Google on Monday finally gave out the name and official roll out of Android 9. Called Android Pie, the latest update of the Google OS works towards improved AI and better battery life to make your device more personalised.
Android 9 uses Artificial Intelligence to make the phone faster, smarter and adapt to usage. The AI integration learns how you use your phone so that services you don't use much don't drain your battery. The phone, running on Android Pie will also learn how you like to set your brightness and will automatically adjust it for you.
The Adaptive Battery feature learns your usage and prioritises battery for the apps that you actually use.
Separate Menu for Work Related Apps
The applications you use for your work (apps like mail, outlook, tasks, etc.), will be sorted in their own tab in the apps menu. The tab will be named Work and will make it easier for you to find and separate work-related stuff from personal apps.
Apart from that, it will also have a toggle feature to let you switch off work apps and notifications faster (as displayed on the right in the above image).
AI Learns Your ‘App Actions’
Adding to the AI integration, a new feature called App Actions will predict what you are about to do, learning from your activities and will show it in two bubbles right on top of the menu.
For example, if you connect your headphones, it will put the last playlist you were listening to in front.
These bubbles will feature work and personal apps and according to Google, it is a way to make one's phone more personalised towards his/her needs.
‘Slices’ of Pie
Slices is another feature that brings up the relevant part of an app when you search for it. For example, if you search for Uber, it will show prices and driver ETA's within the search result.
Intuitive Navigation
Intuitive Navigation is a feature that lets you switch between apps using gestures, instead of the three navigation keys at the bottom of most Android phones. This, apart from making the process seamless, also makes the navigation keys look obsolete.
Dashboard for Time Spent on Apps and App Timer
You can also see how many notifications you get, plus how much time you spend in apps and how often you check your phone with the Dashboard feature.
Dashboard is like the recently launched feature of Facebook and Instagram, to let you keep a track of how much time you are spending on your phone.
Another feature called App Timers will let you set a time limit on usage of certain apps.
Winding Down
Another feature that Google claims will get your phone ready for bed. What it does is set a daily schedule to put your phone’s screen in Grayscale mode, while turning on the Do Not Disturb feature to silence notifications. This will also work by setting a timer.
Called Wind Down, this feature is basically a sleep mode that makes the screen black and white.
Connectivity Improvements
With Android 9, you can connect up to five Bluetooth devices and switch between these devices seamlessly. Incoming phone calls will be sent to all connected Bluetooth devices that can accept, so you'll never miss a call.
Android 9 will also remember the last volume you set for each of your Bluetooth devices. So you don’t have to worry about
Security Updates
Security wise, with Android Pie, Google has brought more security to the hardware level on compatible devices. Android 9 will be the first ever operating system that will use tamper-resistant features on device hardware, which is similar to the secure elements built into credit cards and smart cards. This will help protect a user's sensitive app data.
Apart from the tamper-resistant hardware, Android 9 also uses Transport Layer Security (TLS) that protects all data that enters or leaves a device.
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