Upcoming Google Android N Features and All You Need To Know

While Marshmallow is still very new if we take a look at the percentage of devices running Marshmallow, Google is planning another version of Android which will be named after alphabet ‘N’ and it will be named after an online poll which will be conducted by the company, as was made known by Google CEO, Mr. Sundar Pichai at an event in India. While it will be called N , it will be having version number as 7.0 because current Android (Marshmallow) is having version number 6.0 .

Android N Leaks & Rumors:

• May not have an App Drawer, Latest leak from a Google official video hints about it.
• Hamburger Menu may be back in Settings app
• Maps UI revamp
• Custom Tabs
• Leanback for Android TV

Expected Features & Changes:

1. Name of Android Version: 

What could be the next version of Android ? We are quite sure it will be having version 7.x or initially 7.0 but no one knows about the exact name of the Android N. It will be surely start with the alphabet ‘N’ because every year the Android names change according to English alphabet. Last year’s Android was from M(Marshmallow). So this year it’ll be N. We have seen lots of rumors suggesting it to have ‘Nutella’ or ‘Nougat’ . But this year Google won’t decide the name by itself, it will be decided by an online poll. Google’s CEO Mr. Sundar Pichai was in Delhi last year where he announced that next version will be announced by an online poll.

2. Multi Window :

Multi Window, as the name suggests it lets you rung two or more apps in a Window mode simultaneously. We have already seen this feature in LG & Samsung phones days ago. Samsung brought this feature for the first time in market. We can also call it Split-Screen feature. So that will be the time when we will see stock Android phone with lots of features. Multi Window feature will be very helpful for the potential users. But Google should focus on optimizing it for all the scree sizes. It should also be made universal to work with all the apps which includes Stock apps as well as 3rd part apps. The multi Windows feature was introduced in marshmallow but it was partially introduced so we can be sure that it will come in Android N.

3. Android N moves to Open JDK :

Google is fighting a patent battle with Oracle for Swipe to Unlock & Pattern Unlock system. In 2010 Google was stuck in a battle with Oracle for copyright protection of JavaAPI which are very important for Android as these APIs let full Android system to run. Now it has been reported that Google is moving to openJDK from Oracle.

Google told, “released new versions of the Android platform that are expressly licensed by Oracle for use by Google under the free, open source license provided by Oracle as part of its OpenJDK project. Specifically, these newly released versions of Android utilize the method headers (and the associated sequence, structure, and organization of those method headers) at issue in this litigation under the open source OpenJDK license from Oracle.”

4. A few UI modifications :

We can see some UI changes also in upcoming Android as the last major redesign came with Android Lollipop 5.0 which is 2 years old. SO we can expect Google to bring a great design with Android N. Some custom launcher features & more customizable interface overall. We could also see some basic feature that are available in 3rd party launchers like No. of Rows & columns etc. Scrolling of App drawer like vertical or horizontal etc. SO gesture support to the app drawer & also to launch few pre-defined app. These features might come under a totally new ‘Personalisation’ section or might come under ‘System UI Tuner’ section.

5. More secure:

Android Marshmallow brought a great security feature to stock Android which was support of Fingerprint scanner. Fingerprint scanner was first introduced in Apple’s iPhone 5s which was known as Touch id. But later Samsung came up with fingerprint scanner & then many companies follow this leak. But support for  fingerprint scanners was not available in Android 5.0 or earlier.. It was first introduced in Marshmallow 6.0 .

With Android N we could see native support for iris scanners we saw Microsoft introduced it first in their phones & PCs.

6. Smart Password Management system :

Earlier in late 2015 it was reported that Google was working on a smart password manager which will let you easily sign in to other websites & google apps if you are signing in with the phone in which your account has been installed. Google tried to show us a glimpse of this in Android Marshmallow.Smart Lock for Passwords automatically signs you into apps without much headache.

7. A new messaging app :

There were some reports that Google is going to kill Hangout & working on a whole new app that will be more advanced than all the other apps available in the market . It will have some very unique features. This messaging app will work as a SMS app as well as instant messaging app like WhatsApp. There are also reports that it will be based on the smart password manager feature which is set to debut with Android N.

8. Built-in theme engine:

It is expected that Google will bring native theme engine support to Android N. With native themes, Android will be richer in terms of features with more beautiful loos than ever. It will be same like Cyanogenmod & other custom ROMs which support lots of themes.

Android N Probable Release Date:

We very well know that Google uses its  Google I/O, the annual developer conference held in May for announcing major yearly Android updates. So in all likelihood the Android N developer preview will be launched in May 2016 at the developer conference. It will keep pushing smaller updates afterward till the final version comes before new Nexus devices launch in 2016. We can again make an educated guess of late September or early October for the final version, that Vendors may start pushing for their older deices after launch of Nexus devices. - Via