Android N Developer Preview: New Features Overview

Android N, the second preview of latest Google Android mobile operating system for developers is available for download now. Android N looks a lot like Android Marshmallow but under the layer, you will find lots of tweaks and improvements. If we look numbers, then we don’t know what Google going finally going to call it, as internet rumors it would be Android 7. The feature of latest Android N developer preview, we are going to discuss might be changed or disappear before the final version of Android N. The final Android 7.0 release date has been confirmed for Q3, 2016.

Here are all the major Android N new features, we are expecting to see in the final version.

Compatibility mode

Till Now, Android N Dev

Android N, the second preview of latest Google Android mobile operating system for developers is available for download now. Android N looks a lot like Android Marshmallow but under the layer, you will find lots of tweaks and improvements. If we look numbers, then we don’t know what Google going finally going to call it, as internet rumors it would be Android 7. The feature of latest Android N developer preview, we are going to discuss might be changed or disappear before the final version of Android N. The final Android 7.0 release date has been confirmed for Q3, 2016.

Here are all the major Android N new features, we are expecting to see in the final version.

Compatibility mode

Till Now, Android N Developer preview 2 is available only for Nexus devices but it will be soon available for other devices. So, if you have Nexus device you can flash it manually to experience the all new features of “N”. After flashing, if you wish to receive OTA updates then you need to enroll your device into the Android Beta Program. You can enroll your device at any time to receive the next Preview update over the air.

Eligible Devices
• Nexus 6, Nexus 9, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus Player
• Pixel C
• General Mobile 4G (Android One)

Multi-window mode

Nowadays, the 3 GB or 4 GB RAM is easily available on the smartphone. But what is the benefit of such high memory if you not able do to true multitasking. The Google has included this unexpected feature in the Android N to fulfill the high memory availability i.e. Multiscreen. With this feature, you are able to run or use two apps simultaneously. By the way, this feature is already used by some other smartphone brands such as LG and Samsung, as they have integrated this option in their custom skin years ago.

Stock Multi-Window feature in Android tablets could be something which really beneficial for an enterprise. You can resize the windows of simultaneously opened apps on-the-fly. There’s also a new picture-in-picture mode option for Android TV that works just like minimized video in YouTube.

Direct Reply Notifications

Android N now going to save your time when you are in a hurry or in some meeting. This new feature is called Direct Reply. In this, you won’t need to jump or leave your current window to answer an incoming message. Just what you have to do is a tap on the notification reply button that appears at the top of the screen. This feature will prove great for messenger like WhatsApp.

New quick settings menu

Previously, if you want to switch on/off your Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or to access any other shortcut setting, you have to pull the notifications bar down two times to reveal the quick settings menu. But now, you get new and stylish quick setting menu on the top. It looks like the one Samsung, LG, and some other custom Android manufacturer seems to use.

Bundled notifications

Google also announced that the notifications card's form will group together with the same app. For example, if the notifications comes from WhatsApp, then it will be grouped together and to know who has sent messages, you can expand them into individual notifications by using two-finger gesture or tapping the all-new one expansion button.

Android N Background Applications

Google has added two new features to manage the background running applications.

First: In stock Android, if you want to close all background running applications you need to tap on the multitask button from the navigation bar and swipe all running background applications one by one to kill them. But in the Android N, Google simplifies this process by adding a Clear All option at the top of the multitasking menu. This option allows you to close all applications running in the background with a single tap.

Second: The second feature is, if you double tap on the recent multitasking button on the navigation bar then it will let you jump back to the previous application.

Beside all these major changes Google appears to introduce a new virtual reality platform based on Android. This will be a great effort from Google and will give a great push to Google Cardboard and it successor. Via Google’s Daydream VR platform all applications such Play Store, street View, YouTube and many others will support VR