The Android 12L developer preview announcement came as a bit of a surprise for everyone, even though Google was caught working on an ominous "Android 12.1" variant pretty early on. But it wasn't exactly clear that this version would focus on tablets, foldables, and other big screens as much as it does, and it looks like it's a bigger update than anyone had anticipated. That much becomes clear judging from Mishaal Rahman's deep dive into the topic over at Esper's blog.
The deep dive makes clear that with Android 12L focusing on big screens, Google is finally making it easier for developers to dynamically adjusts their apps when they can work with more display real-estate, with automatic layouts, self-adjusting font sizes, and a neat API for dual-pane views that apps can take advantage of easily. You can already see these improvements in the developer preview, with many of Google's own apps giving us a glimpse at what we could expect from third-party developers. Gmail, Messages, the Google app, and Files are already available in variants optimized for big screens, and they're beautiful.
While Google will likely not launch a foldable of its own, there are also improvements to the lockscreen, the notification shade, homescreen, Recents overview, and other system UI elements. They let us dream of a Pixel Fold that will probably not be a reality anytime soon, but more importantly, these elements lay a foundation for other companies to build on, making it simpler for Samsung and co. to create compelling Android tablets and foldables without having to re-invent the wheel. That becomes particularly clear when we look at some specifically created new interface elements, such as the taskbar that allows you to keep a selection of often-used apps right at your disposal at all times. When you use three-button navigation, it even offers enough space to house those. I wonder where we saw that before (cough Android 3 Honeycomb cough).
Google has also added several underlying behavioral changes. Android 12L introduces broader support for multi-window mode, letterboxing for apps that don't support dynamic layouts on big screens yet, system-level options for overriding apps' preferred orientations, and so-called activity embedding for two-pane browsing. This will allow applications to hand you off to different parts of other applications, like when you're transferred from the system settings to the Google app for account-specific options.
The release adds many other, smaller quality-of-life changes to both big screen and small screen experiences. For example, Google is experimenting with the option to hold and drag pop-up notifications to create a split-screen view on the fly. A new quick wallpaper picker might make its way into the Pixel launcher, too. And of course, the release is packed with the latest emoji as part of September's Unicode 14 release.
Then there's dynamic colors or Material You support. While Pixels have already received this as part of Android 12, version 12L is the first to bring this dynamic theming to the Android Open Source Project, making it simple for all manufacturers to tap into it. This includes options to use Material You theming on the boot screen, which is a neat gimmick.
Android 12L will be released sometime early next year, with beta versions slated to become available on Pixel phones and select other devices in December. While it's unlikely that Google will launch a foldable of its own, the underlying APIs and adjustments to Android should make it much easier for other manufacturers and app developers to create fitting experiences on big screens going forward. If the developer preview is anything to judge by, and if app studios will take up the tools made available by Google, Android tablets could be in for a proper renaissance while foldables could get a solid foundation to build on.
There's a ton more to discover in Android 12L, so for a deep dive, be sure to check out Mishaal Rahman's article on Esper.io. It goes through all the nitty-gritty details and the small tweaks.
"Android" - Google News
November 17, 2021 at 07:24PM
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Check out this Android 12L deep dive for all the finer details and tiny tweaks - Android Police
"Android" - Google News
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