Android N gets a focus on performance, security and productivity

Google is letting the public offer its naming suggestions for the next version of Android — I'm #TeamNougat — but it still offered up plenty of new details about Android N at its developer conference.

Android N was first announced in March, several months earlier than expected. Google did that, it says so that developers and OEMs could start offering their feedback earlier. 

In addition to some of the features we've already seen with N, Google said at I/O that its focus on the operating system would focus on performance, security and productivity.

On the performance side, Android N has a new graphics API known as Vulcan. This is similar to what Apple did with Metal, its graphics engine launched at WWDC 2014. Although Vulcan really works well for games, it can also improve graphical performance on regular apps by 30-60%.

Image: rill causey/mashable

And, thanks to a new JIT compiler, apps will install 75% faster and they can be 50% smaller. The new compiler should also help with battery life, since the processor won't be taxed quite so much.

Security updates

Security is a big area of focus for all mobile phone makers. Although Android doesn't have a reputation for being insecure, the nature of how Android is distributed makes security a bigger challenge.

Android N is going to solve that in three ways.

First, it will now offer file-based encryption. It will also offer media framework hardening (which should make accessing media and media types on a device much safer) and it will offer seamless updates behind the scenes.

The software updates will now happen in the background, the same way they happen for Chrome. In other words, you don't need to see those "Android is upgrading" prompts anymore. Individual OEMs will still need to opt-in to updates, but if you're on a Nexus device, your updates will happen more seamlessly than before.

Productivity updates

As announced in March, Android N will also bring big improvements to notifications. You can access Quick Replies — which let you respond to an app without leaving the notification center — but you can also stop apps from notifying you at all.

There is also easy-app switching and a way to use split-screen apps. Multi-window apps work on phones and tablets, and in our tests with early versions of Android N, it works really well.

There is also a new picture-in-picture mode designed for Android TV, so that you can sling live content from your phone to your TV.

Android N will support Unicode 9, which means Android users will get access to 72 new emoji. Google also gave a shout-out to its team that proposed bringing 13 emoji that better represent working women to Unicode consortium.

All told, Google says Android N has 250 new features.

Android N will be out later this summer. Later today, the first beta version of Android N will be available for the Nexus 6, Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X, Nexus Player and Pixel C.