Android P is not available to the public yet, but a developer preview has been pushed out. One key benefit of this next version of Android OS is that it will prevent apps from using your smartphone’s microphone or camera whenever they’re in the background and not actively being used on screen.
If you have been worried about secret recording activity happening on your phone, Google has got your back with Android P. Whenever an app in the background tries to use your microphone or camera, a new security feature will trigger a notification to tell you and you can decide to let it happen or not.
So, Android P is big on user privacy. Are there any other new stuff? Yes, there are.
Display Notch Support
Remember how Android smartphone manufacturers went crazy with display notches at Mobile World Congress 2018? Well, Google approves and has added support for display notch in Android P.
New Notification Panel
Android OS gets a new notification panel and improved messaging notifications.
Wi-Fi Indoor Positioning
Indoor positioning via Wi-fi means your smartphone will be able to measure the distance to multiple Wi-fi hotspots and use this information in indoor positioning apps to calculate the near exact location of the phone with an accuracy of 1 to 2 meters.
New Media Formats
Android P adds support for HDR VP9 Profile for video and HEIF image compression.
HDR VP9 makes it easier to watch HDR videos, while HEIF is a new image compression format that can compress images to less than half the size of a JPEG while maintaining higher image quality.
Multi-camera API
We are in the age of dual and triple camera. Perhaps we shall even see quad cameras soon. Android P includes native support for multiple cameras.
Think of using twitter and wanting to share a quick selfie, so you call up the camera from inside the tweet you are composing. You will be able to use zoom or even bokeh in that situation.
There has been no mention of Bluetooth HID device profile that enables your smartphone as an input device.
Get Android P Developer Preview
Android P won’t be ready for the public until 3rd or 4th quarter 2018, so it is still a long way off. If you are a developer and need to test out things with your apps, you can download and use Android P Developer Preview right away. Just head this way.