When the Android 6.0 Marshmallow was released last year, its most important and greatest feature was the ‘Google Now on Tap’ which gave Android device users super-smart contextual searches, and made life a bit easier for them.
Last week, Google formally unveiled the Android 7.0 Nougat and based on the first round of feedbacks from Android users and critics, the mobile operating system’s split-screen apps is arguably the top feature of the Nougat, notes the Wall Street Journal.
The spilt-screen apps on the Android 7.0 Nougat can be activated with a long press of Android’s square button. It shrinks over and the app switcher appears. Once a user chooses a second app, he can just resize the pair by dragging the divider between them. It is also to toggle between any two apps in the Nougat as the user just needs to double-tap the square button.
However, it should be noted by some Android device users that there are still many apps that are not yet compatible with split-screen including Instagram, Snapchat, and the hit mobile augmented reality game “Pokemon Go.”
Split-screen has become very important these days given the size of the display screens of most of the smartphones in the market today. It is also a feature that does not come in the iPhones just yet so Google has put another one over Apple and its iOS towards such end.
The first devices to get the Nougat
There have been previous reports saying that the Android 7.0 Nougat would come out on the latest Google flagship smartphone, the Nexus 7 2016, but that did not happen as the two variants of the device – the Sailfish and the Marlin – shall reportedly be launched in November yet.
Now it seems clear that the Nougat will come out on Nexus smartphones and phablets but not on its latest flagship smartphones.
However, those Nexus device users who are in a bit of hurry and can hardly wait for the rolling out of Android 7.0 Nougat on their handsets, can actually opt to install the over-the-air (OTA) update manually by just following a quick guide as provided by 9to5Google.
Users can utilize the guide on the condition that they already have the ADB tools installed on their computers. The ADB tools can be found on the Google’s developer site and they can just simply download the Android SDK.
The hardest part of the process is the downloading of the Android SDK and making sure that the ADB is set up correctly. But once it is done , everything is easy following a step-by-step procedure.
More great features of the Nougat
Google has obviously learned the lessons from the roll-outs of its previous firmware updates so the Android 7.0 Nougat comes with plenty of great features to really make users fell in love with using their Android devices all the more.
In messaging for instance, once a user gets a text or e-mail message, he can just drag down on Android’s notification shade and type out his response without having to open any app at all. The feature makes it easier for the user to reply especially for urgent messages without having to close one app to open a messaging app.
It is also a huge help if the user wants to get back to whatever he was doing when the pop-up hit, especially since many replies are more of an affirmation or an emoji.
The Android 7.0 Nougat has also brought in a set of 72 new emojis that includes a rhino, a boxing glove, a gecko, an owl and an avocado. There are also gold, silver and bronze medals that followed. There is also 11 new emojis of women working in science, health, farming and other industries, up for release soon.
Google pitched these new emoji ideas to the Unicode Consortium that controls emoji standards across devices and operating systems, but they are set to arrive later this year.
The new firmware also comes with notification muting. If the user long-presses on any notification inside Android’s notification shade, he can actually silence the notifications for that specific app or make them entirely invisible. It is a shortcut process as well because it keeps the user from having to dig into setting to tweak app notifications.
The Nougat’s notifications panel also has shortcuts that users can customize to get quick access to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, airplane mode, flashlight, among other features. The user just needs to swipe down on the shortcut bar and drag and drop the shortcut icons he needs.
The Nougat also features a smarter Doze feature, which was first introduced with the Marshmallow last year. When the Android device is off and it is not charging, Doze cuts off background app activity to prolong its battery life.
Only urgent notification such as alarms, phone calls, and text messages, can get past through Doze. The feature also kicks in when the phone is in the user’s pocket or purse.
If the user wants to quit all the running apps on his Android device, all he needs to do is to single-tap the square button to launch the app switcher. He could then tap the Nougat’s new ‘clear all’ button in the upper right corner. While the feature would necessarily help save battery life, sometimes the user just feels good to start fresh.
[Source:-Master Herald]
