22 Best Android P Features: What’s New In The Latest Version

by islam ahmed

google I/O 2018 brought Android Developer Preview 2 which unveiled several new features in its latest mobile OS, Android P.

While the name of Android version 9.0 still remains a mystery, we got to see a bunch of cool and exciting features. This year Google is focused on making our digital lives more calm and organized through Android P.

The company is trying to make smartphones adapt to user habits through AI and machine learning. The UI has undergone a major overhaul and the Android P now offers you great features to curb your phone usage.

Users can sign up for the Android beta program to help Google in improving the OS. So without further ado, let’s take a look at the list of best Android P features from its second developer preview.

Android 9.0 Feature Overview

1. Indoor navigation with Wi-Fi RTT

Android P now supports IEEE 802.11mc WiFi protocol which is also known as Wi-Fi Round-Trip-Time (RTT). It’s one of the best features that Android fans are waiting for.

This new feature enables indoor GPS style tracking by determining your location within a building and facilitating turn-by-turn directions to help you navigate indoors.

It means you can now find your way across short distances within malls and large buildings.

2. Gesture Navigation

Google has redesigned the way you navigate the OS by introducing Gesture Navigation in Android P similar to iPhone X.

Instead of three buttons set on the home screen, there is an option to use a new single home button that allows you to swipe up to view recent apps along with a UI that suggests apps you might use. Swiping the button left and right lets you quickly switch between apps.

3. Dashboard

It’s easy to lose track of time while you are glued to your phone watching YouTube videos, playing games, or checking out social media. This is why Google has introduced a bunch of features that let you control how you use your phone.

One of them is ‘Dashboard’ which breaks downs phone usage data to show how you spend time on your device. It displays:

• a pie chart indicating the time spent in each app per day and also in hour by hour basis
• total number of hours spent on the phone each day
• number of times you unlocked your phone
• total number of notifications you have received

4. App Timer

Another step towards Digital Wellbeing is the App Timer feature which lets you set time limits on apps you use for a more extended period.

On approaching the time limit, a notification pops out warning you have reached your time limit and the app ‘pauses.’ So with Android P, you can manage your time better and improve your productivity.

5. Do Not Disturb

Meetings and family gathering often demand your full presence, and Android P is going to help you with that through its modified Do Not Disturb mode.

It not only silences the phone calls and notifications but also all the visual interruptions like notifications that frequently pop up on your screen.

Another gesture-based Android P feature called ‘Shush’ makes it easier to distance yourself away from calls and notifications by enabling Do Not Disturb mode.

To activate Shush mode, just put your phone face-down on the table, and it automatically enters the DND mode.

6. Wind Down

Many of us spend hours on our phones at night before we actually fall asleep. Wind Down will help you curb this habit by switching on Night Light and turning on the Do Not Disturb mode at your chosen bedtime.

Just select the time at which you would like to go to bed, and Android P will fade the screen to grayscale to help you remember to sleep at the selected time

7. App Actions

App Actions in another great feature in Android P that helps you better navigate through the day by giving smart suggestions based on your habits. It can automatically anticipate your next action based on the current action.

For instance, if you connect your headphones to your smartphone, App Actions will ask if you’d like to continue listening to your favorite playlist on Spotify, thus allowing you to skip several steps in the process.

Such actions show up throughout the OS such as Smart Text Selection, the Play Store, Launcher, the Google Search app and the Assistant.

8. Slices

‘Slices’ is one of the best Android P features which comes in handy at several places. It lets you perform basic application activities outside the app.

Let’s say you search for ‘Lyft’ in Google Search. An interactive Slice appears on screen that displays price and time for a trip to work so that you can quickly book a ride.

In short, Slices are fully functional UIs that can be embedded externally in other applications to provide a variety of options to the user.

9. Lockdown mode

The latest addition to the power menu is the “Enter Lockdown” button. It’s one of the top features of Android P that further boosts the security of your phone.

Once enabled, it disables fingerprint unlocking option which can be quite useful in case any assailant force you or trick you into unlocking your phone.

After launching the mode, you will be required to insert your PIN, password or pattern for any other unlock methods to work again.

10. Smarter Notification Channels

The notification channels on Android P have been revamped and it allows you to block the certain type of notifications from appearing on your phone.

The type of notifications you usually dismiss will now display a red minus sign. Tapping on it will display a message asking if you would like to “Stop notifications” or “Keep showing” them.

11. Improvement in messaging apps

Messaging apps have received several improvements to enhance the overall experience.

A notable feature is a provision for developers to make images viewable in the notification shade for all incoming messages.

It also has Smart Reply which permits you to reply quickly to messages through the notification shade and use suggested responses that are created by analysis of the incoming messages.

12. An easier way to take screenshots and edit them

We have already discussed the how to use Android P’s new screenshot editor where you can edit and share your screenshots immediately after taking them.

Another handy Android 9.0 feature is the addition of screenshot button to the power menu. Thanks to this feature, you no longer have to struggle with the power + volume down buttons.

13. Auto-Rotate Button

The addition of new contextually aware button makes auto-rotation a whole lot easier and is one of the incredibly handy Android features I have seen.

An auto-rotate button appears in the navigation bar when your phone is rotated to an orientation it’s not currently locked to.

Suppose your device is locked to portrait mode and you try to rotate it to landscape, a button appears.

Tapping this button will lock your phone to landscape until you are using that app or you rotate the phone back to portrait mode and touch the button again.

14. Increased security

With the increase of privacy concerns like Facebook tracking your activities, it’s a relief to know that Android has revamped its privacy factor in the newest version.

As of now, once you allow an app to access your camera and mic, it can use them whenever they want. But Android P will block apps running in the background from accessing camera and microphones.

In case an app tries to use your camera without you knowing, it will be shut down and receive system errors whereas apps that attempt to record audio will capture blank sound until you open the app.

15. Default HTTPS for apps

Internet browsing works on two protocols: HTTP and HTTPS, with a major difference being the encryption feature of the latter.

But all apps do not use the secure protocol for communication which can expose you to potential dangers.

Now all apps built for Android P will communicate data via HTTPS by default. This will ensure the safety of your data while sending or receiving data from the app’s servers.

16. Alert tone to notify call recordings

Call recording feature is quite old, but what’s new is its ability to notify all parties whenever a conversation is being recorded.

Once the call recording starts, the system will play a tone at an interval of 15 seconds to alert the other party.

17. Support for HEIF image and HDR VP9 video format

The High Efficiency Image File Format (HEIF) is a new image format developed by MPEG group. Its advanced compression method retains higher image quality than JPEG images and creates smaller file size.

The built-in support for High Dynamic Range (HDR VP9) in the latest Android version 9.0 allows you to create HDR-enabled videos that can be viewed on devices and apps that support it.

18. Autofill in browsers

Android Oreo’s implementation of Autofill has one limitation, and that is its inability to work with browsers.

But the latest version deals with this limitation by allowing password managers to populate the login credentials into browsers.

19. Ambient Display for Battery Percentage

Ambient Display was originally designed to show the current time and notifications on the phone without having to go to the home screen.

A much-requested feature to show battery charge percentage on the Ambient Display has now been added to Android P.

20. Adaptive Battery

Google is relying more and more on AI to enrich user experience and its latest example is ‘Adaptive Battery.’

It learns to prioritize battery power by observing apps and services you use the most, thereby helping you get the most out of your battery, and make it last for a longer time.

21. Adaptive Brightness

Google is aiming at making smartphones smarter by making it learn from your habits and adapt according to your preferences.

So Android 9.0 now sports a new mechanism called ‘Adaptive Brightness’ that learns your preferred levels of brightness in different surroundings.

By tracking user adjusted brightness, it will automatically set the screen brightness levels for you.

22. ART improvements

New changes in the OS will improve the Android Runtime (ART) resulting in a significant performance and efficiency boosts.

This means that apps can launch faster and consume less memory on your phone with Android P.

As new Android P features are expected to surface with the release of newer versions over the next few months, we will keep on updating this list for you. So stay connected with Fossbytes to know more about the upcoming changes.