Top Android O features:
1. Better battery life:
The previous few Android refreshes Doze, Doze in a hurry went for enhancing battery life. With Android O, Google is further clipping down on unpredictable applications eating the battery out of sight.
Android O places specific limits on implicit broadcasts (signals sent by an application for other apps or activities to act upon), location updates and background services. All these happen automatically in the background, without users having to manage anything on their own.
This will prevent errant applications which you haven’t used in a long time from sapping your battery life whilst implementing background processes.
2. Managing/Grouping Notifications
O introduces notification channels that allow you to create a user-customizable channel for each type of notification you want to display. The user interface refers to notification channels as notification categories. To learn how to implement notification channels, check the Notification Channels guide by official website.
Notifications can be segmented into various different channels like sports news, text messages, music applications and so on and users can control each channel separately. The notification shade will also group notifications by channel, making it much easier to glance through relevant notifications. Users can also block or snooze a whole channel in one go if they wish.
3. AutoFill
While AutoFill in Android exists in certain applications like Messages and Chrome, the feature is app-specific and is not a part of the whole OS.
Android O makes filling out forms, such as login and credit card forms, easier with the introduction of the Autofill Framework. Existing and new apps work with Autofill Framework after the user opts in to autofill.
4. Picture-in-Picture mode
Android O allows activities to launch in picture-in-picture (PIP) mode. PIP is a special type of multi-window mode mostly used for video playback. PIP mode is already available for Android TV; Android O makes the feature available on other Android devices.
Developers can specify which aspect ratio they want for their application and can even set custom interactions on the PIP window. This feature is already available on devices running Android TV.
5. Audio improvements
With Android O, Google is presenting a few new components went for audiophiles. Android O carries with it bolster for amazing sound codecs, for example, LDAC.
Moreover, Google is additionally presenting AAudio — another local API for applications requiring support for elite, low-idleness sound.
6. Adaptive Icons
Adaptive icons will be supported in the launcher, device settings, the app overview screen and shortcuts.
Android O introduces adaptive launcher icons. Adaptive icons support visual effects, and can display a variety of shapes across different device models. To learn how to create adaptive icons, see the Adaptive Icons preview feature guide.
7. Better keyboard navigation
With Chromebooks now supporting Android applications, Google has introduced a new model for keyboard navigation in Android O.
Specifically, Android O brings with it a better way to navigate around Android using the arrow and tab keys on the keyboard.
8. Wide-gamut color for apps
Android developers of imaging apps can now take advantage of new devices that have a wide-gamut color capable display. To display wide gamut images, apps will need to enable a flag in their manifest (per activity) and load bitmaps with an embedded wide color profile (AdobeRGB, Pro Photo RGB, DCI-P3, etc.).
9. Support for third-party calling apps
Android O supports third-party calling apps natively. Google has introduced a new feature called ‘Telecom framework’, which allows for third-party calling applications to work with each other and with carriers.
10. WebView APIs
Android O provides several APIs to help you manage the
WebView objects that display web content in your app. These APIs, which improve your app's stability and security, include the following:
· Version API
· Google SafeBrowsing API
· Termination Handle API
· Renderer Importance API
Android O also brings with it optimisations for new runtimes for better stability and performance in applications designed specifically for Android O
