Google has released the Android P developer preview. Mountain View has therefore formalized the new incarnation of its mobile operating system. The final version will be ready for the Q3 2018, a period in which the new Pixel smartphones will be presented.
Let's take a look at the main news, intended to represent a starting point for devices that will be placed on the market in the coming months. The definitive name Android P is still top-secret, even if the most popular is "pineapple".
Android 9.0, or Android 8.2 is approaching. Nobody knows for sure what will be the number that accompanies the recent Android P whose developer version has already been released. The first beta for programmers is to become familiar with the news, some obvious and others that will emerge as the code deepens.
As with every new update of one of the two largest mobile operating systems on the planet, it's time to look for differences and similarities. In this case, there is one quite obvious. But let's review how Android has evolved a bit closer to iOS, and what has been distanced to the same extent. Although, as we say, this is the Developer Preview and there may be changes in the future.
Android also arches eyebrows
It is usual for Android to end up adopting certain advances carried out by the manufacturers. This happened in the case of force touch on the screens, but the truth is that the "notch" has arrived quite quickly. Android will now support it natively. It makes it easier for manufacturers to mount the 'notch' or 'eyebrow' at the top of the screen.
The 'notch' arrived aboard the Essential Phone last year. Months later it mounted the iPhone X. In 2018 we are witnessing an invasion of phones with this small island for the front camera at the top of the screen. An island condemned to disappear as soon as technology allows to hide the components that populate it in other parts of the phone.
Android P brings this support to 'notch' natively. Now from the system, you can configure a narrower 'notch', like the Essential, or a wider one, like that of many phones that are following the aesthetics of the iPhone X. Thus, Android P can work with quick settings, notifications and all kinds of content, 'dodging' the island and allowing a correct display at all times.
Volume buttons change their priority
Android has been prioritizing the volume of calls for years against the volume of multimedia content in its physical volume buttons. When nothing sounds on the phone, we press raise or lower volume and what is affected is the ring. But phones are already more than phones, they are portable multimedia centers in which we consume much more content than before, and Google turns Android to bring it a little closer to iOS.
The default function of the volume buttons of Android changes: before it was the bell, now it is the multimedia
In the operating system of Apple, we have the operation in reverse. If an iPhone is silent, the priority volume is that of the multimedia content, unless we specify otherwise in the operating system settings. When something sounds, the volume buttons are 'slaves' of it. Android will now work in much the same way.
Android P will look a little more like this on iOS. Although it's fair to say that manufacturers like Samsung have already decided what to do with the volume button. The volume is also redesigned when it is displayed since it goes from being horizontal to vertical. It appears on the right side, instead of in the center of the screen, where it is displayed in Android Oreo and previous versions of Android.
Native support for two cameras
The double cameras are present in the mobile market for a long time. So it cannot be said exactly that the support by Android of these is similar to iOS. But the truth is that until now, manufacturers had to look for their own on Android while iOS did have native support from the arrival of the iPhone 7 Plus.
The fact is that, after many years of manufacturers making war on their own with their own camera applications, which have even taken Android One as the case of the Xiaomi Mi A1. Now Google will allow this natively on Android. The new API arrives that will allow the applications, and the system itself, to access the information collected by more than one sensor, not strictly a couple.
Until now, the Android camera API only allowed access to the front camera and the rear camera. If any of the configurations was dual, access was allowed only to the main sensor. Android P changes this, and native support for dual front and rear cameras opens. And who says duals, says triples.
It was a matter of time before Android implemented the new coding for video and photography that iOS already implemented natively on iOS 11 when it released it last year. A new coding that allows reducing the weight of photographs and videos to almost half than the previous codecs. It will now be present in Android P, allowing its use to all phones and tablets that are updated to this version.
HEIF is not a proprietary format of Apple, but of the MPEG group, but it was integrated natively by iOS 11. This system, which may become a new standard that leaves behind the JPG that has dominated the market for several decades. It allows a way of working similar to that of RAW files, being able to recover the original file once edited.
HEIF was born in 2013. In 2017 it was natively included in iOS and in 2018 it reaches Android. We are eager to see what you can do with the pictures on Android once we start to see the first tests. Especially now that the 4K video is popularized by leaps and bounds. HEIF will allow you to record and photograph more with less space, and that is always good news. Welcome to Android.
Other advances of Android P
Android P brings more improvements and aesthetic changes under the arm. From a better indoor positioning to support for the RTT WiFi specification to improvements in notifications, Android P is now more complete and interactive, including intelligent responses to interact just with them, leaving the rest to the system.
The quick settings are redesigned. The time is placed on the left and the system becomes more colorful. The screenshots are simplified and we can edit them more easily, and the same happens with the Do Not Disturb mode. Although Android P also sets foot officially in artificial intelligence in another way. It includes improvements in the neural network APIs that released Android 8.1 Oreo.
Nine new operations, such as Pad, Mean or Squeeze, appear in version 1.1 of the Neural Networks API. It shows that the mobile sector continues to push in everything related to artificial intelligence, neural networks and everything that has to do with machine learning and deep learning. Of course, there is no lack of progress in terms of performance and energy efficiency in Android P.
Android P seems a minor step in the way of Android in the market. It contains more advances than apparently will be reflected in the interface itself. There are signs of a mature operating system for several generations. Unfortunately, we will see in a few phones already in circulation because of the problem of fragmentation. It will depend on the speed of update of the manufacturers when Android P is officially released for all.
