Google has released the Developer Preview of its next Android version, the Android N. Note that this is meant for developer and not a final one. The final version of Android N will be released later this summer after rectifying bugs, if any. But this test version definitely has some new features that can be expected in the final version of Android N.
Among many new features of that the new Android version promises include Multi-Windows view, thus allowing several apps to share the screen at once. For example, a user could split the screen, viewing a web page on the left side while composing an email on the right side
“Android N adds support for displaying more than one App at the same time. On handheld devices, two apps can run side-by-side or one-above-the-other in split-screen mode. On TV devices, apps can use picture-in-picture mode to continue video playback while users are interacting with another app,” Google said in a blog post.
Android N will also allow users to reply to messages from the notification page itself. This Direct Reply Notification feature is currently available for Android Wear devices only.
Android N also provides developers with a new way to represent a queue of notifications: bundled notifications. This is similar to the Notification Stacks feature in Android Wear. For example, if your app creates notifications for received messages, when more than one message is received, bundle the notifications together as a single group.
With Android N, devices will consume less battery power too.
Google said, “We launched Doze in Marshmallow to save battery when your device is stationary. In N, Doze additionally saves battery whenever the screen turns off.”