We still don't know what sweet treat it will be named after, but Google's taken the wraps off Android O, the latest version of its smartphone operating system. Google has yet to spill all the beans, but two major areas of improvement will be battery life and notifications.
In order to boost your phone's battery, Android O will automatically limit what apps are able to do in the background. For example, the new operating system will limit how frequently an app running in the background of your phone can retrieve your physical location, which is one of the more battery demanding tasks a phone can perform.
On the notification front, Android O is introducing a system called notification channels which will give you more granular control over how your notifications appear. Google suggested that a messaging app might create a "notification channel" for each conversation you're having. Then, rather than modifying behavior for every notification that app creates, you're able to customise it on a per conversation basis. For example, you might want messages from bae to show on your lockscreen and override do not disturb, but to block messages from HR. And no, I don't know why you have bae and HR on the same messaging platform.
Android O will also give you the ability to "snooze" notifications, that is, to dismiss them and have them reappear at a later time.
While developers can already get their hands on an early build now, don't expect to be running the final version of Android O on your smartphone anytime soon though. Google is presumably saving major Android O feature announcements for its developer conference in May. Following this, it will likely release a final version around August or September, as it did with Android Nougat last year. And even then, history suggests that only select Nexus and Pixel devices will get the update on day one.
Alex Choros
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