Hi guys, Giò here from The Nerd Herd
and today we're taking a look at the Android L Developer Preview on top of our Nexus 7
A few months ago Google announced Android L
and has released this developer preview
the one we are using right now
We have a "developer preview" because for the first time
Android default runtime is ART
and not the obsolete Dalvik
To put it simple
the runtime is that software that allows the system to be executed
ART will bring benefits both to performance and to battery life
but due to such a change
much extra work will be required to Android developers
also because of the new 5000 APIs
Speaking of benefits, Google has introduced "Project Volta"
which should increase battery life by 36%
As we haven't spent enough time with this release
we cannot confirm those data
but the impression is that battery life is pretty good
On the performance side, animations look smooth and fluent
but there indeed are some crashes caused by the incompatibility with ART
As for the Google Apps and other major developers
we were able to use correctly Facebook, Chrome, GMail, YouTube, Evernote etc.
However, you shall not consider this daily driver material
as the many issues you can find are likely to discourage all of the non-geeks out there
We advice you to wait for the final release, to avoid any issue
One of the biggest innovations in L is the Material Design
Google has given the system a "layered" style
where some elements are on top of others
exactly like physical objects
Also, as we are talking about physical objects
none of the elements can appear out of the blue,
and everything has to be linked
Material Design is everywhere
starting from the apps and arriving to menus and toggles
which are now much more interactive than before
Multitasking has been completely redesigned
and apps now look like files in an archive
something like Google Chrome for Android
Not by chance, Google Chrome cards now appear in the multitasking menu
We now have to slide through files in an archive
rather than through little windows
Finally, lockscreen and status bar
The lockscreen is now much more iOS-like
with the notifications arranged in horizontal blocks
We can both get rid of them or go to the app straight away
We also have three shortcuts
one for the unlock
another one for the camera and the last one for the dialer (obviously not on the Nexus 7)
Notifications have been redesigned also regarding normal usage
and they are now available both through the "heads-up" system
(not present in the developer preview)
and in the new status bar, now almost completely transparent
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That's all for today, see you next time!