Android L Feature Spotlight

Android L Feature Spotlight

Recents

This summer brought us Android L, the latest and greatest update to Google’s mobile operating system. Even though Android L was not made available for the public, Google released Developer Preview builds for both Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 2013 for testing purposes.

Besides allowing developers to see how their apps look and behave in Android L, the Developer Preview builds also allow us to take an early look at the features that will be introduced by the new Android update. This post aims to show you the changes Android L brings to the Recents screen.

Besides changing the way the navigation buttons look like, Google has also changed the way the Recents screen looks and behaves. The Android L Recents has received a Material Design makeover and brings improved functionality.

The little thumbnails of the last opened apps have been replaced by a cards stacked one over another. In fact, the Recents screen looks a lot like Chromes opened tabs screen. It also brings a, how Google likes to call it, document-centric multitasking, allowing certain apps to show more than one card in the Recents screen. For example, Chrome can show a recents card for each opened tab.

Google failed to reveal when Android L will be released for the public, but, if the latest reports are to be believed, the new update will be rolled out sometime late September or early October.

Project Volta

Google took us by surprise and introduced Android L at their annual I/O conference back in June. Android L is the biggest update made to Google’s mobile operating system since its debut back in 2008, both in terms of design and functionality.

Besides drastically improving the interface with the help of Material Design, besides making notifications more accessible, and besides introducing ART runtime, the new Android L update also aims to address one of the biggest issues of modern smartphones: battery life. The autonomy improvements are centered around Project Volta, Google’s attempt to bring better battery life to Android-powered smartphones and tablets.

How big the battery life improvements will be? For example, a Nexus 5 running Android L Developer Preview can get 30 – 40% more battery life which is an insanely huge improvement. How is this even possible? Well the new job scheduler API is one of the factors. It instructs apps to do more of their unimportant tasks while your phone is charging instead of while running on battery.

Another change brought by Android L is the introduction of Power Saver mode into stock Android. You can have battery saver always on, or you can instruct your device to turn on battery saver as soon as your battery drops to a certain level.

The Battery screen in Settings has also been improved. It now brings a better insight on how your battery has been used, is capable of showing how much time you have left until your phone dies, or how much it will take to fully charge your battery.

We are glad to see that Google is making efforts to improve the battery life of the devices running on their mobile operating system.

Setting App

Google showed us Android L for the first time at I/O in June. Even though the new update wasn’t made available for the public yet we’ve already been able to take a look at the new changes it brings courtesy of the Android L Developer Preview builds that have been made available for Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 2013.

Besides many other visual and performance changes, Android L also brings improvements to the Settings app. This post aims to bring you an insight on the changes made to the Settings app.

If you had the occasion to play with Android L Developer Preview you probably noticed that the Settings app was completely redesigned and reorganized. The Android L Settings app arrives with a new color scheme, new animations, new toggles and check boxes.

After you update your device to Android L you will be able to use the new search box to easily find that option you were looking for. You will also find a lot of new options integrated in the new Android release. For example, in the Display area, you will now have Adaptive Display and the “Cast Screen” option to mirror your display on a Chromecast device.

There are tons of new features available in Android L, some very important, others just variations of the previous functions.

Material Design

In a surprising move, Google officially introduced Android L earlier this summer at I/O tech conference. They even changed their strategy on how the new update will be released for the public.

As you may know, Google used to introduce two major Android updates a year: one in the summer and the other one mid-to-late fall, but things will be different with Android L. The new Android iteration was officially introduced in the summer, made available for download for testing purposes as Developer Preview, and it will be released for the public this fall, when new Nexus hardware will also see the light of day.

Android L is the most major update Google’s mobile platform has seen since birth and Material Design is a big part of this update. Material Design is a whole new design philosophy and Google talked a lot about it at I/O 2014.

Material Design aims to make Android more intuitive with the help of 3D effects and shadows. The interface is flatter, while the new animations allow you to see where everything came from and where everything goes. Everything slides from somewhere and Google has promised fluid transitions at 60 fps.

The new Android L interface as a while pays more attention to details and it’s more colorful, being the most important change brought to Android in terms of UI. Most native apps have been redesigned and more will follow soon.

Notifications Panel

Google I/O has brought us Android L, the latest and greatest iteration of Google’s mobile operating system. We don’t know yet when Android L will be released for the public or what its final name will be, but we already know what the search engine giant prepared for us in the new update.

As you may know, soon after the I/O announcement, Google released Android L Developer Preview for Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 2013 for testing purposes. They even issued an update a few weeks ago.

Android L is no doubt the biggest Android update ever. It’s even bigger than the jump from Gingerbread to Ice Cream Sandwich, bringing tons of new features and new functionality. This article aims to bring you an insight over the Android L Notifications Panel.

The first thing you’ll notice about the Android L Notifications panel is the new color scheme. Moreover, the panel now has a transparent background so you can still see what’s on your screen. The Notification Panel can be accessed using the classic swipe down move, but you will definitely enjoy the new animation. You will be able to swipe left or right to dismiss notifications or tap to look at the notification.

The Quick Settings button is gone, but the Quick Settings menu is still there. In order to go to Quick Settings you need to swipe down once you bring up the Notifications Panel, then swipe down again. The Quick Settings menu has been redesign now showing toggles for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Mobile Data, Notifications, Airplane Mode, Locations, Cast Screen, and Auto Rotate. Yes, we Google has finally made a toggle for Auto Rotate.

Android L also introduces Heads-up notifications. So, if, for example, you receive a call while doing something full screen like reading or gaming, the call won’t totally take over your screen, allowing you to decide whether to take the call or continue what you were previously doing.

Lock screen

Earlier this summer, during their annual I/O conference, the folks at Google officially introduced Android L. Even though the Mountain View-based giant didn’t reveal the release date of the new Android iteration, they demoed most of its new features at I/O and made it available for download as Developer Preview.

Android L is the biggest update Google’s mobile operating system has seen since its launch back in 2008. It arrives with tons of new features, but this app concentrates on the Lock Screen changes and improvements.

As you may know, in KitKat and previous Android version, the Lock Screen did nothing else except for showing you the time, how many notifications you have, or allow you to secure your smartphone or tablet. Well, the Android L Lock Screen has learned a couple of new tricks.

The new Lock Screen is now capable of displaying your notifications and it even allows you to interact with them. Furthermore, Google has found a clever way to prioritize the notifications based on the frequency you interact with them.

Now, instead of grabbing that small lock and moving it around, you will need to swipe up in order to unlock your screen. Furthermore, you can swipe left to get to the Camera (was previously available in KitKat) or swipe right to get to the Phone app.

The Android L Lock Screen allows you to swipe away notifications to dismiss them, or tap to open a specific notification. You can also swipe down on a notification to see all notifications from the respective app.