Android 14 has been underneath improvement for a number of months, and eventually the supply code is being pushed to the Android Open Supply Undertaking (AOSP), which is the repository the place official Android code is saved and the place producers can go to seize the supply code and create their very own variants.
Lots of the updates in Android concentrate on efficiency and effectivity. For instance, now cached functions shall be frozen after a time frame, and updates have been additionally made to how cached apps obtain “context-registered” broadcasts in an effort to assist hold them frozen longer.
A results of the caching updates is that they have been in a position to scale back the variety of chilly app begins, or beginning up completely from scratch. Decreasing this quantity improves energy utilization and app startup time.
The Android Runtime additionally was optimized in a number of methods, leading to code dimension reductions of 9.3% on common.
This OS model additionally contains a number of ways in which customers can customise their expertise. They will now scale font sizes as much as 200% (up from 130% as the utmost), add language preferences on an app-by-app foundation, set regional preferences like temperature models or the primary day of the week, and higher voice assist for customers with an accent by way of the Grammatical Inflection API.
There are various media and graphics enhancements in Android 14: assist for 10-bit HDR photos, upgrades in Digicam Extensions, assist for lossless audio codecs, assist for customized meshes, and a {hardware} buffer renderer within the Canvas API.
Android 14 introduces many options designed to assist defend person privateness. There’s a new permission for sharing location information with third events, the flexibility to grant solely partial entry to pictures and movies in an app, increased restrictions on the variety of background companies an app can launch, blocking set up of apps that focus on older SDK variations, and extra.
Shifting from person to builders, there are lots of new options Android builders will have the ability to leverage. These embrace assist for OpenJDK 17, assist for Credential Supervisor and passkeys, Well being Join, up to date system sharesheets, and extra constant and dependable foreground companies.
As normal, the primary gadgets to get the replace shall be Pixels, and that roll out will begin at the moment. Later this 12 months will probably be accessible on different gadgets, equivalent to these from Samsung Galaxy, iQOO, Nothing, OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, Sharp, Sony, Tecno, vivo and Xiaomi.
Along with asserting Android 14, Google additionally unveiled the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Professional, which it describes as being “constructed with AI on the middle for a extra useful and private expertise.” Extra details about the brand new telephones is out there on this weblog submit.