Journalism of Courage
Google's Android N is now available in the form of an early preview. This is the first time an Android version has reached hands of developers even before the annual Google I/O developer conference. The move could be an effort to make sure newer versions reach devices even faster. At the last count, Android Marshmallow has just 2.3 percent market share and its yet to reach some flagship smartphones even after 8 months of availability. Android N which has seen its share of leaks lately comes with lots of useful enhancements. Here is our look at all the new changes. Read more about Android N here
Android N's biggest USP has to be the new split-screen multitasking. When Google announced Android Marshmallow running Pixel C tablet, its biggest drawback was the lack of split-screen multitasking. Google calls the new feature 'multi-window support' and its essentially a copy of Samsung's multi-window feature on Note series. Apple's iPad and Microsoft Pro has this feature for quite some time now. Read more about Android N here
Android N also brings better support for quick reply which allows users to quickly respond to text messages directly from the notification interface. The feature is already available on Lollipop and Marshmallow with Google Hangouts and Google now wants others to extend the feature. The most beneficiaries will be social messaging apps and other task based apps. Read more about Android N here
Android N revamps the notifications with bundled notifications feature. Google says the bundled notifications are very much like notifications stack feature in Android Wear. With bundled notifications, an app can bundle the notifications together as a single group Read more about Android N here
Android N brings new picture-in-picture feature mode which lets apps run a video activity in the pinned window while another activity continues running in the background. The new mode is mainly focussed at Android TV users but could be used by video streaming services on smartphones. The pinned window is primarily for video activity and Google's very YouTube app would become the major beneficiary here. Imagine working on a document with a YouTube video pinned to a corner. That scenario will become real with Android N lauch later this year. Read more about Android N here
With Android Marshmallow, Google changed the way apps access permissions and with Android N, it wants to change the way apps access external storage. Using the Storage Access Framework, the system attempts to grant access to the external directory and confirm access with the user. While this feature won't have much affect to a common user, it still simplifies permissions and accessibility. Read more about Android N here
