The preview version of Android L is currently available for Nexus 5 and Nexus 7
Google
announced the latest version of Android at its developer conference in
the last week of June. Called Android L, which by the way is a temporary
name, the new version promises users a better looking interface, faster
performance, more battery life and overall a smoother experience than
what they get with the existing versions of Android.Android L
is going to be available to consumers in the next few months. But if you
have a Nexus 5 phone (or a Nexus 7 2013 tablet), and if you are
familiar with terms like ROM, Flashing and Bootloader, you can install
the preview version of Android L. We are using Android L on a Nexus 5
for nearly a month now and based on our experience with it so far, we
can give you a fair idea of what you can expect from it when it rolls
out to consumers.
However, before we talk more about the operating
system (OS), here is something important to note: Android L is a work
in progress. The preview version gives a taste of it to users, but by no
means it is the final version. It can, and most likely will, change
before it is available to end users.
Material design is elegant
Compared
to Android Jelly Bean and Android KitKat, which more or less followed
the basic design and interface that Google used in Android Ice Cream
Sandwich, Android L shakes up things in a more significant way. It
replaces the Holo design that Google used in Ice Cream Sandwich with the
Material design, which is based on a layered user interface (UI). It is
a flatter and more colourful design. For end users, this means two
important changes - one, the core UI elements like multitasking and
notification shade have changed, and two, the basic design of apps too
is going to see changes.
Of all the interface changes that Android L introduces, the following ones are most significant:
Lockscreen:
The lockscreen of the phone can now show the notifications. Many
Android users were using lockscreen widgets for the same functionality
earlier but now it is baked in. These notifications can then be
dismissed with a swipe to right or left. But if you double tap on a
notification, it opens the app that is sending the notification.From
the lockscreen, you can also access the quick settings by swiping down
the notification shade. This works even if the phone is locked. Also, to
go to the dialer, you can swipe from left edge to the right and to go
to camera you can swipe from right edge to the left.
The
lockscreen of Android is more dynamic now. Unfortunately, it seems that
Google has removed the support for third-party lockscreen widgets. So,
some of your favourite weather widgets or apps like Dashclock may not
work with Android L. At least for now.
Notification shade and quick settings:
The Material design in Android L uses layers. The best example of this
is seen in the way notification shade has been designed. In Android
KitKat, bringing down the notification shade opens a layer which has
notifications. To access quick settings, users can tap on a small toggle
on the right top corner. But in Android L, the notification shade is
made up of three layers: The top layer shows the basic information like
date, remaining battery, and has the bar to adjust brightness of the
device. The second layer has buttons that give access to most used
settings like Wi-Fi and Airplane mode. The third layer is where
notifications from apps are shown. When you open the notification shade,
you can see the subtle animation that layers use as they slide out. It
looks cool and the animation is smooth.
Multitask with cards: Multitasking
UI is another big change in Android L. Unlike the filmstrip of
thumbnails in Kitkat, Android L uses deck of cards as multitasking UI.
It is similar to how open tabs are shown in Chrome browser on Android.
The animation while shuffling the cards, which represent open apps, is
smooth.With the new version of the OS, there is one more big
change in the way multitasking is handled in Android. Earlier, if you
clicked a link in the Twitter app, it opened a web page in Chrome but
strangely considered that page a part of Twitter. But in Android L, the
web page will be a part of the Chrome app, the way it is supposed to be.
User interface elements:
Other than using layers, the material design adds some specific
elements to UI. However, these elements will be available to users only
if the app developers follow UI guidelines prepared by Google. For now,
to see the UI elements part of the Material design, a user can open the
phone dialer or the calculator. The idea with the new design is to
provide a more consistent feedback to users and keep a uniform look
& feel within the apps. For example, the touchable elements in the
dialer app glow when a user taps them.Similarly, if you are
scrolling through a list and reach the end, there is subtle shadowy
animation that tells users that the list has ended.
Android L has
better and smoother animations. This means even within apps, navigating
from one element to other gives a more polished experience and makes the
OS feel a lot slicker.
And yes, the onscreen navigation buttons
have changed. Now they are represented by a triangle (back button), a
circle (home button), and a square (multitasking button).
ART inside Android
Android
L is a preview version. It is undoubtedly better looking than Android
KitKat. But on the performance part, KitKat running on Nexus 5 still has
the edge. Right now Android L on Nexus 5 feels a wee bit slower, most
likely because of all the extra animations that have been added. Though,
the difference is not that much and we feel that the final version of
Android L on Nexus 5 will be as fast as KitKat if not more.
In terms of performance, here are the highlights:
ART: A
new runtime, ART was part of KitKat. But it has to be enabled. By
default KitKat uses Dalvik, the older runtime which has been a part of
Android since its beginning in 2008. With Android L this is changing. In
the new version of the Android, ART is the default runtime. But what
does that mean for users?
Google says ART will make Android phone
more responsive and faster. But why? Here is the explanation: When you
currently install an app on an Android phone, Dalvik is used to run and
compile it. The process is called Just In Time, which means that when
you launch an app, elements of it are compiled and run. This is a pretty
fine system but from time to time you may feel that the app you are
trying to run doesn't feel as responsive as it ought to be.
ART
uses Ahead Of Time process. This means when you install an app on an
Android phone running ART, the necessary elements of the app are
compiled and stored on the phone's internal storage in advance. So when
you launch an app, the operating system doesn't have to compile
anything. This results in an app that feels more responsive and has
lower load time.
The disadvantage of ART is that apps take more
space on the internal storage of the phone and when you are
booting/restarting the phone, you may have to wait a few extra seconds
before you can access homescreen.
Battery saver mode: Almost
all Android smartphones nowadays come with a battery saver mode. But
this mode is the work of companies that have made the phone and is not a
part of the standard Android OS. With Android L, Google is giving the
OS an inbuilt battery saver mode. The implementation of the battery
saver mode in Android L is fantastic. It can be accessed from Battery
settings but by default it is turned on. As soon as the phone gets below
15% battery, the mode kicks in. This means the brightness of the
display is automatically dimmed, the performance of the phone is reduced
and all the fancy animations are switched off.The battery
saver mode works well. Google claims that Android L is more sensitive to
the battery use compared to previous versions of Android. The company
talks about Project Volta, aimed at improving battery life of Android
phones. With battery saver mode on, we found the claim to be largely
true. With Android L, our Nexus 5 consistently gets better standby
battery life. In actual use, we found that Android L gave us around 1 to
2 hours of extra battery life compared to what we got with KitKat on
Nexus 5.
Using Android L
Our
overall experience of using Android L has been very positive. But it is
also clear that for now the OS is not ready for the prime time. It is
full of usual bugs that accompany a preview release. Many things don't
work. For example, tethering doesn't work. Connecting to a Wi-Fi network
using a proxy is an issue. Then there are UI glitches in apps that have
not yet updated for Android L. Twitter's official app just doesn't
work. The Facebook app can't show comments in a proper way.Yet,
as we said, we have a positive impression of Android L. When it feels
fast, it does feel fast. The animations and flatter UI elements make
Android L slicker. It is definitely good enough to stand in the league
of Windows Phone and iOS. Once some of the glitches are taken care of -
something that we expect to happen by the time the final version comes
to Nexus phones - it will be a fantastic smartphone OS to use.
Android
L is light on visible new features. Battery saver mode has been added.
The lockscreen is more dynamic now. There is even a Do Not Disturb mode,
similar to the one in iOS.
But with Android L Google is focusing
on the basics. Primarily, the company is providing developers a platform
that will help them create better looking and better performing apps.
And that is where it gets little complex. On its own, Android L is
pretty fine. But to achieve its full potential, it requires support from
app developers. They have to use the Material design in their apps.
They have to make proper use of the performance enhancing features like
ART that Google has put in Android L. Hopefully, before the final
version of Android L hits the Nexus devices, we will see some magic from
Android developers.
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