Android O Developer Preview

 

The first iteration of Google’s next operating system has already been released to developers as an alpha quality developer preview on March 21, 2017.

Known as Android O – an official name will be assigned closer to its public launch – the OS has a focus on improving the battery life of your device.

At this stage it is possible to run the developer version on the Nexus 5X, 6P, Nexus Players, Pixel C and the two Pixel phones Google released last year.

Android O Features

Android O introduces a variety of new features and capabilities for users and developers. Following are the highlights, what's new for developers:

Notification Channels

You can create a notification channel for each distinct type of notification you need to send. You can also create notification channels to reflect choices made by users of your app. For example, you might setup separate notification channels for each conversation group created by a user in a messaging app.

Push notifications come in many forms: Facebook messages, emails, etc. It’s possible to drown in alerts that may not be wanted at that time or are irrelevant. Android O is trying to change this with ‘notification channels’.



The new channels will allow developers to create a 'unified system' to let phone users manage the notifications they see. For the operating system, it will be possible to set notification priorities and importance levels through an entire channel.

Wi-Fi Aware

WiFi Aware is a new technology that allows multiple WiFi devices to communicate with other nearby devices without needing an internet connection.

Wi-Fi Aware, also known as Neighbour Awareness Networking or NAN, provides devices running the Android O Developer Preview with the appropriate hardware to discover and connect directly to each other via Wi-Fi Aware without any other type of connectivity between them, such as Wi-Fi Access Point or Cellular.

Background limits to Extend Battery Life

Whenever an app runs in the background, it consumes some of the device's limited resources, like RAM. This can result in an impaired user experience, especially if the user is using a resource-intensive app, such as playing a game or watching video. To improve the user experience, Android O imposes limitations on what apps can do while running in the background.

In Android Nougat Google introduced the ability to restrict certain app activities in the background, and in Android O it improves on this by placing the priority on extending battery life without user-input.

Picture-in-Picture mode 

When multitasking on a device or tablet the new Android O will make it possible to view videos in a Picture in Picture (PiP) mode. This means you won’t have to stop watching Netflix to send an important email.

Android O allows activities to launch in picture-in-picture (PIP) mode. PIP is a special type of multi-window mode mostly used for video playback.

Adaptive icons

Android O introduces adaptive launcher icons, which can display a variety of shapes across different device models. For example, a launcher icon can display using a circular shape on one OEM device, and display a squire on another device.

New enterprise features

Google says it has made the profile owner and device owner management modes more powerful, productive and easier to provision than ever, with highlights including the ability to use a managed profile on a corporate-owned device and enterprise management for file-based encryption.

Some notable highlights include the following:

• The ability to use a managed profile on a corporate-owned device.
• An overhauled work profile featuring a user-friendly setup flow that drastically reduces setup time.
• Enterprise management for file-based encryption.
• Delegation of app management APIs.

Pinning Shortcuts and Widgets
Pinned shortcuts, similar to app shortcuts, allow users to quickly start a specific task in your app. Unlike app shortcuts, however, pinned shortcuts appear in the launcher as separate icons. Below image shows the distinction between these two types of shortcuts.

Autofill Framework

Account creation, login, and credit card transactions take time and are prone to errors. Users can easily get frustrated with apps that require these types of repetitive tasks.
Android O makes filling out forms, such as login and credit card forms, easier with the introduction of the Autofill Framework. Existing and new apps work with Autofill Framework after the user opts in to autofill.

Multi-display support

Interestingly, Android O will be able to support multiple displays, allowing a user to move an activity to one screen to the next.



References: https://developer.android.com/preview/index.html