Google has finally revealed the name of Android P. It is called Pie (not to be confused with π) and the Android version is Android 9.0 and right now, the Android Pie is rolling out to Pixel devices. The core features of this version of Android is the implementation of AI everywhere and its adaptiveness.
Speaking about the new Android release, Sameer Samat – VP of Product Management, Android & Google Play said, “Android 9 aims to make your phone even smarter by learning from you and adapting to your usage patterns. It also helps you get things done faster, like predicting what you’ll want to do next based on your context and displaying that action right on your phone. And we’ve been working to add key capabilities right into Android to help people achieve the balance with technology they’re looking for.”
Android 9 Pie is built to learn from users so that it can predict next tasks, prioritize battery power for the apps used most and help users sleep properly without disturbance. Adaptive Battery is a new feature that can learn how a particular user uses his phone or what apps he uses the most. In the same way, Adaptive Brightness helps users set the brightness automatically without making too many adjustments in different lighting conditions.
The new Android 9 Pie offers a new system navigation with the help of one single home button and swiping up on the home screen or anywhere, brings up the overview and at-a-glance full-screen previews of recently used apps. And by swiping, users can switch between them and interact in a completely new manner. The Quick Settings have also been redesigned, new simplified volume controls have been added and the notifications are now way easier to manage.
A few months back during the Google I/O in May, Google had unveiled some digital wellbeing features that will be added in Android Pie and now, when a user will head to the dashboard, it will show the time spent on each app. There is also an App Timer that lets users set time limits on apps and grays out the icon on the home screen when the time is up. Digital Wellbeing is now available in beta for Pixel phones running Android 9 Pie and it will be introduced to all in the next few months.
Google has also talked a bit about privacy and security and with Android 9 Google has made the OS more secure from Code-reuse attacks. Android 9 Pie also enables industry-leading hardware security capabilities to protect sensitive data like credit card information using a secure, dedicated chip. There are other privacy improvements, like TLS by default and DNS over TLS to protect all web communications safe and keep them private.
As of now, Android 9 Pie is rolling out to Pixel phones. And devices that participated in the Beta program from Sony Mobile, Xiaomi, HMD Global, Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus, and Essential Phone. Qualifying Android One devices will also receive this update by the end of the year.
