Last month Google redid the much-needed mending in the user experience (UX) of web version of Gmail, the free Email service from Google. The older version had been lingering from the very beginning, it was a change no one has anticipated for.
Although the update was mostly concerned with the aesthetic aspects of the web design, fans went crazy over the new UX. Among all the performance checks and updates, this has been the most famous one.
Google marked its footprints for the upcoming Android P on the similar trail.
Unlike previous versions of Android, this time Google has focused on UX more than ever. Google made it public for the developers on Tuesday. Android P (no, Google hasn’t revealed what does the ‘P’ stand for) will be Google’s 9th installment in Android OS, following Android Oreo.
The latest Android version is full of visible changes and is packed with new features for users to love Android smartphones more and more. In fact, it is supposed to be most ambitious project of Google in recent years.
Improvements in the 2018 Android P update
The new update has improved security functionalities with a whole lot of new features. It enables you to use your phone less yet working all the same. (Confused? Then keep reading.)
Android gets new gesture navigation, task predictions, screen notch support, extended battery life, better privacy and tools to stop smartphone addiction, and the all new AI-power in battery management and phone settings.
All these features have one single aim – to reduce the human effort while using Android smartphones. These unique features of Android P (or Android 9.0) are explained in depth below.
1. Monitor App Usage
With digitizing world, humanity must preserve the basic flavour of it. This is the first time Google has not only expressed its concerns over excessive tech intrusion but also acted over it. The latest android version comes with monitoring of app usage by the smartphone users.
You can alarm yourself by getting the daily usage of every app and the exact count of number of notifications a particular app produced. The new Android P will have a new dashboard that tells you how often, when, and for how long you are using every app on your phone on a daily basis.
It also allows you to set limits on your usage. You could give yourself half an hour of Facebook per day, for example. Once your time is up, the icon will go from its usual stark blue gradient to a dull grayscale. You can save a lot of time now!
2. Gesture Navigation
It’s been a long time since Google changed how we navigate in our Android. From the time we can remember it has always been those 3 damned buttons - Home, Back and Multipurpose. This will change in the upcoming Android P.
Now the buttons will only appear if the app that uses them. Although this might considerably complicate navigation for non-tech-savvy users, but this will substantially increase the usable screen size. Gesture navigation will become more pronounced in Android P.
3. Notch Display
Notches are famous in upcoming phones for all the good reasons. It is becoming a trend, which has now been picked by Google too. Several smartphones such as the iPhone X and Huawei P20 Pro are already available with the cut outs at the top.
The front-facing cameras, speakers and sensors are arranged accordingly. To beat the compatibility issues, Android P will introduce full support for notches, which includes optimising how the content, notifications and status icons are shown around it.
4. Screenshot Editing
This one was a long time coming. We ought to be very excited about it, but this was already present in iOS. Android users can now mark and edit screenshots just after taking them if they are using Android P.
Unlike previous versions of Android, where we had to jump to another app in order to edit them, now you can just do it right after you take the screenshot before proceeding to save them.
There is a new button to take a screenshot in the power menu which can prove handy in case you forget the multi-button shortcut. The new Android along with being well packed with features has also become more sophisticated and discerning.
5. AI Power
Artificial intelligence is quickly making its way in every avenue of our life. Now it has intruded in our very smartphone. Yes, now the new android comes integrated with AI, which will closely monitor your activities and will change phone settings in real time according to your needs.
Like at its perusal, it will dismiss notifications from an app you regularly ignore anyway. AI works on a data set. So initially, you won’t feel the difference. But once you have used your phone for a while the experience will shoot drastically.
You will get used to it not even knowing about the “Middle-man” between you and your phone experience. The Android development team partnered with DeepMind (a part of Alphabet, parent company of Google), to integrate AI with the software.
AI will keep an eye on what apps you launch and how often. It will forcefully close the apps which it thinks you won’t launch anytime soon. It will do something similar with your brightness settings, watching how you use it over time and adjusting the ambient brightness to match your personal habits.
6. Smart Management
This feature will kill the need of keeping two phones at a time. There is a new smart option to manage the clutter of work apps and personal apps. When you are working, you don’t want a WhatsApp message on your personal number to bother you. Android P will take care of this.
Android P has this sorted by letting you create a separate drawer for personal apps and work apps or you can include any other category you like. So next time its just a click and you have your “all work” phone ready.
This will save users from the rigmarole of turning off notifications one by one. User-friendliness at its peak. But those who are techies, the features and navigation have a striking similarity with those of iOS. Google knows copying good things is not bad!
The update is expected to roll out by the end of this year.
Android P Beta version is rolled out for few phones, to try and test. These phones are Sony Xperia XZ2, Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S, Nokia 7 Plus, Oppo R15 Pro, Vivo X21, OnePlus 6, and Essential PH 1, the Google Pixel, and Google Pixel 2. Counting XL version of the Pixels, this makes the count of smartphones that use Android 9.0 update, eleven.
If you have any of these phones available to tinker with, then go on and install the new update. All you must do is download the XML file which should be available on your phone company’s website, and then install the file as you would install a software on your PC.
The further proceedings will be pretty much straight forward. Should you face any problem, leave a comment and feel free to contact us.