Android O will give you even more control over notifications

Set for launch later this year, it looks like Android O will be Google’s most advanced build yet – but it could also bring a number of extremely useful ways to save you power as well.

If you haven’t noticed, today is a big day for Android fans. But unless you have a very recent Nexus or Pixel device and are fearless enough to flash the images yourself, you’ll have to wait for the final release or, at the very least, an OTA update from the Beta program. Not like other Android smartphones, Google’s Nexus came with an unskinned, no crapware version of the OS and considered as the first Android devices to get software updates.

Even though Android 7.0 Nougat was rolled out only a couple of months ago, this isn’t stopping Google from already developing another major operating system update.

“Android O puts a big priority on improving a user’s battery life and the device’s interactive performance”, Burke explained in a blog post.

There will be new automatic limits imposed onto apps, and specifically what they can do in the background.

Google is unveiling the newest flavor of Android. O is no exception – introducing notification channels, which are nothing else than app-defined categories for different notification content.

O will have a system-wide Autofill API so apps such as password managers will be able to register as autofill providers and offer to be your default autofill solution. The update will also allow for better autofill options, which populate text boxes automatically with things like your name and address so you don’t have to type them in repeatedly.

We could also find improvements in audio latency, but as always this information has to be taken with great care.

According to “a source familiar with the matter”, this feature would work in the background, and chime in when it thinks you could use it.

For the time being, it’s not clear what Google will end up naming Android O – although the rumor mill does seem to be leaning towards Oreo. Google’s revenue rose 20 percent past year to $89 billion, propelled by digital ads served up on its search engine, YouTube and Gmail.

The Android O (Orange Jello?) Developer Preview contains an updated SDK with system images that can be tested on the Android emulator. Third is bringing up the contact by drawing the letter “C” in the screen.

When will Google release Android O to the public? Google I/O kicks off on May 17.

This is not the first time Google has revealed the codenames of its devices.

Google’s Senior Vice President of Android Hiroshi Lockheimer has teased that Android O could be codenamed after a popular sandwich cookie.