Google’s next version of its popular mobile operating system, Android, will be made official in a few weeks’ time. However, people who have Pixel and Nexus phones (now a dead program) have always had the chance to test Developer Previews of the OS before mass roll out. The fourth and last build is being dispatched automatically as an OTA for those who signed up for the public beta program.
Developer Preview 4 is a release candidate, meaning that any person interested in test-driving the non-final OS should not worry about stability issues because the build is mostly stable, and this is as good as it gets.
The update includes final system behaviours, the latest bug fixes and optimizations and the final APIs (API level 26) that are available from Preview 3. Other features include a new notification badge for app icons as seen in Apple’s iOS, improved notification management tools, security as well as battery performance enhancements.
Developers can test their apps to ascertain they offer the desired experience as users start to upgrade to the official and yet-to-be-named Android O platform.
To recap, when it finally goes official, Android O will focus primarily on fundamentals such as speed, performance and battery life. To make sure that battery life is conserved, the system will limit what developers can do with apps that are running in the background. At the same time, the OS will be bundled with Google Play Protect that employs the services of machine learning to make sure apps won’t harm your Android handheld with malware and viruses.
What’s more, Android O will include a smart copy and paste feature that auto-detects if the highlighted text is an proper noun or an address; if it is an address, the software may suggest a map or if you select a phone number, expect to see the phone dialer.
Moreover, Google will bring autofill to Android, similar to how these features work on internet browsers. For instance, upon entering your login information, your Android-O-powered device will prompt you to save your password or username.
