Last night Google, during the second day of its annual I/O 2024 conference, officially released the second beta of Android 15 on all compatible Pixel devices, namely Pixel 6, 6a and 6 Pro, Pixel 7, 7 Pro, Pixel 7a, Pixel Fold, Pixel Tablet, Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro and of course for the Android Studio emulator. In addition, as has already happened in previous years, the experimental firmware can be installed on devices from other manufacturers; Google has not provided a precise and detailed list of models (we assume that as usual it will be in progress over the months), but at least we have a list of manufacturers – which, in turn, could be incomplete, but given that at least this given there is, let’s report it:
- Iqoo
- Lenovo (not Motorola?)
- Nothing
- OnePlus
- Sharp
- OPPO
- Realme
- Techno
- I live
- Xiaomi
- Honor
In fact we already had some very first feedback even before the announcement, for example with Nothing Phone (2a). It’s worth remembering that third-party devices may be late and still not synced to the Pixels, and therefore run older builds than the latest one available. In any case, below we list them main news in distribution with Beta 2: these are mostly changes that will interest the developers.
- Highly efficient software decoding of the AV1 codec (thanks to the Dav1d codec developed by VideoLAN, the team behind the VLC player)
- Improved management of OpenGL, which can now be used in tandem with Vulkan.
- New requirements for starting a featured service
- New 6-hour timeout for data synchronization and media processing for foreground processes
- Mandatory support for 16Kb packages, to reduce app launch time and power consumption
- Permission to control content URIs
- Greater security for tasks launched in the background and for intents
- New minimum SDK version number
- Support for the new characters of Unicode 15.1
- New CJK variable font and new Japanese Hentaigana font
There are also some new features on the user side:
- Ability to create a private space to make sensitive contents and applications more secure. If apps are made private, they will not be visible in the drawer, nor will they appear in the sharing options or in the Recent area.
- Ability to provide access to only the latest media content
- Improved multitasking on devices with large screens. Ability to pin apps to the taskbar and ability to save combinations of apps in split screen to recall them more quickly
- Improved the interaction mechanisms of PiP windows with the rest of the interface in case of overlaps
- The “predictive backward” function is no longer an option for developers: it is available in all apps that have adopted it
- Ability to customize notification vibrations by app
- New data classes for Health Connect: skin temperature and training plans, with completion and performance goals.
- Possibility to specify with which pronoun the system addresses the user in some languages: starting from French
Google has released a much more complete changelog, but it is decidedly technical: we recommend reading it only to developers directly affected. You can follow the SOURCE link below.
