I am an Android Junkie! I love the way how Android captured the market quickly. Now Google has came up with Android 5.0 (lollipop), their latest & greatest mobile operating system. In this article I will show you 10 new features of Android 5.0 which will change the game of mobility
- Support for Android TV: This is going to be the next big thing as developers can now develop an application for Android based TVs. SDK includes system images for Android TVs.
- Updates to wearable technology: New security has been added for Android phones having smart watches, so no need to add separate password for the phones as smart watches and phones are tightly integrated.
- ART runtime: Android 5.0 switches to the ART runtime, which is smooth and efficient than Dalvik runtime.
- 64 bit support for ARM and Intel processors: Again a big thing, Android applications can be built to take advantage of 64 bit on architecture.
- GPU support: Improved GPU support, includes extension pack for tessellation, geometry shaders, computer shaders and ASTC texture compression.
- Refreshed UI: From looks point of view, Google has refreshed its UI and it looks certainly better than Android 4.4, its based on material design (sleek and intuitive).
- Real time Shadows: Android 5.0 introduces real-time generated shadows for interface elements, which gives feel similar to IOS.
- Heads up notifications: Heads up notifications are nothing but the pop up on top of whatever you are doing. So you don’t have to go every time up to look for the notifications.
- Bluetooth 4.1 support: So whats new in Bluetooth 4.1? Well, Bluetooth 4.1 doesn’t clash with 4G signal like Bluetooth 4.0, and it gives manufacturers much more control over the timeout times of the connection. This gives much more scope for controlling power consumption.
- Android Auto: Last but not the least Android Auto. This feature is similar to Apple car play. Its in car play system with runs off your android phone. You get into your car and this system will start which starts its interface on car’s dashboard, it will be having same UI as of wearable technology. It also have inbuilt GPS system for easy commute.
So thats it folks. This is just the tip of the iceberg and the platform has come a long way in terms of performance improvements. It now depends on the developer community to take advantage of this and continue to make applications which fully embrace the power and performance of Android Lollipop.