Android N is about to get some major updates as Google has announced at I/O that the company will be receivng the third Android N preview release.
Considered by Google employees as a ‘beta-quality candidate’, the third version of Android N will be bringing some new improvements to the OS, on top of pre-existing features such as multi-window support. For starters, this new version of Android N will support the Vulkan API. Thanks to Vulkan’s lower CPU overhead, this would translate to better performance for games on Android N.
Android N’s Vulkan support may also be beneficial to Google’s Daydream VR platform and Android N’s VR mode as well. According to Google, VR mode would give VR apps priority access to the CPU and GPU on a phone. It will also feature a couple of software techniques that would minimise the latency between head movements and the time updates to reflect this as short as currently possible. According to Google, this mode has allowed them to reduce latency on a Nexus 6P with Cardboard to under 20ms, which is an impressive feat if proven true.
The runtime for Android N has also been improved upon, and Android N will be receiving a new Just-In-Time (JIT) compiler that would improve software performance, makes installs faster, and reduces the amount of storage needed for apps.
Updates have also been revamped in the new version of Android N as the OS will now quietly download an update and set it up on the background. This would allow the operating system to switch between the old and new image once you’ve restarted the device. If you’re one of the few who uses Chrome OS, the update system for Android N is almost identical to the one found on it. While this may be good and all, it remains to be seen if Android N will allow you to disable this sort of automatic updates.
There are other features that will be available on Android N of course, but Google is currently keeping mum on them for now. In the meantime, Google will be running a contest to choose the official name of Android N. The company has mentioned though that the names will be chosen by them, and as such, joke entries like “Namey McNameface” would probably not be the official name for Android N. Regardless, if you think you have a decent name for Android N, you can submit your entries here.
The final version of Android N is scheduled to be released this Summer.
