Android L Developer Preview: All You Want To Know

Though the Google has not finalize the name of its next version of Android, the comany has goven all the hope by saying that it won't stay behind. But we know is 'L' is what we call it for now, only L. Google unveiled the new version yesterday at the Google I/O in San Francisco. So far, the Android owner is simply calling it "L" which makes it obvious that the company is yet to finalize a name for the next version. The new developer version was unveiled by Matias Duarte.

According to the company, this is the biggest update to Android made till date. Here’s a quick look at the changes:
- New flatter ‘material’ design UI
- DALVIK runtime scrapped for ART
- Support for 64-bit processor architectures
- New Google keyboard resembling the one from Windows
- New themes
- New APIs for custom shadows and animations for developers
- New notifications and lock screen

Those who want to try the version can download the Developer preview from the newly created Android Developer site. The major change, apparent during the unveiling of the L version, was the new design called Material Design which brings shadows, new textures, overhauled notifications bar, new animations, better camera controls, better network and Bluetooth performance, better battery backup and ART runtime - for running apps twice as faster compared to earlier versions of Android.

ART runtime, which is the successor to the Dalvik, will bring a major change when it comes to Android performance. With the new runtime platform, apps will become faster and more power efficient. This new feature could be the biggest attraction to users running Android on their devices.

Interms of the Material Design, the biggest change in Android L is in terms of the UI. Google goes for a flatter card-based system, which up untill now has been seen on its Google Now assistant. This new design is more apparent on the notifications and lock screen, both of which have card based views on them.

The standard drop down menu has been done away with on Android L, to be replaced by a drop down card. This is followed by a thin line in between, which differentiates each new notification and other ongoing processes (like Connected to a media device etc). Further, you can swipe down again to reveal the quick settings menu, which contains Wi-Fi status, Auto Rotate and other settings.


The menu doesn’t reach till the bottom of your phone’s screen, showing the home screen in the background. Google has also added a ‘Do Not Disturb’ function to the notifications menu, which allows the user to silence notifications for a designated time period. The heads up notifications will show up even while you’re playing full screen games etc. based on the priority the app gives to them. So, you can get a small actionable notification on the top of the screen notifying you about calls and texts (Right side of image above).

Lock Screen
Your lockscreen now gives you the lock/unlock, phone and camera options at the bottom, which will perform their designated activities. On the top you see the battery status, services provider and profile picture. Below this, is the clock, which takes up approximately a fourth of your screen.

Google Keyboard
The keyboard now uses a slate-grey theme with borderless keys, which looks almost exactly like the Windows keyboard seen on Lumia devices. Google has also packed some other themes for the keyboard and you can also shift to the standard keyboard you currently see on KitKat.

Out with DALVIK in with ART
With the launch of KitKat, there was some talk of Google allowing users to shift from the default DALVIK to ART runtimes (do this from ‘Developer Options’ on Settings). Well, Android L brings ART to the forefront, obliterating DALVIK completely.

ART is a cross-platform runtime that allows you to run apps on MIPS, ARM and x86 architectures simultaneously. The difference between the two runtimes is in how they process code, with DALVIK processing only the code that is needed (just-in-time), while ART processes code ahead-of-time.
This makes ART much faster than DALVIK and allows for smoother performance. Moreover, ART is compatible with the present app ecosystem, which means that developers don’t really have to make any major changes for it. It also supports 64-bit systems.

Of course, this is only the developer preview of Android L and there’s a lot that can still happen till the OS is actually rolled out to users.

Thanks to Digit for sharing this info.

Cheers!!!