Google has published a release of the open mobile platform Android 15. The source code associated with the new release is posted in the project's Git repository (branch android-16.0.0_r1). Firmware builds have been prepared for Pixel 6/6a/6 Pro, Pixel 7/7a/7 Pro, Pixel 8/8a/8 Pro, Pixel 9/9 Pro/9 Pro XL/9 Pro Fold, Pixel Fold and Pixel Tablet devices. In the coming months, firmware with the new version is expected for smartphones from Samsung, Honor, iQOO, Lenovo, Motorola, Nothing, OnePlus, Oppo, realme, Sharp, Sony, Tecno, vivo and Xiaomi. In addition, universal GSI (Generic System Images) builds will be generated, suitable for different devices based on ARM64 and x86_64 architectures.
The Android 16 release follows a new development schedule that will see two major Android releases each year, rather than one major release — the first in QXNUMX (as opposed to QXNUMX) and the second in QXNUMX. The summer release will include significant new features, behavior changes in the SDK, and new APIs. The winter release will contain improvements, new APIs, and changes that do not affect app functionality.
Key new features of Android 16:
- The interface design has been updated to use the new Material 3 Expressive design concept.
- Dynamic color themes and styles have been updated.
- On devices with large screens, such as tablets, desktops, and foldable smartphones, the responsive interface is enabled. On devices with a screen width greater than 600 dp, the platform will display apps in windows that can be resized and moved around the screen. Settings in the app manifest file (not games) that limit window size and fix screen orientation will be ignored on large screens. Developers will have an option to disable this behavior until 2026.
It's possible to have multiple applications running on the screen at the same time, similar to a traditional desktop environment. Later this year, there are plans to add a taskbar, support for assigning custom keyboard shortcuts, and the ability to connect tablets and phones to external screens.
- A new type of notifications has been proposed — instant updates (Live Update), allowing you to track changes in the state associated with a certain activity (for example, displaying the stage of delivery or movement along the route). For new updates, the ProgressStyle style has been proposed, allowing you to create a block for displaying the progress of the operation.
- Automatic grouping of notifications from one application is provided.
- An embedded interface has been proposed to provide applications with access to user-selected photos and videos stored both on the current device and in cloud storage. The key difference of the new interface is that the application does not have access to the entire media library, but only to individual files selected by the user.
- By default, the "predictive" animation of operations for returning to the home screen is enabled when using the "back" gesture, as well as when switching between tasks and activities. The essence of the predictable return is the ability to preview the area to which the transition will take place (for example, if the return takes place to the home screen, then during the gesture the application window is reduced and the home screen is shown). Support for predictable return in the new version is implemented not only for gestures, but also for navigation using the "Back", "Home" and "Overview" buttons.
- A text contrast enhancement mode has been added, which removes the transparency under the text (light text is displayed on a black background, and dark text on a white background). This mode may be useful for people with poor vision.
- The Advanced Protection section has been added to the settings, offering a set of optional protection mechanisms that enhance security in the event of a risk of device compromise or targeted attacks on the user. The mode includes such features as automatic reboot of the smartphone after 3 days of inactivity, protection against attacks via USB, automatic blocking of the device when signs of theft are detected, backup of logs for audit in case of hacking, activation of the MemTag hardware protection mechanism, blocking the installation of unknown applications, blocking connections to 2G cellular networks, disabling automatic reconnection to unprotected Wi-Fi networks, filtering spam and fraudulent messages, blocking advertising calls.
- Added support for the APV (Advanced Professional Video) video codec, designed for recording and processing video with a professional level of quality, close to the original content quality with lossless compression. To simplify use when editing video, the APV format provides high bandwidth and low complexity of intra-frame coding, and also guarantees no quality loss during re-coding. Supported resolutions include 2K, 4K and 8K, HDR10/10+, frame tiling for parallel encoding/decoding, various color sampling formats, multi-view video, adding metadata (depth, transparency, preview data). The implementation is based on the OpenAPV library and the use of the APV 422-10 profile (YUV 422 and 10-bit per channel), supporting bitrates up to 2Gbps.
- The Linux kernel has been updated to release 6.12.
- The Vulkan graphics API has been given the status of an official Android platform API. To be certified by Google and use Android 16, a device must support the basic capabilities of Vulkan 1.3. Work is underway to migrate Android to a new unified rendering stack based on Vulkan. Some games and apps that have been tested and whitelisted use an OpenGL ES implementation based on the ANGLE layer, which runs on top of Vulkan.
- An experimental Linux Terminal application has been added, which allows you to run a Debian GNU/Linux virtual machine in the Android environment, in which you can run regular Linux applications. The ability to run graphical Linux applications is being developed.
- Making and receiving calls using hearing aids has been significantly improved. You can now control your hearing aids (e.g. change the volume) directly from your Android phone.
- To optimize performance, the internal structures of the Android Runtime (ART) have been changed, which will require updating applications that use such structures.
- For applications that work with the camera, the ability to determine the use of night shooting mode has been provided.
- Added low-level API for vertical text rendering. The Paint class now supports the VERTICAL_TEXT_FLAG flag, which allows handling vertical text parameters at the same level as horizontal text.
- Added RangingManager API, which allows determining the distance and angle between the current and external user devices using various distance determination techniques based on the analysis of channel parameters and the received BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) signal, as well as assessing the response time over Wi-Fi.
- Added support for technologies developed as part of the Privacy Sandbox initiative to organize the display of advertising in mobile applications while protecting user privacy.
- Added LNP (Local Network Protection) mode, which allows restricting application access to internal intranet subnets (192.168.xx, 10.xxx, etc.) to block attacks on resources in the local network. In the new mode, in addition to having "INTERNET" permissions, the application will have to obtain separate access confirmation from the user.
- Added support for creating screenshots with high dynamic range (HDR).
Source: opennet.ru
