{"id":3296,"date":"2018-03-09T16:05:52","date_gmt":"2018-03-09T10:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/code4developers.com\/?p=3296"},"modified":"2018-03-09T15:31:35","modified_gmt":"2018-03-09T10:01:35","slug":"whats-new-in-android-p-developer-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/code4developers.com\/whats-new-in-android-p-developer-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s new in Android P developer preview?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As it has for the last couple years, Google is releasing a developer preview of the next version of Android<\/a> in March. Before you ask, no, we don\u2019t know the name beyond \u201cAndroid P.\u201d Another thing we don\u2019t know is just how big the user-facing changes will be this time around, as this preview is mostly focused on the changes that will affect developers. So\u00a0what\u2019s new in Android P developer preview, Google VP of engineering Dave Burke is calling this \u201can early baseline build for developers only,\u201d so definitely do not go flashing your main phone with this and assume it will be usable day-to-day.<\/p>\n

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The feature that will probably garner the most discussion is built-in support for a notch cutting into the display at the top of the screen. (Google\u2019s term for it is \u201cdisplay cutout support.\u201d) Those notches were unavoidable on new Android phones at Mobile World Congress last month, so that support is going to be important at least until companies stop blithely copying Apple\u2019s iPhone X. In the meantime, developers will be able to test how their full-screen apps will work with notches with the new tools Google is releasing today.<\/p>\n

\"Emulator\"<\/p>\n

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The other change that users may see is staring you right in the face in the image below: a tweaked look for the Quick Settings panel and notification drawer with rounded corners. Don\u2019t assume too much there, however, as this is just an early preview and Google has made tweaks to the look of quick settings and notifications in other previews.<\/p>\n

The new look for notifications also includes a new look for notifications from messaging apps: they will be able to include recent lines from your conversation if you want to reply inline right inside the notification. It\u2019s similar to how iOS handles iMessage notifications, but without all that force-touch fuss. Apps will also be able to include \u201cSmart replies\u201d (perhaps provided by Google?), images, and stickers directly in the notification.<\/p>\n

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\"Attach_images_in_MessagingStyle_notifications\" \"Smart_Replies_in_MessagingStyle_notifications\"<\/p>\n

As I said earlier, this is a developer preview, so the above pretty much encapsulates the visual changes we\u2019ve been able to identify so far. In fact, it pretty much encapsulates the traditional user-facing \u201cfeatures\u201d that are worth calling out in Google\u2019s blog post. There are a few more bits here and there, though. Android is finally introducing a standard dialog box UI for when apps want to verify your identity with a fingerprint, for example.<\/p>\n

The rest are the sort of things that are related to the overall efficiency of Android or are specifically there for developers to test their apps against. The list is surprisingly long, but it\u2019s hard to find a huge theme for Android P\u2019s changes in the way that we were able to do with earlier releases.<\/p>\n

Here are a few of the notable changes for developers:<\/span><\/h4>\n
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  • \u201cAndroid P restricts access to <\/strong>mic<\/strong>, camera, and all SensorManager sensors<\/strong> from apps that are idle.\u201d If an app is in the background and not active, they won\u2019t be able to access your microphone. This is a huge bummer for Facebook-is-listening-to-you conspiracy theorists.<\/li>\n
  • A multi-camera API<\/strong> so an Android app can individually request the data from more than one camera sensor at once. So for phones that have two cameras on the back, there will be a standard way for apps to more granularly control them.<\/li>\n
  • Built-in support for more video and image codecs, including HDR VP9 Profile 2 <\/strong>and HEIF<\/strong> (heic), with the latter bringing Android more in line with how iOS does things. Google also promises more information \u201clater this year\u201d on \u201cenhancing and refactoring the media APIs to make them easier to develop and integrate with.\u201d<\/li>\n
  • Changes to the bits that control power efficiency<\/strong> in Android, including Doze, Standby, and Background Limits. The Job Scheduler also is getting smarter about understanding the device\u2019s network state and batching apps network requests together. Apps that want to fetch data in the background will need to be tested against all of that.\"Indoor_positioning\"<\/li>\n
  • Google is also warning developers that Android P is going to start throwing up warning boxes at users when they install apps that \u201ctargets a platform earlier than Android 4.2.\u201d Basically, if you\u2019re not using a recent SDK for your app, Google will make you feel bad<\/strong> by making your users distrust your app a little. It\u2019s also going to expect that apps submitted to the Google Play store target Android Oreo in November and, in 2019, that they support 64-bit hardware.<\/li>\n
  • Support for Wi-Fi Round-Trip-Time, which allows apps to get indoor positioning data<\/strong> down to a one meter or two. It works by measuring the distance to various Wi-Fi access points.<\/li>\n
  • Google is also going to start \u201ca gradual process to restrict access to selected non-SDK interfaces<\/strong>.\u201d That\u2019s code for \u201cuse the public APIs that we have created for Android or maybe someday your app won\u2019t work\u201d (not an actual quote). The company is taking this one slowly and is encouraging developers to reach out if their app isn\u2019t covered.<\/li>\n
  • Better Autofill<\/strong>, which should make it easier for password managers to enter your password for you so you aren\u2019t constantly doing a switch-apps-and-copy-and-switch-apps-and-paste dance.<\/li>\n
  • Improved performance for ART<\/strong> and apps written in Kotlin<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Now, it wouldn\u2019t be a story about a new version of Android without a big caveat, so here it is: even though we fully expect more details in May and a release this fall, the likelihood that your current Android phone will get any of these features is not great. In fact, if history is any guide, your chances are very small. It\u2019s possible that the deep, structural changes that Google made to Android with Oreo (known as Treble) could make the update situation better this time around. But it\u2019s impossible to know until that we see that happen.<\/p>\n

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