Android 14 arrives with more customization, control and accessibility features
It has been announced stable version of Android 14, version in which Google developers who are in charge of the project worked for several months, after an alpha version, three betas and an additional unscheduled beta, the stable version arrives with a large number of changes, improvements and new features.
With this new release of Android 14 and In true Google style, some new functions of Android 14 are reserved only for the latest Pixel phones.
And is that one of those novelties exclusive is that of “AI generative wallpapers” which is coming to the Pixel 8 series for the first time. As the name suggests, the feature uses AI to allow Pixel 8 users to create wallpapers using text prompts.
Health Connect is another great feature which lands on Android 14, as the service is now a pre-installed part of the system, meaning virtually every fitness app on your phone can rely on it.
Besides that, Coordination of background work has been optimized that consumes many resources, such as downloading large files when there is a Wi-Fi connection, changes were made to the API for starting priority services and scheduling tasks, which added new functionality for user-initiated jobs related to data transfer and requirements have been introduced to indicate the type of priority services to be launched. It is easier to define the conditions to activate data downloading, for example, download only when accessed via Wi-Fi.
It is also highlighted that in Android 14, The internal broadcast system for delivering broadcast messages to applications has been optimized to reduce power consumption and improve responsiveness. Acceptance was improved in registered message flows: messages can be queued, merged, and delivered only after the application exits the cache state.
Has increased the limit on the maximum number of cached applicationsé, which has reduced the number of applications launched in "cold" mode (that is, not cached in memory and launch more slowly). For devices with 8 GB of RAM, after changing the restrictions, the number of "cold" application launches decreased by 20%, and with 12 GB - by 30%
Another of the highlights of Android 14 is that the ability to activate an enhanced privacy option for PIN. This will disable all keyboard animations when you enter lock screen credentials. In addition to this, Google finally allows you to skip pressing Enter when entering the correct PIN, although this only works when yours is six digits or more for security reasons.
Android 14 also introduces other customization options that are not limited to the Pixel 8 series, as lock screen shortcuts can now be added to the bottom corners.
Changed the method for updating certification authority certificates CA, since now the system certificates will no longer be linked to the firmware, but will be delivered as a separate package, updated through Google Play. It is worth mentioning that this functionality has a certain conflict, which the HTTP Toolkit developers already talked about at the time (you can consult the publication of it in this link).
Of the other changes that stand out:
- The possibilities of using multiple work profiles have been expanded.
- Switching between profiles has been simplified.
- Added the ability to open links in other profiles (for example, you can open a link in your home profile from your work profile).
- The screen sharing process has been simplified. Added the ability to search for specific profile settings.
- The Camera Extensions suite has been updated to provide the ability to use longer-running algorithms that require computationally intensive image processing, such as improving low-light image quality.
- Added features to predict image processing delays, get information about processing progress, and quickly get a preview version of the image before the final image is completed.
- A more streamlined and energy efficient SurfaceView preview mode has been implemented.
- Support is provided for using the camera's built-in scaling and cropping capabilities for transferred RAW images.
- New methods have been added to the PackageInstaller API: requestUserPreapproval(), which allows the application directory to delay downloading APK packages until it receives installation confirmation from the user.
- Using the exact alarms feature in apps now requires obtaining a separate SCHEDULE_EXACT_ALARM permission.
- It is possible to specify the language settings associated with individual applications.
- Added the Grammatical Inflection API to make it easier to add translations of interface elements that take gender-sensitive languages into account.
- To prevent malicious applications from intercepting intent requests, the new version prohibits sending intents without explicitly specifying the internal package or component.
- Dynamic Code Loading (DCL) security has been improved: To prevent the insertion of malicious code into dynamically loaded executable files, these files must now have read-only access rights.
- Implemented support for Passkeys technology, which allows the user to authenticate without passwords using biometric identifiers such as fingerprint or facial recognition.
Finally, if you are interested in being able to know more about it, you can consult the details in the following link