Google has just taken the wraps off it’s latest Android version, 9.0 or Android P. (Full name not confirmed. Our bet is on Pie!) And while it has been revealed and showcased in it’s full glory, it won’t hit devices until end of Q3 2018 or early Q4 Holiday season.

We may start to see it ship with the Galaxy Note 9 paired with the Snapdragon 845, but there are some phones that can actually get the beta already starting today:

• SONY XPERIA Z2
• Essential PH-1
• NOKIA 7 Plus
• Oppo R15 Pro
• OnePlus 6
• Vivo X21
• Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S

Now let’s talk about that’s new!

Google talks about how it wants to introduce features that doesn’t make using a phone easier but instead lessen your actual usage and hands-on which is pretty cool!

The biggest change is in the UI itself: GESTURES

 

It’s a new way to navigate through your OS (Think IphoneX). You lose the iconic 3 button layout with back, home and etc. but you get a more intuitive swipe left and right and up and down to reveal the functions.

Next up is INTELLIGENCE: Adaptive Battery, Auto Brightness (New!) and Actions!

Adapative Battery uses machine learning to understand which of your applications you usually use and what times you use them, where you use them and what you use them for. After learning your habits, it puts them on most active, and put the unlike ones in deeper sleep. This can result in up to 30% better screen wake up times and really take advantage of just using the smaller more power efficient cpu cores of any processor instead of having the big ones turn on when the screen wakes up.

The New Auto Brightness on the other hand rely on the enviroment and surrounding to adjust the bnrightness + an adaptive mode that will learn your preferences at each different light scenario.

For Actions, Android launched predictive apps showing you your most used apps or most preferred apps at the phone’s learned curve of your habits. For example, turning on the volume or plugging in an earpiece will suggest the top 5 apps related to music or multimedia.

DIGITAL WELL BEING

Google has come up with a survey that shows 70% of people want their lifestyle managed on their phones and Android 9.0 is going to put this at the core of it’s OS. With a new section dedicated solely on fitness and health, and your usage of the apps and actions on your phone.

On a system level, You will now see how long during the day you’ve used your phone, the number of times you turned on the screen, the number of notifications you received etc.

Another cool feature is Shush. It will help you keep your phone in Do Not Disturb Mode, when you put the phone face down.

Lastly, SIMPLICITY

The rest of the changes are small and may not be noticeable as they are…. Simple. Media adjustments, notification modes, slides, device crotations, profiles and status bars get these simple ui tweaks.

SUMMARY

We love where google is heading. The Smartphone is becoming a very smart digital assistant and makes it a powerful tool. But first things, first. What will Android P be called? Pie? Pineapple?