With the release of Android 15 on the horizon, users and developers alike eagerly anticipate the newest features and improvements. Let’s delve into the detailed timeline of its release and the array of exciting changes it brings across various aspects of functionality.
Timeline
- February 2024: Developer Preview 1 introduces early features, APIs, and behavior changes, focusing on developer feedback.
- March 2024: Developer Preview 2 provides incremental updates with additional features and adjustments.
- April 2024: Beta 1 offers a more stable environment for building and testing, distributed to early adopters in the Android Beta program.
- May 2024: Beta 2 follows as an incremental Beta-quality release.
- June 2024: Beta 3 marks Platform Stability, finalizing system behaviors, APIs, and non-SDK API lists, facilitating final compatibility testing and development.
- July-August 2024: Beta 4 delivers near-final builds for ultimate testing before the final release of Android 15 to AOSP and the ecosystem.
Android features changes list
Camera and Media:
- Easier Camera Controls: Android 15 lets you have more control over your phone’s camera. You can adjust settings and make changes to how the camera works on certain devices.
- Better HDR Control: With Android 15, you can adjust HDR settings to find the right balance between regular and high-quality video content.
- Manage Volume Better: Android 15 introduces a new tool to help keep audio volume consistent across different apps and content. This means you won’t have to keep adjusting the volume when you switch between things.
- Improved Music Composition: Android 15 now supports virtual MIDI apps better. This allows music apps to control synthesizer apps more effectively, making it easier to create music on your phone or tablet.
- Changes to Audio Effects: The Virtualizer class is being phased out in Android 15, so developers should start using Spatializer instead for audio effects.
- Better Audio Management: Android 15 improves how the system handles audio playback. When resources are limited, the system will close some audio tracks to prioritize new ones.
- Audio Focus Restrictions: Apps targeting Android 15 need to be the main app or running an audio-related service to request audio focus. This helps ensure better control over audio playback.
Connectivity:
- Better Satellite Connections: Android 15 makes it easier to connect with satellites, and it improves how the screen looks when you’re using satellite connections.
- Easier Payments: Android 15 makes paying with your phone smoother and more dependable, so you can trust it when you tap to pay. It also keeps supporting lots of different payment apps.
- Wallet Integration: Android 15 adds a new feature called Wallet Role, which helps your phone work better with your favorite wallet app.
Core functionality:
- Changes to how apps are stopped: In Android 15, apps can only be removed from a stopped state if the user directly or indirectly interacts with them. Additionally, when an app is stopped in Android 15, any pending tasks it has are cancelled.
- New type of important service for media: Android 15 introduces a new type of service called mediaProcessing. This service is meant for tasks like converting media files from one format to another.
- Restrictions on certain services starting at boot: In Android 15, apps can’t start certain types of important services right after the device boots up, if they’re using a BOOT_COMPLETED receiver.
- Better encryption management: Android 15 comes with a new class called E2eeContactKeysManager, which helps with setting up end-to-end encryption in your apps.
Developer productivity and tools:
- Better PDF handling: Android 15 Developer Preview 2 has some big improvements for working with PDF files using PdfRenderer.
- Improved language switching: Android 15 makes it easier for apps to manage how they automatically switch languages.
- More control over line breaks: In Android 15, TextView can now keep certain parts of text on the same line for better reading.
- Updates to OpenJDK 17: Android 15 keeps updating its core libraries to match the latest features in OpenJDK LTS releases.
- Cover screen support: With Android 15, your app can now easily adapt to the small cover screens found on certain flip devices. Just declare a property, and your Application or Activity will be ready to be presented on these screens.
- Updates to non-SDK interface restrictions: In Android 15, there are new lists of restricted non-SDK interfaces. These updates come from working closely with Android developers and conducting thorough internal testing.
Performance and battery:
- Understanding App Startup: With the ApplicationStartInfo API in Android 15, developers can now easily track how their app starts up. This includes details like what stage of startup it’s in, how long each phase takes, and even how it was launched in the first place.
- App Size Insights: Android 15 introduces the StorageStats.getAppBytesByDataType([type]) API. This tool helps developers understand where their app’s storage space is going. It breaks down things like APK file parts, code for speeding up performance, metadata, libraries, and more.
- Better SQLite Database Handling: In Android 15, there are new SQLite APIs. These let developers tap into advanced features of the database engine, helping to tackle specific performance issues that might crop up in their apps.
- Improvements to Dynamic Performance: Android 15 also brings updates to the Android Dynamic Performance Framework (ADPF). This set of tools gives game developers and creators of performance-heavy apps more control over how their software interacts with the power and temperature systems in Android devices.
Privacy:
- Screen recording detection: Android 15 now lets apps know if someone is recording what’s happening on the screen.
- Expanded IntentFilter capabilities: Android 15 improves how apps can understand and respond to specific actions or requests. For example, it can now handle URLs with more precision, including things like query parameters and fragments.
- Privacy Sandbox on Android: Android 15 upgrades its privacy features to make sure user data is better protected. It also helps app developers create personalized ads while still respecting user privacy.
- Health Connect: Android 15 makes it easier for apps to share and manage health and fitness data securely. It now supports more types of health data, like fitness and nutrition information.
- Partial screen sharing: Android 15 allows users to share or record just a part of the screen instead of the whole thing. This was first introduced in Android 14, but now it’s even easier for apps to customize the experience.
Security:
Ensure the security of your files with fs-verity: In Android 15, FileIntegrityManager introduces new tools that leverage the fs-verity feature inherent in the Linux kernel.
User experience:
By default, the elegantTextHeight attribute is set to true in apps designed for Android 15: This means that instead of using a compact font that might be harder to read, the TextView will now automatically adjust to a more readable font, especially for scripts with larger vertical metrics.
In Android 15, there are also enhancements to the Do Not Disturb feature: Apps can now use AutomaticZenRule to customize when Do Not Disturb mode activates or deactivates, aiming to give users a better experience by managing interruptions more effectively.
In conclusion, the release of Android 15 marks a significant milestone in the evolution of the Android ecosystem, promising a host of new features and improvements aimed at enhancing user experience, bolstering security, and empowering developers to create innovative and engaging applications. As the release timeline unfolds, users and developers can look forward to embracing the next generation of Android with eager anticipation and enthusiasm.