While Marshmallow is still very new, if we take a look at the percentage of devices running Marshmallow, Google is planning another version of Android which will be named after the alphabet “N”, and it will be named after an online poll which will be conducted by the company, as was made known by Google CEO, Mr. Sundar Pichai, at an event in India. While it will be called N, it will have a version number of 7.0 because the current Android (Marshmallow) has a version number of 6.0.
Android N Leaks & Rumors:
- May not have an App Drawer, Latest leak from a Google official video hints at it.
- Hamburger Menu may be back in the Settings app
- Maps UI revamp
- Custom Tabs
- Leanback for Android TV.
Expected Features and Changes:
1. Name of Android Version:
What could be the next version of Android? We are quite sure it will have version 7.x or initially 7.0, but no one knows the exact name of Android N. It will surely start with the alphabet “N” because every year the Android names change according to the English alphabet. Last year’s Android was from M (Marshmallow). So this year it’ll be N. We have seen lots of rumors suggesting it has “Nutella” or “Nougat”. But this year, Google won’t decide the name by itself; it will be decided by an online poll. Google’s CEO, Mr. Sundar Pichai, was in Delhi last year when he announced that the next version would be announced by an online poll.
2. Multi Window:
Multi Window: As the name suggests, it lets you run two or more apps in window mode simultaneously. We have already seen this feature in LG and Samsung phones a few days ago. Samsung brought this feature to the market for the first time. We can also call it the Split-Screen feature. So that will be the time when we see a stock Android phone with lots of features.
The multi-window feature will be very helpful for potential users. But Google should focus on optimizing it for all screen sizes. It should also be made universal to work with all the apps, which include stock apps as well as 3rd party apps. The multi-window feature was introduced in marshmallow, but it was only partially introduced, so we can be sure that it will come in Android N.
3. Android N moves to Open JDK:
Google is fighting a patent battle with Oracle for the Swipe to Unlock and Pattern Unlock systems. In 2010, Google was stuck in a battle with Oracle for copyright protection of the JavaAPI, which is very important for Android as these APIs let the full Android system run. Now it has been reported that Google is moving to openJDK from Oracle.
Google told, “released new versions of the Android platform that are expressly licensed by Oracle for use by Google under the free, open source license provided by Oracle as part of its OpenJDK project. Specifically, these newly released versions of Android utilize the method headers (and the associated sequence, structure, and organization of those method headers) at issue in this litigation under the open source OpenJDK license from Oracle.”
4. A few UI modifications :
We can see some UI changes also in upcoming Android as the last major redesign came with Android Lollipop 5.0 which is 2 years old. SO we can expect Google to bring a great design with Android N. Some custom launcher features & more customizable interface overall. We could also see some basic feature that are available in 3rd party launchers like No. of Rows & columns etc. Scrolling of App drawer like vertical or horizontal etc. SO gesture support to the app drawer & also to launch few pre-defined app. These features might come under a totally new ‘Personalisation’ section or might come under ‘System UI Tuner’ section.
5. More secure:
Android Marshmallow brought a great security feature to stock Android, which was the support of a fingerprint scanner. A fingerprint scanner was first introduced in Apple’s iPhone 5s, which was known as Touch id. But later, Samsung came up with a fingerprint scanner and then many companies followed this leak. But support for fingerprint scanners was not available in Android 5.0 or earlier. It was first introduced in Marshmallow 6.0. With Android N, we could see native support for iris scanners. We saw Microsoft introduce it first in their phones and PCs.
6. Smart Password Management system :
Earlier in late 2015, it was reported that Google was working on a smart password manager which would let you easily sign in to other websites and Google apps if you are signing in with the phone on which your account has been installed. Google tried to show us a glimpse of this in Android Marshmallow. Smart Lock for Passwords automatically signs you into apps without much headache.
7. A new messaging app :
There were some reports that Google is going to kill Hangout and is working on a whole new app that will be more advanced than all the other apps available on the market. It will have some very unique features. This messaging app will work as an SMS app as well as an instant messaging app like WhatsApp. There are also reports that it will be based on the smart password manager feature that is set to debut with Android N.
8. Built-in theme engine:
It is expected that Google will bring native theme engine support to Android N. With native themes, Android will be richer in terms of features and have a more beautiful look than ever. It will be like Cyanogenmod and other custom ROMs that support lots of themes.
Android “N” Probable Release Date:
We very well know that Google uses Google I/O, the annual developer conference held in May, to announce major yearly Android updates. So, in all likelihood, the Android N developer preview will be launched in May 2016 at the developer conference. It will keep pushing smaller updates afterward till the final version comes before the new Nexus devices launch in 2016. We can again make an educated guess of late September or early October for the final version, given that vendors may start pushing for their older devices after the launch of Nexus devices.