Google I/O 2016 is just a few months away and excitement surrounding the next operating system from Google is gathering momentum.
Come May 18, Google is slated to release Android N, which will be the next major Android update. What does the N stand for? Speculations are wide that it could be Nectar or Nougat, possibly even Nutella - keeping the company's naming convention styles in mind.
Google has confirmed several features the Android 7.0 OS will bring users' way, including multi-window support.
We check out some confirmed and rumored features Android 7.0 will bring in its folds.
Multi-Window Mode
During a Reddit AMA with the Pixel C team, Google's Product Director Andrew Bowers said that Android N would have multi-window mode.
"We're working on lots of things right now for N that, of course, we wish we had, you know, yesterday. But we'd spoil the surprise of N if we shared all of them. Split screen is in the works!" revealed Bowers at the time.
While some may argue that Android 6.0 Marshmallow already supports the feature, it is anything but polished.
OpenJDK Instead Of Java APIs
Because of the issues with Oracle pertaining to rewritten Java APIs, Google will be moving to OpenJDK for Android N. OpenJDK is basically part of the Java Development Kit, which is open source.
"We plan to move Android's Java language libraries to an OpenJDK-based approach, creating a common code base for developers to build apps and services," Google has previously confirmed.
Improved Tablet Support
Interestingly, at the same AMA, Glen Murphy, a member of the Pixel C team, spilled the beans that "a range of enhancements for this form factor" was also in the works, referring to split-screen multitasking support. Even though Murphy did not elaborate, the message was clear that Android N would bring better support for tablets. We could see apps that are tablet optimized, with custom navigation buttons and more.
Stock Stylus Support
It is anticipated that Google will bring stock support for styluses in Android N. Samsung hinted at this possibility when it let on that it intends to retire some primary S Pen features from Look API.
On its developer page for Look API, Samsung says that several Look API S-Pen features will be "deprecated in N."
It follows that Samsung is making the feature obsolete only since the stylus features will get stock support in Android N.
Photo: Rob Bulmahn | Flickr
