Here’s What’s New In Android L

The Keynote for Google I/O is now complete and they had a lot of stuff to throw our way.  In this post we’ll talk about the L Developer Preview which is a preview of the new version of Android.  They didn’t specifically give a name for the new version as it’s not publicly ready yet but they did talk about some of what we can expect.

First lets talk about design.  As expected, The UI has been re-imagined a bit and a new design interface was announced, “Material Design.”  This latest design language will permeate all of Google’s platforms and is an attempt to create a more unified experience across all devices whether it be phone, tablet, watch, computer, etc.  The new design is much more colourful and refines and extends the card idea we’ve got to know in Google Now.  All in all things just look more fluid and the polished.  There’s a consistent experience across all the platforms and I can’t wait to try it out.  I would really recommend watching the keynote to see all the ins and outs of the new design.  The design portion starts at about the 40 minute mark.

Notifications got a pretty big overhaul in the latest version of Android.  In addition to the new look their are now new ways to interact with your notifications.  First of all, your lock screen has kind of merged with the traditional notification centre to bring your notification front and centre as soon as you pick up your phone.  These notifications in the lock screen are prioritized to bring you those things that are most important to you (much in the same way Google Now tries to bring you relevant information).  In addition the lock screen notifications was the introduction of heads up notifications.  This isn’t necessarily a new idea but it’s new to the stock Android experience.  Heads up notifications will show up as little cards even when you’re engaged in something that is utilizing the full screen (ie. games).  You can then interact with these notifications without completely disrupting what you’re currently doing.

The recent apps section also got overhauled and has a Rolodex kind of look to it.  One neat new feature that they showed is that Chrome tabs will now show up as individual cards in the recent apps section.  Very nifty and something I think will be very helpful in the long run.

As you might expect, the new version of Android will also boost performance across the board.  CPU and GPU performance will get a good bump and the new Android L will be 64-bit ready.  Battery life should also see a nice lift with the new version of Android thanks to smarter management of background data.  They’ve also included a native battery saver option into the latest version of Android which will also help extend battery life for users.

Those are just a few of the highlights they showcased during the Keynote but they promise that there’s still so much more to be discovered.  The L Developer Preview should be available right away and the public version of Android L will likely become available in the fall.