Google, on its blog, has announced that they are working on an update for Android 12 which they are referring to as a ‘Feature Drop’ aimed at large screen devices such as tablets, Chrome OS laptops and foldable phones. The update is intended to provide these devices with an improved user interface.
The feature drop which has the name Android 12L, with L standing for large displays is now available for developers who may want to give it a try, as well as a new Android 12L emulator and support for it has also been added in Android Studio. However, the update will be available to consumers early next year, “in time for the next wave of Android 12 tablets and foldable”, in the words of Google.
Despite the enhancements from the feature drop mainly being focused on large displays, normal-sized phones will also get the update, in spite of their inability to see the upgrades in everyday use. Google announced that beta enrolments for Pixel devices will launch later in the preview.
To paint a picture of how large displays have seen massive growth over the past year thanks to Chromebooks and foldables prompting Google to specifically cater to their needs, Google notes that there are over 250 million large screen devices running Android across tablets, foldables and Chrome OS devices.
“In just the last 12 months we’ve seen nearly 100 million new Android tablet activations – a 20% year-over-year growth, while ChromeOS, now the fastest-growing desktop platform, grew by 92%. We’ve also seen foldable devices on the rise, with year on year growth of over 265%! All told, there are over 250 million active large screen devices running Android,” Google notes on its blog.
The updated and enhanced features include the introduction of additional multitasking tools and an optimized user interface, which should by default make apps look better on these large devices. Notifications, quick settings, lock screen, overview and the home screen have also had their designs tweaked to have better presentation.
Android 12L also introduces a new taskbar that makes it easier for users to quickly switch between different apps. Dragging and dropping an app from the taskbar opens it up in split-screen mode, which Google notes it has enabled for all apps, whether they’re resizable or not.
Another change coming with the feature update is improved letterboxing which should make apps look more appealing. Google is letting device manufacturers change the size, shape, and colour of letterboxing, as well as add rounded corners and tweak the position of the inset window.
Google has also announced that once the update has gone live early next year, they will start warning large devices users in the Play Store about apps that are not optimized for large screens. The warning will only be seen when viewing the listing from a large screen device.
There will be new checks to assess each app’s quality against Google’s large screen app quality guidelines, as well as large screen-specific app ratings, and all of these changes are coming into effect next year.
