A List of New Features/Security Features Arriving in Android P

[LASER_oneXM]

This article contains a summary of all the new features Google announced last night for Android P (Android 9.x) —the next major version of the Android operating system that is expected to be released in August-September this year.

For a complete review, you can check out Google's official announcement, or the YouTube video embedded at the bottom of this article. But if you don't have the time to go through a 2,000 article, here's a summarized version of what's coming this fall.

New features
⮞ Support for notched (cutout) displays, similar to the one premiered by iPhone X. A new API will allow developers to adapt apps based on the notch position.
⮞ Improved notifications so users can interact with the app right from inside the notification, without having to open the app.
⮞ A new API that allows apps to access data streams from both the front and back cameras.
⮞ Improvements to camera stabilization APIs
⮞ New OS functions to support better image scaling.
⮞ Support for the HDR VP9 video codec.
⮞ Support for the HEIF image compression format.
⮞ New GlobalPlatform Open Mobile API to support smart-card payments and other secure services.
⮞ New Neural Networks API to support on-device machine learning operations.
⮞ Improvements to the Android job scheduler that allow app developers finer control over network data transfers.

⮞ Support for the IEEE 802.11mc WiFi protocol —also known as WiFi Round-Trip-Time (RTT). Used primarily by advertisers to detect your position inside buildings based oon WiFi SSID and signal strength.

⮞ ART runtime performance improvements
⮞ Better support for the Kotlint programming language.
⮞ Android P will warn users when they try to install apps that were primarily designed for Android versions prior to v4.2.

Security features
⮞ Android P will block cleartext (HTTP) traffic from apps. HTTPS is the new norm.
⮞ Android P will use the same UI when requesting fingerprint authentification across apps and devices.

⮞ Android P will block background apps from accessing the phone's camera and microphone.
⮞ Android P will encrypt backups on the device with a local secret key before sending the backup for storage on Google's servers.
⮞ Experimental support for MAC address randomization.

 

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Spoiler: Video

Users who want to test out the new Android OS version can download and install the Android P Developer Preview on their phones

Get Android P | Android Developers

Not an developer or lost after the first 30 seconds? Click the setting button in the video and change speed.