It wouldn’t be a Google I/O developer conference without the mention of Android, considering that the first I/O was held back in 2008, the year Android made its debut. Google kicked off its I/O 2016 conference on May 19th (May 18th in the US) with its two-hour long keynote to showcase its repackaged Google Assistant that will be powering Google Home, the rehashed Allo and Duo chat apps, and of course, the updated Android ecosystem. Android is now no longer limited to just smartphones, but it is also a wearable platform, and after this announcement, a VR platform too.
Android N
We have previously covered a few of Android N’s features from the developer preview released back in March 2016, but more features have been added since. But before that, the burning question — what does the ‘N’ stand for? Well, Google is being coy here by not finalizing the name yet. Instead, it is urging the public to come up with a “sweet” name that begins with an ‘N’, the successor to Android 6.0 Marshmallow (it’s in alphabetical order if you haven’t already know). My money’s on ‘Nun’s Puffs’.
Google has chosen to release the developer preview months before its late summer release because it needs to get developers and manufacturers, acquainted and ready for it so that end users will be able to get their hands on one faster than before. Also, unlike the earlier developer preview, the latest Android N is labeled by Google as a “public beta” version, and the company is encouraging enthusiasts to take it for a spin (on their newer Nexus devices). The website to opt-in to the beta is: https://www.android.com/beta.
Android is still going strong as expected. Last autumn, it was reported that there are over 1.4 billion Android installs in the wild. In the past year, over 65 billion apps have been installed from Google Play Store, with developers releasing more than 600 million apps in the same time period. Google also added that there are now “millions” of Android TV units, more than 100 models of cars running Android Auto (with another hundred coming soon), and over 12 watch brands adopting Android Wear so far.
Some of the features found on previous two builds of Android N include multi-window mode, direct-reply notifications, bundled notifications, and battery efficiency, among other things. Android N will now automatically kill oldest background apps, a feature that should’ve been there in the first place. Apparently, the picture-in-picture mode previously introduced will only be limited to Android TVs. The first build brought about a brand-new JIT compiler to make apps install faster and use less storage. The second build introduced a new 3D-rendering API called Vulkan to assist developers deliver fast-performing pretty graphics on mobile. In this “beta-quality” Android N Developer Preview 3 build, Google is now implementing seamless updates, where new Android N devices can install system updates in the background. Once the user reboots the phone, it will automatically switch to the updated system image. The new Android will also bring updated Unicode 9 Emoji, if you’re into that thing. There is another feature — future Android N versions will natively support pressure-sensitive touch, similar to Apple’s 3D Touch, but apparently this has been delayed.
For developers, Google has released Android Studio 2.2 Preview, featuring a rewritten layout designer with the new constraint layout.
Android Wear 2.0
It has been almost two years now since Android Wear was released, and during I/O 2016, Google announced version 2.0 of its wearable operating system. Just like Android N, Android Wear 2.0 will also be released this autumn. This time around, the software giant is focusing on three key areas to improve upon: watch faces, messaging, and fitness.
The new Android Wear now supports standalone apps, that can directly access the internet via Bluetooth, WiFi, or even cellular (if the device supports it), without having to rely on the Data Layer APIs. That means that the apps can function on its own without having to pair with with a phone.
Google has reworked the UI (user interface) with changes to improve the UX (user experience), making responding to notifications, opening apps, and switching watch faces a breeze. The system UI also adopts a dark color palette to save power on OLED displays. Google also published a new ‘Material Design for Wearables’ guide to encourage developers to adhere to the guidelines.
There is now a new Complications API and it’s exactly as described. Complications is a horological term used in the watch industry that refers to any additional feature beyond just displaying the time. With the new API, developers can include more data like calendar appointments, weather, et cetera, to the watch face, so you don’t have to dive into individual apps to get the information that you need.
The input method on Android Wear 2.0 has been improved too, to have better auto reply suggestions. Not only that, you can now reply to your messages by handwriting or by keyboard — yes, there is now a swipe-enabled Google Keyboard for Android Wear.
On the fitness side of things, the Google Fit platform allows third-party apps to get a consistent steps count on Android Wear. Soon, these apps will also be able to automatically detect walking, running, and biking activities, to log them accordingly.
Now, all of the Android N features, especially Doze, are moot if an older Android Wear device keeps draining the phone’s battery just to keep an active connection. Android Wear 2.0 addresses this by fully-supporting Android N’s features like Data Saver, Java 8 Lambda, and of course, the new emojis.
Daydream
Android N also has virtual reality (VR) enhancements baked-in at all levels of the Android stack — from how the OS reads sensor data to how it delivers pixels to the display. With VR Mode, developers can take advantage of single buffer rendering, the access to exclusive CPU core, smooth head-tracking, stereo notifications, and low latency graphics.
The front end of the experience is called Daydream (not to be confused with the Daydream Mode screensaver). In fact, Daydream is a whole platform dedicated to deliver high-quality mobile VR. Besides providing a home screen to browse and access VR content on the phone’s display, Daydream also includes reference designs for the headset and motion controller/remote, plus hardware requirements for smartphones to be able to run it. That means Daydream will only work with newer, yet-to-be-made Android devices (presumably running Android N).
Existing Google Cardboard apps will still work in Daydream, and there are a bunch of third-party ones already available. Google’s existing Cardboard-compatible apps like YouTube, Street View, Play Movies, Google Photos, and Play Store, will obviously work too. The company is also working with other content companies like HBO, IMAX, Netflix, Electronic Arts, and Ubisoft to bring apps to Daydream.
Google has worked with a bunch of hardware partners for this initiative, and current manufacturers to produce “Daydream-ready” smartphones include ALCATEL, ASUS, HTC, Huawei, LG, Samsung, Xiaomi, and ZTE. Don’t get too excited yet, for Daydream will only be launched this autumn, with Daydream-ready smartphones to only appear towards the end of 2016.
Instant Apps
Saving the best for last, Instant Apps is perhaps the most interesting feature that was announced at the Google I/O 2016 keynote. Traditionally, when you tap on a link that requires an app, it’ll redirect you to the Play Store to first install the app, and maybe sign-in, before you can even continue, disrupting the experience. Instant Apps is essentially a way to stream native apps without having to install them, effectively evolving the way we think about apps.
It is supposed to work from anywhere; from search, social media, messaging apps, et cetera. It should also support deep links, where the app will be launched directly into a specific page to complete an action. For instance, after browsing around B&H Photo Video website and tapping on a product, it’ll stream the B&H app and open directly to the product page for you to purchase the device. This is great for apps that you’ll only use once, like a parking app where you’ll only be visiting that area once every blue moon. An app has to be modularized, so that it will only stream the code needed for that specific task. You can decide after completing the task, to download the rest of the code that will install the app.
For end users, the best part about it all, is that Instant Apps runs from Google Play Services, and will work from Android Jelly Bean or higher (4.1+). You won’t have to get the latest Android device for this to work, since your Google Play Services will be automatically updated on your current device. Unless of course, if you’re still on Android 4.0 Ice-cream Sandwich or older.
Instant Apps is also great for developers, since it only requires an update on their existing apps, and they don’t have to publish an entirely new one. However, each instance of Instant Apps is only limited to 4 MB for now.
Frankly, this is what web apps should’ve been in the first place. 10 years ago we were being sold on the promise that HTML5 web apps will be the future. During the excitement, there are websites here and there that only require you to load them once, and they will continue to work even while offline. However, for some reason, web developers have been neglecting this and focused their attention on the hot new thing which was native apps. As a result, there are only a handful of useful offline web apps available today at the Chrome Web Store, which don’t work well on mobile, if at all. Rather than working towards improving the web app experience, I guess the still-siloed Instant Apps will do for now.
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