Android L(Android 5) is coming this fall to users, but developers will get it early, and Google has already lifted the veil of secrecy over the plentiful little improvements coming to this new Android version.
Some of them you’ve already heard about at the Google I/O keynote – things like the new Battery Saver mode coming with Project Volta that aims to maximize your battery life, as well as the new ART compiler with full support for 64-bit, with all the benefits of the larger registers and more addressable physical space.
Others, like the USB audio that will allow you to connect external audio devices that bypass the phone’s (usually not so good) built-in DAC, were not the subject of much keynote attention, but will nonetheless appeal to audiophiles. And speaking of audio, we should also note that Apple is already doing something similar with its own USB audio solution, and according to reports it might be preparing a new set of headphones with higher quality audio.
Others like the color space correction capabilities seem to appeal to photo enthusiasts and they could mean better calibration for your smartphone display. Yet others are subtle, deeper improvements like a Native Development Kit (NDK) for media APIs, something that would make media playback more efficient and allow for more sophisticated media players.
Google teased all those little features of Android L in a slide, quickly showed on the screen, so to spare you the staring, we’re just listing all the new features mentioned there:
Burst-mode camera APIs, H.265, NDK media APIs, TV input framework, Low latency audio recording, audio patch-panel, improved AV sync, USB audio, Cast-receiver hardware-assisted hot-word ART, 64-bit trusted execution environment, Volta, improved battery stats, predicted time remaining, battery historian, Battery Saver mode, time to charge, time on lock screen , Jobs Scheduler, multi-network
Bluetooth 4.1, BLE central and peripheral modes
HFP 1.6 SAP, multi HFP
OpenGL ES 3.1 and Android Extension Pack
Personal unlocking, enterprise, lock to app apis
Document-centric multi-tasking
Lockscreen notifications, heads-up notifications, do not disturb
New quick settings, phone rotation lock
Improved game controller support
Closed caption, color inversion, color space correction, improved text rendering
Material theme, activity transitions, view shadows, view elevation
RecycleView, CardView, path animations, color extractor
Courtesy of Pc Advisor
