification is highlighted in a larger font and an enlarged application name, coupled with instant access to further interaction with the notification.
- Installing programs from third-party sources will no longer work without permission: users will be able to choose those resources from which, in their opinion, it is safe to install applications.
- Integrated support for printers. Now devices based on Android will be able to work with all Mopria-certified printers, which is 97% of all printers in the world.
- Support for tooltips for menu items.
- Notification Categories: Better and tighter control over which notifications are shown and how a specific notification is displayed.
Faster
- Booting up the device twice as fast as it was turned on (measured on Pixel).
- Increased control over background processes to improve overall system performance
- Limiting the frequency of background location requests for better autonomy.
- Project Treble. Modular architecture that makes it faster and easier to release updates to hardware manufacturers under Android. The biggest change to Android to date.
Tooltips and picture-in-picture
More powerful
- Apps will now be able to handle more visually rich content with brighter colors and finer gradients.
- Fonts can now be downloaded. You will no longer need to embed custom fonts in applications, which will reduce their size.
- Better support for Google Play Protect, a technology that scans up to 50 billion apps every day to keep your device and your information safe.
- Picture-in-picture. The redesigned multitasking mode, in which one of the applications works in a small window, while interacting with the main application is going on in parallel.
Sweeter
- Responsive icons. Developers will now be able to provide their borderless icons, and OEMs will be able to handle them according to the device's interface design.
- A new API that allows you to share files over the Internet through generated web links.
- Native API providing high-quality audio support
- Autosize text using TextView. Developers are provided with the option to automatically resize text based on the size and characteristics of the TextView, making it easier for them to optimize the text size across different screens or if dynamic content is displayed
- Wi-Fi assistant. Automatically connects to the best open WiFi network and connects via VPN for security.
- Redrawn emoticons
Basically, it becomes clear why Google decided not to make a big presentation. Based on what is listed on the site, Android Oreo is not such a major update and could well have received version 7.5. But since this year all the eighth is fashionable, then Google decided to keep up with the trend. The update is already rolling out to devices, the first will be the Pixel smartphones and the previous generation Nexus, the Pixel C tablet and the Nexus Player. By the end of the year, the Oreo update will be available to partners (Essential, General Mobile, HMD, Huawei, HTC, Kyocera, LG, Motorola, Samsung, Sharp, Sony).