IO 2014 New Features in L release & Mobile Web

L release gonna be a most wanted version of Android soon due to its new features and bold look. In IO Dave Burke said that "L is the biggest release in the history of Android" because it contains 5000 new API's touching early every expect of system. Also he showed us a quick demo of most commonly used app which is phone dialler. In phone dialler new features have been added like Bold material colours and shadows, ripple touch effects on tabs, floating dialler button with elevation value, Nested Scrolling and fresh look of phone dialler keypad with ripple touch effect on key touch. 

See here in short video:

Also the most wanted feature for me or for everyone has been added also which is enhanced incoming notifications. In L now you are allowed to instant interactive access to your notifications right from your lock screen, so that you can read open and dismiss in seconds. In L Google improves the way of organising and prioritising notifications by analysing user behaviour to show only the most useful relevant notifications are presented to you. So now you can Swipe down to access a full list of notifications, you can double tap on notification to open up the corresponding app, or some that you don't need you can dismiss with the single swipe, and to unlock a phone you can swipe it away from bottom to up and you are in your device just fast and simple. Also a new "Heads-up" notification have been added to L release.

See here in short video:

In L release the new concept has been added that "Personal unlocking". Personal unlocking enables a device to determine if it is in a trusted environment say in the owner hands or beside the table. Personal Unlocking uses signal such as location you designate, bluetooth devices that are visible even your unique voice branch.Dave Burke showed us personal unlocking by wearing a watch and unlocked without pattern unlock, and when he take off his watch then device asked for pattern unlock.

  

Mobile web is also the most used feature of Android devices now a days, and day by day active users number is increasing, in last year monthly active users on chrome were 27 million and now it is 300 Million, which is 10X.

Now mobile web will also support Material Design and App indexing, also fluid and continuous animation as fast as 60 frames per second to give you best ever experience in mobile web which wasn't impossible a year ago, thanks to Polymer.
 In L recents is also grounded with material deisgn, overlapping cards has been rendered with realistic shadows and perspectives. and now your chrome tabs will be included too in recents so that you can navigate even faster between web & apps, making multi-tasking that much easier. 

Also an amazing feature is included in L release that is App indexing, this capability enables the app short-cut link in Google search (if app is installed on your device ) to redirect you directly in the app installed in your device. And there are many other interesting things like new keyboard UI, do not disturb mode, quick settings and much more.
 L release runs exclusively on the new ART runtime compiler, and it support ARM x86 and MIPS, and this results 2X improvement performance over dalvik.

ART brings all new Garbage collector which reduces number of pauses and duration of pauses associated with the garbage collector events, as a result your app runs smoothly. ART doesn't just bring only better performance it is also more memory efficient, so it is smarter that when app is in background in which case it will apply a slower but more intensive a moving collector to save anything between 100 kb to many mega bytes. And finally ART is fully 64 bit  compatible. and now you can benefit from:

 So to take advantage of 64bit, Google has added support for new APIs, ndks, ARMV8, x86-64 and MIPS 64 and afcourse if your app is written in java then it will work absolutely with no modification on your new 64 bit hardware. Also Graphics has been improved in L release with Android Extension Pack which contains Tesselation, Geometry shaders, Computer shaders and ASTC texture compression.
It is not over yet, new L release will also comes with better Battery performance thanks to Project Volta:

Google has also added a new JobScheduler APi to help you optimise power consumptions in your app, so using JobScheduler Api you can make your application more efficient by align the platform called as non urgent network requests for multiple apps. As a result the platform can keep the radio sleep high posses of time to thus saving significant power.
   And finally the new Battery saver mode is also included in L release. So Battery saver  allows you to clock down CPU the refresh rate and even turn off the background data to conserve battery. And you can trigger it manually or configure to come ON when battery level is  low.

 So on a nexus 5 by running a battery saver mode, you can extend you battery life  by up-to 90 mins of usage with in a typical single day use. And it is just the overview of L, and it contains much much more.

And developer preview SDK is available on developer.android.com, and early system images is also posted for the nexus 5 and nexus 7 so that you can start developing for android. And truly it is as amazing as rumours were about it, what do you think?
  

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Android Timeline from 2007 (Devices and Versions)

2005:

Android is an operating system based on the Linux kernel, and designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. Initially developed by Android,  Inc., which Google backed financially and later bought in 2005.

2007:

Android was unveiled in 2007 along with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance: a consortium of hardware, software, and telecommunication companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices.

2008:

The first Android-powered phone was sold in October 2008.The HTC Dream (also known as the T-Mobile G1 in the United States and parts of Europe, and as the Era G1 in other regions) was a smartphone developed by HTC with Google properties like Maps, Street View, Calender and Search.

Hardware: 

3.2-inch screen (320x480), 1150 mAh battery (removable), slide-out physical keyboard, 256 MB internal storage (expandable external storage), 192 RAM, 3.2 megapixel back camera, OS Version 1.0.

2009:

In April 2009 first version of android was launched and named as cupcake, and then Android versions have been developed under a codename and released according to alphabetical order:

1.  Cupcake (1.5)       April 30, 2009
2.  Donut    (1.6)        September 15, 2009
3.  Eclair     (2.0–2.1) October 26, 2009

With the OS version 2.0 Eclair, The new Android Device released in market but this time it was not HTC.

The Motorola Droid was the first true Android smartphone to be popular with the masses. Motorola Droid released to Verizon with heavy marketing targeted at what the Droid could do that an iPhone could not, like multi-tasking.After Motorola Droid The "Droid Does" slogan became a most popular part of the geek lexicon and was Motorola's high water mark in the smartphone wars. The Device shipped with the original Android 2.0 "Eclair" version but was quickly updated to a much more stable version in Android 2.1.

Hardware:

3.7-inch screen (480x854), 1400 mAh battery (removable), slide-out keyboard, 512 MB internal storage (expandable external storage), 256 MB RAM, 5 MP back camera, OS Version 2.0-2.1.

Research company Canalys estimated in the second quarter of 2009 that Android had a 2.8% share of worldwide smartphone shipments.

   

2010:

In 2010, Google launched its Nexus series of devices a line of smartphones and tablets running Android operating system, and built by a manufacturing partner. HTC collaborated with Google to release the first Nexus smartphone, the Nexus One.

The Nexus One was the first Android device to serve as the flagship of the operating system released on January,5 2010 .The One was built by HTC (an altered with HTC's "Sense" skin for its Incredible smartphone) and immediately became the Popular Android smartphone on the market.

  The Nexus series has since become known as the "guide" device for new versions of the operating system.The Nexus One also marked an experiment by Google to bypass the carriers and sell directly to consumers through its website. The One was also one of the first Android smartphone to ship with Near Field Communication (NFC) functionality. This experiment did not take among consumers and most subsequent Nexus devices were offered through Google alongside subsidized versions from the likes of AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint. Google did not release a Nexus device for Android 2.2 because Nexus One was capable to update OS from Eclair to Froyo.
Hardware:
3.7-inch screen (480x800), 1400 mAh battery (removable), 512 MB internal storage (expandable), 512 MB RAM, 5 MP back camera, OS Version 2.2 Froyo.

In the end of the year Decemeber 16, 2010, the new device was released by Samsung Nexus S.It really helped Samsung to rise in the world of smart phones by releasing the series of Samsung galaxy devices.

The Nexus S was the flagship for Android 2.3 Gingerbread, which was the most-used version of the operating system years after its release.

Hardware:
4-inch screen (480x800), 1500 mAh battery (removable), 16 GB internal storage, 512 MB RAM, 5 MP back camera, VGA front camera, OS Version 2.3.

2011:

In February 24, 2011 Android 3.2 Honeycomb was specially released to introduce the tablets interface support in Android but it didn't received good response from market as well as from developers.The only device released with this version was Motorola Xoom.

 The device was released with new features like Simplified multitasking, tapping Recent Applications in the System Bar allows users to see snapshots of the tasks underway and quickly jump from one application to another and new two pane UI for contacts and email and many more.

Hardware:
10.1-inch screen (800x1280), 6000 mAh battery (non-removable), 32 GB internal storage, 1 GB RAM, 5 MP back camera, 2 MP front camera.OS version 3.2 Honeycomb.

In November 17, 2011 Android 4.0  Ice Cream Sandwich was released with the rising company in the smartphones market of that time "Samsung".The device released with this version was Galaxy Nexus.

Ice Cream Sandwich update includes numerous new features.This Version includes refinements in Fonts,includes face unlock feature, ability to access applications from lock screen, hardware acceleration of UI, NFC (Near Field Communication), WIFI-Direct etc.

Hardware:
4.65-inch screen (720x1280), 1750 mAh battery (removable), 16/32 GB internal storage (no external memory), 1 GB RAM, 5 MP back camera, 1.3 MP front camera, OS version 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

2012:

2012 was the Lucky year for Android to cover the large amount of market with announcement of releasing tablet device with the most buttery OS Version Jelly Bean.This OS was specially designed with the primary aim of improving the functionality and performance of the user interface.In this version The performance improvement involved "Project Butter", which uses touch anticipation, triple buffering, extended vsync timing and a fixed frame rate of 60 fps to create a fluid and "buttery-smooth" UI.Android 4.1 Jelly Bean was released to the Android Open Source Project on July 9, 2012, and the Nexus 7 tablet, the first tablet to run the most buttery firmware Jelly Bean, was released on July 13, 2012.

Hardware:
7-inch screen (800x1280), 4325 mAh battery (non-removable), 8/16/32 GB internal memory (no external memory), 1 GB RAM, 1.2 MP front camera, OS version 4.1 Jelly Bean.

On October 29, 2012 Google announced IO event in New York City, but the event was cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy. Instead of rescheduling the live event, Google announced the new version with a press release, under the slogan "A new flavor of Jelly Bean". Jelly Bean 4.2 the second instance of Jelly Bean (much in the same way that Android 2.0/2.1 were both Eclair).It was debuted with the Nexus 4 mobile device and Nexus 10 Tablet.

The Nexus 4 from LG was released at the end of 2012, many people consider the Nexus 4 to be a superb instance of an Android smartphone, it was criticized for its lack of 4G LTE, of which most new smartphones have included by default. The phone was made available through Google Play store and on T-Mobile.
Hardware:
4.7-inch screen (768x1280), 2100 mAh battery (non-removable), 8/16 GB internal memory, 2 GB RAM, 8 MP back camera, 1.3 MP front camera, OS version 4.2 JellyBean

And the second device released with Jelly Bean 4.2 was Samsung's Nexus 10. Samsung came back to produce the first branded large-screen (8-inches or up) Nexus tablet with the Nexus 10. The tablet was the first large screen to roll out with a flagship Android update since Motorola released the Xoom tablet with the Honeycomb release in February 2011.

The Nexus 10 received mixed-to-favourable reviews:
TechCrunch columnist Drew Olanoff said: Android was a better experience on a tablet than iOS and concluded "Apple has an advantage, but Google is right there on the cusp of something amazing,"
James Rogerson of TechRadar wrote: "Ultimately, other than the price, there's little reason for Apple fans to jump ship to the Nexus 10, equally the Nexus 10 puts up enough of a defence to keep the Android faithful happy."

Hardware:
10-inch screen (2560×1600), 9000 mAh battery (non-removable), 16/32 GB internal memory, 2 GB RAM, 5 MP back camera, 1.9 MP front camera, OS version 4.2 JellyBean
     

2013:

We can say that in 2013 Android takes the Lions share of market.According to the Strategy Analytics estimates Google’s Android platform accounted for 79% of global smartphone OS shipments in the year, It reckons a record 781.2 million smartphones shipped globally running Google’s mobile OS, out of a total of 990 million smartphones.
On July 24, 2013 Google released Jelly Bean 4.3 under the slogan "An even sweeter Jelly Bean" during an event in San Francisco called "Breakfast with Sundar Pichai". Most Nexus devices received the update within a week, although the 2nd generation Nexus 7 tablet was the first device to officially ship with it. A minor bug fixing update was released on August 22, 2013.

Hardware:
7-inch screen (1920×1200), 3950 mAh battery (non-removable), 16/32 GB internal memory, 2 GB RAM, 5 MP back camera, 1.2 MP front camera, OS version 4.3 JellyBean.

Still, returning to the smartphone market, Android remains head and shoulders above the competition and Google remains the mobile kingpin by reach.After announcing version 4.4 Kitkat on September 3, 2013.The release had long been expected by technology bloggers to be numbered 5.0 and called "Key Lime Pie".
 KitKat debuted on Google's Nexus 5 on 31 October 2013, and has been optimised to run on a greater range of devices than earlier Android versions, having 512 MB of RAM as a recommended minimum; those improvements were known as "Project Svelte" internally at Google. The required minimum amount of RAM available to Android is 340 MB, and all devices with less than 512 MB of RAM must report themselves as "low RAM" devices.

Hardware:
4.95-inch screen (1080×1920), 2300 mAh battery (non-removable), 16/32 GB internal memory, 2 GB RAM, 8 MP back camera, 1.3 MP front camera, OS version 4.4 Kitkat.

   Android 4.4 Kitkat brought the amazing addition and that was new ART Runtime Compiler for apps that was set to replace the aging Dalvik. ART was introduced to provide potential performance boost.
Android operating system had reached a new milestone during the third quarter of 2013 (3Q13), according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. With a total base of 211.6 million smartphone units shipped during the quarter, Despite high saturation rates in a number of mature markets, the overall smartphone space grew 39.9% year-over-year in the third quarter.

On December 5, 2013 Google released version update 4.4.1 with some improvements of camera (auto focus, white balance and HDR+, Loads Google+ photos instead of gallery), Better application compatibility for the experimental ART runtime, and some miscellaneous improvements and bug fixes.
   After four days on December 9, 2014 Google released an other version update 4.4.2 with some basic improvement like security enhancements, bug fixes and Removal of the "App Ops" application permissions control system which was introduced in Android 4.3.

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ART may finally change Dalvik Officially

News by:  Jared Peter 31st Jan 2014

Android 4.4 Kitkat brings the amazing addition and that was new ART Runtime Compiler for apps that was set to replace the aging Dalvik. ART was introduced as an experimental feature in Android’s developer options, and it came with its own set of problems. Even though ART was quite a bit faster than Dalvik, many apps didn’t play nice with the new compiler, and even though several apps have been updated to be able to function with it, it’s still not the norm for most apps. Of course, since ART was an experimental feature, it wasn’t a big deal that some apps didn’t work with it. Considering that not too many devices even have access to Android 4.4, it’s really not much of an issue at all.

Fast forward a bit, and it looks like there’s been a commit in AOSP that clues that ART may finally be (officially) replacing Dalvik in the next version of Android. Dalvik isn’t removed, but it’s instead just not selected as the default compiler. It’s still available as an option, but ART would be the primary choice.

This could mean a few things. It could mean that Google has tweaked ART enough to be ready for primetime with existing apps, or it could just mean that this commit was added experimentally for the Android team to play with. By the time the next version of Android is actually announced, this feature could go back to how it was in KitKat. There’s really no telling.

Regardless of what’s the reasoning behind this commit, Google is clearly dedicated to getting ART in top shape and ready to be used as the default compiler in Android. With the performance increases it brings, that shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. At this point, it’s a matter of “when,” not “if.” Hopefully it’s sooner rather than later.

news source: talkandroid.com

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Android Latest Addition of new Compiler ART in details

News by:  Jared Peters  7th November 2013

As we all know from my previous post on ART compiler,The Latest addition in Android 4.4 that could potentially replace Dalvik in the near future. Now we’re getting just a bit more clarification on exactly how ART can improve Android.

Currently, Android uses Dalvik and a Just-In-Time (JIT) compiler. This means that Android apps are written in a generic version of code, called bytecode, that is only half-compiled by developers. Whenever the apps are launched, Dalvik compiles the code “just in time” to run. While this is a functional solution, it’s not perfect. To fix that, the Android team implemented ART, or Android RunTime, that compiles the bytecode when applications are installed as opposed to compiling them just before being launched. This is called Ahead-Of-Time (AOT) compiling and is much, much more efficient on performance and battery life.

We’ve already mentioned that activating ART is available in Android 4.4′s developer settings, so it’s clearly not ready for daily use just yet, but early use shows that it has the potential to really cut down on the lag on some devices and cut application startup times in half. For an experimental feature, that’s not bad.

It’s not without downsides, though. ART compiled code would take up slightly more room on a device compared to apps that were only compiled in use, but for most devices, the tradeoff is well worth it. Installing apps will also likely take longer using ART, since they’re compiled on installation. On bigger apps, that could definitely draw out the process a bit, but for most people I feel like the performance gains would be worth it.

news source: talkandroid.com

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News by:  Jared Peters  31st October 2013

As we all know Android has always used the Dalvik virtual machine as it’s runtime compiler, and for the most part, it works well. However, in what’s probably a piece of Android’s new Project Svelte, they’ve introduced a new compiler called ART which adds Performance boost in Kitkat.. This is likely related to Google’s big purchase of Flexycore not long ago, as these compilers relate directly to Android performance.

ART is showing up in some Android developer menus, but it isn’t completely implemented just yet. ART reads .oat files as opposed to the traditional .odex files that have been common in Android system applications up to this point. Android also includes an odex2oat converter, so whenever this does get implemented, it seems like Android should be able to handle the change as well as backwards compatibility with older data and apps.

This is some pretty technical low-level hardware stuff that most users never even notice, but if you’re interested, you can find out more at XDA.

news source: talkandroid.com

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