Google has put out an early developer preview of Android N, the next OS in the series.
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Typically, the company reveals its latest releases at its Google I/O show, normally held at the company’s Californian headquarters in April.
Google noted that a super-early preview allows developers to weigh in much sooner, giving Google more time to incorporate app-makers’ feedback.
Coming to the features, the Google’s Android for the first time introduces a split-screen mode, an improved notifications and longer battery life.
You will be able to reply to text messages directly from the notifications panel in your smartphone or tablet running Android N. This feature is available in Android Wear and lets you text quickly and conveniently without having to open the messaging app. For example, have you seen that new recent app UI?
Android N: Name, specs and features to expect!
Modern smartphones have to be good at handling floods of notifications and Android N has a couple of improvements in this area.
Enrolling in the program is easy as well, just go to http://google.com/android/beta on your Android device (which has to be one of the approved devices in the list), and pick the device you want to have receiving the Android N updates.
The developer preview is available on the Nexus 6, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus Player, Nexus 9 and Pixel C devices, with Google to invite consumers to try it out as well once it gets closer to the final product.
Under When Night Mode is on you have options to Use a dark theme for Android OS, Adjust tint (applies a red filter), Adjust brightness. No more waiting until Google and your device manufacturer decide to bring you the update! One thing for sure is that there will be additional developer previews down the line.
Currently, developers can use an updated developer’s kit to test on Google-branded Nexus.
The new split-screen tool would catch Android up to Apple’s iPad, Samsung and Windows, which all give customers the ability to view multiple apps on the same screen. Users of the Android N can now reply to the notifications directly without leaving the notifications bar drop-down.
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There aren’t many other details but we’ll keep you posted if something new breaks. The new features help reduce boilerplate code. “With Android’s Jack compiler, you can now use many popular Java 8 language features, including lambdas and more, on Android versions as far back as Gingerbread.
