Since some time last year, around August, it was unofficially revealed that Google was working on a new mobile operating system (OS) dubbed Fuchsia. Speculation was that the new OS would eventually replace Android or Chrome OS, the details were not clear.
Just the other day, a video was uploaded on YouTube by 9To5Google with a hands-on review of the new Fuchsia OS, ok, just its UI. Alongside the video, details of the new OS were also revealed.
Fuchsia isn’t built on Linux like Android is, instead the OS is built on Google’s own Magenta kernel. Fuchsia also comes with a new Software Development Kit (SDK) built by Google, Flutter SDK.
Fuchsia’s UI, Armadillo, takes multi-tasking to a whole new level. The home screen itself looks like the Android’s recent apps list. This is a vertically scrolling list of all running apps and at the bottom you get a Google Card like interface that shows basic info like the time, date, and some settings toggles.
The video clearly shows the influence material design has had on the UI, with familiar animations and icons. However the most interesting part is how well Fuchsia handles multitasking. Android Nougat allows you to multi-task using the split screen mode that lets users run two apps simultaneously.
Fuchsia on the other hand, allows one to run up to 4 apps simultaneously as either tabbed view or split across the screen. Here’s the video:
There’s still no word or confirmation on what Google plans to do with Fuchsia, however I don’t like the home screen. It feels too cluttered and could easily overwhelm a user.
