Yes,The new version of android is here. But wait a sec,is it Android Lemonade or Licorice or Lollipop? Nope,Its simply Android L.While speculations continue to encircle Android L as Android 4.5 or Android 5, Google unveiled the new release of Android version on June 25th at Google IO developers conference and released in a beta the next day for selected Google Nexus devices.It is expected to be released to manufacturing in late-2014.
Here are the most exciting features of Android L
1. Material Design:
Google has a new design philosophy and it’s called Material Design which means Android L has a different look and feel altogether. The main thing noticed is bright,clutter-free interface that mimics what Apple did in iOS 7. Icons are flatter, the edges are softer & cleaner and the overall effect is a consistent, a prefered look that doesn’t jump out at its user. Even the navigation buttons have undergone changes such as the basic circle for home icon,triangle for back icon and a square for recent apps.
2. Animations and transitions:
Flatter icons doesn’t mean its unappealing. Material Design makes Android L fun to look at with layers and animations that provide the user a more three-dimensional experience. The UI includes rich animated touch feedback, to make a more responsive experience and an intuitive one.With such a seamless transition, shadow gradients, 3D tiles that slide over one another the overall feel of Android L will leave your astonished.
3. Notifications:
Notifications on Android L are getting an overhaul, so only the more relevant information about your apps is being presented. Merging the notification Panel with the lock screen you can now operate the notification of apps from the lock screen. With a single swipe you are taken into the phone(As in iOS). Google has relieved the exasperation of users by it’s “heads on” notification. For eg,Suppose you are playing a game full screen and a new SMS or call comes in. A heads up notification will appear on the top of the screen allowing you to take action or dismiss them immediately making your experience less intrusive.
4. A Smarter Lock screen:
For all those who are pretty inconvenienced by the PINS or lock pattern can take up Android L’s smart feature of Personal Unlocking.The phone will now know whether it is in trusted environment.It will look for bluetooth device(smart watch) or a specific Wi-Fi network and will dispense the lock code.Move away from a trusted or safe environment and it will ask you for the lock code.
5. Chrome:
It’s not just look and feel that are updated. The browser Google Chrome have undergone changes. It’s getting a major re-design. Instead of those cluttered and panic-inducing -tabs, L provides neater cards for each tab that pile up one on top of the other to give the user a more fluid browsing experience. However, if you-like me-and maybe everyone else who has way too many tabs open in a single browsing session need not feel that our frustration of flicking through multiple tabs is mitigated. There is also App Indexing UI. The major take away is that if you are in chrome and click an OpenTable app link, you will get send straight away to the restaurant page in OpenTable app rather than mobile site. As everything is a card,fortunatel, it feels very seamless. Chrome also gives users the ability to seamlessly look back at their most recent tabs using the Most Recent apps icon. Google says other apps will also be able to use the “recents” functionality.
6. Performance:
Google is ditching the Dalvik runtime which has served well for years, in favour of a new one called ART(Android RunTime). It can make apps load and run quite a bit faster while using less RAM. It is 64-bit compatible.That means android devices will be able to address more RAM than 34-bit limit allowed. Therefore,it is better,faster and sleeker.
7. Battery life:
Google is also addressing one of android’s biggest criticism-its lackluster battery life by Project Volta.Volta allows you to access more information about your phone’s battery, such as which apps are draining up the juice. Also,L has its own built-in battery saver mode,which cuts off Wifi and display power. It reportedly will squeeze out extra 90 mins of battery time for you.
8. Knox:
Nobody wants a mass of office files and docs and personal entertainment all jumbled in one place. L has got the solution-Android at Work. The company Samsung’s Knox feature for work and personal separation will become a part of android itself. Knox allows corporate IT administrators to control work-related data and policies on employees’ smartphones while letting the employees themselves continue to store personal data and use unrelated apps. This alleviates many of the problems with accessing secure information from mobile devices and could make Android far more attractive to businesses.
So far there are short of details,while that’s understandable;a lot of features are still unknown. But Google definitely has the pieces in place to make things happen as it does-voice recognition,context awareness, and now a new unified design.So far the L release is just a quick preview, so we can expect a whole lot more once it finally launches later in 2014 (including a real name). To my opinion,the user’s biggest attraction will be the seamless and unified design along with the smoothness and animation which is instrumental in increasing the quality of user experience.
– Vatsal Doshi
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