You might have thought of several names and have it debated with someone on Reddit, but now, it’s finally out – Google’s latest version of Android is called “Android Pie“.
The Android 9.0 Pie is now out of beta and is being available starting today to Google Pixel devices. The company has also laid out the changes as well as new features which you’ll also find out below.
As usual, roll-out of this new version will be dependent on your device manufacturer. In case of the devices which are under Google’s Android One and Project Treble program, the devices are expected to receive their new Android update shortly after the release.
Android 9.0 Pie new features:
Digital Wellbeing:
App dashboard: Get a daily view of the time spent on your phone, how frequently you use different apps, and how many notifications you get.
Wind Down: Set a daily schedule to get your phone ready for bed. Grayscale fades your screen to gray while Do Not Disturb silences notifications for a restful sleep.
App timers: App timers let you set daily time limits for your apps. When you reach the limit, the app is paused for the rest of the day.
Notifications:
Manage Notifications: You now have a quick way to turn off notifications from a range of apps, so you only receive those that are helpful to you. You’ll also get a smart prompt if you’re swiping away certain notifications whether you want to keep receiving them.
Privacy and Security:
Android biometric prompt: Android 9 introduces a number of new security features, including a standardized biometric authentication prompt to provide a more consistent authentication experience across Android.
Android Protected Confirmation: On compatible hardware, apps can now use UI controlled by the secure hardware to get your confirmation for a sensitive transaction, such as making a payment.
StrongBox: On compatible hardware, apps can now take advantage of tamper-resistant hardware to protect their private keys, making it harder than ever for malware to steal their credentials.
Privacy enhancements: Android 9 safeguards privacy in a number of new ways. Now, Android will restrict access to your phone’s microphone, camera, or other sensors when an app is idle or running in the background. (If an app does need to access a sensor, it will show a persistent notification on your phone.) Android 9 also brings important improvements that protect all web communications and offer private web surfing.
Accessibility
Select to Speak – OCR in Camera View: With Select to Speak, you can select text on the screen and the content will be read aloud. Now, Android 9 has added added OCR support for S2S in Camera and Pictures to make text even more accessible. Simply select text when using the camera or in picture, and the text will be highlighted and read aloud.
Sound amplifier: This new Accessibility Service makes it easier to understand conversations by dynamically adjusting over 100 settings to boost the audio in scenarios such as a loud restaurant, bar, or concert.
Battery & Brightness:
Adaptive Battery: This feature uses machine learning to predict which apps you’ll use in the next few hours and which you likely won’t, so your phone only spends battery power on the apps you care about.
Adaptive Brightness: With Adaptive Brightness, your phone learns how you set your screen’s brightness in different lighting environments and automatically does it for you over time.
Background restrictions: Now, you’ll see recommendations in Settings to restrict certain apps that use too much battery, so you can have more control over your battery.
Camera:
External camera support: Android 9 now supports external USB / UVC cameras on certain devices.
Media:
Sound delay reporting: Android 9 offers support for headsets with sound delay reporting, so video on your device and audio on your headphones can always stay in sync.
Volume memory per Bluetooth device: Android 9 will now remember the last volume you set for each of your Bluetooth devices. No more blasting music too loudly when you reconnect to your car or headphones.
HDR: Android 9 adds built-in support for High Dynamic Range (HDR) VP9 Profile 2, so you can watch HDR-enabled movies on YouTube and Google Play Movies. HDR improves the brightness and color range of video to improve the picture quality and experience.
HD Audio: Improved performance and support for HD audio delivering clearer, sharper, and richer quality sound.
HEIF: Android 9 now supports HEIF photos on the Android platform to improve compression of pictures and reduce the amount of storage needed.
Display:
Edge-to-edge screens: Support for devices with 18:9 and taller aspect ratios, and devices with display cutouts.
System Usability enhancements:
Redesigned Quick Settings: A more consistent user experience for Quick Settings with all toggles, plus an updated visual design and added informational subtext.
Volume controls: Simpler, more accessible volume controls let you control media volume instantly, as well as quickly toggle call and notification volume settings.
Screenshots: Now, you can take screenshots easily from the power menu and draw, annotate, or crop them quickly.
Rotation: Get more control over your phone’s display rotation with a simple button that confirms when you’d like to change the rotation on your device – even when your orientation is locked.
New system navigation: Re-design of Android’s system navigation to help make it simpler to search and move between apps. Swipe up from anywhere to see full-screen previews of recently used apps, swipe left and right to easily navigate between them, and tap on one to jump in.
App Actions: App Actions predicts what you’ll want to do next based on your context and displays that action right on your phone, saving you time.
Slices: Interactive snippets of your favorite apps can be surfaced in different places, like Google Search.
Overview Selection: Long-press to select text or image in Overview mode and see actions based on what you’ve selected (for example, an option to route to an address with Google Maps or share for an image).
Enterprise:
Work tab in launcher: Now, you can visually separate your work apps. Tap on the work tab to see work apps all in one place, and turn them off with a simple toggle when you get off work.
Postpone Over-the-air (OTA) updates: Android 9 now provides the ability for Enterprise IT admins to define freeze periods up to 90 days during which time devices in their fleet will not update the Android OS. This ensures their devices states remain unchanged during critical time like holidays.