Google releases Android N Developer Preview

Google has announced the release of Android N developer preview, the next major Android release ahead of Google I/O 2015. The latest iteration of the Android OS brings several new features like Multi-windows support, Notifciation enhancements, Data saver, Background optimizations, Direct boot, TV recording, partial support for more than 100 new languages and locales and more.

Multi-Windows support
The split-screen multitasking mode is not limited to tablets, but also works on smartphones and TVs as weel, where you will also get a picture-in-picture mode for the larger screen. With split-screen multitasking users will be able to run two apps side-by-side or one-above the other.

Notifications
Android N also gets several new APIs that allows apps to post notification that are more visible and interactive. This will allow users to quickly respond from the notification shade without opening the app. The new version also lets developers group notifications from the same app together, which can be expanded into individual ones, by tapping the expansion button.

Improved Doze Mode
The Doze Mode, that was introduced with Android M, is getting some improvements in Android N. The Doze Mode enhances battery life by killing apps from accessing network or CPU when the device is inactive. In Android M, Doze Mode worked only when the device was in standby mode, whereas in Android N, Google has introduced Doze on the go, which lets the device to go into Doze mode to save battery, when the screen turns off.

Quick Settings API
Android N adds additinal quick setting tiles, which can be accessed across a paginated display area by swiping left or rights. This will also give users more control over which Quick Settings tiles should appear and displayed. Users can also add more tiles just by dragging and dropping them.

Number-blocking
With this feature, the default SMS, phone and provider apps can read from and write to the blocked number-list. The block list can be accessed by other apps and carriers and perform service side-blocking for the user in order to stop unwanted calls and texts from reaching the user.

Other notable features of Android N developer preview include call screening, Direct boot,TV recording, Data saver, locales and languages and Project Svelte (for better RAM management).

The Android N preview images are now available for Nexus 6, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, General Mobile 4G (Android One), Nexus Player, Nexus 9 and Pixel C on the Android developer website here.

Google has also announced a new Android Beta Program, which lets you update your Android devices to Android N developer preview and receive ongoing updates via over-the-air (OTA).

According to Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google’s SVP for Android, Chrome OS and Chromecast, the reason from releasing Android N developer early, was because Google wanted to get more feed from developers as early to have a final version released to manufacturers just in time for summer. Google will out 5 previews and final release in Q3 2016.

Finally, while Google is yet to reveal a dessert name for Android N, Lockheimer teases us with the phrase “We’re nut tellin’ you yet.”, giving us a hint that N stands for Nutella.