The Google I/O 2017 is just weeks away and it’s expected that the search engine giant will take the wraps off the new Android 8.0 OS at the same event.
Unlike last year where Android 7.0 saw an early launch, it seems 2017 will see Google revert to its usual schedule of releasing the first developer version of the OS at its annual Google I/O conference. At the moment, no one can really tell what Google is planning for the upcoming Android 8.0, which should also be known as Android O. However, 9to5Google seems to have stumbled upon some details associated with the Nougat successor, but these are still classified as rumors.
Although unconfirmed, it is possible that Google will introduce some changes to the notifications, a new picture-in-picture (PIP) mode, a bunch of icon tweaks, and smart text selection toolbar, among others. Another possibility is that Android 8.0 might not come with any of these features, which is just how rumors are.
For starters, there’s no clear definition of what exactly will encompass the “revamped” notifications, but the source is adamant that they will not be the same as Android 7.0 Nougat. We’ve heard before about synced notifications as well as smart ordering, but this came in as part of Andromeda leaks. Whether this is the same thing that 9to5Google is talking about we can’t tell at this point in time.
The publication, however, further adds that icons in the new Android 8.0 will not be the same anymore, with a reported support at OS level with respect to dynamic features and some bit of lessons from Apple’s iOS as far as the notification badges are concerned. In fact, this inspiration from Apple (and others) has prompted 9to5Google’s sister site, 9to5Mac, to aim a dig at its counterpart claiming that Android O will be getting “everything iOS 10 already has.”
Although some of these features can already be achieved with the help of a bunch of third-party launchers available for download via the Play Store, Google wants to bake them into Android 8.0, if at all this rumor can be believed.
The updated Android O is also expected to come with PIP mode, a feature that is currently limited to Android TV. In addition, 9to5 also notes that there might be some kind of “smart text selection floating toolbar” in Android 8.0. At this point in time, the publication doesn’t even know what this really is, but the source claims that the Google Assistant will be somewhere in there.
Another vague feature that appears in the report is that Android 8.0 will come with restricted background activities that would help keep down power usage of apps that run in the background. Of course, how this mechanism will work and the impacts are still unclear at the moment.