first developer preview of Android 14
Google has presented the first test version of mobile platform Android 14, in which work continued to improve the performance of the platform on tablets and devices with folding screens. Updated guidelines for designing apps for large screen devices and generic big screen UI templates have been added to address applications such as social media, communication, media, reading, and shopping.
A preliminary version of the Cross device SDK is proposed with tools to develop applications that work well with different types of devices (smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, etc.) and different form factors.
In addition to this, it is also highlighted that optimized the coordination of resource-intensive background work, such as downloading large files when there is a Wi-Fi connection. Changes have been made to the Priority Service Start APIs (Foreground Service) and Task Scheduler (JobScheduler) to add new functionality for user-initiated data transfer related jobs.
It is also highlighted that requirements have been introduced to specify the type of priority services to be launched (working with the camera, data synchronization, multimedia data playback, location tracking, microphone access, etc.). Easier to define conditions to trigger data downloads, for example, to download only when accessed via Wi-Fi.
The internal system for sending broadcast messages to applications (broadcast system) has been optimized to reduce power consumption and improve responsiveness, as well as improved acceptance of registered message flows by applications: messages can be queued, combined (for example, a series of BATTERY_CHANGED messages will be aggregated into one) and delivered only after the application exits from the cached state.
Using exact alarms in apps now requires permission SCHEDULE_EXACT_ALARM separately, since the use of this functionality can negatively affect the battery life and generate a higher consumption of resources (for scheduled tasks, it is recommended to use the activation in the approximate time). The calendar and clock implementations that use precise time activation should receive the privilege USE_EXACT_ALARM on installation.
On the other hand, it is mentioned that provided ability to specify language settings linked to individual applications. The app developer now you can change the localeConfig setting calling LocaleManager.setOverrideLocaleConfig to determine the list of languages displayed for the application in the Android settings interface.
Another important change is that It is forbidden to install applications for which the SDK version is lower than 23Which will block bypassing permission constraints by binding to old APIs (API version 22 is prohibited, since version 23 (Android 6.0) has a new access control model that allows you to request access to system resources.)
Of the other changes that stand out of the new version:
- Added the Grammar Inflection API to make it easier to add translations of UI elements that take into account languages with a gender system.
- To prevent malicious apps from intercepting intent requests, the new version prohibits sending intents without explicitly specifying an internal package or component.
- Improved Dynamic Code Loading (DCL) security: To prevent malicious code substitution in dynamically loaded executable files, these files must now have read-only access rights.
- Previously installed apps that use the old APIs will continue to work after the Android update.
- The Credential Manager API was proposed, and support for Passkeys technology was implemented, which allows the user to authenticate without passwords using biometric identifiers, such as a fingerprint or facial recognition.
Finally, if you are interested in being able to know more about it, you can consult the details in the following link
Android 14 is expected to launch in Q2023 XNUMX. To evaluate the new functionalities of the platform, a preliminary test program has been proposed. Firmware builds are ready for Pixel 7/7 Pro, Pixel 6/6a/6 Pro, Pixel 5/5a 5G, and Pixel 4a (5G) devices.