Update,
March 9: Boom! Google
has just made Android N Preview official! We’re working on updating this post
with all the new Android N features.
Original
post: With Google
I/O 2016 fast approaching, the new Android N release is not far
away either. As confirmed at last year’s I/O, Google will now release major new Android updates yearly,
following the path established with Lollipop. So for this year, we know we’ll
see the Android N developer preview at I/O, followed by monthly(ish) updates
until the full Android 7.0 release in October. Here are all the confirmed,
rumored and expected Android N features.
Confirmed
Android N features
Android N release date
As
mentioned above, we already know that the Android N release date will be May
18, during Google’s annual developer conference, Google I/O 2016. The Android N
developer preview will be shown off during Sundar Pichai’s keynote lecture on
day one of the conference and the factory images will be made available later
in the day.
The Android N release date
will be May 18, after the Google I/O 2016 keynote.
The final
Android 7.0 release date will coincide with the launch of the next-gen Nexus
releases at the end of October or early November. This Android 7 release
will be limited to Nexus devices at first and make its way to all other
manufacturer devices and carriers networks over the next six months or so.
Multi-window mode
The first
Android N feature to be confirmed was multi-window mode, with the confirmation
coming, obscurely enough, via a Reddit AMA with the
Pixel C team. During the discussion, Andrew Bowers confirmed that “split screen
is in the works”. Of course, you can already get a version of stock multi-window mode in Android Marshmallow,
but it’s far from polished.
Better tablet support
During
the same Reddit AMA, Pixel C team member Glen Murphy came right out and
confessed: “we’re working hard on a range of enhancements for this form
factor.” While he didn’t go any further, these Android N tablet features could
include: more functional multi-tasking (and I’m not just talking about
multi-window here), a real push for tablet-optimized apps (rather than just
blown-up phone apps), customizable nav buttons, DPI switcher, stock floating
mini-apps and tablet-specific System UI Tuner features.
Moving to OpenJDK
from Java APIs
Following
a sticky situation with Oracle over “rewritten” Java APIs , Google will
officially be making the switch to OpenJDK in Android N.
It’s still Oracle code, but OpenJDK is, as the name, suggests, part of the
open-source Java Development Kit. As Google confirmed: “we plan to move
Android’s Java language libraries to an OpenJDK-based approach, creating a
common code base for developers to build apps and services.” The change should
make development for Android N that much simpler and external changes will be
negligible.
Rumored Android N features
New Android N
settings menu
Courtesy
of new mockups from Android Police, we now have a better look
at the system settings menu in Android N too. The changes include the
addition of a Do Not Disturb drop-down menu at the top of the settings, removal
of the individual section dividers and addition of section information in the main
menu. So rather than have to enter the Wi-Fi menu to see which network you’re
connected to, Android N will display that information in the top-level settings
menu. It’s an obvious time-saving idea and is kind of surprising it has
taken this long to appear.
The
hamburger menu returns and has now been explained, providing a swipe-out nav
drawer that simply reproduces the top-level settings menu sections. While it’s
debatable if it is any better than just tapping the back arrow when you’re one
level into a menu, it will provide a quick escape route to the main settings
when you’re several levels down in sub-menus. Of course, the presence of the
hamburger menu in Android N also does away with the duplicated actions of the
back arrow in the settings and the back arrow in the nav bar.
No Android N app drawer
We
got the scoop prior to MWC 2016 that Android N will ditch the app drawer,
one of Android’s most iconic features. Then, during the show, the evidence
started piling up, with the LG G5 and HTC One X9 arriving without an app drawer
and the Galaxy S7 having an option to remove it. While the new Xperia X
range does have an app drawer,Sony’s Marshmallow concept provides a “classic” and “modern”
view – with and without the app drawer.
While
Google wouldn’t confirm the story at the time, an official video for Google Maps later appeared
showing a Nexus 6P with no app drawer shortcut on the
home screen. However, the black nav bar, 5:00 time, Google app re-named as
Search and only three apps in the dock could just mean this is a quick
render and not a sign of things to come. It would just be a very
convenient coincidence if it’s not true. (Update: Google has confirmed to Droid Life that the home screen in the video is a
mockup, “not a hint or preview of what’s to come”.) We certainly hope this is
true.
Revamped notification shade/quick settings panel
The
notification shade in Android changed quite a bit with the launch of Lollipop,
and it looks like it might be getting another revamp. According to some new mockups from the folks at Android Police, both the notification shade
and quick settings panel will get some interface tweaks in the next version of
Android.
The
notifications shade looks like it’ll provide more information for each
notification, and the height of each notification has been stretched to
accommodate this. In Lollipop, notifications on the shade have a card-like feel
with gaps of negative space between each one, and it looks like N will
be filling up these gaps. While both have a very sleek, Material Design
look, N opts for a lengthy sheet of contiguous paper over the card layout. We assume
they will still be swipe-able.
The quick
settings panel also seems to be a little easier to use this time around. On the
notification shade it looks like there will be easier access to a few
quick settings on the top, while the full quick settings page is just one more
swipe away. According to the mockup, we also might get the ability to add
multiple pages of quick settings. This will be particularly helpful if you want
to keep your most used settings on the main page and tuck away the rarely used
ones on the second. It also looks like users will be able to easily edit the
quick settings panel with a dedicated button, rather than navigating to the
System UI Tuner portion of the phone’s settings menu to do so.
Android N hamburger menu in settings
The
Android Developers site recently posted two screenshots of the new support
library, which has since been confirmed as Android N, with a new hamburger menu in the Bluetooth menu. There’s
plenty of debate as to what kind of added benefit the hamburger menu could
bring to a settings sub-menu, when we currently have a back button that takes
us straight back to the main settings menu, presumably what the hamburger menu
would do in Android N. Whatever the use case, when the screenshots appear on
the official Android Developers site you know they’re legit.
Android N name
The Android N name is the biggest game of the year, even
more so than “who will make the 2016 Nexus?” You don’t need to have a
sophisticated knowledge of the Android ecosystem or market to have a horse in
this race, simply pick your favorite dessert that starts with an “n” and place
your bets. The firm favorite currently is Android 7.0 Nutella, with Nougat
coming a close second and a variety of indian desserts also being bandied
about. Sundar Pichai even said he’d ask his mother or let fans vote for the official Android N name.
Sundar
Pichai said he’d ask his mother or let fans vote for the official Android N
name.
Stock stylus
support
As
we recently reported, Samsung may have hinted at stock stylus support in
Android Nby planning to retire several of the main S Pen features
from its Look API. The Samsung developers page makes the notation that these features
“will be deprecated in Android N” – a term used to describe a
soon-to-be-obsolete feature. The natural assumption is that these stylus
features will appear in stock Android 7.0. The same thing happened with battery
saving in Lollipop and fingerprint support in Marshmallow.
ChromeOS integration
This
one is a peculiar one. Last year The Wall Street Journal “confirmed” that Android and Chrome OS
would be merged, only to have Google set the record straight soon after. While
the initial report claimed that Chrome OS would be killed off, Google responded by saying it was fully committed
to Chrome OS and the platform was “here to stay” but that it is looking at
“ways to bring together the best of both operating systems.” It’s highly likely
that we’ll see at least some implementation of Chrome OS and Android
compatibility in Android N.
New messaging app
There’s
a rumor doing the rounds that Google will be introducing an all-new messaging
app with Android N to replace the largely unpopular Hangouts SMS/MMs
integration. The new app will be based on the Rich Communications Services
(RCS) platform, which allows for much more than just talk and text to be
shuttled around, including video chat, file sharing and instant messaging.
Google has publicly admitted its commitment to the RSC standard, but there’s
no telling yet if it’s anywhere near ready for inclusion in Android N.
Expected Android N features
Return of the
Dark Theme
The
Dark Theme that appeared temporarily in the Android M preview builds vanished
again to widespread dismay and still hasn’t made it back into an official Android Marshmallow update. Considering
it’s such a popular feature request and AMOLED displays look set to take over the display
market, we can only assume it will sneak back in as an Android N
feature much like stock multi-window mode. Stock theme support would also be
nice, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves too much.
Improved Smart
Lock for Passwords
Android
Marshmallow introduced Smart Lock for Passwords, a basic Google
password manager that can store your app passwords so that any time you
re-install an app you will be automatically logged in. Combined with Android’s
revitalised app backup, the idea is that the whole process of setting up a new
device is seamless. The only problem is that not that many apps support Smart
Lock for passwords yet so its value is still largely underutilized. With any
luck, Android N will see a lot more apps supporting the feature.
MOAR battery optimization
Battery
optimization is and always will be one of the most important aspects of any
Android release. Lollipop introduced a stock Battery Saver Mode and Marshmallow
introduced Doze Mode and App Standby. Android N will likely refine these
features – and hopefully allow Doze to work even when it’s in your pocket, much
like Greenify’s new hibernation features do – and tweak Battery Saver in ways
that make the default state of your phone a power-conservation mode.
Enhanced security and app stability
With
the appearance of granular app permissions in Marshmallow, Google took a major
step in the right direction: allowing users to choose the app permissions they
were comfortable with on an app-by-app basis and reject those they felt were
unreasonable. Because it was such early days, some apps that weren’t updated to
allow such user-facing control tended to behave erratically. By the time
Android N rolls out, Google should have committed devs to updating their apps
to provide the same level of stability with or without certain non-critical
permissions allowed.
Did
we miss anything? Let us know what Android N features you’re expecting or
looking forward to in the comments.
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