 |
| Android 5.0 - Lollipop |
Google revealed many details about the new version of Android a few months ago, but we didn’t get a name — it was simply called as “Android L.” Now there’s finally a name and a version number to go with it. Android 5.0 Lollipop is a beautiful turn for Android in both design and features. With all the details of Android 5.0 now in the wild, it’s time to tell you all about the latest, largest, and greatest Android release yet. So, Get ready to be acknowledged.
Materially different
Google’s last design was known as "Holo", but that has been replaced by Material Design. This was thoroughly previewed when the developer preview was released, and Google went on to update the design guidelines for developers to start making Material apps.
From your phone, to your tablet, to your watch, to your car, to your TV — it’s going to be Android Lollipop all the time. Well, as soon as your device maker gets around to pushing out an update. There will still be manufacturer skins, but Google is trying to create a vibrant new UI that OEMs will have a hard time covering up. The use of “hero” colors in apps is an example of this. The header color will carry over to the status bar (if the developer supports it), and that color is then shown in the header when you open the app switcher. OEMs love to skin the app switcher, but doing so now will mean taking away useful new UI cues, so why bother?
The preview of Android L came along at a time when there were almost no Material apps to test, but that won’t be a problem when Android 5.0 starts rolling out. It wasn’t clear last spring just how important (and cool) animations were going to be in Android 5.0. Developers have been trying to come up with ways to fake all the subtle button morphing and panel layering of Lollipop on KitKat devices, and these do add something, but Android 5.0′s native support for Material Design is going to make even cookiecutter apps looks amazing. The updated UI samples and upcoming SDK are looking great.
Battery Life Fixes
Android phones have long suffered from battery life issues caused by the way apps and services can behave in the background. Any app can be granted the power to wake up a device and keep it awake (called a wakelock). This is an important feature of the platform, but sometimes apps are coded poorly or there’s a minor incompatibility that causes a device to stay awake too long. Android 5.0 is supposed to prevent that while also providing you more information about when you’ll have to charge up.
Google is also introducing a power saving mode, which has always been missing from stock Android. It’s not as extensive as what Samsung or HTC are doing with their low-power modes, but it’s a start. You’ll be able to restrict syncing, background data, and screen brightness when you need to eke out a little more battery life. This mode seems to have the same basic options as it did in the preview, but it’s probably tuned better.
The battery use menu has also been revamped with a better graph containing information about which apps and processes are causing drain, rather than just foreground tasks. You also get estimates of remaining battery life based on current and past usage patterns, and a time until charged reading when plugged in. That’s especially cool for devices with Qualcomm’s QuickCharge 2.0 feature, like the Nexus 6 (which calls it Turbo Charger).
Notifications
Google is also introducing a power saving mode, which has always been missing from stock Android. It’s not as extensive as what Samsung or HTC are doing with their low-power modes, but it’s a start. You’ll be able to restrict syncing, background data, and screen brightness when you need to eke out a little more battery life. This mode seems to have the same basic options as it did in the preview, but it’s probably tuned better.
The battery use menu has also been revamped with a better graph containing information about which apps and processes are causing drain, rather than just foreground tasks. You also get estimates of remaining battery life based on current and past usage patterns, and a time until charged reading when plugged in. That’s especially cool for devices with Qualcomm’s QuickCharge 2.0 feature, like the Nexus 6 (which calls it Turbo Charger).
Security
A recent development in Android land is the news that Android 5.0 will include encryption by default, something that has made the intelligence and law enforcement communities none too happy. You can encrypt an Android device right now, but it’s actually quite a pain. You need to plug the phone in and leave it to do its thing for at least 30 minutes. If something goes wrong, your data could be forever lost.
On Android 5.0 this will happen automatically from the start, so you don’t have to worry about anyone harvesting your data if the phone is lost or stolen. Even if you have a lock screen, unencrypted data can be accessed with a variety of workarounds, but there’s no good way to break the kind of strong cryptography utilized by Android.
Performance
There isn’t much news with regard to the low-level application and hardware support — this is exactly the kind of stuff the L preview was supposed to give developers a head start with. It wouldn’t make much sense to change it up at the last minute. So yes, the Dalvik runtume is indeed being replaced by ART in Android 5.0. That means the virtual machine that turns Java into native code on the fly will be faster and more efficient. That’s great for app developers and anyone who uses apps.
Also of note is the confirmed support for 64-bit in Android 5.0. The new Nexus 9 will have a 64-bit chip — the Nvidia Tegra K1 — but not the Nexus 6. This won’t make a night and day difference, but Google will be shipping native 64-bit versions of Gmail, Maps, and other core apps. Running apps on ARMv8 64-bit tends to result in cleaner code and fewer unexplained lags. This is a good development, but you shouldn’t be infinitely bummed if you’re stuck with a 32-bit device.
New Camera Support
Perhaps one of the more underrated improvements in Android 5.0 is the new version of Google’s camera API. This is a big deal for anyone who has ever been disappointed by the quality of a device’s camera. Almost every phone these days uses a very good quality image sensor (probably made by Sony). The reason some phones like the Moto X have comparatively weak cameras is not the fault of hardware. It’s a software problem — one that can be fixed in Lollipop.
Image processing algorithms are deviously complex and are extremely valuable to the companies that develop them. Samsung and Sony have a great deal of expertise in image processing, so they can coax very good performance out of their cameras. Some OEMs license technology to do the same thing. If the results aren’t awesome, there’s nothing you as the consumer can do. Third-party apps don’t have full access to the hardware in KitKat and earlier, so all they can do is reprocess the JPEGs with wacky filters. That’s why the built-in camera app is usually better than something you download from the Play Store.
So how does Android 5.0′s new API change that? Simply, apps can now access the hardware properly with settings for the sensor, lens, noise models, and optical information. Apps will be able to capture RAW files from the sensor and process them however they like, or spit out RAW files for you to play with in the app of your choosing. Developers will be able to implement their own technology to take full advantage of the hardware. This one change could take a mediocre camera to top-of-the-line with a single download.
Conclusion
So when can you get it? Well, probably not for a long time, unless you buy one of the new Nexus devices or already own one of a few select phones and tablets. The official launch of Android 5.0 Lollipop is happening in about two weeks. Device makers like Samsung and LG will then work their custom features into Android 5.0, though hopefully with more finesse than in the past. Those updates will roll out to unlocked phones first, then carrier variants after they’ve been approved. It’ll take a few months, but Android 5.0 Lollipop is going to be worth the wait.
--- Source
Share and Comment... <3 T.y
