'Android O' New Features Revealed in Developer Video

By Edward Leano, Christian Post Contributor Thursday, March 30, 2017

Android has just released the first "Android O" developer preview of their latest mobile operating system update last Monday, March 27. The new video reveals new features that the Android development team has been working on, and also serves as a walkthrough for Android app developers in building their apps around new Android policies.

The "Android O," although it still has no official name released to the public as of this time, is making quick progress toward an expected launch later this year. Google has already announced that the developer preview build will be coming after the release of the "Android O" developer preview video, according to a report by the International Business Times.

The new Notification Channels feature now gives the users more options on how their apps will notify them. An app developer can, for example, give users an option to assign different sounds, lights and vibrations to different notifications from the same app.

Adaptive Icons can now give launcher icons different shapes that can be customized by each phone maker. A brand can choose to give their launcher all circular icons, while another model can have all rounded square icons.

The new Picture-in-Picture Mode feature can have an app — for example, a video — running in a small window on its own on top of another app. This feature will be useful, for example, for following a video guide on how to do something on the user device that the user can watch and follow in a minimized window while doing the actual steps on the full-screen window.

The newer Wide-gamut displays are now also better supported by the new Android update, by enabling image and photo apps to take advantage of the wider range of colors on supported hardware.

Watch the "Android O" developer preview video below.