The 5 most important Android P updates

Android P is shaping up to be one of the most consistent Android updates in years. Google is not only changing the way Android is navigated, but it is also changing the way we interact with our phones, and how our phones interact with us. The great goals of Android P are to make our phones less distracting and less stressful, and for people to control how much attention they dislike. It's about taking over notification and application overload.

Google announced all the major changes of Android P yesterday. You can see a general description of them in our video above. Here are the highlights:

Application time limits

There are many new things in Android P, but for my money, this is the best business. Google will show you how much time you spend in each application. And, most importantly, it will allow you to set time limits on how long you use them.

You can limit yourself to a certain amount of time every day, for example, 15 minutes or an hour. After that time, the application icon will turn gray. When you try to use it, Android does not leave you. Instead, a pop-up window will tell you that you have reached your time limit. There will not even be a button to ignore it and let you open the application anyway. (You can go back to the application if you really need it, but you would have to go back to the configuration and delete your time limit)

Google says it could modify exactly how it works because Android P exists in beta; He is also testing an option that will turn his whole phone black and white when he is supposed to go to bed. Both are good ideas. Particularly in the last year, there has been an increase in complaints about the time we spent looking at our phones. There have been applications of parental control for some time, but there has not been an equivalent service that allows adults to set limits for themselves.

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Less notice nuisance

Notifications are a must for smartphone. They are also the absolute worst. Google is trying to do even more in Android P to take them off the face. On the one hand, it will suggest to silence the notifications of an application if you continue removing them. But the most important thing is how much Do not disturb function increases.

Now, when your phone enters Do Not Disturb mode, you can configure it so that notifications do not appear on the screen. Nowhere. Not in the blocking screen. Not even in the notification drawer. You can also activate Do Not Disturb by flipping the phone face down on a table. And if your phone is set to separate your work applications from your personal ones, now there will be a button to mute them all at once, which should be ideal for vacations or even just the weekend.

Gesture navigation [19659012] It's been more than six years since Google last made a substantial change in the way Android was navigated. Since 2011, it's about those three buttons on the screen: back, home and multitasking. But now that is about to change.

In Android P, Google will begin to move to a gesture-based control scheme. At first, you will only see the start button. You will slide up to perform various tasks … but, uh, you can also slide your finger to the right to perform various tasks. There will be a back button, but only when an application can use it.

Somehow, this new control scheme will definitely complicate things, especially for users less skilled in smartphones. It is difficult to overcome the buttons that are always present. But the gestures begin to move Android towards a much more flexible way of controlling the operating system, and that, over time, will also help to free space on the screen.

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Screenshot edition

This has already been delayed, but I'm still very excited about it. In Android P, you can edit and mark screenshots after taking them, instead of having to jump to another application. There will also be an option to take a screenshot of the power menu, which will be useful when you forget the multi-byte shortcut.

Smarter app search results

Android's built-in search is more and more capable in P. Now, instead of simply deploying installed app icons, you can also extract things you can do within apps. Therefore, if you search for Lyft, you can also get buttons to take home or office, saving additional pressures on the button.

The application drawer will also use that ability to suggest things intelligently to do so. So, instead of just presenting the button to Seamless, I could also show you a message to reorder your last meal.

How to try it all

Android P probably will not end until sometime this fall. But you do not have to wait until then to try it. The operating system is available in a beta version that is fairly easy to install, as long as you have one of the nine compatible phones. These include Pixel and Pixel 2, Essential Phone, Xperia XZ2 from Sony, Mi Mix 2S from Xiaomi, 7 Plus from Nokia, X15 from Vivo, Oppo & # 39; s R15 Pro, and – every time it is released – OnePlus 6

You can find instructions on how to start here.

But one great warning : once you opt for the beta version, there is no simple way to go back. If you want to go back to Android Oreo, you will have to completely clean your phone and reconfigure everything, which is a lot of work.

Since it is a beta version and a beta that is just beginning, there are likely to be errors and usability problems. The new features may not be fully optimized, so performance and battery life may be affected. While it's fun to try out new features, keep in mind that this is really the best thing to do on a phone that you will not use every day.