Google's Head of Android, Sundar Pichai and
Mathias Duarte, the Head of Design, have just
officially previewed the next major version of the
world's most popular mobile operating
system, which is currently being called the L
release as it's still a developer preview, but we
know it better as Android 5.0 Lollipop.
We've
pulled apart the major features of the next big
thing in Android for you below.
Android Design:-
Android is a constantly evolving ecosystem and
the same thing can be said of the design
principles that Google expects of those making
use of its platform. The official Google apps are
always at the forefront of what to expect from
future versions of Android and provide a
template for quick-witted developers and
designers to base their own interface revisions
on.
This year is no different, with a strong focus
on improving design across the board of
Android., so we've already seen previews in the
new Google+ app and other leaks.
''Material Design'' is the new design language
we'll be seeing in Android, the web and desktop,
and it is playful, colorful and flatter than ever.
However, shadows are also a key element of the
new language with new options for developers to
integrate 3D views with real-time shadows into
their apps, allowing for easily recognizable
layering of information, tabs and more.
Android
also has a revision to the Roboto system font,
and all new animations including touch feedback.
Animations between apps, activities and screens
can be made across the entire Material Design
framework and the Material theme will filter out
to Google's apps in months to come.
There is a new unified design guideline for
developer's available on Google's design site.
The use of shadows takes elements of Google
Now's card stacks and spread them throughout
the interface, so you can see, through the use of
shadows and layering, that one element will
animate above another when you tap it, swipe it
or scroll to it.
The effects are great and the
animations look smooth and creative.
You May also see:-
* Android 4.4 Kitkat Featurest
Notifications, multitasking and access:-
Notifications are now available direct from the
lock screen. As we saw with the leaks of Project
Hera, notifications and alerts can instantly
access the relevant app without leaving what
you were doing (swiping will dismiss
notifications so you can continue what you were
doing if you're busy). If you are wearing a
smartwatch, are at home, or you've set your
voice to be recognized, your smartphone can be
kept unlocked. As soon as you leave your
''unlocked'' space, stop speaking or remove your
Bluetooth device, your smartphone will assume it
should go into lockdown. ''Personal
unlocking'' means you'll no longer need to
endlessly enter your PIN or password every time
you unlock your device.
As you can see, ART will double the performance
ART runtime, graphics and battery
optimizations
As we've known for a while now, ART is
replacing Dalvik as the default runtime in the L
release of Android. ART pre-compiles apps the
first time you install them, so you'll be getting
faster app launches every time, right from the
beginning. ART also supports 64-bit processing.
ART is reportedly twice the speed of Dalvik and
will be an Android-supported update for all apps,
costing app developers nothing at all to
implement. There's also major improvements to
graphics performance for hi-res gaming and
impressive changes to battery demands through
system-wide optimizations covered under the
umbrella of Project Volta. A default battery saver
in the L release will bring the same kinds of
extreme power saving options we've been seeing
on 2014's flagship devices to all Androids on the
L release.
The L release will bring a stock battery saver to
Google Play Services and security
Google Play Services updates ship every six
weeks, meaning users always have the latest
malware definitions, constant security patches
and the long-awaited kill switch (although they
never called it that specifically) so you can
remotely disable or wipe your device if it is
stolen. Google Play Services will now be the
agent responsible for pushing security patches,
rather than via firmware updates, meaning
security will be much more responsive than it
has been previously.
The L release will also
allow you to use your personal device at work,
with built-in sandboxing (like we've seen in
Samsung's Knox platform) to keep your personal
and professional experiences separate, even
within the same device.
Universal Data Controls
let you manage all of your app privacy settings
in one place.
Android Wear will keep everything synced
between your wearable and smartphone.
Android Wear and Google Fit
As expected, Android Wear is a key component
of Google I/O and is deeply integrated into the L
release too. The full Android Wear SDK is now
available for developers. The smartphone will
become the hub of activity, but the wearable will
be the key screen in your casual interactions, so
you can cut down on the frequency of pulling
your phone out of your pocket and checking
notifications, updates and other relatively ''minor''
things. Check out further details on Android
Wear and wearables at Google I/O .
Google Fit is a new set of APIs designed to take
all kinds of data from your fitness apps and the
sensors on your smartphone and wearable
devices and centralize them in one place, so all
of your fitness data is instantly accessible. Of
course, you can also grant apps permission to
access that data as well, so you can pick and
choose amongst the variety o health manager
apps available.
Google is really taking the health
aspect in Android L to new heights.
What are your thoughts on Android L? What
other features do you want to see?
