Podcast 1 - What to expect from Android 12!

Written on October 17, 2021 by Dmytro Galitsky (melles1991)

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Introduction

Not so long ago, Google released Android 12, which was stuffed with a huge number of changes. This is probably the second significant Android transformation since Android 5 Lollipop.

Note: This is the first podcast and in this thread we will look at the most interesting features and changes in Android 12.

Was there really a change?

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After installing Android 12, you get the impression that a completely new operating system. The interface has been completely redesigned, which was named - Material You. List of noticeable changes:

new lock screen
a new system of design themes
new design of the quick settings panel
redesigned message curtain
new settings menu
conversation widgets
redesigned volume and brightness sliders
more interactive notifications
new privacy panel.

Important: I am 100% sure that you have seen a lot of articles about design and you are not interested in this, you know, I agree with you. Our community is mostly technical, so let’s strip Android and see what’s inside.

Have they decided to optimize their “brainchild”?

Note: Sometimes it seems to me that everything that is added to Android only makes it worse, but here I was greatly pleased.

AVIF image support

A relatively recent image format based on the AV1 codec is supported in Android 12. AVIF is good because it weighs less than its counterparts, and its quality is better at the same size.

Receiving a photo or video from the buffer.

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The new OnReceiveContentListener interface does this. It is not necessary that this will work in all apk, developers need time to implement this functionality into their applications.

I think such innovations as:

Improved gamepad support
Create tactile feedback based on sounds Not so significant since they are unlikely to work fully at the moment.

API CompanionDeviceService

This will be useful to everyone who has a wearable smart device (watch, bracelet, etc.) Any wearable device often requires a dedicated companion app to manage it. To do this, Android 12 has a new CompanionDeviceService API. A special system service will track the location of the wearable device and, based on this, make a decision: keep the companion application in the background or unload it.

But not everything is so simple with background applications. Unfortunately, I could not find more detailed information, so I will write as I know. In various custom firmwares, such as MIUI, EIU, others, there were constant problems with the work of applications in the background - they were constantly unloaded. On Android 11, this became better, but on 12 it was promised to further improve the work of background applications, perhaps there is some other interface in the API, besides the one above, that will control the operation of applications in the background.

As for other changes

The company also worked on video decoding, add-ons for Camera2, and machine learning.

The rest, I consider the opinion to be significant, since it already brings value to developers, giving them simpler methods of adapting the application interface to the realities of modern smartphones (cutouts for the camera, rounding)

Is this really the end?

Perhaps this is not all and I will be glad if in the comments I will squeeze out what I have not written about.