Android P, aka Android 9.0, is going to arrive in the not-too-distant future. It hasn’t got a name just yet, although we’ve seen what we think is some pretty solid evidence it’ll be called Popsicle.
From March 7, Google made the Developer Preview available and since then a bunch of clever-bods have got down and dirty with the code, investigating what kind of stuff the new version of the platform is capable of.
What follows is a big old list of all the new features, tweaks, and changes spotted so far inside Android P.
Brand New Stuff
- Built-in smart replies with support for inline photos, images, stickers etc.
- Built-in Screenshot editing, allowing cropping, editing and drawing on captured screenshots
- Volume buttons control media volume by default (instead of phone ring)
- Support for 5 simultaneous Bluetooth audio devices connected at once (note: does not support simultaneous playback)
- Zoom lens for finer control of text selection
- Temporary rotation lock creates a new icon for rotation lock mode for quicker toggling
- Alarm quick settings toggle gives a view of and more control of upcoming alarms
- App notification tracking allows you to track, filter, and control notifications
- Hide frequently dismissed notifications
- Wired charging sounds
- Chrome style feature flags
- Pulling notification tray down gives haptic vibration feedback
- New Gesture Navigation
- New App Switcher with horizontally scrolling gallery and gesture support
- App Actions
- New Accessibility Menu
- Local Weather on the lockscreen, shown under the clock
- Calendar events on the lockscreen
- Automatic Dynamic Colour Adjustment based on on-screen content
- Camera laser sensor toggle
Visual Design & UI Changes
- Display cutouts are supported, aka “the notch”.
- Time/Clock is on the left side of the status bar
- Date also relocated further down interface.
- New shaded background
- New colours and layout changes in Settings
- Ambient Display shows battery percentage without turning on your phone
- Quick settings scrolls vertically
- Volume slider repositioned to the side of the screen (to be nearer the physical volume rocker)
- New selection animations
- Power menu screenshot button
- Unlock pattern fades as you swipe
- New transition and heads-up notifications animations
- Text selection changes
- Force stop control
- Real time display of Adaptive Brightness slider
- New Emoji (150 of them!)
- New Notification reply UI icons
- Darker app drawer and Google Feed
