Google’s new gift, Android 7.0 Nougat

Google’s new gift, Android 7.0 Nougat

Home Screen of Android 7.0 Nougat with
some stock Google apps
source: Wikipedia

After several months Google came up with their new version of Android, 7.0 Nougat on 22 august after they initially released Android 6.0 marshmallow on 5 October 2015. This version came up with many new features to make android lovers feel amazed.

Android Nougat reflects inputs from thousands of fans and developers across the world as this time, Google took a different strategy to release android 7.0. Unlike in case of every other previous versions, they invited developers to take a quick look at android n back in march, this year, so that they could bring up changes and upgrades to their apps for the new version of the OS way before the release. And along with it, Google asked the fans to help them come up with the name of their new version of the OS and as a result, they unveiled the new name back in June.

There are more than 250 major features in this version, but a few, more important features from them are discussed below in details.

Your phone becomes more personal than before.With the new version, your phone becomes more personal as there Nougat is providing more ways to customize and personalize your phone to fit your personality as it has been doing since its first release. With this release, you’ll have even more ways to customize your phone.

Nougat comes with an expanded set of emoji as there are over 1500 different emoji built into android Nougat including 72 new ones.

Easy access to quick settings where you can change bluetooth settings, WiFi settings, and most important, the flashlight. With this version, you can actually set which tiles to go where and you can move them around according to your own choice.

You can even tailor your apps according your own preferred languages as android Nougat comes with multi locale support. This means, the search engine can show search results in each of the languages set by you.

Split Screen
source: Android Official Blog

You can work in two different apps side by side in a single screen with the help of multi-window settings, thus helping in multi-tasking. You can chat with friends along with sending an email with the help of multi-window by taping on the required window. Multi-window can be resized by dragging the divider making a window small or big.

Users and reply directly to notifications without even opening the app. This feature is really helpful when we don’t want to open an app like Whatsapp, but really want to reply to a friend.
You can use the bundled notifications feature to see what’s new at a glance by simply tapping to expand and view more info without even opening the app.

Even, you can control notifications or can silence future alerts from an app in the notification itself without even having to open the app.

Unlike previous versions, you can even change the size of the icon along with text size.
Users can switch between two of their recently used applications just by double tapping over the overview button.

Juice (battery) drain out has been one of the primary problems that smartphone users face every day. Android has been saving battery usage since the release of marshmallow. The doze feature has been modified and made dozier in Nougat. As a result of which, your device gets optimized into the lowest power saving mode possible when it is inside your pocket or your bag. But this does not mean that your device will always be in the lowest power saving mode when it is not in use. The power saving mode or the battery usage depends on a number of factors, viz., the signal strength, network configuration, battery age, operating temperature, features selected, apps running in the background, device settings, voice data, and other application usage patterns. So, isn't this doze feature economical?

Nougat is designed with immersive experiences in mind and includes support for VulkanTM (an advanced 3D rendering API) and daydream, which is Google’s platform for virtual reality.
With the help of VulkanTM, games will now jump into life, which is also a result of high-speed, next- generation graphics, all powered by your device’s multi-core processor.

Nougat will drive you to virtual worlds with the help of daydream-ready phones, headsets and controllers, all will be coming later this year.

Android has always been built with powerful layers of security and encryption to keep your data safe and private. Software updates can be can be installed in the background in new Nougat devices. This means that users won’t have to wait while the device installs the update and optimizes all the apps for the new version. Currently, nexus users can install updates much faster, and as a result, users won’t have to wait long for minutes while their device boots.

Nougat can isolate and protect files for individual users on a device much better than android’s previous versions.

Nougat’s direct boot helps device startup faster and apps run securely even before the device is unlocked when the device reboots.

New security features are available for use in android in enterprise for those who want to use their devices at work. Isn’t this cool?!

On the day of the release and over the next few weeks, nexus 6, nexus 5x, nexus 6p, nexus 9, nexus player, pixel c and general mobile 4g (android one) will get a software update to android 7.0 Nougat. Any devices enrolled in the Android Beta program will also receive an update to this version. Update to Android 7.0 for the Nexus and Pixel C devices occur in stages and some carriers will get updates later than others. Stay tuned!

There are even more devices coming from Android’s partners which includes LG V20, which is going to be the first new smartphone to be shipped with Android Nougat.