At its Google I/O 2017 developer conference today, Google revealed many of the major new features coming in Android “O.”

It also revealed that there are now over 2 billion active Android devices worldwide, a figure that puts it well ahead of Windows (1.5 billion, including Windows 10), iOS (1 billion), and Windows 10 (500 million). Android isn’t just the biggest personal computing platform in the world. It’s growing its lead over the competition.

And part of that competitive push, of course, involves improving Android with new features and functionality. Here’s what Google said it will be adding to Android O, the next major version of this OS, which is expected to ship by the end of 2017.

Notification dots. As you may know, app notifications now appear at the top of the screen and are accessible via a pull-down notification shade. In Android O, apps will be able to display their own notifications in a bubble when you long press on their icons. This seems like an excellent idea, and a step towards live tiles-like functionality.

Smart text selection. Today, you can double-tap any word in Android to select it, and then use on-screen selection handles to modify the selection if needed. In Android O, Google is using what it calls “on-device machine learning” to make copy and paste smarter. Now, Android will recognize entities like addresses, URLs, telephone numbers, and email addresses, so you can just double-tap one word and Android will auto-select the entire entity. (For example, if you double-tapped the word “High” in “Dedham High School,” the whole phrase would be selected.

Picture-in-picture. Already available within select apps, PIP is coming to the OS in Android O. Google provided a few interesting examples of how this could be useful—video chatting while checking your calendar, for example—and nicely elevated the discussion past the ability to watch a movie while you do something else. Best of all, PIP will work on any size screen, Google says.

Autofill. Chrome’s Autofill feature is coming to Android. Once you opt-in, Autofill will just work in most apps, and developers can optimize their apps by providing hints about the type of data expected or add support in custom views, Google says.

System optimizations. Google is optimizing Android so that apps run faster and smoother. “For example, we made extensive changes in our runtime, including new optimizations like concurrent compacting garbage collection, code locality, and more.” the firm claims.

Background limits. Android O will introduce new limits on background location and Wi-Fi scans, and changes in the way apps run in the background. These changes will increase battery life and free up memory.

Android Go. In yet another bid to capitalize on low-end phones, Google is introducing Android Go, a new experience for Android devices that have 1 GB or less of memory. This effort includes optimizing Android and Google’s own apps for low-end devices. And the Play store will promote a better user experience by highlighting apps that are specifically designed for these devices, Google note. Android Go will ship in 2018 for all Android devices that have 1 GB or less of memory.

As you may recall, Google recently closed down its Android O Developer Preview, but as today’s it’s back online and Google has announced Developer Preview 2 as a public beta. So if you’re interested in early access to these features, and have a compatible device, you’re good to go.

“Today’s release of O Developer Preview 2 is our first beta-quality candidate, available to test on your primary phone or tablet,” Google says. “We’re inviting those who want to try the beta release of Android O to enroll now.”

The latest versions of Android Studio, the Android SDK and tools, the Android O system images, and emulators are available now as well.

Tagged with Android O