Introduction
Android 8.0 Oreo was officially released on 21 August 2017. In this article, I am going to discuss some of the new features of Android 8.0.
New features in Android Oreo
- A new Boot Screen
A new boot screen has been added. It shows “powered by Android” under the colorful Google logo in Pixel and Nexus devices.
- Prevent apps from displaying over another app
A toggle will now appear in the App Info menu that allows the user to disable the ability for the selected apps to draw over other apps.
- Notification Dots
If an app gets a new notification, a colorful dot will appear over its icon (both in the app drawer and home screen). Long pressing on the app icon will show you the notification and will reveal several app shortcuts specific to that app.
- Picture-in-Picture
This feature allows you to use another app in a pop-up window while watching a video. You can also slide this window around on the screen for better placement. This feature is an extension to the "Split screen" feature that was already introduced with Android Nougat.
- AutoFill
This feature allows the system to remember your username and password for logging into a particular app so as to make login more easier and faster. By default, it will sync with your Google account and can use passwords stored in Chrome.
- Smart text selection
When you highlight a text, Google AI will intelligently act on the words and display various options based on the selected text. For instance, if you highlight a phone number, you can just tap to dial. If you highlight an address, a single tap will start navigation.
- New emojis
Over 60 new emojis have been added and they have the more 3D aspect in them as compared to previous ones.
- Battery saving restrictions
To improve the overall system performance, Android Oreo imposes limitations on what apps can do while running in the background. This will keep battery draining apps in check.
- Redesigned Settings menu and battery menu
One of the major visual changes is revamped Settings menu, which is now having dark gray text on an all-white background. The side navigation panel that was introduced in the previous version has been removed. The setting area has been reorganized to makes things more simple.
The battery menu also received a visual change. Common battery-related options such as adaptive brightness and battery saver are now near the top of the menu for easy access, and the battery usage graph is also a bit easier to read.
- Individual notification Snooze
When you get a notification but don't have time to deal with it now and want to pop up later, just swipe right in the notification panel and tap on clock icon to snooze it for 15 minutes. The snooze length can be customized as per user preferences.
- New Bluetooth codes
The world is moving fast towards wireless technology, Apple removing the audio jack from iPhone being one of the major steps. Keeping this in mind, Google has added some new high-quality Bluetooth codecs to Android Oreo, which should greatly improve audio quality with compatible Bluetooth devices.