Google unveiled Android 8.0 Oreo on August and the Android 8.1 (MR1) update arrived on December 5th. The successor of Android Oreo is Android P and the first preview might arrive on March 2018 as previously, the Search giant launched the previews of Android N and O operating systems on March 2016 and March 2017 respectively.
Editor’s Pick : Android 9.0 P developer preview is coming soon for Google Pixel and Pixel XL, Release and Exclusive Features
According to the leaks revealed by XDA developers previously, Google started working on Android P soon after the rollout of Android Oreo consumer version. The Android Engineering team didn’t take any big break after the release of Android 8.0. Some recent leaks and rumours indicate that the version number of Android P will be most likely 9.0, so it seems to be a major update and not just an incremental update.
Android P : What’s the story so far ?
On August 30th, some guys at XDA developers discovered a new tag at Android Open Source Project (AOSP), known as master-p which indicates the upcoming iteration of Android. The following changes have been made to the version_defaults.mk file :
The platform version appears as PPR1 compared to OPR1 of Android Oreo. So the Search giant started developing the Android P update on August 30th. However, no leaks have occurred so far, regarding the features of Android 9.0. But we expect the following features could come with the next iteration of Android.
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Which devices will get Android P ?
According to Google’s policy, Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL will surely get the Android 9.0 update. But there is no word about Nexus 5X and 6P devices. The support cycle for these devices ended recently, so it is upto Google.
Google’s 2018 flagships aka Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL devices will come with pre-installed Android P operating system. In non-Google flagships, Galaxy Note 8, S8, S8+, LG V30, HTC U11, Sony Xperia XZ1 most likely receive the Android 9.0 update. More devices will be added to the update list in coming days.
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When the preview of Android 9.0 is going to come ?
Google released Android O first preview on March 21st, 2017 and the First preview of Android N arrived on March 9th, 2016. So the first preview of Android P will arrive most likely around mid-March, 2018.
Android 9.0 : Expected Features
1. Neural Network API 1.1
The Android P developer Preview 1 brought the Neural Network API 1.1 which is very much refined over that of in Android 8.1. Google added support for nine new ops : Pad, BatchToSpaceND, SpaceToBatchND, Transpose, Strided Slice, Mean, Div, Sub, and Squeeze. The refined API also comes with improvements in speed of On-Device Machine Learning.
The DP1 also brings a new feature to the Pixel 2 series users which is an Qualcomm Hexagon HVX driver with acceleration for quantized models. The minutie of this feature are yet to be revealed. In upcoming previews more optimizations to machine learning may take place.
2. Improvements to Picture in Picture Mode
Google introduced the Split screen feature in Android Nougat and with Oreo, PiP (Picture in Picture) mode arrived specifically for video playing apps. But till now only a handful of applications like Chrome, YouTube and Google Duo works well with the feature.
In Android P, Google may add some improvements to PiP feature and bring it to support more apps. Many Pixel users complaining that the PiP mode crashing and working with lag. So the Search Giant may fix these glitches in the upcoming update.
3. Spam Message Filter
This is one of the important features arrived with iOS 11 update. Next year, we may see this feature coming to Android devices with the Android P update. To filter spam messages, Google has to optimize Message app to utilize On-Device Machine Learning. If Google included the feature in the next Android update, then users don’t have to worry about the spam messages.
4. Native Screen Recording
It is also one of features of iOS 11 and users have been requested Google about this feature. So Android P most likely come with the Native screen recording feature. With the feature users can record the contents of the screen as GIFs and share with friends. Users can also add external voice and create decent videos.
What do you think about the Android P update ? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Update on 8/1/2018 :
Google’s Senior Vice President of Platforms and Ecosystems Hiroshi Lockheimer gave some speculation regarding the name of Android P. They, jokingly suggested that Android P will come as Android Peppermint Pocky. A famous Youtuber, MKBHD predicted that Android P will come as Android Peppermint. In response to that, the executive commented as above.
In the Google app version 7.17, the Search Giant added some reference to Android P. The app addresses as “platformBuildVersionName=”P”, so it seems that Google already start building its own apps to support the Android P first preview which may come in March.
According to the XDA developers who discovered the AOSP commits of Android P regarding signal strength, the signal strength will be hidden from Settings in Android P. Already in USA, some companies are doing that on their branded devices. Now with Android P, the feature will be available to all carriers throughout world. So if any carrier implemented the code on its Android P build to the devices, then the signal strength won’t appear in the Settings menu.
Update on 24/1/2018 :
Google updated its official website with the I/O 2018 puzzle and it is really fun for those who adore puzzle games. According to the team who solved the puzzle totally, Google I/O is going to take place from May 8th to 10th. The Search Giant teases the name of Android 9.0 P by showing a Pineapple Cake. So the next iteration of Android might be named as Android Pineapple or Android Pineapple cake.
But as Google loves to troll its fans with the naming of upcoming Android versions, we have to take these names with a grain of salt. The official name of Android 9.0 P will be revealed in August 2018. More features of Android will be revealed in coming days.
Update on 10/2/2018 :
According to XDA developers, Android 9.0 P is coming with a new change regarding the display of signal strength. Recently made commits in AOSP reveal that carriers can customize the signal bar threshold in the upcoming update.
So the current setting of device specific threshold to carrier threshold in Android P. If a carrier sets the threshold to less, instead of 1 bar, 3 bars will be displayed as signal strength. A Famous US carrier Verizon also listed in the recent commits. It seems that Verizon is requesting the developers to change their signal bars threshold. More details about these changes will be revealed in coming days.
Update on 4/3/2018 :
Evanblass, a Famous leakster, tweeted that the Android P first preview is coming in mid-March. Some analysts predict that on March 14, Pi day, the first preview of Android 9.0 may land. So in about ten days from now, we will taste the next flavour of Android.
Till now, the leaked features of Android P include native Notch support, Call recording notification, visual changes and many more. Complete minutae of the next update will be revealed after the release of Preview.
Update on 12/3/2018 :
On March 8th, The Search Giant released the first developer preview of Android P with many awesome features. According to the roadmap released by Dave Burke, VP of Android Engineering, the second preview which is known as the first beta at Google I/O 2018 in May. Later in June and July months, the third and fourth developer previews will arrive and the final preview might arrive in August just before the consumer release.
The Android 9.0 P developer Preview 1 is currently available as factory images for Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2 and Pixel XL. Interested tech enthusiasts and users can flash the images following the instructions given in the official Android Preview site. More details about the Android P preview will be revealed very soon.
