Recently, Google come up with Android 13 very a few months ago. While they are already at a good pace to develop the next major version of Android which is none other than Android 14. Also, the development work is going behind closed doors, therefore it’s hard to get complete info on what’s new in Android 14. The source code of the same has been expected to be released late next year. While the Android 14 Developer preview will give us an overview of what to expect. Therefore, here we going to pop out some of these features of Android 14.
Predictive back gesture
Using Android back gesture is not always being cleared to the user. Considering the fact that the action performed will actually exit the app or navigate the user to the previous screen. Since altogether there’s no feedback which indicates that what happens when the back gesture is performed. Apps that can process back press events simultaneously inform with the feedback in the form of a dialogue. The same asks the user if they wish to exit but some apps don’t do this.
Another reason is that the apps can control the behaviour of back presses. Hence there’s often no way which helps the system to identify what will happen when the action is performed until it’s done by the user. In order to come up with a solution to this problem. Android needs to “Predict” what will happen so that it can give a sort of indication/feedback to the user.
And this is one of the primary reasons for the introduction of the predictive back gesture navigation in Android 13. This feature indicates with the help visual preview of the launcher if performing the back gesture in order to exit the app. And Google named it a “back-to-home” animation. While it’s a part of AOSP Launcher3 in Android 13 respectively.
However, in Android 13, the predictive back gesture isn’t working unless the user opts for it developer option. Talking about Android 14, the new back dispatching behaviour will be enabled by default. Which is targeting API level 34 or higher integration.
Read-only partitions formatted in EROFS
EROFS stands for the read-only file system, basically created by Huawei for their smartphone devices. After being implemented/deployed by Huawei, various OEMs start formatting their device’s read-only partitions in EROFS. As this is much more efficient than EXT4 in compression capabilities. Notably, Huawei’s kernel driver for EROFS metamorphoses with the mainline Linux kernel with version 5.4.
By taking into consideration the benefits of EROFS over EXT4. Google is pushing OEMs to use it for all read-only partitions. In contrast, Google originally planned to equip with EROFS formatted read-only partitions launching with Android 13. It is also possible at the same time that Google will revisit its EROFS to be compulsory for Android 14 but this needs time and is yet to be seen.
Mandatory support for the Identity Credential HAL
Android 14 will be forced to Mandatory support for the Identity Credential HAL. Under the information case, we find that the Android’s Identity Credential API provides an interface to securely store user identity documents such as mobile driver’s licenses.
Google’s Pixel devices already have Identity Credential HAL. Google planned to require that chipsets launching with Android 13 support the Identity Credential HAL. This is to expand hardware support for the Identity Credential API.
As per the new report, the new Android 14 may need AV1 codec mandatory for all devices.
Android 14 allows Satellite Support
Recently T-Mobile and SpaceX announced a partnership that could revolutionise mobile connectivity to the next level. The two companies combinely give the service to those areas using a satellite. It includes the areas that currently don’t have access to cellular service. And it is expected to launch this service in late 2023. Notably, Google’s Android OS (Android 14) will also be getting ready coming that time.
