Android N preview: Here’s a look at some of the new features

Google Developers, part of the Beta program, can download the Android N preview. Google says that with Android N, it will be provide monthly updates, over the air (OTA) and developers won’t have to flash the device.

Google has put out an early developer preview of Android N, the next OS in the series. Google usually gives developers, fans a first look at the new OS at its annual I/O developer conference, so this preview comes as a surprise. Google Developers, part of the Beta program, can download the Android N preview. Google says that with Android N, it will be provide monthly updates, over the air (OTA) and developers won’t have to flash the device.

Google’s Android developer website points out, “new for Android N is an Over-the-Air (OTA) update program that automatically delivers the latest preview updates of Android N directly to devices enrolled in the program. The program is free, and it’s open to anyone who has a supported device that’s registered to their Google account.”

Here are a few APIs and of the Android N Developer Preview:

Multi-window – A new manifest attribute called android:resizableActivity is available for apps targeting N and beyond. If this attribute is set to true, your activity can be launched in split-screen modes on phones and tablets. You can also specify your activity’s minimum allowable dimensions, preventing users from making the activity window smaller than that size. Lifecycle changes for multi-window are similar to switching from landscape to portrait mode: your activity can handle the configuration change itself, or it can allow the system to stop the activity and recreate it with the new dimensions. In addition, activities can also go into picture-in-picture mode on devices like TVs, and is a great feature for apps that play video; be sure to set android:supportsPictureInPicture to true to take advantage of this.

Direct reply notifications: The RemoteInput notification API, which was originally added for Android Wear, now works in N for phones and tablets. Using the RemoteInput API enables users to reply to incoming message notifications quickly and conveniently, without leaving the notification shade. Learn more here.

Bundled notifications – With N, you can use the Notification.Builder.setGroup() method to group notifications from the same app together – for example individual messages from a messaging app. Grouped notifications can be expanded into individual notifications by using a two-finger gesture or tapping the new expansion button. Learn more here.

N Doze for efficiency – Google has launched Doze in Marshmallow to save battery when your device is stationary. In N, Doze additionally saves battery whenever the screen turns off. If you’ve already adapted your app for Doze, e.g. by using the GCM high priority message for urgent notifications, then you’re set; if not, here’s how to get started. Also, Google said that it is continuing to invest in Project Svelte, an effort to reduce the memory needs of Android so that it can run on a much broader range of devices, in N by making background work more efficient. If you use JobScheduler for background work, you’re already on the right track. If not, N is a good time to make that switch. And to help you out, we’re making JobScheduler even more capable, so now you can use JobScheduler to react to things like changes to content providers.

Improved Java 8 language support – 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. The new features help reduce boilerplate code. For example, lambdas can replace anonymous inner classes when providing event listeners. Some Java 8 language features –like default and static methods, streams, and functional interfaces — are also now available on N and above. With Jack, we’re looking forward to tracking the Java language more closely while maintaining backward compatibility.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai has already confirmed May 18-20 as dates for the I/O conference. Pichai, who had tweeted about the announcement, had said, “I/O’16 coming to neighborhood where it all started 10 yrs ago: Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, May 18-20. More details soon. #io16” During his India visit, Pichai had hinted in an interaction with students at Sri Ram College of Commerce in Delhi, that Android N or P could have the name of an Indian sweet. He had said that Google could do an online poll for the name. Android 6.0 aka M’s name had Mango Lassi in contention, but in the end Google went with Marshmallow.