We already told you last night that if what we had discovered Google in your keynote about Android O I knew little by little, you won't worry because soon we were going to have more news and, indeed, a little more than 12 hours have passed and thanks to the preview for developers we have some new details.
Reviewing what we already knew
Before we begin, let's briefly recap everything that we already knew was coming with Android O and that the beta has confirmed: with the mode picture in picture we will be able to see videos in a floating window above another app, we will have a new function of smart text selection which will make copying and pasting easier, the app icons will now have their own warning notifications with dots that appear in a corner, and with Google Play Protect we will be able to see which of our apps have been scanned and confirmed safe.
Besides all this, Google he spoke to us a lot last night also about how Android O will improve basic aspects of the user experience: we have already recalled what was the main novelty in terms of security, but they also assured us that we were going to see important advances in autonomy and in speed. You have more details about all this in our coverage of the keynote yesterday.
What the beta has discovered us
Now we can start talking about features that Google had to leave in the pipeline due to lack of time, but that have come to light with the beta, minor issues but surely all Android fans will like to know. Probably the one that will attract the most attention is the one related to emojis, who they will return to their usual shape And that now they will always be updated, regardless of which version of Android our device runs, at least in the apps in which the developers add the corresponding library.
Another interesting novelty that has been found has to do with the widgets, and it seems that not only will we now be able to see the notifications that each app has in its icon, but that we will also be able to access the widgets directly through them. How? Well, simply by holding down, a small menu will appear that will give us the option to obtain information about the app or go directly to the widget.
There is still one more novelty for the app icons, but this is an exclusive to the Pixel Launcher and the truth is that it is not clear if it will reach the final version. The point is that the possibility of choosing their format has been introduced and it also seems that there could be quite a few options, some of them a bit unusual: if we choose not to change we are left with the round icons, but we can choose that they are also square or one of the various intermediate points that they offer us.
As was the case with the new tools that developers are going to be given to better detect the consumption problems that originate their apps, other news that are aimed at them and not at us have been found in the preview for developers. but whose effects we are going to be able to enjoy. The most notable is probably the facilities to introduce physics into their animations and thus make them more fluid and realistic.
It seems that there may also be changes in the design of the quick settings, some minor ones, related to the location of the time, battery, etc, and one much more notable which is the background tonality, much clearer now. We would say that although very visible it may not be a very important change, but considering that dark themes have always had so many defenders, there are probably many discontents.
And a bit in connection with this, and finally, the mode of night light (which came with Android 7.1 and that changes the tones a bit to do less damage to the eye), you will receive a simple improvement but very much appreciated that it is nothing more than the incorporation of a bar that allows us to adjust the intensity completely to our nice, just in case it seems to anyone that the default setting is too yellow.
There is still much to discover
We are still a long way from knowing everything about Android ONot to mention that from now until it reaches our devices officially, as we have commented when talking about some of these new functions, many things may change, so if you do not want to lose detail of what you will find when finally receive the update, stay tuned.